Action Comics #958

Written by: Dan Jurgens

Art by: Patrick Zircher

Coloured by: Ulises Arreola

Lettered by: Rob Leigh

Many of my complaints about the previous issue of Action Comics remain in this issue, although a few things have been improved. In the last issue, we saw the return of the New 52 Superman's alter ego, Clark Kent, Lex Luthor declare himself the Superman of Metropolis, and the return of one of Superman's most powerful foes, Doomsday. So, how does this issue handle all of these new reveals and situations? Generally it doesn't.

The story takes place in the immediate aftermath of the Doomsday reveal. Superman and Lex rush in to attack him, telling all of the civilians to evacuate, and assisting when Doomsday starts to target trains and helicopters. This issue works a lot better at showing Superman and Lex in action. Superman is no longer just blindly attacking “good” guys in front of pedestrians and instead is throwing his all behind taking down this huge threat, while simultaneously trying to protect people. Lex is just as arrogant as ever, rushing into combat against a much stronger opponent, but he is still trying to do good, even if it is mostly to stoke his ego. The odd characterization comes in the form of Clark Kent. It's obvious that there is a mystery there that they don't want to reveal yet, but Clark acts... odd. There is a moment where Clark criticizes Superman's tactic to attempt to throw Doomsday into the sun as essentially stupid, and it just seems like a very weird thing to think of someone who is essentially yourself.

My criticisms of the art remain largely unchanged from last issue in that everything seems a bit too dark and overly shaded. The action remains dynamic and full of energy, the backgrounds are detailed and lively, and thankfully Doomsday is back to looking like his good old self (I wasn't a huge fan of the look they gave him in Doomed), but all of that is slightly lessened by the overly dark colours resulting in a less lively page in general.

Unlike the last issue, which I didn't actually like, this issue I kind of did. The action is good, it's nice to see an older villain return, watching Lex and Superman interact is entertaining, and the fight was relatively well done. Most of the problems lie in the odd actions of some of the side characters, some of which could be intentional, like what they're doing with Clark, but others just seemed odd. As a fan of the Man of Steel, I couldn't really recommend this unless it gets better, and hopefully it will do that quickly.