The Superman family battles the Parasite with Red Cloud waiting in the wings in Action Comics #1026, by writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist John Romita Jr, inker Klaus Janson, colorist Brad Anderson, and letterer Dave Sharpe. This one pretty much focuses on the battle with the Parasite and drama with Leone and Lois and the Daily Planet and it’s a lot of fun.

This is a rather simple comic- Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, and Brainiac battle Parasite, while trying to protect the injured Conner Kent while Leone and Lois yell at each other. The heroes are able to figure out a way to stop the Parasite and then Superman goes after Red Cloud at S.T.A.R. Labs and it goes badly for him. At the Daily Planet, Leone goads Lois into attacking her, and F.B.I. agents attack her.

This is a very rare Bendis comic- it mostly focuses on the action. However, because this is Bendis, the entire fight is narrated by Brainiac 5. In fact, the issue starts, in the same way, Bendis’s issues of Legion Of Superheroes start- with the first page being a full-page spread of Brainiac’s face as he explains what’s going on. It allows Bendis to do his whole reams of dialogue thing without doing the talking heads thing that can make his books so annoying.

Because of the nature of the narrative, this is a rather fast-paced issue that mostly relies on the to get things going. Luckily, this is one of the issues where Romita Jr. does a good job. The action scenes look amazing and seeing as how this issue’s focus is action, that’s extremely important. Props to Brad Anderson’s coloring- the Parasite is pretty much defined by the coloring and he looks great.

Other than that, the Parasite reveals that he’s from another Earth and that gets Superman thinking about S.T.A.R. Labs. Brainiac 5 also brings up Leone being from another Earth in his monologue, pushing home Bendis’s playing with the Multiverse in this story. How it’s all going to work, including how S.T.A.R. Labs plays into it all will be cool to see.

Action Comics #1026 is an action-packed romp. Bendis balances his seemingly pathological need to write reams of dialogue while also keeping up the pace of the issue by showing the Superman family battle Parasite. The ending is pretty cool as well, if a little mystifying- why are the F.B.I. arresting Lois? On Leone’s word? It’s weird but it makes for a good cliffhanger. All in all, this a pretty good comic and another example of how good Bendis has proven to be at writing Superman, even if it took him a bit to get this good.

Grade: B