After the insanity of ‘Action Comics’ #6 that saw Superman facing off against a group of villains that had built themselves a headquarters inside the hero’s brain, this issue takes a more traditional turn. Amidst all the weird goings-on last issue, a portion of the city of Metropolis as taken by the alien Collector. Trapped in the captured city are many of Superman’s central casting, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen. Now it’s up to the Man of Steel to find out what happened to his friends and his adopted city.

[Warning: The next paragraph has some spoilers for the issue. Skip past it if you haven’t read this issue yet.]

As this issue opens, Superman is preparing to launch himself into space to board the alien ship. This is an epic feat since Superman has never reached speeds high enough or flew high enough to break atmosphere. But, with the fate of innocent people in the balance, Superman is determined to do it. Once he’s aboard the alien ship, Superman discovers the Collector’s well… collection of miniaturized bottled cities, collected from all of the worlds that the Collector has absorbed and destroyed. Included among the bottled cities, Superman finds the missing section of Metropolis. But he also finds the city of Kandor, a city collected from Superman’s homeworld of Krypton! When Superman is discovered by the Collector, he is forced to choose between saving either his adopted home of Metropolis or his birth world of Krypton. Superman chooses to try and save both and a battle with the Collector begins!

[Okay… the spoilers are done.]

Grant Morrison took us into his usual strange but wonderful territory last issue. With this issue, he comes down to Earth (or at least in its orbit). Still, it’s an exciting spin on the New 52 Brainiac. Morrison’s explanation of Brainiac’s origins on the various worlds is superb… but when the Collector gives it’s Earthly name, I had to literally give a chuckle since Morrison hit it dead on. This issue also gives us the origin of Superman’s alien armor costume as seen in the pages of ‘Superman’ and ‘Justice League’. When Morrison gives us a look inside the bottled city of Metropolis, we get a further glimpse into the Lex Luthor of the New 52 and I can already tell that this is going to be a guy that I’m going to love hating.

I can’t wait to see the showdown between brains and brawn as Superman takes on the Collector next issue!

After Morrison’s main story, we’re also given a backup tale from Sholly Fisch featuring Steel as he attempts to save lives in Superman’s absence. It’s a fun, but forgettable little story that gives us some insight into Steel’s thoughts on his home city.

Verdict: Buy

ACTION COMICS #7
Written by GRANT MORRISON
Backup story written by SHOLLY FISCH
Art by RAGS MORALES and RICK BRYANT
Backup story art by BRAD WALKER
Cover by RAGS MORALES