Super secret agencies in the DC Universe seem to be under siege and the biggest super secret in the comics world just gets blurted out for seemingly no reason.
Action Comics 1007
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Steve Epting
The latest arc in Bendis’ ACTION COMICS run is supposed to be setting up a big story later this year. So what better way than to explosively get rid of some groups of superpowered bad guys?
Two of the DC Universe’s organizational players take a hit here. First, a big Kobra cult meeting gets blown to smithereens after Jimmy Olsen runs away from a snake girl who wants to recruit him. And then, Amanda Waller – the head of Task Force X/Suicide Squad – gets thrown off the top of a building in Atlanta. Thankfully, Superman was there to catch her, but when the building where she was thrown off of explodes, he loses her.
Now, some might say good riddance to both of those groups, but with new player we met in the last issue, it can’t mean anything good for the rest of them
The bigger concern is probably Lois Lane’s clandestine meeting with her pops, General Sam Lane. The last time we saw Sam was in ACTION COMICS 999, where he was having lunch with his family before Jor-El came and took Jon away. Sam has never been a fan of Superman, while Clark Kent has grown on him as he proves himself a good husband and father. So it probably came as a bit of a shock to him when Lois told him she was in love with Superman, and that Superman fathered Sam’s grandson.
She never explicitly said Clark Kent was Superman, so I suppose her dad could take it as Lois being unfaithful to the man she married. But he’s using ARGUS technology to keep any listening devices at bay, so I’m guessing he already knows Superman’s alter ego. Or at least, he’s smart enough to understand what Lois is saying without her saying it.
This is a pretty big deal, considering who Sam Lane is and the weapons he has at his disposal. Once Lois told him, he just walked away silently, so who knows how he plans to react to the news.
As a set up piece for Bendis’ next big Superman story, though, it was a good tease for what’s to come.