Action Comics #959

Written by: Dan Jurgens

Art by: Tyler Kirkham

Coloured by: Arif Prianto

Lettered by: Rob Leigh

After a mediocre start and a gradual climb in quality, Action Comics has finally begun to get into a rhythm that could propel it past this arc and into bigger and better things. In the last issue, the fight with Doomsday continued, Jimmy continued to ask Clark to use his super powers despite Clark's insistence that he is no longer Superman, and Lex Luthor finds himself without a battle suit as he discovers Doomsday is more powerful than he expected. So, how does this issue progress this narrative? Not much, as it turns out.

The story mainly follows Superman and Lois as they remember the events of the Death of Superman arc in which Doomsday was first introduced. Lois remembers Superman dying as she tries to convince her son that everything will be okay in the end, while Superman remembers the fight, how he had to give it everything he had just to stall Doomsday as well as the mistakes that he made. Lex is saved from Doomsdays assault by Superman and then proceeds to fix his armour using the mother box that was given to him by the people of Apokolips, returning to the fight. Clark falls in to a pit where Superman smashed Doomsday into the ground, breaking his arm and confirming that he has no powers just as Doomsday looms over him. The whole issue is essentially another long fight sequence and, while it was well done and shows Superman as a more thinking and tactical fighter, after three issues of essentially non-stop conflict, a breather is really required.

The artwork is where this issue really improves from the previous ones. The art takes on a painting like quality in this issue, making all of the panels look beautiful. The over-emphasis on the use of shadows that I had mentioned in my previous reviews is also gone, as well as an apparent brightening of the primary colours. All of these aspects add to a very fine attention to small details that makes the book look better than any of the other Superman stories currently releasing. Tyler Kirkham is the artist who should have been on this book from the beginning, and is an amazing asset to the book.

Ultimately, however, the addition of a new artist is offset by the lack of forward progress to the story. While the fights themselves have been well done and entertaining, the complete stop in the story practically as soon as it begins has been getting tedious. Whats more, Lex, who supposedly is the major protagonist in this series, is almost superfluous so far, taking a back stage to the Superman who already has a book of his own. While this series has been in no way terrible up to this point, it is in desperate need of forward momentum, and the only way for that to happen is for this seemingly never-ending battle to end so that we may move on to more important, character related stories to better build up to future arcs.