ACTION COMICS #4 will be hitting shelves on 12/7, and with its release comes a few changes to the book according to The Source. The book has been doing dynamite, so far, selling over 200,000 copies for the first issue alone, and issue two selling over 150,000 copies. There are three big changes happening to the book, starting next month, and one of them involves bringing back a cult favorite character.

1) BACKUPS ARE COMING

Starting with #4 (on sale 12/7), ACTION COMICS will now include eight-page backups written by Grant Morrison’s hand-picked choice, Sholly Fisch (writer of THE ALL NEW BATMAN THE BRAVE & THE BOLD). Each one will tie in directly with the 20-page lead story. What’s the backup of #4 about? Well, that brings us to our next “thing you need to know”…

2) STEEL IS MAKING HIS “NEW 52” DEBUT

The lead story in ACTION #4 by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales features the debut of the “New 52” Steel! Last we saw of John Henry Irons, in ACTION #2, he had quit his military job in protest over Lex Luthor torturing Superman under General Lane’s command. Now, as the Terminauts lay siege to Metropolis, it’s time for John Henry to put his money where his mouth is and go help Superman defend the city. The backup in #4 ties into the main story by depicting a critical fight between Steel and the brand new Metall-0!

3) BRAD WALKER AND CHRISCROSS TO DRAW BACKUPS

Brad Walker (HEROES FOR HIRE) is drawing the backup in #4. The backups of #5 — spotlighting Ma & Pa Kent — and #6 will be drawn by ChrisCross (SUPERMAN/BATMAN). The backup of #7 sees Brad Walker return to the art, and then #8 — the conclusion of the first storyarc — is one big issue-long epic by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales!

This is also a first look at the brand new Steel, drawn by Brad Walker, based off of a Rags Morales design. This is an early version of Steel, so you can expect his armor to evolve, much like how Superman's outfit will be evolving throughout ACTION COMICS. This version of Steel will take place at the same time as ACTION COMICS.

What do you guys think of the new Steel look? It's pretty cool to see an evolution of the character and his technology rather than John Henry Irons just popping up all "tech'd out." Will this back up entice you to pick up this book?

ACTION COMICS #4, featuring a reintroduction to Steel in a brand new back up, hits stores on December, 7th.

Action is a book I look forward to every month but the fact that it is a 3.99 book with only twenty pages really bothered me I am glad more story will be in the comic. A while ago Morrison said that his favorite book was Batman Brave and the Bold so he must really like it if he asked to work with the writer.

Sounds cool but.... not sure about Steel's new look, has his arms and legs been cut off and replaced with those pipe looking things?

This looks fantastic. Especially considering the rushed nature of his identity assemblage (responding ASAP to the threat) this looks perfectly practical to me. Naturally, with a 5 year period of time he will have polished it a bit, so as with Supes in Action this may just be costume run number one.

I know I'm wishing against the odds, but I hope hope hope that Steel and Captain Marvel can move from back-up to ongoing with the next wave. Call me crazy. Yeah, I asked for it. Crazy.

@azza04said:

Sounds cool but.... not sure about Steel's new look, has his arms and legs been cut off and replaced with those pipe looking things?

I think thats probably part of the suit, like his arms and legs slide into them as if they're sleeves. This is also probably just a prototype suit since its his debut as steel.

see the numbers are starting to fall. game changer my @$$.

Sounds cool but.... not sure about Steel's new look, has his arms and legs been cut off and replaced with those pipe looking things?

@ArturoCalaKayVee: @Avenging-X-Bolt: Yeah, it will probably look better when its colored as well.

Steel looks like Cyborg from Teen Titans.

I'm kinda disappointed that Superman no longer is the inspiration for him becoming Steel by saving his life. I guess I can live with it though.

Its like how Iron Man upgrades his armor. Im down. Looks cool.

@Dernman said:

I'm kinda disappointed that Superman no longer is the inspiration for him becoming Steel by saving his life. I guess I can live with it though.

Who says that he isn't?

I am glad they are making some great changes to Action Comics. I have already really loved this series and it is one of my favorites from the Dc reboot but now with these changes they might make this series even better when I did not know that was possible.

@Dernman said:

I'm kinda disappointed that Superman no longer is the inspiration for him becoming Steel by saving his life. I guess I can live with it though.

Who says that he isn't?

Wow, kinda changing the origin, but still, the look is incredible! Reminds me a bit of the Entropy Aegis combined with classic Steel suit. Go Irons!

@Dernman said:

@doordoor123 said:

@Dernman said:

I'm kinda disappointed that Superman no longer is the inspiration for him becoming Steel by saving his life. I guess I can live with it though.

Who says that he isn't?

Because it's looking more & more like he is becoming Steel because he feels responsible for an out of control Mettalo that he had a part in making.

Yeah I guess. But it'll only make him a stronger solo hero. I know I would rather read an ongoing series about a guy that rises up to fight his own creations rather than a guy who was inspired by Superman. If he was inspired my Superman, it almost makes him look like he is just a shadow of Superman. Thats what I have been loving about the Superfamily. They aren't his "clones" anymore but actual people. They each have their own gimmicks rather than all being part of the same gimmick.

Awesome, just freaking awesome. I have been really loving Action Comics so far, and it looks like that will continue for the forseeable future. I look forward to Steel's debut. This is definitely in the top 5 best books of the relaunch, as a Superman book should be!

@doordoor123: good point.

