Action Comics #5

written by Grant Morrison
art by Andy Kubert

After the clashes with Metropolis personalities in the first few issues, Grant Morrison takes the Superman story back to the beginning, very cleverly, I might add, by including Brainiac in the origins, something only Morrison, it seems, has been able to consider (Kevin J. Anderson wrote a book that didn't consider it, for instance, and neither did J. Michael Straczynski's graphic novel). I know believe that this version should be the standard. In the backup feature, Sholly Fisch riffs on Jonathan and Martha Kent's struggles at starting a family, which had previously been mentioned earlier in the main story.

Bottom line with this issue is that Grant Morrison starts out the new year by affirming that he's claiming the whole Superman narrative for himself, mixing the familiar ingredients in his signature mythological approach that elevates the material to a totally new level. It may be a little jarring to consider this chronologically with the episodic nature of earlier issues, but it's so important that it ultimately doesn't matter.