Blimey, this has been a long and drawn-out resurrection, hasn’t it? It was prior to Final Crisis that Barry “Flash II” Allen officially returned from the dead, subsequently showing up briefly in the pages of Morrison’s event mini – but having very little actual impact on the story or even much in the way of page time – and now, finally, Geoff Johns gets to sit down and tell the tale of the icon of DC’s Silver Age making his return to modern-day comics, reuniting with Ethan Van Sciver for a thematic sequel to their Green Lantern : Rebirth (oh, and a note to DC – if a title like that becomes a franchise? You’re DOING IT TOO OFTEN).

If I’m honest, I’m still struggling to see what the point of it all is. I have no small measure of affection for some of the classic Barry stories, and his death remains one of the greatest in comics history. But he’s very much of his time, a fact that Johns even alludes to (intentionally or otherwise) when discussing his particularly simplistic moral stance. He’s iconically representative of a certain era – that was kind of the symbolic point of killing him off in the original Crisis – so how do you make him relevant to this one when he hasn’t even been around to experience the world changing in twenty years?

Still, such concerns are probably for the longer view, and needn’t necessarily be reflected in what this is like as a comic and an introductory issue. And it’s… well, it’s as you’d expect from a Geoff Johns tentpole book. It’s entirely, thoroughly and inextricably rooted in “DCness”, and hugely reliant on prior knowledge of the identities of just about everyone that shows up. Make no mistake – if you’re wondering what the Flash is all about and you’re looking to start following his adventures, this ain’t the place for you. There isn’t even an explanation for why Bart is suddenly (a) alive and (b) a teenager again for those of us who haven’t read Final Crisis : Legion of 3 Worlds (I had to Wiki it just to find out that that was where it had happened).

And yet despite its impenetrability for the casual reader, from a technical point of view, it’s a pretty well-made comic. Despite approaching things from a different starting point to Hal Jordan’s return – Barry’s already alive when the book opens, for one thing – there are parallels in the way the layers of mystery are stacked up, with the hero’s apparently joyous return possibly not all that it seems, and there’s an intriguing twist to that effect in the closing pages. And if there’s one thing Johns is good at, it’s hopping around a universe he knows like the back of his hand and instantly slipping comfortably into assorted characters’ voices and setups – the page or so spent with the Titans instantly feels more like the “proper” versions of the characters than Judd Winick could manage in three or four lifetimes. That said, from a character point of view, he struggles to really make us care about the straight-laced and somewhat boring Barry – let’s hope that can be rectified, as the character’s past deserves it.

Visually it’s excellent, of course – when van Sciver does one of these big events, he usually brings his top form to the table, and this is an appropriately pacey and powerful-looking book, with strong use of vibrant colour. He gets Barry’s out-of-costume look spot on and instantly recognisable, and there’s a terrific panel of Wally reprimanding his kids that suggests he knows how to nail the sense of speed a Flash book requires.

The reader unfriendliness hampers the book somewhat, though, and there are elements even within its own framework that are frustratingly unexplained (just what’s going on with Barry – not the Flash, but Barry – suddenly having reappeared in everyone’s lives? What’s the “explanation”?) But it’s a solid, well-put-together slice of “event” comics, and even if it doesn’t answer the question of just what Barry’s eventual role will in the DCU be (given that Wally West, Jay Garrick and now Bart Allen are all still active), it does enough to suggest that he could have one.

As I think I’ve mentioned before, I’m not hugely impressed with this recent habit of taking chapters of an ongoing story out and putting them into one-off “Specials”. I find it throws off the momentum and sequencing of a title, even if it falls as a bridge between two arcs proper – as New Krypton Special does. You’re left wondering whether it’s an essential part of the story that’s been pulled out to emphasise its importance, or whether (as in the case of last week’s Jimmy Olsen one-shot) it’s there more to add colour and background for the more dedicated reader.

