Thursday, February 15, 2024

Action Comics #1062 Review

     
     

Written by: Jason Aaron
Art by: John Timms
Colors by: Rex Lokus
Letters by: Dave Sharpe
Cover art by: John Timms (cover A)
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: February 13, 2024


Action Comics #1062 unleashes the City of Bizarro on Metropolis before unleashing the Bizarro spell on the world. What's a Superman to do when... he... am... first... man... turned... Bizarro?
Is Action Comics #1062 Good?

Jason Aaron goes all in on Bizarro's newfound aptitude for magic by unleashing the Bizarro spell on Metropolis and then the world in Action Comics #1062. Infecting the world to turn all citizens into villains is nothing new, and Superman's place as the last uninfected "borrows" several thematic elements from Richard Matheson's most recognizable novel, but the role-reversal ending is an entertaining twist.

When last we left the Man of Steel, Bizarro completed a tour of interstellar worlds and dimensions where his unique condition allowed him to become a surprising wielder of magic. Bizarro returned to Earth, but instead of engaging in the usual fisticuffs, he unleashed an incredibly powerful spell that began turning Metropolis's citizens into Bizarro versions of themselves, including Lois Lane and Superman.

In Action Comics #1062, Superman's attempts to save Metropolis's Bizarro-ified citizens from themselves prove futile, and the Justice League's attempts to stop the spell from spreading Metropolis prove equally useless. Within weeks, the world falls. When Superman is the last man left infected in a Bizarro world who hates him, he has no choice but to turn to the only man whose infection becomes an asset by turning him into the sanest man alive - the Joker.

If you didn't catch the literary reference, major swaths of this issue read like a pretty close parallel to Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, with Bizarros instead of vampires. There's enough DC-specific content to give this issue a superficial feel of originality, but it's hard not to hear/see echoes of Matheson's classic work.

What's great about Action Comics #1062? For his part, Aaron crafts an atmosphere of hopelessness and isolation when Superman bears witness to a world falling to a spell he's powerless to stop. The story feels like a big, post-apocalyptic disaster. As a plus, the last-page reveal of an infected Joker is still pretty darn cool.

What's not so great about Action Comics #1062? I was critical of the previous issue for feeling like a "been there, done that" plot. This time, that feeling remains and may increase due to the parallels mentioned above. If Aaron intends to make a big splash with Superman by repurposing previous works, this arc is going to be a tough sell.

How's the art? John Timms's art style looks phenomenal in this issue. The action sequences are on-point for what readers need out of a Superman comic, but it's the broken-down ruination depicted in the backgrounds and settings that really sell the desolation of an ended world.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces:

Action Comics #1062 turns the world upside down and backward when Bizarro's spell goes global. Aaron and Timms really capture the isolation and hopelessness Superman feels when all attempts to stop the spell fail, but the plot and themes feel uncomfortably similar to better-known literary works.

7/10

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