Action 854 – Mr. Action vs Titano

Busiek, Walker and Livesay conclude the Countdown tie-in in Action 854 (Oct. 07).

Krypto joins Jimmy Olsen as they battle with the Kryptonite Man, while Superman lies unconscious at his feet.  Krypto gets wounded during the fight, and Jimmy Olsen tends to him. The two bond, and by the end of the story, Superman has decided to leave Krypto in Jimmy’s care.

Superman recovers, and fights the Kryptonite Man one more time.  Upset that he has not yet killed Superman, Kryptonite Man amps his power as high as he can – but that causes him to melt down, and Superman takes him back to jail.

Titano is still on the loose, though.

Jimmy Olsen goes to confront the ape, who has grown to giant size.  But instead of pounding on him, Jimmy makes friends with the ape, who shrinks back down when no longer threatened.

The story continues, as far as Jimmy Olsen is concerned, in the pages of Countdown.

Action 853 – Mr. Action vs the Kryptonite Man

Busiek, Walker and Livesay continue the Countdown crossover in Action 853 (Early Oct.07).

The Kryptonite Man discovers the existence of Titano in this story.  The ape had been transformed at the same time as he had, but in a very different way.  Titano not only has kryptonite vision, but also the ability to grow in size.

Jimmy Olsen has adopted the secret identity of Mr. Action.  As well as being a delightfully horrible name for a super-hero, it hearkens back to the nickname Olsen was given in his own book in the early 70s.  Jimmy also is puzzled by the fact that he suddenly knows the identities of a number of other heroes.

Jimmy goes after the Kryptonite Man, and his random powers prove fairly useful, but not enough to beat him.

Superman gets involved in the fight, and briefly captures Kryptonite Man, but he melts through the polymer shield Superman puts around him.  With Superman down for the count, Olsen is alone against the Kryptonite Man, until Krypto shows up.

The story concludes in the next issue.

 

Action 852 – Jimmy Olsen’s secret

Kurt Busiek, Brad Walker and John Livesay begin a three-part story in Action 852 (Sept. 07) that deals with Jimmy Olsen, and the unusual powers he has started to manifest in Countdown.

Jimmy has developed powers on the spur of the moment, out of his control, in the pages of Countdown. It’s fairly obvious to the reader that these occur when his life is in danger, but Jimmy takes a while to put that together.

There are two subplots in the story.  One deals with a green ape, which appears to have kryptonite vision. Titano redux?  The other has to do with the Kryptonite Man, who is trying to get a parole in order to continue his scientific research.  His lawyers argue that he should not be treated as a criminal, but rather as a victim of an experiment gone wrong.  But when his application is denied, Kryptonite Man blasts apart his own defense as he attacks those in the court.  Superman manages to take him down.

As the issue ends, Jimmy dons a costume and goes out to fight crime.