Official : Bendis gets both books

[Vordan]

I’m super excited for Invisible War, a Metropolis gang war sounds awesome. Less excited that it’s Romita Jr. on art, I really didn’t like his previous Superman work. Maybe it will be better here?

I guess we’ll see how well Bendis can write Damian.

Are we getting an issue about the Fortress of Solitude? I’d love to see an issue focused on all the cool stuff Supes has stored in there.

[Sam]

I’m super excited for Invisible War, a Metropolis gang war sounds awesome. Less excited that it’s Romita Jr. on art, I really didn’t like his previous Superman work. Maybe it will be better here?

I guess we’ll see how well Bendis can write Damian.

Are we getting an issue about the Fortress of Solitude? I’d love to see an issue focused on all the cool stuff Supes has stored in there.

Yeah, Invisible War sounds pretty cool. I've definitely enjoyed the Invisible Mafia and I'm curious if Bendis can find a way for them to live on even after they've been revealed.

[Sacred Knight]

Probably just a mistake, but on the Supergirl "Infected" covers, Superman's wearing his Reborn costume.

[Superlad93]

I think you're giving Bendis too much benefit of the doubt here. Even if they address the scar in Legion, it still magically appeared on his face in the first place. And the alien slang was used a ton in Jon's first issue back, and then not at all for about 5+ issues after. That seems like dropping it. And if it comes back randomly, then that's just awkward writing.

I don't see how? I mean, I keep on saying stuff like "I can't really pretend to know one way or the other." It's not out yet, and I clearly don't know any "inside info" so me assuming that it's some editorial thing or him pivoting doesn't really make sense. Especially now. I feel comfortable speculating on story, art, interviews, solicits, twitter posts, and stuff like that because it's something that I'm seeing unfold pretty clearly before my eyes. I can't do or say the same about behind the scenes stuff, so I can't really speak on that.

Anyways, I'm starting to think it may have been a simple oversight in the art during the flashback scenes. Looking back, Peterson didn't draw what were sounded like harsh burns all over Jon's body once he escaped the volcano. Or that it might be something touched on later. I can't really say.

Furthermore, the theory that the slang is to tie-in with the Legion also doesn't make sense. Even if Jon was learning alien slang, it wouldn't be usable in the 32nd century. Slang changes in a decade, let alone a thousand years. Any slang Jon learned in the 21st century surely wouldn't still be in use in the 32nd. I mean, our language a thousand years ago was completely different to how it is today.

That might be set-up for a joke of some kind showing Jon that even though he's been through a lot, he's still a fish out of water with the Legion. But at the very least he'd have a base to start from. I'm guessing that Bendis is going to lean somewhat on Jon's time in space stopping large scale conflicts and seeing/being a part of rescue and diplomatic efforts on a galactic scale in progress. I think all of that (space stuff and slang) may act as a primer for him being part of the Legion.

Probably just a mistake, but on the Supergirl "Infected" covers, Superman's wearing his Reborn costume.

Supergirl's also wearing her Reborn suit. Flashback? Honest mistake?

[Robanker]

You know, normally I'd groan over "Lois Lane -- ENEMY OF SUPERMAN" and given DC Editorial's storied hatred of superhero marriages (especially Lois and Clark), I should... But Bendis really doesn't seem like he's going in that route and I'm interested to see what's between the covers. I like the idea of the variant being the other side of the image. Novel concept.

I'm not going to lie, I was reeling a bit reading these solicitations (granted, they're bloated this time around). There's so much Superman product on the shelf coming up and I'm really excited to see that. It's been a long time and even if you don't like what Bendis has been doing in Superman proper, that he's brought so much life to Clark's corner is a real boon for the character.

I hope Damien takes a moment to confide in Jon regarding the whole Ric Grayson thing. His older brother and potentially preferred father figure/mentor doesn't even remember him after a life-threatening injury-- that's rough, and though he wants everyone to think he's as stoic as they come, Damien really isn't. Jon is the other person he's been able to get close to and currently the only one of two who has returned and resembles himself. It'd be a great moment of development for Damien, affirm their friendship and be a genuinely good moment for both the boys.

Then I want them to punch a giant gorilla.

What?

[Superlad93]

Huh, pretty cool that Wonder Woman has a Event Leviathan tie-in by Orlando.

WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL#3
written by STEVE ORLANDO
art by V KEN MARION and SANDU FLOREA
cover by TYLER KIRKHAM
An EVENT LEVIATHAN tie-in issue! Years ago, Wonder Woman saved young Maria Paul from an explosive standoff between A.R.G.U.S. and the insurgent Sons of Liberty. By pulling that child from an inferno of hate, Wonder Woman changed her life. Diana watched Maria grow up into one of A.R.G.U.S.’s top agents. Every step of the way, Wonder Woman mentored Maria, taking her on her first mission – a daring rescue in Gorilla City. But when Leviathan decimates A.R.G.U.S., Diana’s absence causes Maria to question everything, pushing her toward Leviathan itself. And when she does…the truth about her fiery rescue by Wonder Woman might just kill her.
ON SALE 10.30.19

[Sam]

I don't see how? I mean, I keep on saying stuff like "I can't really pretend to know one way or the other." It's not out yet, and I clearly don't know any "inside info" so me assuming that it's some editorial thing or him pivoting doesn't really make sense. Especially now. I feel comfortable speculating on story, art, interviews, solicits, twitter posts, and stuff like that because it's something that I'm seeing unfold pretty clearly before my eyes. I can't do or say the same about behind the scenes stuff, so I can't really speak on that.

Anyways, I'm starting to think it may have been a simple oversight in the art during the flashback scenes. Looking back, Peterson didn't draw what were sounded like harsh burns all over Jon's body once he escaped the volcano. Or that it might be something touched on later. I can't really say.

We're seeing this unfold before our eyes. The age, the scar, the slang. They've all been right there in the text. It's perfectly fair to speculate about why these are being treated inconsistently. I'm not assuming anything definitive. I just don't think it's safe to say there haven't been inconsistencies, and that Bendis has some master plan for it all, because that is not reflected in what we've seen so far. Trying to explain it away seems to be assuming Bendis has accounted for something he really doesn't seem to. That's all I meant.

And a burn scar would only make sense if Jon had only been burned on that part of his body. His whole body was exposed to the flames as you said, so it wouldn't make sense that the scar was the only result.

That might be set-up for a joke of some kind showing Jon that even though he's been through a lot, he's still a fish out of water with the Legion. But at the very least he'd have a base to start from. I'm guessing that Bendis is going to lean somewhat on Jon's time in space stopping large scale conflicts and seeing/being a part of rescue and diplomatic efforts on a galactic scale in progress. I think all of that (space stuff and slang) may act as a primer for him being part of the Legion.

This is what I mean when I say I feel you're giving him to much benefit of the doubt, cause this seems like a huge stretch. The trip to space stuff might be used certainly. But the slang? Considering it was used in one or two issues in the present then dropped (and never shown in the flashback), that would be poor set up for a joke. It definitely is an inconsistency.

[Yoda]

I’d chock some of the dialogue issues up to just Bendis getting a handle on writing Jon. His first real outing with Lois in Action 1004 was similar with all kinds of odd dialogue choices, “baby” being the weirdest, that sounded unnatural at the time. It carried over to a lesser extent to her next couple of appearances in Superman and Action but leveled off and he seems to have found a voice for her that is more consistent and not as affected.

The same seems to have happened with Jon. He tried out one style that had a heavy handed affect and then seems to have toned it down a bit. I think he still has a ways to go with Jon’s voice but I think that is probably the reason for the dialogue changes.

As for the scar, you’d think that they would have explained such a significant development or that there would be some comment on it or consistency in its presentation. I would not be surprised if that get quietly dropped. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t have any story impact given his age up. Meaning explaining that is harder than Superboy and Jon kent have similar scars so I don’t know.

[Sam]

I’d chock some of the dialogue issues up to just Bendis getting a handle on writing Jon. His first real outing with Lois in Action 1004 was similar with all kinds of odd dialogue choices, “baby” being the weirdest, that sounded unnatural at the time. It carried over to a lesser extent to her next couple of appearances in Superman and Action but leveled off and he seems to have found a voice for her that is more consistent and not as affected.

The same seems to have happened with Jon. He tried out one style that had a heavy handed affect and then seems to have toned it down a bit. I think he still has a ways to go with Jon’s voice but I think that is probably the reason for the dialogue changes.

As for the scar, you’d think that they would have explained such a significant development or that there would be some comment on it or consistency in its presentation. I would not be surprised if that get quietly dropped. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t have any story impact given his age up. Meaning explaining that is harder than Superboy and Jon kent have similar scars so I don’t know.

It could very well be the case, but that's part of what's so fascinating to me. All Bendis's friends talk in interviews about how Bendis writes about 6 months ahead. So even if he was trying out dialogue in one issue, in theory he should have a large buffer to go back and make revisions if he needs to. So if it is that he is shifting things, does he not go back and revise? Or did he start revising the speech patterns way after the fact so it was too late for those initial issues? We will probably never get the answers to these questions, but I find them very interesting.

[Yoda]

It could very well be the case, but that's part of what's so fascinating to me. All Bendis's friends talk in interviews about how Bendis writes about 6 months ahead. So even if he was trying out dialogue in one issue, in theory he should have a large buffer to go back and make revisions if he needs to. So if it is that he is shifting things, does he not go back and revise? Or did he start revising the speech patterns way after the fact so it was too late for those initial issues? We will probably never get the answers to these questions, but I find them very interesting.

