Action Comics #965

Written by: Dan Jurgens

Art by: Stephen Segovia

Coloured by: Arif Prianto

Lettered by: Dave Sharpe

In the last issue, having saved the powerless Clark Kent from Geneticron, Superman takes him back to his mountain fortress to get some answers about who he is once and for all. Using a truth telling orb given to him by an alien, Superman discovers that, surprisingly, this Clark Kent's memories are extremely similar to Superman's own, albeit with some details changed to suit his non-super powered life, such as his parents dying in a gas explosion. The orb reveals that, as far as Clark is concerned, the memories are genuine, with no hint of tampering, either magical or otherwise, leaving Superman with more questions than answers. Realizing that he needs to keep tabs on this new Clark Kent, and realizing that a Clark without powers will probably need a Superman to bail him out of trouble, Superman gives him a signal watch to use if he ever needs help.

This issue mainly follows the pre-new 52 Lois Lane as she attempts to discover what recently happened to the current universe's Lois Lane (what happened being seen in Superwoman #1), following mysterious dreams that she has been having to search for answers. Pretending to be the current Lois, she walks into the Daily Planet office, interacting with Jimmy, Perry, and even Steve Lombard, before finally making it to “her” office. Just as she is about to search her computer, however, the powerless Clark Kent walks in, not realizing that this is not his Lois Lane, and accidentally spills a drink on her computer, damaging it. Lois quickly leaves, once again remembering her dreams and realizing that the other Lois was on a laptop in her apartment in them. Entering the apartment, Lois is shocked to find the Red Superwoman floating before her, saying that they need to talk. While not a lot really happens in this issue, I did enjoy the focus on Lois, an aspect of the super family that had until now mostly been simply there to support Superman and Jon.

The artwork, in my opinion, has taken a dip from the last few issues. While most of the art looks very similar to what we saw previously, there are several instances of just awful panels (one of Superman smiling creepily in particular) that really throw off the issue. Another example is the powerless Clark punching a table in frustration, his arm suddenly appearing to have shrunken to the size of a T-Rex's. Even Lois herself is not truly spared, having the exact same silly expression, with her mouth in a pout and her lips slightly apart, in several panels. Hopefully the quality of the artwork once again increases, because as it is now, it's below the point it was at the beginning of the Action Comics Rebirth books.

Ultimately, while the issue wasn't a bad one, it was mostly just filler that could easily have been accomplished in just a couple pages rather than a full issue. While I do appreciate getting more of Lois, focusing on her and what she's doing as the boys are doing their own thing, it just seems silly to me that she takes this massive risk of pretending to be this universe's Lois, and everything turns out to be pointless because she realizes that her dream had Lois at home and not at work, making the entire issue just padding. While I'm interested in seeing Lois interacting more in this world, this is not the greatest start to her adventures.