Official : Bendis gets both books

[LordUltimus]

Jon's new look



(whoops, Sacred beat me to it by seconds)

What's with the shoulder pads?

[DragonPiece]

Yeah, I can definitely see artists getting mad at drawing that suit with so much going on.

[Superlad93]

And of course like I mentioned, they did something similar to this with Chris and that ended horribly.

Chris was almost set up to fail from the very start. Like, just look at Chris' history for a second: after his debut he was largely a non entity in the Superman books. A background character with a minor subplot at best. He was Jon's age but he had no code name and no heroics under his belt. He had no supporting cast outside of Clark, Lois, and later Flamebird. He had minimal at best interaction with the rest of the DCU, and other books in the DCU went on as if he didn't exist.

Jon is the actual opposite of literally everything above. A code name, super suit, team book, whole plots devoted to him in the Superman books for nearly two years, recognition in books outside of the Superman family, on marketing posters, and even in video games. Hell, they literally changed the whole universe just to accommodate his coming and to make sure people knew this was legit. Oh, and it was recently confirmed that Conner Kent was put on ice specifically to give Jon room as Superboy.

They had one toe in the pool, at best, with Chris, but with Jon they jumped all the way in head first and did laps.

Will this do better? Maybe, but I’d have preferred they not aged Jon up at all.

That's fair, and lord knows I'm a big, big fan of small Jon, but I haven't see what this new development in his character has to offer, so I can't say if I will or won't like this.

Especially now that they’re bringing Kon back who is supposed to be the older teen Superboy.

See now this is interesting to me personally. I might actually be all for this. Basically I think might be a sort of The Son of Superman and The Son of Lex Luthor deal. That's so ripe with thematic and general story and character potential. Even the way they dress denotes a sort of contrast between the two that wouldn't have been their if Jon remained in his DIY suit. Jon is Superman's actual son, had a childhood, has been trained by Jor-El, and is now clad in traditional Kryptonian wears. Conner looks like he stitched together a that whole suit, had no childhood, made without Superman's knowledge, and Lex thinks of him as a son. There's story to mine there, and putting them around similar standing lets you explore that without Conner looking like a dick for being jealous of a little kid.

That's my take away from it at the moment.

[Vordan]

Chris was almost set up to fail from the very start. Like, just look at Chris' history for a second: after his debut he was largely a non entity in the Superman books. A background character with a minor subplot at best. He was Jon's age but he had no code name and no heroics under his belt. He had no supporting cast outside of Clark, Lois, and later Flamebird. He had minimal at best interaction with the rest of the DCU, and other books in the DCU went on as if he didn't exist.

Very true, they did indeed give Jon more of a push, and there are still stories coming out featuring Jon as he was, so I'm not claiming that Jon is going to be irrevocably ruined or anything. But this gimmick did not work out well before, I've never been a fan of the "rapidly aged up" gimmick in general, and it's going to make people mad if it all gets retconned out at the end which is what might end up happening. I'm reserving judgement until I get a sense of what Bendis' endgame is but I can't help but feel unhappy about this development. Seems stupid and Bendis shooting himself in the foot after he was doing a good job building up his plotlines.

See now this is interesting to me personally. I might actually be all for this. Basically I think might be a sort of The Son of Superman and The Son of Lex Luthor deal. That's so ripe with thematic and general story and character potential. Even the way they dress denotes a sort of contrast between the two that wouldn't have been their if Jon remained in his DIY suit. Jon is Superman's actual son, had a childhood, has been trained by Jor-El, and is now clad in traditional Kryptonian wears. Conner looks like he stitched together a that whole suit, had no childhood, made without Superman's knowledge, and Lex thinks of him as a son. There's story to mine there, and putting them around similar standing lets you explore that without Conner looking like a dick for being jealous of a little kid.

That's my take away from it at the moment.

And I like this take and I think it could be interesting, but the problem is that what's the plan for Jon afterwards? It's going to look dumb him running around with Damian if he's 3 feet taller than him, and it will look even more dumb if he's not just taller but older. That's going to ruin the dynamic between the two, and it will leave Jon stuck without a group of peers for himself. He'll be too old for Damian's group but Conner will already have Tim's group, and there's not a chance of Jon joining Dick's.

This seems like a story that would be better off being told as an "in the future" type story rather than right now in the present. Of course maybe Bendis will just retcon or revert Jon, but that is going to leave everyone wondering what the point was.

[Ascended]

If a year has passed for him, surely Damien's now...14? Will that be acknowledged in his own books?

Well, given how weird time can get (theory of relativity and all that, splintered through comic book-y "science") they *could* say that a year has passed for Jon (or two years, or....) without the same amount of time having passed on earth. So Jon could catch up to Damien's age without anyone else getting older. >shrug<

We'll see how this goes. I like the new look well enough but preferred the hoodie, and the idea of Super-puberty is interesting. I liked having a ten year old Super running around though; it was a nice change of pace from the full-on teenagers we usually see. It's one of the things that makes Jon and Damien so much fun. But if this does turn out to be a permanent thing I wouldn't be surprised. DC has such a problem with the multiple generations running around, they might be trying to quietly age the Super Sons generation (which is really just those two kids right now) up to meet Tim and Conner's age bracket. And they've already aged Damien up to 13, and they've made a point of how Jon's being even younger is a barrier between him and team membership.

