Action Comics #893

Another one of my monthly titles I shall review is Action Comics. This Cornell run with Luthor and his quest for power more than makes up for the atrocity that was Nightwing and Flamebird. Cornell deftly balances action, humour and spotlighting what makes Lex Luthor the formidable villain he is today brilliantly. Along with my latest addition to my monthly read, Green Lantern, this continues to be a brilliant read. Will this issue be no exception?
 
Synopsis
 
Lex Luthor and his team venture into Africa to locate the next Black Lantern energy signature but to get it, they must go through the maniacal Gorilla Grodd and his mind controlled monkeys!
 
SPOILERS!!!!!
 
The Good
 

• This issue lives up to my expectations once again. The perfect blend of action with plot twists and humour to boot. Another fantastic issue.
• Lex is portrayed in the light of how he is one of the greatest supervillains of all time. It's not only his genius and multi billion corporation behind him, it's his ambition for power (the Black Lantern energy) to get one over on the 'menace to the world' that is Superman and his disregard for other people's life, demonstrated by him using an employee to send false information to Grodd.
• This issue in particular rounds out the supporting cast very nicely. The Lois Lane android is the break out star given here spunky attitude and somewhat dubious relationship with Lex if you know what I mean ;). I would like to see here weapon out more but that's just me. The other supporting cast are given some development as well with a particularly humourous scene with Lex's assistant Mr Spalding. The fact Cornell has established a supporting cast is what gives this book its edge as opposed to Superman having Lois Lane, Perry White and Jimmy Olsen, Lex has Lois Lane bot, Mr Spalding and others.
• Another thing I love about this book is that it plays on the whole treasure hunt theme. Having Lex travel all over the world to find 'clues' that will lead him to his ultimate goal is a very good way of making this story more fun.
• Then there's the villains. The best thing about this is that Lex only really faces off against big, class A tier supervillains. We've had him face off against Mr Mind, a crazed Deathstroke and now Gorilla Grodd. In the future, it's Death, Vandal Savage, Larfleeze and even the Joker. This was a good approach, pitting Lex against the best of the best.
• Grodd is given a whole new creepy and disgusting outlook in this issue. Grodd is portayed as a terrifying cruel carnivore with a knack for getting what he wants from people even if they're not around to say otherwise. The whole eating brains thing is very disgusting and yet enthralling at the same time. And, needless to say, Cornell finds a way to intermesh common comic book sense into this in that Grodd eats the brains and uses his mental powers to find out what he wants from it which was very cool.
• The end was quite nice as well, giving the reader a taste of the next issue with Death, something I can hardly wait for.
• The art was good as well, equal to that of Pete Wood's which is a shame considering he's been absent for a while from the book and I like consistent artists on a series tbh. Let's hope for the future then...
• Oh and the thing that sold me on the story was Grodd... and his eating spoon. I laughed so much especially when Grodd said, "I have brought my biggest combat spoon to eat your tasty brains!" That was awesomesauce and the best bit of the book imo.
  
  The Bad
  
  
• The back up feature was rubbish. Whilst I liked bits of it e.g Chloe Sullivan being introduced into DC continuity, morse code being the reason how Jimmy contacts Superman and the opposite of Jimmy in there, Sebastian Mallaroy, a Lexcorp executive. I liked how that played off each other but the rest was so bad. The art wasn't that good, the alien invasion was too coincidental and I'm just not interested in the story at all.
• The cover is decent but it looks a bit too dark, not enough colour. Lex didn't need to be in the suit for one and it's a shame Grodd's combat spoon isn't apparent due to the logo on the cover.
  
  So there you have it. A very fun read worth your money. Definitely recommended by me.
  
  Final Score
  
  Story: 10 out of 10
  Art: 8 out of 10
  Cover: 7 out of 10
  Overall: 8 out of 10