COMIC REVIEW - ACTION COMICS #894 - Lex meets Death....and she's HOT

COMIC REVIEW

ACTION COMICS #894

STORY: Paul Cornell

ART: Pete Woods

DEATH’S DIALOGUE written by: Neil Gaiman

PUBLISHER: DC

REVIEW: Mark Mackner 

Hola, Action aficionados! ‘Tis I, resident Spider-Man scholar MARK MACKNER with a look at last weeks’ historic ACTION COMICS #894. 

Historic how? Well, this issue marks the very first appearance of NEIL GAIMAN’s character DEATH (from his SANDMAN series) in the regular DC Universe. Gaiman even makes a guest appearance on this issue, providing the dialogue for his adorable version of “The Grim Reaper”. 

This is not a standalone story. It’s actually Part 5 of an arc titled THE BLACK RING, where SUPERMAN’S arch-nemesis LEX LUTHOR has taken center stage as the main focus. The end of Chapter 4 saw the apparent demise of Lex, and this issue lets us in on what happens when Lex is faced with, well, Death. 

Death is as charming and good-humored as always, and it’s so very nice to see her again. I definitely got that feeling you get when you hang with an awesome old friend that you haven’t seen in a long time. And it’s really cool that they let Gaiman come in and write her, even though this isn’t his story. PETE WOODS’ pencils compliment the character well, rendering her striking beauty in every panel, lovingly detailed. 

Lex, well, as you could understand, is not very happy to be grappling with his own mortality. After all, he is a man on a mission, a mission that is not yet completed. So he goes through all the stages of grieving himself: disbelief (“You’re telling me Death is a teenage girl?”), anger (“You’ll regret this!”), sadness (“I feel… helpless. I CAN’T be helpless”), and bargaining (“What would it take for you to change this?”). But Lex, ever his defiant self, even in death, refuses to accept the situation. Even after witnessing his “Life Review”, featuring “lots of people fighting, and lots of people being clever.” Still, he’s not quite sold on this whole “being dead” thing. 

 In his rage, he even accuses Death of being involved with Blackest Night, to which Death replies, “Oh. Yeah. I noticed that. It looked like they were all having a great time. You know, people do come back from the dead. It’s not a big deal. I AM kind of busy.” She also politely states her resentment of Lex’s treating her “like a super-villain”. 

Through it all, Lex maintains his “misunderstood hero wrongly painted as the villain” position. And he does manage to evoke your sympathy here. You can’t help but feel a little sorry for the guy, as he’s so utterly convinced that what he does is for the benefit of mankind. Plus, he gets mad points from me for being a proud, outspoken atheist, which he describes.

When not hanging out at The Horror Hotel, Mark Mackner can be found creating such local indie horror gems as DAISY DERKINS: DOGSITTER OF THE DAMNED!, EVIL BREW, THE HALF-LIFE HORROR FROM HELL or: IRRADIATED SATAN ROCKS THE WORLD!, and EMBALMO!  He’s also the resident Spider-Man scholar over at geek site POPTARDS where he writes SPIDEY’S WEEKLY WEB-UP.  In 2011, he’ll be directing his latest original script PROM NIGHT ABORTION!

Why the Late Night Crew are no longer Super Friends....

What's Missing from this Super Friends Picture?

So, you see Batman, Superman, Aquaman...hell even the Wonder Twins and that damn dirty ape have spots in the Super Friends, so where's our boys? This is footage from within the Hall of Justice, it shows what phone call Pigamortis and Dimension messed up on...unfortunately, Cannon was guilty by association.

When asked for comments, these are the printable quotes we received:

• Pigamortis - "I made a simple error, geez kill a guy, why don't ya. They made it out....relax people"
• Rob Dimension - " I still am not sure what is going on...all I know is they took my cape back."
• John Cannon - "Can I just have the right to remain silent? I apologize to all who were affected by this.....but, you can see my tragedy now."

Late Night Comic Review for May 29th, 2010

Late Night at the Horror Hotel reveals comics that you MUST read!

By - Rob Dimension

After some great feedback for the past reviews, Late Night at the Horror Hotel has sent out our resident nerd, Rob Dimension to go visit James Frazier at Cyborg One (www.cyborg1.com)  Comics in Doylestown, PA. They discuss comics that are setting the shelves on fire plus look at some that are not worth the paper they are printed on. Below is what Rob Dimension had to say:

"I read all the time, always trying new comics just for the sake of being a fanboy. Here are some of my favorites plus within the video review, we mention plenty to get you started regardless if you read currently or not. Hope you enjoy and we are working on improving all the time. Huge thanks goes out to my homeboy and co-host John Cannon - he edits everything and does great."

Marvel's Secret Avengers against DC's Legion of Super Heroes - "Pitting both lower level teams against each other for the sake of the readers, I figured I would read both and see who prevails - This was extremely easy for me to choose - Secret Avengers all the way. While James does mention his dislike for the art, no one can dispute how great of a start this issue is presenting. Not much of a secondary squad with Beast, Black Widow, War Machine, Moon Knight and more lead by Steve Rogers...they wreck the lameness of the Legion of Super Heroes. This is my pick of this week as best break out comic."

Brightest Day #2 - "I have to put on my Lantern ring collection as I write this - As we progress into the aftermath of Blackest Night, Brightest Day is full of surprises. With a combination of 12 villains and heroes dead, each given a Lantern ring, who will become the White Lantern? In a plot similar to the Sword and the Stone, this is shaping up to be the comic series to follow. Aquaman is B.A. simply for the ability to raise zombie creatures from the deep...yes, I said Aquaman. While they're are plenty of cross story comics, reading this just solely will give you enough info to follow."

War of the Supermen -  "I didn't get a chance to get into this comic in the reviews because we are slaves to YouTube's 10 minute video, but for a short mini series, this is worth grabbing. Issue #0 was offered during Free Comic Book Day and begins with the story of General Zod as the leader Krypton Army, waging war against Earth. With the Yellow Sun leveling out the playing field, Superman must save the day. This is a 4 part series and is really good. I grow tired of a lot of the Superman stuff, but this grabbed my attention and made me a fanboy of good ole' Clark Kent again"