And I ended up really, really liking it.
Don't get me wrong, it doesn't start off well. If there was a great big list of Things Superman Should Never Ever Say, "I'm your worst nightmare" would be right up at the top, along with calling people "rats" and threatening them with his laser eyes. That really rubbed me the wrong way.
However, once I got past that initial bit where Morrison apparently forgot he wasn't writing Batman, things do start to find their groove. Since the first arc of Action Comics is apparently them doing Golden Age-era stuff, I liked a lot of the nods they made to it, like referencing him roughing up a wifebeater and knocking around Nazis (well, Neo-Nazis in this case). The fact that Clark Kent's working at the Daily Star instead of the Daily Planet is another nice Golden Age homage, and it sets up a nice rivalry between Clark and Lois Lane, as well as some interesting stuff for Jimmy Olsen, as he works with Lois but has been best friends with Clark since he moved into Metropolis.
The comic itself moves at a really fast pace, but still manages to put in a lot of detail, hitting the major points of what's been going on in Clark's life and what Metropolis is like. Rags Morales' artwork is solid on the whole, but some of the faces look a little weird at points (Luthor's face is way too round IMO). And while the dialogue can be really grating here and there (again, "I'm your worst nightmare"....ugh.), the way everything's laid out still makes it a good read.
I still don't like the whole T-shirt and blue jeans look, but it does make sense if Superman's just starting out, and doesn't have access to the Fortress of Solitude or anything to make a proper suit. He seems a lot more utilitarian, and to be honest, it does make a little more sense that he'd be able to just hide the shirt under Clark's everyday clothes. I'm still hoping that he'll be wearing the proper tights and trunks at some point in between his 'mean streets' look and that stupid fucking armor Jim Lee made.
Character-wise, Superman's a little rough around the edges, again, more like he was in the late 30s and early 40s. It's actually a nice way to add some of those 'flaws' that so many non-fans complain about him needing, without making him a whiny selfish bitch like he was in Earth-One. Superman's cocky, overconfident, and has a pretty nasty temper, which is getting him on the bad side of the law and the military, and bull-headed enough that he'll charge right into whatever situation without knowing or even caring that it's a trap. That said, he's still going out of his way to save innocent people without needing some selfish motivation to do it, so at his core he's still Superman. Again, not exactly the Big Blue Boy Scout, but I'm assuming over the course of the comic we'll see him grow up and become a more genuine hero.
Keeping in line with the Golden Age stuff, his powers are pretty limited-- he can't fly yet, and his invulnerability hasn't really kicked in, so he's only just 'really goddamn tough.' I've stated time and time again that I don't like watered-down Superman; I like my Superman big and ridiculous and over-the-top, having to solve even bigger and more ridiculous crises. However, for the purposes of starting a new ongoing series, I do think it's a step in the right direction for them to ratchet that down a bit and have him grow back into it over time. If anything, it'll be a way to silence non-fans who bitch and gripe about how he's "too powerful."
I really liked the use of Lex Luthor in this issue, too, the way they're already establishing him as a major player in Metropolis and as a credible threat to Superman. It was also really refreshing to see Lex manage to incapacitate Supes without immediately resorting to Kryptonite or red solar rays.
All in all, I ended up reading Action Comics #1 three times today. The first time was me poring through it as the outraged fan looking for things to nitpick and get angry at. The second time was when I'd calmed down a bit, digested what I'd read, and then came back to it a little more objectively. The third time I read it just because I liked it so much the second time that I wanted to read it again. No, it's not the Superman that I've read and loved for years......at least not yet. But it is an entertaining comic, one that has an awful lot of potential to grow into a genuinely great series.
I wanted to hate this comic, I really did. I wanted to be mad and outraged and offended by how badly they got everything wrong, and therefore be justified for hating the DCU reboot from the word go. And from the reviews I've read of some of the other books, I'm still not sold on DCnU as a whole. But at the very least, Action Comics has sold me on it. It may be Superman For People Who Don't Like Superman, but instead of trying to turn him into something he never was (Smallville, Earth One), Morrison's instead brought back the spirit of the original Superman and put him in a modern setting. It's like watching one of the old Max Fleischer Superman cartoons, just with new clothing. It's not quite the iconic demigod character I wanted, but it is quite a bit of fun.
I still hate the fucking costumes, though.