Acclaimed writer Mark Waid has worked at various publishers during his storied career penning some of the great comics of all-time. But he’s without a doubt associated with Superman and is regarded as the ultimate aficionado of the character. Unsurprisingly, Waid is an integral part of the upcoming “Summer of Superman” initiative. In fact, today at ComicsPRO ’25 DC announced that Waid will be taking over the Action Comics series and will be joined by Skylar Patridge, making her debut as an artist on a DC ongoing series.
This isn’t Waid’s first rodeo on Action Comics. Early in his career back in the ’80s, Waid penned Action Comics Weekly series from issues #635-642. He made a return to the flagship Superman book a few months ago for “Phantoms,” a twelve-part storyline released weekly.
The new creative team begins their run in June’s Action Comics #1087 which will also mark a new direction for the book as it spotlights Clark Kent’s early days as Superboy in his hometown of Smallville on the Kent family farm.
As the writer explained:
“I start the book with Clark as a 15-year-old boy, learning to be a superhero for the first time,” said Waid. “What is that like, learning to use your powers at that age? What kind of challenges are you facing? Skylar and I are also bringing Smallville a little more up to date—it still has that rustic feel to it, but farms don’t look like that anymore.”
The new direction of the Action Comics book has a similar approach to Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, another book written by Waid, in that both are set in the not-too-distant past but are still in line with other DC books.
According to DC, the first story will involve young Clark visiting the Metropolis’s Expo of Tomorrow that may see the Last Son of Krypton making his public debut as Superboy. ut?!
Action Comics #1087 will have a main cover by Ryan Sook, with variant covers by Skylar Patridge, David Talaski, and Lesley “Leirix” Le.
Check out some of designs below Skylar Patridge.