In this case, I’d have assumed before reading it that it was going to be the former – when in fact, it’s more about the latter. Nothing happens that you’d miss if you just went on to the next issues of Superman and Action Comics, it’s more about establishing the tone (and certain character beats) of the story to come. As it happens, it’s not a bad read. It’s fairly padded out, which only strengthens the argument that it should have been kept to the main titles – a number of scenes have no real reason to drag on the way they do, and thus feel suspiciously like page-filler (the dialogue-free opening of Jonathan Kent’s funeral also feels like it’s copping out of working on bringing out genuine emotion, instead falling back on the time-honoured device of silence).

The sequence that works best, however, is the middle section of the issue – Clark’s conversation with Zor-El and Alura in Kandor itself. It’s the mixture of Clark’s joy at having fellow Kryptonians around, and the increasingly ominous tone as we realise that their presence really isn’t going to turn out to be a good thing for Earth – aptly demonstrated by one Kandorian’s killing of a blue whale.

(Incidentally, while I previously complained about the apparent lack of relevance in killing off Jonathan, I’m starting to see the point of it as this story kicks into gear – killing him has put his very existence, and more notably his influence on Clark, into the spotlight, and we’re presumably going to see the difference between an all-powerful Kryptonian that was raised by the Kents, and ones that weren’t. Let’s hope that we get a more convincing range of Kryptonian characters than a simple one-note “non-understanding alien” take across the board, though.)

The other moment that leaps out comes right at the issue’s close, when the identity of the previously-unnamed “General” is revealed. I have to say that it says a lot about this character’s prior lack of relevance that he can have appeared on-panel unrecognised by simple virtue of not naming him (the reader could be forgiven, in fact, for wondering if Thunderbolt Ross hadn’t crossed universes) – and even the earlier conversation between the Lane sisters didn’t have me twig, although it was probably supposed to. What really strikes me about the closing scene, though, is the way Luthor is used. It would seem that, after a hazy few years where his status has never quite been clear, the final shackles of the Byrne-era “corporate criminal” have been cast off, and he really is back to being an habitually-jailed scientific genius. Not before time, to be honest – Morrison’s All-Star version (clearly an influence here, down to the orange prison suit) showed that it’s an interpretation that can still work, and indeed arguably works better than any other.

It’s a good-looking comic, too, by virtue of the fact that the Superman stable currently has by far its strongest set of artists since the days when Jurgens, Grummett, Bogdanove and Guice were the four main pencillers. It’s a shame, though, that while Pete Woods and Renato Guedes offer no small measure of consistency in their styles, it’s not matched by Gary Frank – whose work is excellent, but stands out as markedly different from the other two, and so gives the funeral sequence an even stronger impression of being something that should have been in the pages of Action, but simply didn’t fit.

Against my expectations, this really isn’t an essential chapter in the ongoing story, and so – especially at the price – I’d hesitate to recommend it unreservedly to anyone looking to get onboard with the new story. But for the current Superman reader there’s a good amount of colour established, and it does the job in a tidy and professional way.

Okay, so, before I get going, a word about spoilers – yes, I will be discussing what happens at the end of this issue, so if you don’t want to know, then look away now. On the other hand, despite what CBR might say about the New York Daily News’ story yesterday, if you’ve actually been paying attention to Action Comics over the past six months, it’s not a surprise at all. Hell, I actually thought it was going to happen last month, based on the cover – and indeed, based on solicitations of this month’s one, which shows Clark at a funeral (a funeral which, incidentally, is nowhere to be seen in the issue – I get the feeling the covers are a month ahead of the actual story).

So, yes, as we’d all guessed from the “hints” dropped in previous issues (let’s face it, subtlety has never been Geoff Johns’ strong point) Jonathan Kent bites it in the closing pages of the story. But while it’s been on the cards for months – all those lingering camera shots, and indeed the simple fact that the Kents were spotlighted in a story that apparently had nothing to do with them – I’m still struggling to figure out exactly what the point is.

