Action Comics 1009
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils and Inks by Steve Epting
Colors by Brad Anderson
The LEVIATHAN RISING story arc – which is supposed to lead into DC Comics’ big summer plans – is gaining momentum in this third chapter, as we discover that Superman’s biggest secret is pretty much an open one, and has been for some time.
Amanda Waller is one of the top intelligence operatives in the DC Universe and has frequently gone head-to-head with the Justice League in her role as director of the Suicide Squad. So it’s understandable that Lois Lane is a little unsettled to find out that Waller has known that Superman spends his free time as Clark Kent for a good long while.
With all the covert agencies in the country being violently taken out by Leviathan – led by daughter of the demon Talia al Ghul – Waller sees no other option than to go to Clark and Lois for help. Superman brings Waller and Jimmy Olsen, who watched the Kobra cult get bombed, to his new Fortress of Solitude in the Bermuda Triangle. He may as well let Luthor into the place.
Jimmy, for his part, is basically useless once he wakes up, asking for coffee and wondering where Clark Kent is. It’s a cute bit, but makes Jimmy seem kind of pathetic, especially after he hears Lois use terms of endearment towards Superman when he returns to the Fortress.
But Waller is at least a little useful, letting Lois know that her father, SAM LANE, is recovering in a hospital, having barely survived the attack on ARGUS. Superman goes to check on him, giving us a cameo from The Question, who’s watching over Lane. We even get an appearance from Wayne family butler Alfred Pennyworth, as Superman checks in about Talia. It’s a nice little sequence where the reporter gathers information on his subject. But the intelligence gathering doesn’t end there, because Clark and Lois have super-secret undercover identities with super-secret spy agency Spyral (of which Dick Grayson was a member during the New 52).
What? How? Why? I guess we’ll find out next issue. Man, Bendis is good at this.