Action Comics #900
Written by Paul Cornell, Paul Dini, Richard Donner, David S. Goyer, Geoff Johns, Damon Lindelof
Art by Pete Woods, Gary Frank, RB Silva, Ryan Sook, Brian Stelfreeze, Miguel Sepulvedo, Matt Camp, Jesus Merino, Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund, Rags Morales, Ardian Syaf, Jamal Igle, Jon Sibal
Letters by John J. Hill, Rob Leigh
Covers by David Finch, Alex Ross, Gary Frank
DC Comics
$5.99
Release Date: April 27, 2010

Action Comics #900 is quite simply a celebration of everything great about Superman as a character. The issue, throughout most of the stories, is a showcase of Superman’s willingness to help and serve the human race primarily through self-sacrifice. Most of the recent anniversary episodes that we’ve seen, primarily through DC Comics, have been treated as anthologies with three or more short stories, one focusing on the end of a story arc, a couple of “untold tales,” and then one that starts the next story arc in Superman #700 and Wonder Woman #600; either that or a one and done story like Batman #700.

This book, on the other hand, focused more than half of its attention on the wrap-up of Lex Luthor’s Black Ring storyline by Paul Cornell and Pete Woods, and the return of Superman into Action Comics. Unfortunately, it also includes the recent Reign of Doomsday story arc, although in this issue it was a minor distraction, but still paled in comparison to the epic showdown between arch rivals Superman and Lex Luthor.

First Wave #1
Written by Brian Azzerello
Art by Rags Morales
Covers by J.G. Jones; Variant by Neal Adams
DC Comics
Price: $3.99; 40 pages
Released date: March 3, 2010

If you read the Doc Savage/Batman special from a few months ago, then you got a sneak peek of what the First Wave miniseries is like (but not much more, that special was pretty slim on story).

The goal of this miniseries is to combine various pulp heroes such as the aforementioned Doc Savage and Batman, as well as The Spirit and the Blackhawks. There are a lot of different characters in First Wave #1, and unfortunately the only one I have much familiarity with, Batman, was not in this issue. That means the whole issue focuses on who Doc Savage and The Spirit are, and that’s where this issue fails. I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I don’t know much about Doc Savage, and unfortunately, I don’t know much more after this issue, and I don’t really care to. I generally enjoy the writing of Brian Azzarello, or at least I enjoyed his writing on 100 Bullets, but there’s just not much to write home about this one. The dialog is fine, if uninspired, but the biggest problem is that I have no connection to these characters and this issue does nothing to foster a connection with them. If you don’t know the characters already, you won’t know them any better after this issue.

Are you as excited about DC’s First Wave as I am? I’ve been inundated with previews in the back of every DC book and I can’t wait for the first issue to hit stands tomorrow. But what if I told you there was an even more awesome way to experience First Wave? “˜How,’ you ask? How about reading it with two of comics biggest names?

Geoff Johns and Jim Lee will be reading First Wave #1 on Wednesday, and you can share the experience with them on Twitter, where you can tweet your thoughts and comments to the superstar creators and hear what they think as they flip from page to page. Not on the Twitter bandwagon? Sign up!

Everything kicks off this Wednesday at 3pm PST, so you have plenty of time to run to your shop and join in on the action. While you’re at it, don’t forget to follow GeeksOfDoom, too.