See, in the previous versions of the Superman story in which Jonathan has died – that’s the first movie, Smallville and All Star; I’m not counting pre-Crisis continuity, because both parents died almost off-camera originally – it’s been a defining moment in a young Clark’s life. It’s the point at which he realises that there are some things that he is simply powerless to prevent, and some people he will never be able to save. I really don’t see, though, any reason for him to go through that lesson as an adult. What does it add to the character, with everything he’s already experienced? Worse, this is the first time we’ve seen Clark’s father die as a direct result of his being there. A heart attack seems to be the standard way of killing the character, and it works because it’s something that Clark just cannot prevent. Here, though, said attack is suffered after Jonathan has exerted himself saving Martha from an explosive device launched by Brainiac as a final act of revenge. In other words – if the Kents hadn’t adopted Clark, Jonathan would still be alive. And that just doesn’t work with Superman. You can’t go piling that kind of guilt onto his shoulders – he’s not a Marvel character, you can’t ever have him question whether he should be doing what he does. Coming from someone who’s generally shown a good grasp of the background and motivations of DC characters, it’s a disappointing misstep.

And of course, coming so soon after All Star, the issue can’t help but invite comparisons to Morrison and Quitely’s version of the same story – it even features the near-identical image of a previously-unaware Clark suddenly flying home at breakneck speed (Gary Frank does well here to convey the torment on his face as he does so, but it’s still not quite up there with Quitely’s flame-licked image). The thing is, while this Action run is superficially a technically well-crafted story (and I don’t mean that as an insult – many people struggle to make comics any good even on that superficial level), it doesn’t have the heart that it thinks it does. I found Morrison’s version genuinely moving – I feel like this, however, is trying to yank at my heartstrings with the payoff, but without putting in the effort to earlier get me emotionally invested in the story.

As a conclusion to the “Brainiac” storyline, meanwhile, this feels a bit weak. After building up the threat of Brainiac for months, it transpires that he’s… well, not much of a threat at all, really. Superman ends up defeating him rather easily, and it’s only by virtue of the closing pages that he’s left having any kind of impact on things. There’s a nice moment with Clark and Kara (her rehabilitation continues), but little else of any weight – and indeed, it feels like the death of Jonathan has been tacked on to the story to give the impression of a substance that isn’t really there beneath the surface. It looks great, and it apparently does the job that a straightforward superhero story should – but call it heart, or depth, or resonance, or anything else: there just seems to be something lacking.

This week marks the start of the new Sunday Pages format, incorporating capsule reviews alongside news tidbits. Since Julian’s now joining us, you can identify his contributions by the initials [JHa] and mine by [JHu], while Seb , obviously, gets to keep the more concise [SP]. We’re still feeling out the specifics, so be sure to let us know how you’re finding it, and whether or not you think it could be improved! Look inside for mini-reviews of Action Comics #869, Amazing Spider-Man #572, Greatest Hits #1 and X-Factor #35, as well as some discussion of Neil Gaiman’s reaction to the new Hitchiker’s Guide book.

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And so Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz’s year on Booster Gold comes to an end… and damned if, surprisingly, it hasn’t turned out to be really rather good. There have been stutters – the Barbara Gordon issue wasn’t as clever as it thought it was, and the “alternate universe” storyline went on a bit too long – and it’s certainly not the sort of comic you’d recommend to just anyone; but if you’ve got enough of a nostalgic fondness for late ‘80s and early ‘90s DC continuity (and style of storytelling) then there’s been a lot to enjoy. With this infuriatingly-numbered issue (actually the twelfth, if you also include the Zero Hour issue #0 of six months or so ago), they provide an epilogue to the recent Blue and Gold storyline and a neat capstone to their own run while leaving things open for future stories.