Given the amount he writes, how far ahead he writes (and presumably how early it goes to the artists), and how fast he seems to write, there may not be much opportunity to go back and tweak things to that extent. Looking again at the Lois example, there definitely seems to be kind of gradual adjustment in how he writes her dialogue from Action 1004 (which was written in February 2018), Action 1007, Superman 7-10, compared to how she's written in Action 1009-11 and Event Leviathan(which were written sometime around October or November 2018). So it may just be a gradual adjustment he makes as he gets more comfortable writing her and takes in the response. We could be seeing the same lag in the writing of Jon.

So I think it's probably a more organic process than one that would warrant revising past scripts. Dropping a few intergalactic slang words in a few scripts, or like "baby," then deciding it didn't work as well as he thought probably isn't worth re-lettering a comic if it was already at that point.

I think these, depending on how they were phrased, would actually be questions Bendis would respond to. He loves talking about the process of writing and making comics.

[Superlad93]

It's perfectly fair to speculate about why these are being treated inconsistently. Trying to explain it away seems to be assuming Bendis has accounted for something he really doesn't seem to. That's all I meant.

If you feel comfortable attributing anything to behind the scenes editorial or pivots, that's totally fine. I'm speaking for myself, and I don't feel comfortable going there yet. I usually wait quite a while into the run, near the end, after the run, or in the event of something major to speculate on that. Again, if you go about it differently, that's cool too. For now, I'd much rather see if Bendis has a story reason for it.

His whole body was exposed to the flames as you said, so it wouldn't make sense that the scar was the only result.

No, my point was that Peterson as an artist didn't show any visible damage from burns that were said to be healing right after the volcano when Jon was naked and healing. Jon's whole body was clean from a visual standpoint. I'm saying if he didn't show any of that damage, then maybe he also forgot to show the scar Jon got from his travels or wherever.

This is what I mean when I say I feel you're giving him to much benefit of the doubt, cause this seems like a huge stretch.

Well then we're at an impasse because I feel like it's a stretch to play armchair manager/insider and assume all of this behind the scenes stuff before the issues or books in question have even hit the stands. I personally think it makes for better speculation when it's more squarely story focused, but, like with all of this, that's just me.

that would be poor set up for a joke.

Well, that's rather subjective, and completely dependent on how it's done in the moment, isn't it. Jon meeting Lightning Lad and going "from Winath, right? Blablabla slang blablabla, dude" and Garth goes ".......holy sh!t, if we are to continue any form of a working relationship, never in your life let that foolishness escape your mouth again, smaller Superman. My grandpa would've cringed at that."

Just the simple idea that Jon was feeling like he was getting the hang of all this space culture and had that in his pocket, only to remember that he's out of date and out of his depth. It keeps a sense of learning and growth in his story even though he's done so very much by this point.

[Superlad93]

The same seems to have happened with Jon. He tried out one style that had a heavy handed affect and then seems to have toned it down a bit. I think he still has a ways to go with Jon’s voice but I think that is probably the reason for the dialogue changes.

This would totally make sense to me. I mean, it's a new version of the character that he's writing, so he'd be feeling out the voices. And I noticed that his Lois voice got smoother and more confident the closer he got to Leviathan where he's writing her quite a lot. Same may be true for Jon and the Legion? Maybe he just knows what he wants out of Jon's voice now?

As for the scar, you’d think that they would have explained such a significant development or that there would be some comment on it or consistency in its presentation. I would not be surprised if that get quietly dropped. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t have any story impact given his age up. Meaning explaining that is harder than Superboy and Jon kent have similar scars so I don’t know.

I'm wondering if it might have to do with his nature as a half Kryptonian and the fact that he has very consistently been one of only two characters regularly eating, hungry, or talking about being hungry. Zaar would be the other, and he's also sporting scars that we have no explanation for.

The reason I'm not so quick to call bs or pivoting is that--in addition to what I've already said--Bendis, in this run, has pretty consistently shown that these small throw away moments or details usually have a reason behind them. One example being in Man of Steel issue 1 when Melody asked Superman if she was taller than Wonder Woman, and now it's turning out that she's very, very likely going to be more than just an ordinary human. Or for a more obvious example, Martian Manhunter saying Superman should takeover, Clark blows it off, and now we getting wind of, well, you know. There's also Clark saying that Zaar is powered by yellow sun, then Zaar deciding to continue to wear the house of El cape around his neck, and now we're hearing talk of Jor-El's "children."

