“…In the greatest city in the world, the city of Superman and thanks to him…it’s better with us in it.”
Phillip Kennedy Johnson and co, since the start of 2023, has provided a thrilling saga to Action Comics, starting from the Warworld Saga to the finale of New Worlds, ushering in the new era of Jason Aaron’s tenure and the eventual House of Brainiac storyline coming in 2024. As Johnson and artist Max Raynor end this political saga, it becomes clear that this is merely an ending and in a world of superhero comic books with continuous teases to the future, there is something deeply satisfying about that.
However, despite how satisfying a simple conclusion is, Action Comics 2023 Annual #1 does come with problems of its own. Johnson’s all-around writing for the family is hit and miss. Johnson finds himself writing compelling dialogue with Clark and Kara as they inspire bravery in the weak to stand against Blue Earth and their cult leader, Sister Shadow, while he finds himself writing admittedly weak dialogue between Connor and Kenan. This remains the largest error in Johnson’s script, but it doesn’t truly impact the larger as thankfully, Johnson’s writing with Sister Shadow is brilliant and gives her a strong voice as an antagonist.
DC
Johnson’s way of writing helps this annual flourish primarily within the action as readers are faced with the stakes of Superman being forced to deal with the mystical side of the DC universe which plays with his general weaknesses towards the magical world and its abilities. Unfortunately, the story still walks away from the initial political analysis by taking such a large step to the mysticism of it all.
What made the first half of New Worlds work was the political terror that Clark and the family were facing as their alien identities were being hunted down. Johnson’s core writing flourished under Clark’s emotional pressure and with the identity reveal of Sister Shadow, it has abandoned the original narrative almost completely if not for the consistent anti-alien protests around the city.
I felt that Johnson could’ve done more with this story on a larger scale as he played with the complete and total political control that Blue Earth was putting onto the world, someone as powerful as an Al Ghul would’ve been able to slowly take over the public consciousness and alter how one would feel about their favorite superhero. Johnson’s story works but is chalked with missed opportunities and oftentimes strange decisions.
DC Comics
Thankfully, the highlight of the annual is Max Raynor as not only does he keep up with the chaos happening in the world but helps uplift Johnson’s writing with his expression and wild art style. His art, paired with Matt Herms and his colors, allows for the dynamics of the battle visuals to flourish as it walks through the story taking inspiration from fantasy stories and sci-fi for its craziness. It is clear that Raynor had fun with manifesting the script and it shows the true light in the annual.
Johnson and Raynor craft a fulfilling ending to the Super-Family period of Action Comics despite the consistent issues with the larger arc and its storyline. Even with the problems, I will miss Johnson’s time on Action Comics as his experiments with these characters and their motives were daring highlights of DC’s publishing year and it uplifted Johnson’s writing career to new heights. I can’t wait to see what happens next to the House of El in 2024.
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