@Morpheus_: it's his first debut so of course the armors gonna look a bit rough around the edges. I'm sure the armor will look better as he starts upgrading it

Ah, finally! I love what Morrison has written so far. But if issue #4 was going to be another 20 pages of story and 8 pages of "Hey, George Perez is doing a Superman book. Here's some pencils of stuff that's already out. Never mind that he's already off the book in future solicits. Isn't it great? You should totally buy it. Please?"...

...I was going to drop this series and wait for the trade. Now that there's a plan to justify the $3.99 price tag again, I can hang in there.

@goldenkey said:

@doordoor123: good point.

@KainScion: Oh my got. A 2nd issue drop. No one could have seen that coming. NOT.

@KainScion: DC's market share imporved greatly in October. Game changer, yes.

@KainScion said:

see the numbers are starting to fall. game changer my @$$.

And yet it still was the 3rd most sold comic in the US, and it steam-rolled pretty much anything Marvel put-out

 @doordoor123 said:

@Dernman said:

@doordoor123 said:

@Dernman said:

I'm kinda disappointed that Superman no longer is the inspiration for him becoming Steel by saving his life. I guess I can live with it though.

Who says that he isn't?

Because it's looking more & more like he is becoming Steel because he feels responsible for an out of control Mettalo that he had a part in making.

Yeah I guess. But it'll only make him a stronger solo hero. I know I would rather read an ongoing series about a guy that rises up to fight his own creations rather than a guy who was inspired by Superman. If he was inspired my Superman, it almost makes him look like he is just a shadow of Superman. Thats what I have been loving about the Superfamily. They aren't his "clones" anymore but actual people. They each have their own gimmicks rather than all being part of the same gimmick.

@Dernman said:

@doordoor123 said:

@Dernman said:

@doordoor123 said:

@Dernman said:

I'm kinda disappointed that Superman no longer is the inspiration for him becoming Steel by saving his life. I guess I can live with it though.

Who says that he isn't?

Because it's looking more & more like he is becoming Steel because he feels responsible for an out of control Mettalo that he had a part in making.

Yeah I guess. But it'll only make him a stronger solo hero. I know I would rather read an ongoing series about a guy that rises up to fight his own creations rather than a guy who was inspired by Superman. If he was inspired my Superman, it almost makes him look like he is just a shadow of Superman. Thats what I have been loving about the Superfamily. They aren't his "clones" anymore but actual people. They each have their own gimmicks rather than all being part of the same gimmick.

@goldenkey: Yah but fighting his creations was always part of his story. If you remember that's why he was hiding out in the first place. He was a scientist who found out that the things he was creating was being turned into weapons for bad people that wanted to force him to make more. He was hiding out moving from place to place working different jobs. Then one day while working on a building he fell and Superman saved him. He asked how he could repay him. I forget what he said but when Superman died he decided to take Superman's words and became Steel. In his solo book it was all about him dealing with some of the people that used his creations for bad. Now they retconned him and kept one part of it but lost the other. Anyway like I said I'm disappointed but it's not something that I can't live with.

You have a good point and that was a powerful scene. But I still feel like he should become Steel under his own terms. Having Superman be the reason he becomes Steel makes the character weaker. It puts him in Superman's shadow. Which is why a Steel book won't sell. Its the same argument people had about buying Batwing. Why buy into clone of the ultimate hero that everyone knows and loves when you can just get the real deal. Taking away the Superman part changes the whole dynamic and makes him his own hero.

Action comics is great so far and I'm really enjoying where it is going right now. Superman is kind of cool.... lol. But unfortunately I had to chose between Batman and Action comics since my budget is tight... and since Action comics is 3.99, I picked Batman. (would of loved both lol)

Give me Cyborg superman

@Primmaster64 said:

Give me Cyborg superman

come on not yet, that later on in the superman series.

Geez am I the only one geting sick of seeing all of these "5 MORE WAYS THE DC UNIVERSE HAS CHANGED" or "CHANGES DC WANTS YOU TO KNOW ABOUT" articles popping up all the time?

DC rebooted their characters. I get it. The New 52. But is Wonder Woman's mother's new hair color that big of a deal?

Great news about the back up stories! Steel looks cool too.

It's so good to see Action Comics included among the very best titles on the market again! This is how it should be.

Metall-o vs. Steel makes for a good villain/hero duo....especially as both evolve their technologies. I could dig this.

His design looks awesome, I cannot wait to get his comic. Love it. (oops, didn't mean it to be bold and I can't undo it.)
@doordoor123 said:

@goldenkey said:

@doordoor123: good point.

where did you get that image? What gallery exactly would I find it in?

@Primmaster64: Oh Hell Yeah! I would definitely like to see Cyborg introduced as far back as Action Comics!

Oh man... I do not like this New 52 Steel's design at all :/

Goes back reading Superman: Doomsday and New Krypton instead..

@ArtisticNeedham said:

His design looks awesome, I cannot wait to get his comic. Love it. (oops, didn't mean it to be bold and I can't undo it.)
@doordoor123 said:

@goldenkey said:

@doordoor123: good point.

where did you get that image? What gallery exactly would I find it in?

Um i scanned it from the comic. :D

btw

@The Impersonator said:

Steel looks like Cyborg from Teen Titans.

THIS

Steel looks like Cyborg with a hammer.

...

I'm sold.

@KainScion: Quiet Marvel fanboy, the grownups are talking. Numbers falling or not, the relaunch still rejuvenated DC's lineup. No need to bash just because you don't like DC.