Action Comics #990 Preview/Discussion

[Last Son of Krypton]

...holy crap, he isn't. Oh my god, is he finally being phased out?

It could be... DC is changing editors in several books lately.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

Last issue he was listed as group editor, this issue there is no listing for group editor.

Could just be an oversight.

[adrikito]

A callback to Action Comics #2, which might carry some unfortunate implications depending on how the situation in Logamba is resolved.

The art is phenomenal. Bogdanovic has quickly become one of my favorite artists working today.

GOOD WORK SUPERMAN but... With Oz around here, I see a bad ending.. I hope that I am wrong..

However, he was focused in his grandson..

[Miles To Go]

A bit preachy, I wanted to see more of Jon's latest tempatation, but I guess we have to keep focusing on Superman's potential disillusionment

[Denirac]

Lets just take a moment and reflect that this is Action Comics #990

[Soubhagya]

Lets just take a moment and reflect that this is Action Comics #990

Great Scott! Its already #990. That's 10 issues to #1000. It is reaching near. While i am happy, it is mixed with sadness. I don't think they can give a satisfying #1000. Till now i have heard only the current teams and Johns with Donner. That's underwhelming. Time is short to get the greats. But please try.

[Flash Gordon]

This feels like a *really* dicey way of describing the situation - when the ruler says the rebels' people are basically subhuman, Superman's response amounts to "then teach them to be better. And rebel guy, tell your people to be better". Not that this isn't a situation where both sides have made heinous choices, or that the President is being portrayed as anything other than elitist and unsympathetic, but it kind of feels like Clark is having the rebels shoulder the blame twofold. I'm into just straight-up having Superman go political like this again, but it needs a more articulate touch. Bogdanovic's still fire though, and at least in terms of raw storytelling he definitely seems to be getting Jurgens to up his game.

"Tell your people they can't just take what they want"

Oh no need to unite workers, just work harder in the factory and magically educate yourself and hopefully someday you'll be management too! Golly gee, thanks Superman!

I'd love to see Superman engage in some real world mayhem too, but hopefully there's more to this in the issue??

[JAK]

Yeah, Superman's lines are definitely over-generalized and a bit ham-fisted - but given just how many other things are happening at the same time, I doubt Superman has a lot of time to delicately work out the particulars here. That doesn't excuse anything, but it does mean that he may not have time to choose the right words - just something that might make them both start to listen to each other, in the hopes that him having just saved each side will show them that he truly wants them to solve their differences. Maybe he should have put them someplace where they'd have to work together to get out.. in the hopes that the teamwork time would make them wake up?

Then again, if I were in either of their shoes, I'd be definitely listening to the guy who just grabbed me before I knew what happened who has the powers of a god and who's eyes are on fire in front of me...

[Kuwagaton]

Telling them to care about each other's children is as logical as you can really say to those two. The ridiculous thing inherent to Superman is that he literally has the power to sit down two power drunk, self serving egotists and say to them the most obvious thing that someone needs to tell them. "Look at what you're doing, stop being buttholes." Is that realistically a solution? Of course not. No type of solution involving a guy in blue tights bending steel bars and shooting eye lasers at tanks is going to be realistic. This is something you have to accept.

Weirdly, I don't find it any more heavy handed or worth nitpicking than the much loved All-Star scene where he rescues Regan. Telling a suicidal girl he doesn't actually know at all "you got this" doesn't really address the issues that go into suicide, or the steps to working through suicidal thoughts, in the slightest. But it's a comic, so we just believe that a hug from Superman wins the day.

[Superlad93]

Weirdly, I don't find it any more heavy handed or pedantic than the much loved All-Star scene where he rescues Regan. Telling a suicidal girl he doesn't actually know at all "you got this" doesn't really address the issues that go into suicide, or the steps to working through suicidal thoughts, in the slightest. But it's a comic, so we just believe that a hug from Superman wins the day.

To be completely fair, it's not really comparable since a teen thinking of suicide is far more likely to read and find comfort the words of fictional character than a warlord will change his ways based on the aforementioned fictional character. Simply put: Superman (and fiction in general) have far more influence on the day to day image of self-worth of a person than he would on a geopolitical level. So, not a very smooth comparison to make, but I understand what you're saying.

That said, it still could've very easily have been written better with a more careful and thoughtful word choice by the writer. Or just don't put it in. Have the implication that Superman quickly brokered a deal between them that stopped the fighting, and leave the rest to readers imagination. But this, while not the worst thing in the world (but still pretty dang dumb), was avoidable.

[JAK]

Telling them to care about each other's children is as logical as you can really say to those two. The ridiculous thing inherent to Superman is that he literally has the power to sit down two power drunk, self serving egotists and say to them the most obvious thing that someone needs to tell them. "Look at what you're doing, stop being buttholes."

Yeah... I had to.. LOL

stop.jpg

[Kuwagaton]

That's wonderful. Maybe we can break into DC together. If someone wants to do plots, I'll do scripts, JAK can letter....

To be competently fair, it's not really comparable since a teen thinking of suicide is far more likely to read and find comfort the words of fictional character than a warlord will change his ways based on the aforementioned fictional character. Simply put: Superman (and fiction in general) have far more influence on the day to day image of self-worth of a person than he would on a geopolitical level. So, not a very smooth comparison to make, but I understand what you're saying.

