Review: Action Comics Vol. 7- Under the Skin
Quick Summary
Pros: The examination of Superman as a character is well done. The horror theme is a unique change of pace. The Futures End issue is touching and a bit inspirational.
Cons: The main story’s premise pushes suspension of disbelief. The Bizarro issue is lackluster at best. The artwork is lacking in more than a few places.
Overall: This is a collection with a number of positives and a number of negatives that eventually come together and even each other out. The end result is an average quality book with a few wonderful and insightful moments that are kept from greatness when the storyline stumbles. This isn’t a must have book, it is a book for readers who have been keeping up with the entire Action Comics series and want something subdued to bridge the gap between Doomed and Truth.
Story
Action Comics Vol. 7: Under the Skin is a short volume that doesn’t stand out that well on its own but works well as a reprieve between two larger storylines. Here, writer Greg Pak gets to show off his ability to investigate who Superman is and why he does the things that he does. This leads to stories that range from wholesome and touching to hopeful and inspiring. However, while the concepts are great, the story occasionally stumbles in expressing them. An unbelievable setting in the Ultra-Humanite story and poor pacing in the Bizarro story bring the quality level down a notch or two. Overall, this is an average quality book that helps bridge the excitement between two larger storylines.
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The majority of this collection follows the direct fallout of Superman: Doomed (Review). The hole in the Phantom Zone, created in Doomed, allowed the Ultra-Humanite to invade Smallville and cause trouble. This creates a horror story type environment where Ultra-Humanite has enslaved most of Smallville in order to feed off of their fear.
The positives in this story all involve Pak’s examination of Superman as a character. He digs into the immense responsibility generated by Superman’s very existence and shows how it affects the Man of Steel’s mental well-being. He even uses the horror setting to emphasize how dark Superman’s guilt can end up becoming. This is always an interesting topic but is even better when written by someone who understands the character, like Greg Pak clearly does.
However, the actual scenario surrounding this topic is a bit lackluster. Placing Smallville under the thrall of a super-powered being is believable, but giving the citizens of Smallville superpowers and then having them form a cult pushes suspension of disbelief. This is pushed further by the fact that they keep their secret completely secure, refusing to divulge it to both Clark and Lana. It makes a situation that feels unrealistic, even in a world of aliens from another dimension.
The book’s next chapter is an independent story involving Superman’s trip to the Bizarro World. Though this story is a humorous parody of the events of Superman: Doomed, it provides little more than a few chuckles. Even for a Bizarro story, this chapter seems quickly paced and a bit chaotic. Fans looking for a Bizarro story would be better off reading something with a more direct focus, like Bizarro (Review), instead of this.
Finally, the volume concludes with a Futures End tie-in that shows a possible future for a Superman without powers. This is a touching chapter that focuses on Superman’s status as a symbol of hope and how he can help others even without his powers. Again, Greg Pak shows his understanding of Superman as a character and uses it to write a wholesome story.
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Art
In previous reviews, we discussed how Aaron Kuder’s artwork typically looks decent but stumbles when depicting serious and emotional moments. Unfortunately, that flaw flairs up more than usual in this volume. The horror setting and the deadly nature of the story contrast sharply with the exaggerated and sometimes silly facial expressions that characters make. Kuder’s work simply has a hard time capturing the horror aesthetic and the collection suffers because of this.
On the flip side, Kuder’s work on the Bizarro issue works wonderfully. Exaggerated facial expressions and creative characters look wonderful on a planet that is designed to be silly. If this issue were a larger portion of the collection, this review would be far more positive.
Continuity
Action Comics Vol. 7: Under the Skin continues the story from Action Comics Vol. 6: Superdoom (Review) and from Superman: Doomed (Review).
The story here continues in Action Comics Vol. 8: Truth.
This volume also references and continues the stories from other comic books, detailed below:
- Superman met and befriended Hiro in Batman/Superman Vol. 2: Game Over (Review).
- Superman briefly mentions his recent fight against the Phantom King. This happened in Batman/Superman Vol. 4: Seige.
- The last issue in this collection is a tie-in to Futures End.