Blue explosions are taking out organisations like Kobra, the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO) and Spyral. The only clue: the word “Leviathan” - but is Talia Al Ghul’s group really behind this, and who is that mysteriously menacing shadowy figure seemingly causing all of these ‘splosions? Superman and Lois are on the case!
So after reading the surprisingly decent Leviathan Rising Special last year I decided to give Bendis’ Action Comics another chance - and I’m glad I did because his second volume of Action is thankfully better than the first (though not by much).
Bendis abruptly abandons his Invisible Mafia/Red Cloud storyline from the first book (it only briefly gets a nod in the Leviathan Rising Special included at the end) in favour of this Leviathan storyline and to tie Action Comics into the separate Event Leviathan book. And I think it’s a wise choice as Leviathan is more interesting than the silly Invisible Mafia.
I generally liked how Bendis continued building tension about Leviathan while simultaneously showing us what the various characters are up to. So we see Jimmy investigating Kobra, Lois returning to the Daily Planet, what Director Bones is doing at the DEO, and so on. It was nice to see Adam Strange and The Question cameo too.
That said, not everything was that compelling. I’m not sure why Lois’ dad gets so much space given he’s a total flatline of a character and I don’t know about Superman and Lois’ alter-egos Chaz and Andi Donen but their jolly in London was dull. Amanda Waller is always tedious to read about and she doesn’t change that here - she’s as grim and dreary as ever.
Also, the pattern of the issues is fairly repetitive: focus on the characters then close on a big blue explosion. I kept waiting for some plot developments but what little there was didn’t move things forward much. That’s the problem with books that serve other books like events - all the big stuff has to happen in the main book and the supporting titles can only ever hint at things around the edges. It’s never very satisfying for the reader.
Still, there’s at least something on the villains in the Leviathan Rising special that closes out this volume along with a number of scenes with fun dialogue and Yanick Paquette’s excellent art throughout. Steve Epting’s art in the rest of the book is superb too - this book has wonderful visuals.
Superman: Action Comics, Volume 2: Leviathan Rising isn’t the most gripping or memorable Superman book you’ll read but it’s got fantastic art and enough good moments here and there to never be too boring. Here’s hoping Bendis’ Action Comics run continues to improve!
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