‘Action Comics #1003’ (review)

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by Yanick Paquette
Published by DC Comics

What a wonderful surprise it was to have Yanick Paquette doing the art for this issue!

I’ve got to hand it to Bendis: he really does work with some top notch people. And the artwork is everything one could hope for. It actually turns out to be some of Paquette‘s best.

The opening scene has Robinson Goode, the reporter from The Daily Planet, looking for another woman with the code name of Candy.

Apparently, Candy has a piece of Kryptonite that Robinson Goode wants. But for what purpose? Bendis asks all of these questions and has a lot of information and plot put forth in just a few pages.

It’s awesome.

Then we head on over to The Daily Planet. Jimmy Olsen is asleep at his desk. Clark comes over and wakes him up. I love the way Bendis wrote this scene. It was fast and funny. Paquette’s iterations of both Clark and Jimmy are completely excellent. Maybe he can stay on for a longer run on this title?

Clark then gets sick from what the reader is to assume is Kryptonite. Paquette does a wonderful job with the panel layout especially here. It’s well designed and makes the person reading feel the sickness Clark feels.

This has to do with Robinson Goode  being in the office arguing with Perry White. She must have the Kryptonite on her! Everyone thinks Clark is having a heart attack! Ms. Goode then makes her escape. She looks at Clark as she leaves. Could it be that she knows his secret?

She runs for it! But then she runs afoul of Batman. It’s a great moment in the comic and as a bonus, we get to see how Paquette handles Batman! Batman takes the Kryptonite from her and she screams that Batman has mugged her. It’s hilarious. Bendis does a great job here as well. He also does a great job of bridging the universe together with frequent appearances from other characters.

This all leads into a cliffhanger of an ending that just makes you wonder what’s going to happen next! Bendis and Paquette need to work together again and soon. This is an amazing issue and it’s truly well done. More please.

RATING: A