That said, it still could've very easily have been written better with a more careful and thoughtful word choice by the writer. Or just don't put it in. Have the implication that Superman quickly brokered a deal between them that stopped the fighting, and leave the rest to readers imagination. But this, while not the worst thing in the world (but still pretty dang dumb), was avoidable.

Competently fair? Haha, ouch. I know All Star is quite the sacred cow.

A fictional man with super powers is going to have the same impact on a fictional teen that he would have on a fictional warlord. A fictional story has no obligation to portray anything other than the sheer fiction it was created to present.

If we're talking about the audience, I suppose. I can't say either way if All Star (man, what a terrible three letter abbreviation) has really impacted suicidal readers. I wonder if there's a testimony somewhere out there, that would be neat to read. But I won't take it for granted that it's done any more for our real world than any other comic out there, like #990, at promoting the value of life.

[JAK]

That's wonderful. Maybe we can break into DC together. If someone wants to do plots, I'll do scripts, JAK can letter....




Competently fair? Haha, ouch. No, I don't have any sacred cows. A fictional man with super powers is going to have the same impact on a fictional teen that he would have on a fictional warlord. A fictional story has no obligation to portray anything other than the sheer fiction it was created to present.

If we're talking about the audience, I suppose. I can't say either way if All Star (man, what a terrible three letter abbreviation) has really impacted suicidal readers. I wonder if there's a testimony somewhere out there, that would be neat to read. But I won't take it for granted that it's done any more for our real world than any other comic out there, like #990, at promoting the value of life.

LOL sounds fun! Heck, I've got plots for days. lol Not to mention a crazy "Elseworlds" story of "what if the rocket from Krypton landed in Tupelo, MS in 1935. Kal-Elvis: there's a wild mix of 20th century pop culture that's just rife for exploration, lol

Anyway, I think part of the reading is in our own perspective. I say that some of it is ham-fisted because I hear so many stories these days about the powerful exerting force on an increasingly desperate group of powerless people, so mentally I "side" with those that fit closest to that. But reading again, Superman seems to be trying to use the upper-class man's argument against him, then saying something to the rebel side in an attempt to foster good faith effort should the first guy agree. All that said, I do also hope there's more to this. I have a feeling it won't end well, spoilers:

given the solicits for the aftermath of Oz.

end of spoilers

[Superlad93]

Competently fair? Haha, ouch. I know All Star is quite the sacred cow.

Ha! Fixed.

A fictional man with super powers is going to have the same impact on a fictional teen that he would have on a fictional warlord. A fictional story has no obligation to portray anything other than the sheer fiction it was created to present.

Sure in the sense that they're both real, thinking people, but as it's been proven, there's a stronger platform for works of fiction like Superman in the minds of teens. There are testimonials on how fiction (that sense in particular) have actually played a pretty direct role in saving real kids like Regan. Not as many (if any) testimonials of it ending wars. But that's not to say Superman could change the heart of a person who happens to be part of a bad organization government, but that singular person doesn't make a whole. But in contrast, all that scene with Regan has to do is connect with one person to save an actual life. Not quite as complex and expansive a geopolitics.

I wonder if there's a testimony somewhere out there, that would be neat to read.

I remember coming across at least 2 under unrelated titles on the internet, and Grant Morrison talks about the fans that have wrote him personally to express how that scene helped them. I'm not saying writes can't or should tackle geopolitics or the like in some from in these comics, but I am saying that it's a bit more complex than words of encouragement that are specifically designed to be up to interpretation based on the recipient's personal situation. Superman has done his part to fight racism, and it actually worked on some level, so I'm not saying it's flat out impossible for a fictional character to move some of the metaphorical mountains in our world at least a bit. But I am saying that not a 1 to 1 comparison between 990's scene and the one from All Star, and that I don't think 990 should've been handled that way because it's not a 1 to 1 comparison.

I Jurgens mistake was that he went into a place that was half specific and half vague, and we come away with unfortunate implications that he didn't intend for. Picking one or the other would've probably been best.

[Kuwagaton]

I don't doubt that among the times Superman has literally reached out to people on a ledge, D.C. did receive the best feedback from that story and Morrison himself must have gotten a lot of direct credit. I just think any real world issue is a can of worms that only gets nastier considering how different the world the characters would have to be to compensate for the shenanigans of superheroics and villainy. They're certainly different scenarios, though.

Maybe some writers should pick and choose differently when it comes to prying at those cans, but I guess the place where I personally diverge from other opinions is that I just consider it enough that they dabbled and just take it in stride. If Superman is in a comic where he does his best for others, I'm cool as a cucumber.

Anyway, I think part of the reading is in our own perspective. I say that some of it is ham-fisted because I hear so many stories these days about the powerful exerting force on an increasingly desperate group of powerless people, so mentally I "side" with those that fit closest to that. But reading again, Superman seems to be trying to use the upper-class man's argument against him, then saying something to the rebel side in an attempt to foster good faith effort should the first guy agree. All that said, I do also hope there's more to this. I have a feeling it won't end well, spoilers:

given the solicits for the aftermath of Oz.

end of spoilers

I look at it as making the point that unless the people with power to change things change themselves, things will still stink. It takes more than one oppressor to turn a new leaf, but if you can only go for one person it'd have to be the individual dictator, I think.