Action Comics #16 Review
***SPOILER FREE REVIEW***
Ok, I have no idea what I read in this issue of Action Comics. Some of the issues of this run have been really non-linear and been all over the place, but this issue had to be the most difficult to grasp and confusing to read. This required 3 reads before I got an idea of what was going on in this issue. Even then, the narrative told can be confusing even if it was told in a more linear fashion. I've generally enjoyed Morrison's work on this run of Action Comics, but this was a sizable road bump onto the highly anticipated last issue of Morrison's Action Comics.
I'm honestly tired of Rag Morales' inconsistent art. This was a problem back in the 1st volume of Action Comics (Issues #1-8, excluding Issues #5 and #6, which were drawn by Andy Kubert), and is highly noticeable in this issue, with some panels looking quite good and some panels looking AWFUL (the page with Luthor being one notable example). Rag's art can be quite good, but it's too variable page to page, panel to panel to give a strong rating on the art. I wish this series had been given to Andy Kubert, Brad Walker, Gene Ha or any of the other fill-in artists who've had to help fill-in for Morales. Brad Anderson's colors are some of the saving grace of the art, being quite good on most pages (with the aforementioned Luthor page being the a little off).
The back-up was nice, but nothing special. Sholly Fisch's backups in Action Comics have ranged anywhere from pedestrian to amazing, and I felt that this was one of the more pedestrian backups. Maybe if I actually cared about the Legion of Superheroes at all, I would give the backup a better review, but I don't. The backup art has a nice throwback vibe to it, with retro looking art from Chris Sprouse, old-school thick but neat lines from Karl Story and colors by Jordie Bellaire that make that complete the feel that the backup looks like it was printed on old newspaper and similar material they used in the Silver Age of Comics. While the art is neat, I would only rate the backup as necessary if you're a big Legion fan.
While the last three issues of Action Comics have been some of the best yet of Morrison's run, I have to say that this was the single-handed worst issue of the run. Instead of a fun read, we get an extremely confusing narrative that is more tiresome than fun to untangle. With inconsistent art, this issue is quite a disappointment.Hopefully, Morrison's final issue is a home run, especially compared to this strikeout of an issue.
