Before we get into our discussion about Action Comics #894, I figure some background information is probably necessary. Pretty much two years worth of spoilers lie ahead… You’ve been warned.

The Superman books have had a weird few years.  What with him not appearing in any of his ongoing titles during the New Krypton storyline, and now with superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski taking over Superman and deciding that the perfect follow up to that storyline is to have Superman walk across America as if he were Forest Gump or something. Of course if you’re going to have Superman just walk for however long that garbage is going to go on, you certainly don’t need multiple books chronicling it. As a result, Superman remains absent from his original flagship title Action Comics, and that book now stars Lex Luthor.

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Those of us who have enjoyed reading comics for most of our life have been blessed with a decade of comic book movies. By the end of next year, with the exception of a few DC headliners,  every major comic book character will have been turned into a major motion picture and licensing opportunity. We’re blessed… Except almost every one of those movies is cringe-inducing. (I’m 99 percent sure PTB doesn’t agree with this assessment, but bear with me.)

I’m not saying there aren’t nice moments in almost all of those films. I’m not saying I don’t line up to see most of them. It’s fantastic to see Superman stop a crashing airplane, but yet another Lex Luthor real estate scam? It’s moving to see the X-Men battle intolerance, but the wacky battle atop the Statue of Liberty to stop Magneto from turning everyone into a mutant? I digress… Comics don’t translate well into films largely because one of the major appeals of comic books is their serial nature. Three X-Men or Spider-Man films in a decade (1.5 watchable ones of each) cannot recreate that serial experience, but it’s been clear to me for years that a television series probably could. The problem is that the only example we’ve had to test this theory during last decade or so is Smallville…

At least until last night’s debut of The Walking Dead.

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We don’t normally talk politics here on MLD, and this is no exception. Over the past few days it’s been impossible not to be exposed to campaign ads for tomorrow’s midterm election, and it’s pretty clear that attack ads are the only ads out there at this point. I usually try to stay informed, but this year I can’t make sense of any of it. From what I can tell, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is running for some office in Pennsylvania. I don’t like his chances. I don’t think Gordon Gekko has a shot either, despite his recent performance at the box office.

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I’m sure it’s not the best stuff on Earth for my diet, but I really enjoy Snapple, particularly the Peach Tea. Aside from it’s general deliciousness, I also enjoy the “Real Facts” included on the caps. I don’t know why I’ve been getting so many about cats lately (three in a row!), but the trend was broken today when I learned a group of jellyfish is called a smack. I don’t know if all of these “Real Facts” are actually “True Facts,” but thankfully I was able to share this jellyfish information with a colleague who had a disappointing fact about the numbers of times a rechargeable battery can be recharged.

Welcome back for our ongoing discussion of DC Comics‘ Brightest Day series. As these posts have begun to pile up, we’ve created a new hub to access previous issues and even some of the things we had to say about Blackest Night. Brightest Day #12 is all-Martian all the time, which proves you can’t judge a book by its cover (unless it’s the variant cover).

Spoilers to follow.

PTB: I’m not so crazy about the cover this time around. It has nothing to do with the art, it’s more about the use of text. “DEATHSTROM RETURNS!” From where? He’s been in nearly every issue including the last one.

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