Throughout the series so far, the most fun elements have been in touching upon well-known moments from post-Crisis DCU history, and this issue – as you’d guess from the numbering and superbly-recreated cover dress – is no different, spending the opening pages tying in (once again, somewhat belatedly) to the DC One Million event. As with the Zero Hour issue, however, the use of said event is more fleeting and incidental than you’d expect – really, the sequence with Peter Platinum, amusing as it is, serves little purpose other than to set off Booster’s train of thought about the sort of hero he’s perceived as – and the sort of people he’s inspired. Throughout the series he’s been content to play the role of “secret hero”, nobly sacrificing reputation in the interest of the greater good – but here, learning that his perceived misdeeds have inspired others to try and “play the con” better, he realises that enough is enough – and it takes a surprising encounter with Batman to encourage him otherwise.

As Johns and Katz tidy things up in the wake of their departure, though, the issue is primarily about tweaking the status quo, and providing something of an uplifting conclusion to their arc – consequently, a major figure in Booster’s life makes a sudden and surprise return, and according to all available evidence it’s a long-term thing (no, it’s not Ted… sorry). Furthermore, the closing couple of pages throw an entirely sudden an unexpected twist straight out of left-field, one of those moments that leaves you wondering how long it’s been planned – and where it’s supposed to go from there. It’s all very deliberately fan-pleasing, though, and you could call that a criticism were it not for the fact that Booster Gold has been designed from day one to appeal to a particular type of reader (specifically, those for whom the last few years’ worth of DC stories have inspired the creation of Dan Didio voodoo dolls), so you can’t argue with the idea of giving them what they want one more time.

The series is now left, though, in a curious position, with a two-part Chuck Dixon story (written before his sudden departure) on the way and still no confirmed  – or, at least, announced – writer for beyond that. You half sense that the thing to do would be to draw a line under it for now – it’s not as if the status quo isn’t set up for someone to take up the baton in the future, merely that this feels like a good point for a breather. On the other hand, certain elements of this issue (some further tantalising blackboard mentions, including Azrael and Armageddon 2001, and another of those “Coming soon in Booster Gold” teaser pages) suggest that future stories are mapped out by someone. Whatever happens, the series will at least benefit from the presence of Dan Jurgens, who’s lent it a consistently solid feel from the start and who genuinely comes off like he could sit drawing this character interacting with the DCU at large for the rest of his career.

The last year or so has been something of a golden time for fans of the early ‘90s Justice League stories, with not one but two books (this and Blue Beetle) that contain affectionate references while also espousing exactly the same type of storytelling that characterised those classics. But both series have now lost the writing teams that made them such a joy, and it remains to be seen if any of their momentum can carry through into a new era. It’s certainly to be hoped so.

DC appear to have been taking a looser approach to continuity of late. Perhaps it’s an acknowledgement that a succession of Crises have failed to sort things out once and for all, or simply that DC’s “shared universe” has always been somewhat less grounded in reality than Marvel’s, but I’ve noticed a growing attitude of “if the stories are good, precise continuity linkups don’t really matter a great deal”. And such an approach, whereby each new creator gets to do their own interpretation, rather than rigidly following everything that’s gone before, is holding an increasing appeal as far as I’m concerned. No, it’s not the way comics have worked in the past – but the DC universe, in all its forms, is pretty bloody old now. Some of these characters have existed for a very long time now, and Crisis or no Crisis, it’s increasingly difficult to reconcile character histories when they’re spread over such a long period of time. What I think we’re seeing, therefore, is a shift to more mythological status for the really big characters – rather than a fixed story, instead it’s the rough elements that are fixed in place. It’s an approach that certainly worked with All-Star Superman – and I’m seeing the influence of that title quite strongly on the “proper universe” Superman books of late.

