Gail Simone + Eddy Barrows promise a ‘huge in scope and fun as hell’ Superman story this summer

After making room for the House of Brainiac crossover, Action Comics will return to its Superman Superstars initiative and a cast of rotating creative teams in July. Action Comics #1067 will kick off a new story by Gail Simone and Eddy Barrows set at the beginning of Superman’s career titled “Superman and the Challenge from the Stars.”

The storyline will run for three issues, and features a massively powerful alien race making Earth their arena. Danny Miki, Rex Lokus and Dave Sharpe round out the creative team.

“I love the classic Superman cast, and this story is deliberately meant to echo my all-time favorite Superman time period,” Simone said. “We didn’t want to tell a quiet story of Superman in a diner; we wanted to have a massive threat, a war taking place all over the world, and only Superman could possibly protect his adopted planet. It is unapologetically huge in scope and fun as hell, with one of the best art teams I’ve ever worked with…Eddy Barrows, Danny Miki, and Rex Lokus on colors!”

It’s pretty good timing, too, as Simone’s much-talked-about run on Uncanny X-Men will begin a month after that. For Barrows, it’s a chance to work on a character he’s treasured since he was seven years old.

“For me talking about Action Comics is something that goes beyond the title itself,” Barrows said. “I remember when I was seven years old, I was playing on the sidewalk, and suddenly I was run over by a truck, right there. I spent 3 days fighting for my life, and during that whole year that followed I remained in bed, doing lots of physiotherapy, lots of meds and exams. Going to the doctors was a very regular thing. And it was during that time that Superman came to my life, reading Action Comics. Kal-El became a good friend of mine, making my days better. His adventures and his behavior were things that stuck with me! Reading his stories were the highlight of my days, for a 7-year-old recovering from an accident like I was. Back then I wouldn’t have imagined that one day I would be helping to build his legacy: illustrating his stories. The stories of my all-time favorite superhero… SUPERMAN!”

Check out the variant covers for the first issue of their run below, by Wes Craig, Ben Oliver and a foil version of Barrow’s main cover:

Action Comics#1067 will arrive in stores July 10.