Review: Action Comics Vol. 5- What Lies Beneath

Quick Summary

Pros: This more wholesome characterization of Superman is well done and needed. The reintroduction of Lana Lang is great and has a lot of potential.

Cons: The artwork isn’t the best in some places. Dual narration is great but can be confusing at times.

Overall: This is a great start to a new series of Action Comics stories with a lot of potential. Superman is not just in the story to beat up villains and crush monsters, he is there to inspire in the way Superman always should. Readers looking for a true Superman story should definitely look to this book.

Story

In Action Comics Vol. 5: What Lies Beneath, writer Greg Pak provides the beginning to a run on Superman that has tons of potential. He immediately casts aside showy boasts of power and instead decides to focus on who Superman is as a hero. This, in turn, creates a more wholesome and emotional story that proves Superman is more than just a man with big muscles. The inclusion of Lana Lang and the cliffhanger at the story’s end also do a fantastic job in building excitement and preparing readers for what is to come.

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It makes sense that Pak starts this run out with by highlighting the aspects of Superman’s youth and character which he plans to elaborate on later. Stories from Superman’s childhood show a young man confused by his own place in the world around him, yet who has a wonderful set of parents to guide him in this process. This sets the tone for the rest of the collection and allows for a gentle Superman to take the limelight.

Pak underlines this tone with a quick story that seems to throw some criticism about how Superman has been handled in more recent series. The Man of Steel beats up a bunch of criminals and laughs about how good it feels. This is a Superman reveling in his own power and ego, which one could argue has been done recently in the Superman series. By criticizing this take on Superman, Pak assures readers that it will not be the type of story he is writing.

Instead, this story is all about the side of Superman that cares about everyone, no mater how monstrous they may appear. The start of the main story sees a monster threatening a group of workers. Everyone insists that this creature be taken down, except for Superman, who realizes that this isn’t a malevolent being but simply a scared child. He takes the monster back to his Fortress of Solitude where he befriends it and proves that it is not the villain that readers were lead to believe. This is what Superman is about, providing hope and gentle guidance when no one else thinks that these things are even possible.

The rest of the story sees more of this as Superman tries to free a species of animals who are being used as batteries in Underworld. However, this portion of the story is where the tragedy in Superman’s life is exposed. The unfortunate condition of the denizens of Underworld is unavoidable and is only further aggravated by Superman’s interference. Here we see what the beginning of the story alluded to, a man with loads of power who ultimately can’t fix everything. It is a bittersweet addition to the story that serves to make Superman a more complex character.

The story also benefits from the reintroduction of Lana Lang to Superman’s life. This is a woman who has known Clark Kent since birth and, potentially, knows more about him than anyone else on the planet. Introducing her to the mix provides a grounding force that works perfectly with the themes Pak established earlier. As of this story, her character has mostly just provided a different lens to view the Man of Steel through, however it will be interesting to see how her character progresses as this run continues.

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Art

The art in this story varies in terms of quality, depending on what is being depicted at that moment. Artist Aaron Kuder does a great job in depicting the strange worlds and monstrous beings throughout this story. Underworld and all its citizens are drawn with incredible creativity and detail and provide a visual treat every time they are on the page.

However, on the downside, human beings don’t look nearly as good. Faces and facial expressions frequently look odd and break up what is otherwise a nice looking book. If readers can get over this small flaw, then this is still a book worth looking at.

Continuity

Action Comics Vol. 5: What Lies Beneath flows directly out of the events of Action Comics Vol. 4: Hybrid (Review). However, because of the switch in writers and the way the story here is handled, not much of the first four volumes of Action Comics are referenced here, making it a great jumping on point for new readers.

The story here continues in Action Comics Vol. 6: Superdoom.

This volume references and continues the stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:

• The Kents deciding to keep Superman was previously chronicled in Action Comics Vol. 1: Superman and the Men of Steel.
• The young boy wearing Superman’s cape was from a story in Action Comics Vol. 2: Bulletproof.
• Superman and Wonder Woman’s relationship is mentioned, this started in Justice League Vol. 2: The Villain’s Journey (Review).