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I know Geoff Johns must have written a bad comic at some point, but if he has I haven’t read it yet. This issue was excellent just like everything he’s ever written.

Warning: there be spoilers in this review.

Action Comics #865: The Terrible Toyman gives us a glimpse inside the Toyman’s psychotic mind as he captures Jimmy Olsen to tell the “real” story of his origin. The Toyman claims he never killed Cat Grant’s son, and that the crime was instead committed by one of his life-like robots.
Although this is a basic origin retelling and continuity change (cringe!), Geoff Johns was able to keep me entertained and managed to make everything feel OK. He has a wonderful ability to give each character he writes a unique voice, something that is very important for convincing characters, and for convincing story lines.

Unfortunately there is one glaring flaw I could not get my mind around while reading this issue. If one of the Toyman’s robots had actually killed Adam Grant, Superman would not have been fooled by this. We are talking about a man who is able to see through flesh and bone, and to hear pulses. I am unconvinced that anyone, no matter what their level of genius, would be able to create a robot that would fool Superman in to thinking it was an actual human being.

Other than that flaw, this was a well written comic… plus it was hilarious to see the Toyman mistake Olsen for a 16 year old boy!

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