Superman#36 Discussion and Spoilers

[Miles To Go]

Hmm, I liked Lois' reasoning for taking care of her boys when fending off the accusations of the other Furies, and fans of heroic Lex will doubtless be annoyed by the climax of this issue. I think this could have done with at least one more issue as the idea of Supes fulfilling the prophecy and leading Apokolips into a new golden age sort of demands some time to breath rather than just a few panels...Granny being in prison is interesting, I wonder how she goes from this to where she ends up in Mister Miracle?

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

I can't believe I'm at the point where a Jurgens written Superman book is the less frustrating of the two.

If you've been missing out out on platitudes of American exceptionalism and the whitewashing of history since 'Road Trip', this issue has you covered. Their reference to Superman #20 with Lois is not the only poor choice Tomasi & Gleason double down on.

Other than the bit with Jon and the Hunger Dogs, this whole arc has been a dud.

spoilers:

And Lex is evil again

end of spoilers

[Kuwagaton]

It's more likely along the same lines as Road Trip for that one point, but in fairness the point made in this issue could serve to represent the Kents comic by Ostrander and Truman.

[theoneandonly]

pretty ho hum of a issue which wrapped all the threads in a hurry. Superman being casual about luthors accusations and his presumed resumption of old ways was pretty unconvincing and it seemed like he just didn't want luthor wearing the sign anymore which was a contrast to the arc where he looked at lex as a symbol of redemption. Kalibak and granny just were here filling space. The absence of new gods indicates that they are dealing with whatsoever is going on mister miracle?If so then it must be a dream reality like something cast by the mule as granny is alive and well in this arc and darkseid is still a kid who hasn't got the first clue how to find the anti life equation. Wonder if what happened to the ALE after the death of anti monitor who purportedly possessed it was that graile got it? If so ten the panels in MM should read graile is! Just can't clearly recollect what happened to the ALE in justice league.

[Soubhagya]

It was an okay issue for me. Good but not as good as i wanted it to be. Kind of underwhelming. The feeling that everything ended just a bit too conveniently. All that was needed was the group led by Ardora agree to follow Superman. The battle just ended there and then.

I did not see Lex like this. But then it was to be expected. It was kind of heartbreaking.

What was not expected was Lois taking out the Furies by herself. In itself a cool moment. But aren't Furies somewhat tough? I don't know about their abilities but it feels just convenient. Its cool but it rings false. I liked the words exchanged between Lois and Clark. Only if the win did not ring false. It would then have been awesome.

I would have liked to see Superman sitting on the throne. That would have been something. Not permanently. But maybe for a week or something. Looks like situation can improve till Darkseid returns. But that would have been interesting to watch. He is effectively the leader now. But part time ruler of Apokolips. Now that's something excellent on the resume. I liked the speech part the most.

Cool to watch Jon and his dogs. Hope they don't forget that in future issues.

The arc would have been helped with an additional issue or two imo.

[The Learner]

The whole issue was fast paced, Tomasi and Gleason could have used one more issue to wrap this arc up. Mahnke's art was good as usual and Lois beating the furies on her own was a surprise to me, it looked cool though. The idea of Superman protecting the people of Apokolips and guiding them into the path of peace and happiness is fantastic. Honestly saying this arc didn't live up to my expectations.

[Blue22]

Welp. Glad this arc is finally over. Only good thing to really come of it was Lois somehow kicking the asses of female furies.

spoilers:

Really not looking forward to evil Lex again -____-

end of spoilers

[Kuwagaton]

What was not expected was Lois taking out the Furies by herself. In itself a cool moment. But aren't Furies somewhat tough? I don't know about their abilities but it feels just convenient. Its cool but it rings false. I liked the words exchanged between Lois and Clark. Only if the win did not ring false. It would then have been awesome.

It doesn't come up often, with good reason as Lois isn't a superhero, but she's actually a very good fighter. She may not have super strength, but if you give her a suit of very hard metal then she can probably hurt people who are vulnerable to that metal.

But aside from that, yeah, I can get the underwhelming feeling that comes from this wrapping up so quickly. I thought Lex would have a deeper turning point, could be worse though... he could be setting off atomic radiation because he lost his hair.

[Superlad93]

Lol this arc was kind of dumb. Mainly because it had a very strong central idea, the ending was unexpected and pretty interesting, but the whole middle and the nuts and bolts of it ended up being pretty weak with no real upward build. But what makes it really weak sauce is Lex's turn being really, really lame. Again, the central idea is strong, and where they began the arc was interesting--hell, even the ending had a fairly evocative image to it, but man did it chug along. Then at the end it just plops us there.

