Action Comics #1030 is an issue of the series Action Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 2021. It was published on April 27, 2021.
Synopsis for "Warworld Rising, Part One"
In the palace of Warworld, Mongul is holding a conference with his finest slaveholders, who continuously pledge their loyalty to him. Suddenly, a cloaked stranger, an unnamed scavenger, walks into the throne room and declares himself to be unimpressed by the current Mongul, who the stranger sees as a willful child who killed his father when his back is turned and soon will meet his end when his slavers get sick of tyranny. The gathered warriors prepare to kill the scavenger for his disrespect, but Mongul allows him to speak. The scavenger bears gifts: the first gift is the heads of Mongul's sons, pretenders to the throne of Warworld.
Mongul finds himself pleased, as now none remain to take the throne of Warworld from him and asks for the second gift. The scavenger says he does not yet possess the gift, but he can help Mongul claim it. According to the scavenger, Warworld is not what Mongul thinks it is and very few of Mongul's forebears understood the truth. The key to mastering this secret is someone who lives far away from Warworld.
On Earth, Superman undergoes a training session planned by Batman and Ray Palmer, who have been testing Superman's powers since the battle near the breach. While it takes him longer than expected, Superman easily dismantles the robots and returns to the Batcave, where Batman and Ray are waiting for him. According to the results, Superman's energy output has increased while his levels of speed and power have diminished, not to mention that Batman and Ray are seeing signs of slight cellular decay. Ray believes that Superman's powers are merely fluctuating due to ordinary solar cycles, but Batman says that this cellular decay is consistent with radiation poisoning.
Batman thinks this is related to the wounds Superman sustained during the battle of the breach, but Ray thinks that Batman is worrying too much, as Superman's power levels are still through the roof, even with this drop taken into consideration. Superman still feels fine, though, and thinks he can still get the job done but asks his friends to keep this information to themselves, as he thinks that people like Lex or Darkseid could take advantage of Superman's perceived weakness. Batman also tells Superman that he has been observing Jon and the boy has become stronger, potentially stronger than Superman or Supergirl, and perhaps it's time for Superman to talk to Jon about joining the Justice League. For better or worse, the world will always need a Superman.
Meanwhile, Jon and Damian enjoy lunch in the Middle East. Jon talks to Damian about what's happening to Superman, admitting that he's still worrying about his father possibly dying and Jon having to become Superman sooner or later. He tells Damian about what happened with the breach and when he was with the Legion of Super-Heroes, he learned a lot about his father's adventures and there are a lot of conflicting accounts of events about Superman's fate. For example, one story says that Superman died fighting the creatures from the breach, another says that an alien armada suddenly attacked Atlantis and a history professor from the 31st century believed that the witch Circe trapped Superman in an alternate dimension. A particular story Jon keeps thinking about is that Superman was left very injured after a battle, but then a ship full of Kryptonians rescued him and took him home.
Whatever the future might hold for Superman, Jon is still afraid and doesn't want to lose his father. Jon admits that he doesn't feel ready to become Superman, but Damian says that this decision isn't up to Jon. Sooner or later, Jon will have to become Superman, a comment that fails to bring Jon any comfort. When Jon asks Damian about his own father, however, Damian declines to comment.
Sometime later, Lois enjoys some Kryptonian literature in the bottled city of Kandor. She has come to the conclusion that despite the Kryptonians' technological accomplishments, their greatest achievement was the marriage of arts and sciences. Kryptonians saw everything as art. Whether it was science, agriculture, medicine or construction, Kryptonians tried to apply art into every aspect of their lives, which is why she believes that the death of Krypton was such a terrible loss for the entire universe.
Superman reaches the library Lois is staying at and embraces his wife, who asks how did his test with Batman go, to which Superman answers that Batman advised him to talk to Jon about the Justice League. Fortunately for Superman, Lois doesn't seem worried about his condition. Whatever Superman is going through, she will believes that he will soldier on, just like he always has. Even actual death didn't kill him and Lois thinks that Superman is the only constant in the universe.
Their intimate moment is interrupted, however, when Kelex returns Superman and Lois to the Fortress of Solitude and informs his master that an army of alien spaceships has reached the North Atlantic Ocean. Superman rushes into the scene, all the while asking his fellow Kryptonians for assistance. Jon is seemingly the only one to reach his father's side and the two heroes deduce that the ships came from Warworld.
Suddenly, the smaller ships begin attacking the big ship in the middle and Superman picks up a Kryptonian sentence with his super-hearing. Superman enters the big ship and finds two living Kryptonians inside.
Appearing in "Warworld Rising, Part One"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Mongul MDCCXCII
- Mysterious hooded figure (First appearance; unnamed)
- Phaelosians (First appearance; unnamed) (Cameo)
- Thao-La (First appearance; unnamed) (Cameo)
- Seeker Drones (Single appearance) (Destroyed)
Other Characters:
- Breach aliens (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Circe (Mentioned only)
- Conner Kent (Mentioned only)
- Darkseid (Mentioned only)
- Kryptonians (Mentioned only)
- Kara Zor-El (Mentioned only)
- Thalkis (Mentioned only)
- Legion of Super-Heroes (Post-Rebirth) (Mentioned only)
- Lex Luthor (Mentioned only)
- Mongul MDCCLXXXIX (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
- Mongul MDCCXC (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
- Mongul MDCCXCI/Mongul-Who-Was (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Earth 0
- Circe's Prison Dimension (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
- Post-Rebirth Legion's Future (Mentioned only)
Items:
Vehicles:
- Warworld's Ships
Concepts:
- The Breach (Mentioned only)
- Death of Superman (Mentioned only)
- Falkiri (Unnamed)
- Magic (Mentioned only)
- Time Travel (Mentioned only)
Synopsis for "The Passenger, Part Two"
Appearing in "The Passenger, Part Two"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- The Embryo (Earth 0) (Behind the scenes)
- Subject 5151 (Earth 0) (Single appearance)
- Andrej Trojan's mother (Earth 0) (Unnamed) (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
- Laika (Earth 0) (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
- Qin Shi Huang (Earth 0) (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Earth 0
- United States of America
- Apollo & Midnighter's House
- Trojan Solutions Inc.
- Test Lab 355/113
- China
- Great Wall of China (Mentioned only)
- Egypt
- Pyramid of Giza (Mentioned only)
- United States of America
- Future State (Mentioned only)
- Warworld (Mentioned only)
Items:
- The Chrysalis Collider (Mentioned only)
- "JLAger"
- Nirodha-Supercomputer
Concepts:
- Time Loop
- Time Travel (Mentioned only)
Notes
- In the first story, one of the stories about Superman's disappearance involves him being banished by Circe in an alternate dimension. This is a reference to the events of Future State: Superman: House of El #1.
See Also