The Good
Superman: Doomed continues to expand on the Superman universe better than any story thus far in the New 52. This particular issue of this multi-part, crossover series deals mainly with Clark's internal struggle to suppress the Doom virus and not let Clark completely fade away. In addition, Lana Lang and Steel head into space to search for him. Lana and Steel make a great team here, and Greg Pak is doing a wonderful job of rebuilding Steel as a hero.
Superman's narration is really the driving force of this issue and it works extremely well. It's easily the most compelling part of ACTION COMICS #33. It's very descriptive and poetic the way Pak weaves these sentences together. It's my favorite part of this issue.
The other stand-out here is the art of Aaron Kuder and Wil Quintana's colors. The scenes within space are beautifully designed and the color work is fantastic. The shading is smooth and natural, and there's one particular scene, featuring Supergirl and SuperDoom chatting in space, where the light shines off of SuperDoom's cape and back in a spectacular way.
The Bad
This story line is a roller coaster. Some issues are brilliant and wonderful, and others, like this one, are a bit of a headscratcher. The story in this issue, in the grand scheme of things, feels like a fill in. Sure, everything takes place within the time line of Doomed, but the story itself feels so out of place because it's SuperDoom off helping another planet. Sure, the idea of this issue is more about the internal battle and Clark trying to control his body, which is done very well, but the action feels like it's from somewhere else.
Because this story jumps through numerous books, with different creative teams, the opening featuring the people of Smallville in comas was a bit of a shock, since it wasn't something mentioned in the last issue of this story line (SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #9).
The Verdict
ACTION COMICS #33 is not a bad issue by any means, but it feels a tad out of place and doesn't move the story forward as the rest of the issues in this event. Pak does do a wonderful job with SuperDoom's narration throughout the issue to a point where it feels poetic. The art team, as always, does a great job as well, but all-in-all, it's just an ok issue. If this is on your pull list, keep it on because Doomed is still the best Superman story of the New 52, regardless of one or two decent issues.
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