Or how about in Young Justice issue 1 where Wonder Girl seems to nearly cry before she helps out in the fight? We've heard nothing about that since, and she seems to be having a great time now, but I'm hard pressed to think that's just gone, ya know? My personal guess? She's pregnant, and that's why Zeus came to her at that moment (remember, he wouldn't give her a straight answer why) and that "gift" would've somehow given him control or something over his great grandchild because it's 100% always about babies, sex, or his family with Zeus (sometimes literally all three), and Bendis said that YJ would sometimes have the kids dealing with adult issues they're not ready for. I'm guessing Wonder Girl was afraid for her child and she wanted to be in a city were the world's greatest hero was always watching (so she didn't have to) and she could go back to school (she mentioned that).

One could call my faith misplaced, or wishful thinking but Bendis seems to damn near get off on this breadcrumb sh!t because his background is long from storytelling, and he personally seems to enjoy that sort of stuff in general.

I play the game I see in front of me, ya know?

[manwhohaseverything]

Is it just me? I don't see the difference that sam is talking about. As for the scar it comes and goes. The slang was barely in issue. It was not even that noticeable for me.
Jon's voice was decent and better during the man of steel series and was the best during a flashback that clark had(the one where jon is being too lazy to go to school). His adult jon is too stiff,less emotive and less energetic for me.jon should be a bundle of joy. So,yeah! His Jon needs work. I am just scared for the reunion issue. I hope it isn't farewell issue And it is actually good. Action comics, i don't need to comment.it has been wayy better that this drag fest unity saga.

[Konja7]

Is it just me? I don't see the difference that sam is talking about. As for the scar it comes and goes. The slang was barely in issue. It was not even that noticeable for me.
Jon's voice was decent and better during the man of steel series and was the best during a flashback that clark had(the one where jon is being too lazy to go to school). His adult jon is too stiff,less emotive and less energetic for me.jon should be a bundle of joy. So,yeah! His Jon needs work. I am just scared for the reunion issue. I hope it isn't farewell issue And it is actually good. Action comics, i don't need to comment.it has been wayy better that this drag fest unity saga.

To be fair, this is likely because Jon has almost no participation in the story. Jon is just there.

So far, the only time that we have seen Jon in an active role is when he told his story about the travel and his imprisonment, but I felt that Bendis just wanted to end that story as quickly as possible.

[Sam]

If you feel comfortable attributing anything to behind the scenes editorial or pivots, that's totally fine. I'm speaking for myself, and I don't feel comfortable going there yet. I usually wait quite a while into the run, near the end, after the run, or in the event of something major to speculate on that. Again, if you go about it differently, that's cool too. For now, I'd much rather see if Bendis has a story reason for it.

We're 13 issues into the Superman run, 12 issues into Action, and we've had a six-issue mini-series setting them both up. I think it qualifies as quite a while into the run. If stuff is weird, it's perfectly fair to comment on it and wonder about his writing process.

No, my point was that Peterson as an artist didn't show any visible damage from burns that were said to be healing right after the volcano when Jon was naked and healing. Jon's whole body was clean from a visual standpoint. I'm saying if he didn't show any of that damage, then maybe he also forgot to show the scar Jon got from his travels or wherever.

Ahhh, I see what your saying. An art mistake could be possible, but combined with the other inconsistencies, I think it's more likely a Bendis thing. Not definitely, but more likely.

Well then we're at an impasse because I feel like it's a stretch to play armchair manager/insider and assume all of this behind the scenes stuff before the issues or books in question have even hit the stands. I personally think it makes for better speculation when it's more squarely story focused, but, like with all of this, that's just me.

The things I've been talking about (other than the Superman 16 solicitation, but that was quite specific) have been entirely from books that have hit the stands and we've read. You're the one who brought up the idea that maybe the scar and slang will be dealt with in future issues. I'm just saying based on what we've seen in the issues we've already read, I don't see reason to believe that.

Well, that's rather subjective, and completely dependent on how it's done in the moment, isn't it. Jon meeting Lightning Lad and going "from Winath, right? Blablabla slang blablabla, dude" and Garth goes ".......holy sh!t, if we are to continue any form of a working relationship, never in your life let that foolishness escape your mouth again, smaller Superman. My grandpa would've cringed at that."

Just the simple idea that Jon was feeling like he was getting the hang of all this space culture and had that in his pocket, only to remember that he's out of date and out of his depth. It keeps a sense of learning and growth in his story even though he's done so very much by this point.

Humor tastes can be subjective to the individual. The construction of a joke, delivery, not so much. If Bendis has Jon use slang for one issue, then drops it without comment, then brings it up again, many months and many issues later, that's weird set-up (also inconsistent with Bendis's style of humor which very in the moment). And the joke you proposed doesn't actually depend on Jon using alien slang to talk to his father. We know he traveled in space, so the idea of him knowing some customs wouldn't be far-fetched. So I don't see the slang as necessary piece of what you're suggesting and it's sudden appearance and disappearance still stick out.