It’s time again for Tag Team Thursday, where Clobber-Tron and Shaz-Bot take one of this week’s comics and share their opinions! This week the gruesome twosome take on:

Action Comics #894

clobberTr0n: Action Comics #894 is part five of Paul Cornell’s post ‘Blackest Night’ story arc ‘The Black Ring’. This issue is apparently a big deal in some circles because ‘Death’ a female character from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series makes an appearance. I’ll admit to having read about three panels of Sandman before deciding it’s not for me, so this issue serves as an introduction to the beloved character.

Shaz-Bot: Even if you aren’t in those circles, having Death show up in a non-Vertigo book is a pretty big deal. Neil Gaiman gave his blessing for Cornell to use the character and as we’ll see, she’s treated with respect, and if we get more Vertigo/DCU crossovers, this is a good template for future writers to copy. Anyway, on to the book proper.

cT: Previously Lex was killed and this story begins with him staring at his body lying on the ground  and talking to Death who looks a little more like Ellen Page in this panel than she should. Around two pages in I think “Oh here’s another ghost of Christmas story and Lex will be shown a flashback of his life and the error of his ways” but Cornell is a little more clever than that.

S-B: I’ll admit that Pete Woods’ Death isn’t completely consistent (which is ironic, if you think about it), but I didn’t have the somewhat cynical outlook you had. My expectation was if Lex is shown a ‘This is Your Life’ type of vignette, his hubris is large enough that he’d justify every one of his actions over the years. Also, Cornell is that clever!

cT: The Dialog between Lex and Death is entertaining but her attitude towards him shifts between nonchalant and empathetic so I don’t understand what her role in the story is until I get to the end. Lex however remains bold and confident, even in the face of death he proclaims “I’ll find something to do, I’ll find something to win.”

S-B: Sometimes, a talking heads issue can get a bit on the boring side, but Cornell is masterful in his dialog, and nails both the characters of Luthor and Death masterfully. Death is a little distant as she sees this sort of thing often, and Lex, who sees himself as the absolute pinnacle of the human being, tries to do anything in his power to both figure out his situation and turn it to his advantage. In short, I think we’re pretty much in agreement here.

cT: Death finally  tells Lex he’s not dead and he wakes up aboard a helicopter realizing he’s had a life changing epiphany. The ‘epilogue’ gives us a glance at the next story arc which confusingly takes place 1000 years ago but I have faith that it will tie into this story line somehow.

S-B: I knew Vandal Savage would be one of the villains Lex crosses paths with in this arc, but the way the team seems to be going about it is pretty interesting. I’m very on board for what happens next. I wanted to point out something that you kind of glossed over when Lex wakes up. He knows what he experienced is ‘real’ and that it was important in some sort of cosmic way. I personally have no idea where Cornell is going with this, but I cannot wait to find out.

cT: The ‘Second Feature’ Jimmy Olsen’s Big Week day two was a little to complicated for me so I just scanned the pictures looking for Chloe Sullivan. I’ll read it when I eventually have the books library bound.    You have to have something to look forward to right?

S-B: Since the Jimmy Olsen feature is the whole reason I picked this book up, I’ll gladly elaborate for everyone. First, I’d like to say that while I am all for $2.99 books, I’m sad this co-feature wont last as long as it should. Sure, it’s getting a one-shot to close the story, but I would seriously pay for a monthly Jimmy Olsen book by this creative team.

When we last left out stalwart group of characters, Jimmy smugly took it on himself to stop an alien invasion. It actually turns out this the invading aliens just want to party.  They’ve been searching far and wide for a good place to get their groove on, and Metropolis’ reputation precedes it.

Cut to the Mayor’s office where Jimmy and his LexCorp opposite number, Sebastien Mallory are assigned to be co-heads of the alien delegation committee. Jimmy actually doesn’t want any part of it, but the mayor insists, since one of the aliens thinks out Mr. Olsen is cute (it’s gotta be the freckles). Jimmy calls up the aforementioned Chloe to investigate the interstellar visitors. She lives up the the plucky girl reporter archetype quite well and is already two steps ahead of Jimmy.

At the club, Jimmy does his best to entertain the lovely female extraterrestrial he’s escorting, when he hears from Chloe that the aliens come from a world where the air is a bit different. Long story short, oxygen gets these E.T.s drunk. A Bar fight ensues, and Jimmy/Hot Alien Girl #3 fly out of there in her cruiser. She drives, and drunkenly crashes the Planet building. You’d think by now they’d make that thing a hologram or something just so things like that wouldn’t happen. Anyway, Jimmy tries to explain the damage to Perry White, where Chole calls him again and tells him that these worlds the aliens like to party on don’t survive the experience. Superman’s Pal has a plan, but we’ll have to wait until next time to see what it is. I know I can’t wait!

And there you have it, if you like well crafted, character driven, or just plain awesome comics, you need to pick up Action Comics #894. Until next Thursday, clobberTr0n and Shaz-Bot, out!