Comic Review: Action Comics #1,015

Action Comics #1,015

DC Comics

Writer: Brian Micheal Bendis

Artists: Szymon Kudranski and Brad Anderson

Action Comics #1,015 picks up right where we left off with the last issue; Naomi’s introduction. I’ve heard such good things about her book that I’d been excited to get to this issue and see what she has to offer. Minus some underwhelming pages towards the end of the book, this is another very strong issue.

My main concern going into this was that I hadn’t read Naomi. I thought I might miss or not understand something, but luckily the book takes a few extra steps to catch up new readers. Frankly, I feel like I know literally everything that happens in the Naomi book. It’s a smart move in the creative team’s part, as there are undoubtedly more people reading Action than those that read Naomi. It never feels like an exposition dump (though it technically is) since the dialogue has so much energy.

Despite my finding it unnecessary to read her solo book to understand this one, it does make me want to. She’s the type of character that Bendis does better than any other. She’s young, inexperienced, and in way over her head. He clearly loves the character and it totally shows. While Bendis makes the similarities between her and Superman known immediately, he also pulls a fast one and neatly ties her to Batman as well. She bounces off both characters in a way that’s just so endearing.

That’s the first half-ish of the issue. Naomi chatting with Superman and Batmana, warning them of a new danger. That bit works really well. What works less comes toward the end when Superman takes off after hearing a crime take place. Long story short, he ends up battling the Red Cloud, another Bendis Original Character. Now, I don’t have a strong opinion on her in one way or another, she’s mostly just serviceable. Although, she gets extra points for being heavily involved in the Invisible Mafia plotline, even if she isn’t overly compelling.

So, on one hand I like that this sets us up for more Invisible Mafia stuff, but on the other this issue itself doesn’t exactly do that. It’s a fairly unremarkable battle between Red Cloud and Supes and ends on an anticlimactic cliffhanger. I actually had to double check that I hadn’t stuck two pages together and skipped the last one. It left me with a more bitter taste in my mouth than it should have considering the quality of the Naomi scenes.

Szymon Kudranski draws this issue as he has the last few. He’s still pretty good. He’s got a really interesting style, both in the pencils and in how he plays with page layouts. However, I found his action to sometimes be lacking. It was difficult to make out what he was going for at times, and I had to look closely to kind of get what was happening. He’s a strong artist for the most part, he just still has a few kinks to iron out.

Action Comics #1,015 is a very fun re-introduction to the character of Naomi. So fun that I actually put the book down and preordered her solo book about halfway through the issue. It peters out a bit towards the end and has a few missteps in the art, but ultimately it’s still very much worth reading if you’re a fan of this run or Naomi herself.

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