All of the genuinely cool ideas were kind of besmirched by clunky and aimless add-ons. Prime example is Superman legit become the lord/god of Apokolips--like that's one of his responsibilities now, and it's kind of a "whoa, didn't see that coming" sort of moments, but then he straight up goes on a tangent about American exceptionalism, and my jaw kind of drops lol It's like the uncle at the wedding who talks a little too long, and what he's saying kind of makes you cringe a bit. Just like the Road Trip arc, I inherently don't think the idea for Superman making a comparison was all bad (still wasn't great though), but boy did that execution lack.

All in all, really cool ideas with Jon and the dogs, Lex's feeling betrayed by Superman, Superman ruling Apokolips, and even Lois being on the Furies (to some extent), but all in all it handles these ideas with the stability of a baby learning to walk. It's unlikely, but I hope the actual Superman team aren't the ones to handle Superman: Lord of Apokolips. Knowing these teams, it'd likely end up that they're setting this all up so Superman and Zod can have a legit war with their planets, and it'll somehow turn out mediocre.

But, hey, I had Justice League, Batman 36, Klaus, and Landis' Superman story in the holiday special today. It wan't a bad day for me in the slightest.

[Factor]

I can't believe I'm at the point where a Jurgens written Superman book is the less frustrating of the two.

If you've been missing out out on platitudes of American exceptionalism and the whitewashing of history since 'Road Trip', this issue has you covered. Their reference to Superman #20 with Lois is not the only poor choice Tomasi & Gleason double down on.

Other than the bit with Jon and the Hunger Dogs, this whole arc has been a dud.

spoilers:

And Lex is evil again

end of spoilers

Ugh. I wish Tomasi stopped writing about his deluded visions of American history in Superman. Road Trip was more than enough.
I'm about to drop the book for good because it's seriously cringe-worthy how forced this all is.

[Korath]

As someone who doesn't really like the U.S. "exceptionalism", it honestly didn't read so bad. Sure, he glossed over all the problems there was with the Founding of the U.S., but would telling them that he came from a nation whose early rise was granted by slavery and still divided by deep racial tensions, have helped the locals ? Not really. Plus, he do got a point : without the U.S. Revolution, I highly doubt that a French Revolution would have happened, and from it folliwng revolutions elsewhere in the waning XVIIIth and the XIXth centuries.

[Barbatos666]

As someone who doesn't really like the U.S. "exceptionalism", it honestly didn't read so bad. Sure, he glossed over all the problems there was with the Founding of the U.S., but would telling them that he came from a nation whose early rise was granted by slavery and still divided by deep racial tensions, have helped the locals ? Not really. Plus, he do got a point : without the U.S. Revolution, I highly doubt that a French Revolution would have happened, and from it folliwng revolutions elsewhere in the waning XVIIIth and the XIXth centuries.

Indeed you'd be hard pressed to find any country or community that doesn't have skeletons in its closet. I associate superhero comics with innocence and the ideas Superman preached were innocent. If you want to find something sinister then you're like that Wertham guy. Israelis' will tell you their country is great regardless of their issues with Palestine and so on. If the basic idea being preached is good then I dont see whats the problem.

[Kuwagaton]

As someone who doesn't really like the U.S. "exceptionalism", it honestly didn't read so bad. Sure, he glossed over all the problems there was with the Founding of the U.S., but would telling them that he came from a nation whose early rise was granted by slavery and still divided by deep racial tensions, have helped the locals ? Not really. Plus, he do got a point : without the U.S. Revolution, I highly doubt that a French Revolution would have happened, and from it folliwng revolutions elsewhere in the waning XVIIIth and the XIXth centuries.

Yeah, the point of this story takes place in a context of people who have literally no idea what America is or susceptibility to influence beyond the positivity of Superman. Why would he cover that other stuff to muddy his own point?

Notice he doesn't mention it by name, it's not to impress its glory upon people who can't know the pointless contradictions. The reader sure can, and most likely will given that the demographic generally falls between 16-40. Yeah, this does falls down to what Tomasi and Gleason are saying through the character but it's not incongruous with a character who used to fly through time to hang with Lincoln, Washington, Franklin, etc. Superman needs strong opinions... until those opinions don't match our own.

Right now I just think the line writers need to collaborate more. Jurgens used to finish a story strong and I think it's been a struggle to have to man the whole thing. Tomasi and Gleason have yet to end a story stronger than it started, on the other hand. Maybe some helpful collaboration for longer stories and a writer willing to elaborate on what they rush, plus the marvel method, will help.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

If you've been missing out out on platitudes of American exceptionalism and the whitewashing of history since 'Road Trip', this issue has you covered. Their reference to Superman #20 with Lois is not the only poor choice Tomasi & Gleason double down on.

I don’t think it’s necessarily American exceptionalism when Clark doesn’t even say the word “America” or even anything suggesting he believes he’s from “the greatest place ever.” He’s mostly just talking about his family, to an alien audience who has no idea what America is. Plus, I mean, if we want to get technical, extolling American virtues and principles by itself in no way means endorsing the heinous acts of our country’s past. All civilizations and countries have done some…pretty messed up stuff, especially the West.