Action Comics #426
A comic review of art, storytelling, and theology.
August 1973
COVER GRADE: A
Penciler: Nick Cardy
Now that is a poster. As a intro to a story, its bland and boring - stereotypical Superman, but as art it's ready for a frame. I love the quality of the transition from Clark Kent casting off his suit and glasses to Superman flying off to the rescue. I like the plane colored in all red for emphasis and emotion. And then after studying the cover for a while you notice 12 well thought out bystanders looking to the sky (13 if you count a baby in the stroller). It's all beautifully done.
My only problem is that Clark's pants are too tight.
STORYTELLER'S GRADE for "Master of the Moon Rocks": C
Writer: Cary Bates
A mysterious villain is stealing moon rocks through an invisible trail-beam projected through the sky (the moon rocks collided with a passenger plane mid flight thus creating the cover image). The villain explodes the moon rocks as part of a plan to kill Superman. Our hero arrives to unmask the villain as Terra-Man. Terra-Man loads his gun with the lunar particles from the moon rock explosion, but Superman disarms him. It turns out that Terra-Man's gun was actually a bomb rigged to explode. Superman gives it a "super throw" through the earth into its core. Not sure what kind of damage that would do or what Terra-Man's would have done if his plan worked because he was standing right next to Superman when the gun would have exploded.But no harm, no foul, Superman takes Terra-Man to jail.
This is the fourth appearance of Terra-Man, the first three all being the previous year (1972) in Superman issues 249, 250, and 259. We'll see him seven more times in Action Comics.
There is also an appearance of the Anti-Lunar League, "a cult of extremists who believes earth is tainted by alien materials--like moon rocks!" This story implies Superman has met them before, but I can't find any appearances outside of this book.
I appreciate that the story had legitimate twists and utilized semi-established characters from the larger Superman universe, but ultimately the all the pieces of the story didn't fit together all that well.
ARTIST GRADE for Superman: C+
Penciler: Curt Swan, Inker: Murphy Anderson
I'm not a fan of how Curt Swan draws Superman's face, but that aside, the art in this story is more dynamic than I've seen in recent Superman tales.
I enjoyed Superman karate chopping the wing off the plane in order to stabilize it.
All of the clues to figure out the mysterious villain where included only in the art.
But most importantly I learned that Superman's pants have stirrups to keep them so nice and tight, but he doesn't wear socks.
Those might be some stinky boots!
STORYTELLER GRADE for "Green Arrow - The Wrong Side of the Tracks": C
Writer: Elliot Maggin
Oliver Queen is minding the Pretty Bird Flower Shoppe for Dinah Lance when a sculpture is brought to their address by accident. Queen recognizes the the moving van carrying the sculpture is from a company that went out of business last year and decides to investigate. Green Arrow uncovers a plot against the new heir to the Osborne Foundation, Chatsworth Osborne Jr. Demoted employee, Gregory Gates had put a listening device in the sculpture to ruin Osborne's every move. Green Arrow finds out Gates is disgruntled because Osborne plans to give much of the fortune away to charities and people in need. Green Arrow seeing much of himself in Osborne, apprehends Gates and single handedly reviews and fixes Osborne's financial ledger. In thanks, Osborne sends 100 flower orders to the Pretty Bird Flower Shoppe for every orphanage and "old-age home" in town.
In a word this story was "meh."
ARTIST GRADE for "The Wrong Side of the Tracks": C
Penciler: Dick Dillin
Inker: Dick Giordano
Perhaps due to the story with less action the art is less dynamic as well. Only one moment jumped out at me as the Green Arrow uses one thug's attack against another thug. That was a pretty well drawn out sequence.
Accounting is somewhat less exciting.
But maybe if my accountant dressed like that it would have more action.
STORYTELLER GRADE for "Human Target - The Short Walk to Disaster Contract! Clause #2: The Shortest Distance Between Two Points": B
Writer: Len Wein
The story begins with a quick recap of last months cliffhanger.
Christopher Chance is face to face with a gun in the hands of Antonio. Chance has deduced that Antonio can't be the original attacker because he His not out of breath from the lead up chase. He was just upset about being forcibly replaced. Aided by a simple distraction, Chance quickly disarms Antonio and puts him in a submission hold until Antonio agrees to let Chance protect him. Soon Chance as Antonio is tightroping walking across Niagara Falls in view of a crowd of onlookers and a TV News helicopter. Halfway through the way the rope snaps and Chance begins to fall. But suddenly he levitates in mid air. The crowd is stunned as Chance flys over like Superman to apprehend the only person not amazed. That man is running in fear. Chance unmasks the man as Antonio's partner Martin who would have received all the rights to the circus in Antonio's death. But how was Chance able to fly? He was strapped in to a theatrical flying harness wired to the helicopter pretending to film for the news. The wires were loose enough to allow Chance to control his own motions but no chance of falling.
This story was a bit of a letdown after how great the first part was, but after a bit of consideration the flying harness was enough of a cool twist to keep this story above average.
ARTIST GRADE for The Short Walk to Disaster Contract! Clause #2: C
Penciler/Inker: Dick Giordano
Again the art was a letdown compared to Part 1.
It started so well with a perfectly colored flashback sequence.
But otherwise not too much to highlight. Of course seeing Christopher Chance fly was pretty interesting.
THEOLOGY GRADE: D
There's nothing deep here so I'm not going to try to create something out of nothing, but as I read the Superman story, I kept wondering, what would Terra-Man have done if his plan worked? Part of his plan was to be apprehended so that Superman would take his gun, but that means that Terra-Man is standing right next to Superman when the gun would explode. If the blast is powerful enough to kill Superman how is Terra-Man supposed to survive?
Is killing your enemy worth dying for?
Maybe for some people I guess, but here's what the Bible says Christians should do...
“On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:20-21 NIV
If we actually did this it would solve a lot of problems.
CLARK KENT’S MONTHLY GOOF:
This week Clark purposefully falls out of Steve Lombard's sports car. Not so much a goof, but still pretty silly.
EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE:
As mentioned in the plot, Superman gives the gun/bomb a "super throw" through the earth into its core. I'll admit that it sounds pretty cool, but why not just throw the gun into space? I'm not sure what kind of damage a hole straight to the core would cause so I don't know if Superman just created a volcano or something. But maybe he seals up the hole after. The core is a better place to keep a gun from Terra-Man though. Seeing as he's a space cowboy he could probably find it pretty easily if Superman just threw it into space.
DEAR EDITOR (seen in #430):
The editor confirms an interesting note that the philanthropist from the Green Arrow story, Chatsworth Osborne Jr., is named after a similar character from the CBS TV show "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis". Apparently Elliot Maggin was a fan of the show. How could DC blatantly rip off a direct character name? Maybe because DC made the comic book version of the show from 1960-1964.