The latest issue of Action Comics – which actually appears to be the first salvo in the Robinson/Johns run on both main titles – is certainly a case in point. Take, for example, the presentation of Jonathan and Martha Kent. Has anyone ever been able to nail down these two characters for any length of time? Their latest incarnation, courtesy of Superman Birthright, was as a slightly older version of their Smallville equivalents. But here, in much the same way as Jor-El was given a movie-esque overhaul at the beginning of Johns’ latest run, they’re tweaked yet again – still similar to the Birthright versions, but older (and with some clear foreshadowing that Jonathan won’t be around for much longer). And you know, I’m not sure it really matters. You can raise all sorts of questions about how each successive decade of continuity is supposed to tie into the previous one – but much as I’ve got a soft spot for the science-driven Superman stories of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, for example, they’re not hugely relevant to the current character, and I don’t see that it’s beneficial to anyone for readers to have to rely on vast amounts of prior knowledge in order to pick up on a run. As long as the creator’s own run is a self-contained, decent story that doesn’t contradict itself, that should be the key.

Of course, even as you’re shifting familiar elements around, it’s possible to overdo the references to the past. Johns builds up a new core Daily Planet staff here, and while it’s the source of some decent light material, I’m not sure it hugely works. Taking his cues perhaps a little too strongly from All-Star, we get the return of Steve Lombard (still as one-note a character as he was in the ‘70s – I can’t help but feel he’s only there as a recognisable link to All-Star, heat-vision-related prank and all) and Cat Grant, along with ‘90s supporting character Ron Troupe. It’s a collision of eras that doesn’t really come off, not least because much of Cat’s character is based around an event (the death of her son) that happened way before any of the Birthright or Infinite Crisis reality-shifting was done – a hangover from the past, in other words. And while we’re at it, since when did Clark become the bumbling, blue-suited buffoon again? One of the strengths of his recent portrayals was as a strong individual in his own right, the Pulitzer-winning investigative reporter.

Still, if there’s one praiseworthy element of this version of Clark, it’s in Gary Frank’s visual portrayal. I don’t know if it’s his decision or Johns’ to have Clark and Lois drawn to look almost exactly like Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder… but damn, it works, even as you’re left feeling like it shouldn’t. Over-reliance on shoehorning in movie lore was the undoing of the infamous Last Son arc, but Frank’s work is so good that it’s hard to dislike. And a visual interpretation is just that – there’s no real need to read too much into how the character’s being presented. It makes for an instantly iconic and “classic” looking Superman, and that’s fine by me.

Hmm, I’ve managed to get this far on a discussion about continuity without actually talking about the plot of the issue. Ah, well. Suffice to say, it’s a new Brainiac story, and one that looks set to finally address the background story of the Bottle City of Kandor in modern continuity (as opposed to simply plonking it in the middle of the Fortress one day, which is the way it’s been done up to this point). And it’s quite well-played, actually. Johns is at his best when he strips stories down to a simple, effective level – because, as a continuity nut himself, he’s well-versed enough in DC history to know which elements work best – and of particular note is the opening sequence on Krypton, showing the theft of Kandor as a more horrific event than it’s ever really been portrayed before (including some interesting material with Zod, the villain given a bit more dimension than in his last appearance). Meanwhile, as with the surprising Toyman story last month, Johns looks to be drawing all the disparate versions of Brainiac into a coherent, singular one, so it’ll be intriguing to see where he takes it. Again, though, it’s in unleashing the shiny terror of Brainy’s intricate machinery that Frank excels – he really is turning in some of the best work I’ve seen on a DCU Superman title for a while. With Renato Guedes down for James Robinson’s Superman run, it’s a very encouraging time artistically for comics’ most iconic figure.

I’d hesitate to call this a truly great comic, but it’s well crafted and constructed, and generally shows the more appealing side of Johns’ writing. If this is the style in which the Super-books are aiming to spend the foreseeable future, then I’ll happily get on board with it – this is Superman, after all, and I’d rather have entertaining stories that follow continuity loosely than dull ones overly concerned with fanboy-pleasing minutiae.