Action Comics and its Legion of Superheroes storyline continues to shine its latest issue, number 862. Picking up from the cliffhanger that we left with in 861, issue 862 brings in some of my favorite ancillary Legion characters. They are the Legion of Substitute heroes.

For the unaware, the Legion of Superheroes regularly audition new heroes for membership in the legion. The minimum requirements are that each hero must have at least one superpower and it must be inborn. The Legionnaires only pick the best and most useful powers and heroes for membership. As you can imagine this results in a great deal of disappointment. However, a small group of interviewees who were rejected did not want to give up the opportunity to become a superhero and instead formed the Legion of Substitute Heroes. Their idea was that when the main Legion was preoccupied with the latest global crisis and a new dangerous situation arose they would “sub” for Legion.

Some of the most entertaining substitute Legionnaires are Stone Boy and Chlorophyll kid. Stone Boy posseses the power to make himself nearly invulnerable but he loses the ability to move while doing so! Chlorophyll kid can make plants grow really fast. Though these powers may seem useless, the subs always find a way to make them work to their advantage.

Anyway, the story in this issue is that as that the Legion is getting close to zero hour for intergalactic warfare, Superman suggests calling in the Substitute Legionaires. Together the subs and the primary Legion members have a final confrontation with Earth boy and his psychotic cronies. Success will be difficult with Superman have almost no powers left because of the sun becoming red.

One of the best highlights of this issue was one scene in which Earth Boy tries to wrap Superman in his own cape. Superman pulls the cape away and then says “Don’t tug.” Also, the cliffhanger ending was very cool too and featured an awesome and appropriate use of the Legion flight ring.

As usual, the artwork by Gary Frank is top notch in the issue. However, the cover for me is a bit of a miss. There’s not a lot going on in the page and I think the composition isn’t very interesting or strong.

However! Don’t judge a book by its cover. Action Comics is good right now and worth picking up.

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I had picked up a few random issues of Action Comics, most notably the “Escape From Bizarro World” storyline. I’d enjoyed what I read and eventually decided I wanted to pick up the title regularly. Action comics 861 is my first comic I received when I started ordering Action Comics. While I found myself jumping into the middle of a storyline, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the story. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank.

Gary Frank is an artist whose work I had never encountered previously. However, I’ve got to admit that I really really digged his artwork. First of all, if you look at the cover, you’ll notice how much it rocks. While some of the pages of the issue contain figures that look poorly proportioned and a little strange, on the whole all the drawings look very nice. Frank’s style lends an element of weight and realism to the characters. The characters clothing seems as if it sits upon their muscles and bones, which are also clearly defined. There are also folds, shadows, and other details which are either absent from other artists drawings (or even worst misued). There seems to be quite a bit of attention to anatomy.

Geoff Johns’s story also harkens back to old silver age Legion stories in which the Legion of Superheroes send a time sphere back to get Superboy in the past to combat some crisis in the future. Many of the same legion members I’ve read about in my “Showcase Presents Legion of Superheroes” are there, which is a real treat too. Also included are newer characters I’m not familiar with like Wildfire and Dawnstar, who are also very cool. Needless to say, I look forward to more issues and will have to keep my eye on Gary Frank since his artwork is so pleasing to the eye.

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