(B) 75% | More than SatisfactoryNotes: A tired tapas medley of middling morsels, neither filling nor flavorful, it's decently done though ultimately ordinary.

Rather disjointed, but it includes an annual and I believe a special 75th anniversary, so there is a lot going on in this book. A few heavy beatdowns for the Man of Steel.

Some Interesting ideas, and fun moments, mixed in with confusing as fuck plot and horrible side characters. Everybody comes off over the top and corny, and the main enemy in this makes no sense. Also, what the hell is happening half the time? Why do we suddenly jump so many goddamn years ahead, then back to the start. The art is great, but the story itself is a gigantic fucking mess.

This volume was straight-up bizarre.First, we start out on Earth 23 with black President Superman, who is Calvin Ellis and not Clark Kent. Just ... why? Why are we suddenly on Earth 23? Why is Superman President? What does this have to do with the future issues in this series? Ok, so kind of random and pointless, but not an awful story idea.The middle issues aren't that bad either, but then Lois gets hurt and Superman takes her to a hospital. Um. Ok. Great, but I don't think that's exactly...

We’re in the second volume and already an alternate universe story. GAH! This is DC’s Achilles’ heel (that and endle$$ly rebooting continuity*). It ‘s an interesting story, (Lois, a barbequed Clark Kent and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen end up meeting an African-American Superman, who’s alter-ego is the President of the United States) but what does it have to do with the main storyline? In this volume, absolutely nothing!I don’t mind an occasional alternate universe storyline, as long as it’s simpl...

What the hell was this?It's a choppy disorienting mess that has no cohesive storyline. Or at least none that I could figure out.I'm pissed! I loved volume one! And now this?!Maybe it will all tie together in volume three? I'll read it, but it's going to the bottom of my TBR pile.

Normally I love Grant Morrison's work. However with this series and the introduction of the new 52, I have a really hard time following the timeline of this series. The time period seems to go back and forth willy-nilly between current time and when Superman was first starting out. However there's no transitions so it can be hard to tell what's happening when, especially now that Morrison is also introducing alternate realities.

Not sure what the hell I just read. It was all over the place with an alternate universe story, tales of Superman's early days in Metropolis, and other (even less) interest things. Since I know I actually like Superman, I'm going to blame it on Morrison's style, which is getting more and more annoying to me. (And, yes, I know he only wrote half the issues collected here, but he gets the blame even so.)My advice: stay the hell away from this unless you love Morrison.

Aaaaaaaand we’re back to the other side of Grant Morrison’s Jekyll and Hyde writing.Morrison, who to be fair was not the sole writer in this collection of DC’s New 52 Action Comics – collecting issues 9-12, can be one of the very best writers in all of comics, and he can also be one of the inconsistent, weird guys who tries something new and … maybe not fails, but just misses the mark. I’ve compared Morrison’s writing before to Philip K. Dick; both can be wildly inventive and innovative, but als...

Another fantastic volume of Action Comics from Morrison. They just get Superman right, and always come up with such fun and smart stories for the character. I also was surprised by how much I enjoy Sholly Fisch’s backup stories, they always read like a logical continuation of Morrison’s work, and they never feel like a chore to read, which is an incredible achievement for backup stories. Excellent stuff all around!

Although Grant Morrison is the writer listed on the spine and front cover, he really only wrote about half of this book. Granted, his is a bankable name. Certainly it's what drew my attention. This is the second volume of what appears to be yet another Superman reboot. I’ve not read the first, but am generally familiar enough with Superman and DC history that this wasn't a handicap. So we’ve Clark Kent as a young adult freshly arrived in Metropolis from Kansas. I like his relationships with Jimm...

I have always thought that Morrison is a no-talent hack who believes that shock-value equals a great story. It doesn't, Grant. Sorry, but even though you have occasional moments of brilliance, this collection did nothing to make me change my 'hack' opinion of you. I will stick through Vol 3 just so I can have closure (and give you the chance to redeem yourself), but it's not looking good, buddy. This volume was disjointed, and frankly, the inclusion of the Annual made it even less cohesive than

Pretty much liked the entirety of this book. Morrison has some great ideas, but his stream of consciousness way of writing and proceeding from one issue to the next is vexing at times. I still don't understand the purpose of the black Superman story. it was interesting but disrupted the flow of things.I think the book would be better served by printing the backups after the main stories like in the monthly books. They would make much more sense that way.The new Captain Comet is very intriguing a...

So.... When DC wants to not only kill something, but also annihilate it's very soul, they give it to Grant Morrison, right?Add Action Comics to the growing list of Morrison's victims. I think I was able to tolerate this simply because of Morales' artwork, which was a huge improvement from his disconnected illustrations in the first volume. For the most part (or I should say, when the text allows it) there is some fluid, cohesive visual storytelling.It's the writing that evaporates any hope that

I was shocked by how much I liked the first volume of New 52's Action Comics. Because honestly, I don't really care for Superman. But Morrison had been able to make the guy interesting, without straying too far from what I think of as the core of the character. Alas, no such luck here. Maybe I just fundamentally don't care for Superman, no matter what anyone does with him. But there was at least one storyline here that I think would have irritated me with any character. (view spoiler)[Let's kill...

Not as triumphant as the previous volume, but not a total wash, either.As a compulsive buyer of Superman tshirts I was glad there was a subplot about ca$hing in on...Superman tshirts!The Elseworlds stuff with President Superman I could have lived without, but the glimpse at Mister Mxyzptlk-related stuff was trippy, as was the Big Bad connected to Kal-El's arrival on Earth.I would recommend it for Superfans, definitely.

A big bizarre turn from the first volume, as Superman’s story is hugely muddled between some confusing subplots that make almost no sense and brings no real excitement. C (50%/Average)

I'll be the first to admit that this volume is a mess. However, I don't think it has anything to do with Grant Morrison's writing. For some reason, DC chose to collect this volume (and several other New 52 second volumes) in a way that doesn't tell you exactly what you're reading, which makes it extremely hard to follow at first. To begin with, this volume contains several things:-Grant Morrison's lead stories from Action Comics 9-12-Sholly Fisch's backup stores from AC 9-12-Grant Morrison's lea...

A jumbled mess. Grant Morrison is very hit or miss with me (80% of the latter) in his books. Rags Morales, however, has done a beautiful job with the artwork in his issues. While there are some interesting ideas and hints of larger stories looming, the setting of "Action Comics" may be its undoing. "Action Comics" is like Superman's early years in Metropolis, and is set 5 years before the "Superman" series in the New 52. So everything that is written in this series has to have some effect on "cu...

A little better than volume 1. I didn't take to Morrisons run on Action Comics the first time I read it (month to month as it was published), and re-reading it now, I feel the same way. The highlights in this volume are superman reading an entire medical library in seconds and then performing surgery himself to save Lois (which was crazy and cool and a classic silver age superman/Lois save) and the 0 (Zero) issue is very good. Could Ben Oliver not have done more and Rags Morales done less?