Action Comics 14 review

Grant Morrison’s Action Comics run has been a bit weird. Some issues are very good, while others have felt a bit off. He’s leaving the series behind soon – issue 16 will be his last. The entire run has been leading up to a crisis that could potentially destroy Earth, and now those teasers are finally paying off. Thankfully, this is one of his good issues.

The Multitude has arrived at Mars to prepare for their Earth invasion. What is the multitude? Well, it appears to be an army of powerful “locusts” that look like angels. The comic doesn’t explain exactly what the Multitude is yet, only that it devours world and apparently attacks from the fifth dimension. Either way, Superman has to rely both on his powers and his wits to even repel this threat. Superman also fights against the Metaleks, who are trying to build for a race that no longer exists. It’s a great showcase of who Superman is and what he’s capable of. The last few pages are really weird, but it’s possible they’ll be explained in the next issue.

The backup story is fairly good too. It’s about Superman visiting a space observatory to catch a glimpse of Krypton on the one day each year it can be seen from earth. Saying anything else would spoil the last bit of the story, but it’s well done. The only problem with the backup story is that it takes place after the fight on Mars, which hasn’t ended in the main story yet. Sure, this series takes place five years before the other Superman series, but this still ruins a lot of the potential tension.

The art in this issue is good too. It looks simple at first glance, but there’s a lot going on in most panels. The Multitude looks awesomely menacing, and the fight scenes are easy to follow. While the Metaleks look goofy, I’m pretty sure that’s intentional. After all, it’s hard to make construction machines look dignified after they’ve had random weapons attached to them.

Sure, this issue is a bit all over the place, but it’s still easy to follow. There’s still a little bit of weird in this comic, but it works for this issue. The threat feels big and real enough. It’s not perfect, but it’s easy to recommend to anyone who has been enjoying Grant Morrison’s Action Comics run, or for those who want to watch Superman take on an apocalyptic threat.