After the Earth-23 aside in ‘Action Comics’ #9, we’re back to the regular DCU this issue.

In the opening pages, we get a better look at Maxim Zarov who was introduced in the closing pages of ‘Action Comics’ #8. Zarov also calls himself “Nimrod”. (For older comic readers, this isn’t the same Nimrod that was a Batman villain in the the early 90s.) Zarov is Superman’s own version of Spider-Man’s Kraven the Hunter. Just like Kraven, Zarov claims to have killed every living thing on the planet and has decided to turn his sights on a new deadly prey… Superman!

Cut to Metropolis where Clark Kent is still going about his own brand of justice as Superman. It seems that there’s a child-killer on the loose and the legal systems isn’t working to bring him in. Cue the brash young Superman who was so fond of tossing business executives from rooftops in ‘Action Comics’ #1. It’s interesting to note that when he’s not battling world-threatening villains, Superman is still fond of wearing his t-shirt and jeans costume for his day-to-day duties.

While all of this is going on, Zarov is getting closer and closer to his prey. He’s linked the alien Superman to a young lad from Smallville named Clark Kent. When Zarov finally tracks down Clark to his apartment in Metropolis, he realizes that he may have made a mistake in going after the boy.

Grant Morrison, in his usual style, has been all over for the past several issues with villains living in Superman’s brain and then the Earth-23 President Superman. This issue, he comes back to Earth and the story feels more like the fresh reimagining of the Superman character that he wrote in the first issue of this new series. And, just like those early issues, Morrison throws some new twists into the Superman mythos and, while some may complain, I like what he’s done.

There’s a touching backup story from Sholly Fisch but I can’t really discuss the plot of it without ruining the reveal in Morrison’s part of the book. I will say that Fisch’s story is a good look at what Clark Kent means to those that he’s met along his journey. I’ll leave it at that. Go buy this book!

Verdict: Buy

ACTION COMICS #10
Written by Grant Morrison
Backup Written by Sholly Fisch
Art by Rags Morales, Bradley Walker, & Rick Bryant
Backup Art by CAFU
Cover by Rags Morales