But this could end up being a short-term thing too. We don't know. And even if this is supposed to be "permanent" right now.....the DCU is still missing time and its continuity is still broken, so when that gets fixed (end of Clock? Snyder's Event next year? Who knows?) this change might be undone anyway.

[manwhohaseverything]

It’s less the costume and conflict with his dad (both sound cool in my book) and more so that he looks way too old. He looks like he’s Conner’s age now. That’s going to have a negative impact on the dynamic between him and Damian. And of course like I mentioned, they did something similar to this with Chris and that ended horribly. Will this do better? Maybe, but I’d have preferred they not aged Jon up at all. Especially now that they’re bringing Kon back who is supposed to be the older teen Superboy.

Agreed with all of this. Alas but nothing can be done now, but accept the change until it lasts.

[Superlad93]

I've never been a fan of the "rapidly aged up" gimmick in general

This is a fair thing to say for someone who has been reading comics for any amount of time. I totally sympathize with you.

and it's going to make people mad if it all gets retconned out at the end which is what might end up happening.

I don't actually understand why people think this will be retconned out. I mean, DC's building towards the Legion coming back in a big way, Bendis is creating the United Planets, Bendis is a big Legion fan, Saturn Girl is in Doomsday Clock, and we know Jon's story is gonna be on a large cosmic scale (hence why he's in Superman and not Action). Seems pretty clear to me that he's going to be part of the Legion, and I don't see them retconning right when a character joins and they get up and running again.

Seems stupid and Bendis shooting himself in the foot after he was doing a good job building up his plotlines.

I don't see it as shooting himself in the foot but rather deciding not to coast off the set up of other writers. I mean, just take a second and think to yourself what stories most people would do if given the Rebirth set-up for Jon. It's mainly just "the first time he does this or that" or "Jon sees X get hurt so he goes all Gohan" or "Jon is sick." Novel and fun as all that is, it's not exactly carving out a specific character but rather ascribing general ideas to a mold. He was starting down the path of becoming monolithic like Superman has struggled with. You saw the stink raised when in issue 1 of Superman when Jon wasn't feeling school that day or when he got mad at gossip tabloids talking about him and his dad in issue 4.

Again, similar to Clark, we had this "mold" of sorts of what we expected of Jon and bringing him up, but life is almost never like that. Bendis decided to used the unpredictablity of his ill defined half alien linage to get this idea across. Sometimes life does fit in the clothes you bought for it, ya know?

Tit will leave Jon stuck without a group of peers for himself.

As I said before, I'm pretty sure he's going to the Legion. Funny enough, Jon tells his dad that when he asked his mom to fix his clothes in Man of Steel issue 1, he says that she said "join the Legion of kids that are old enough to fix their own problems." It's pretty funny given where it looks like we're heading on all sides lol

And given that Superman is now being directly linked to the Legion again, I imagine it won't be hard to establish that Jon "commutes" from the present to the future and back from here on. I'll have to wait and see how they go about the Super Sons dynamic, but it's fair to point out that Jon seems to be about as tall as Wallace West (age 14) in Damian's Teen Titans, and obviously Damian runs around with him and others taller than him just fine. Nobody, his partner in Son of Batman, was also taller. I imagine they'll use Super Sons team ups similar to how they do Batman and Superman team ups. They make them mini events/big deals in either book.

[manwhohaseverything]

See now this is interesting to me personally. I might actually be all for this. Basically I think might be a sort of The Son of Superman and The Son of Lex Luthor deal. That's so ripe with thematic and general story and character potential. Even the way they dress denotes a sort of contrast between the two that wouldn't have been their if Jon remained in his DIY suit. Jon is Superman's actual son, had a childhood, has been trained by Jor-El, and is now clad in traditional Kryptonian wears. Conner looks like he stitched together a that whole suit, had no childhood, made without Superman's knowledge, and Lex thinks of him as a son. There's story to mine there, and putting them around similar standing lets you explore that without Conner looking like a dick for being jealous of a little kid.

That's my take away from it at the moment.

How is piting Jon against Conner,help Jon's popularity?If this statusquo change backfires(people just hate Jon) wouldn't it, fasten the process of ending the character.Kon has staying power ,so he will survive.And powerwise wouldn't they(Jon and Conner) be redundant and since they will be of similar age.Otherwise Jon and Kon would have atleast been of different age and maturity level.They would have had different relationships with different generations.


This might also cause a fan divide(irrelevant to this but pointing it out,can't wait for Jon vs Kon fanwars.That is,if Jon has any left after this).

[manwhohaseverything]

And given that Superman is now being directly linked to the Legion again, I imagine it won't be hard to establish that Jon "commutes" from the present to the future and back from here on. I'll have to wait and see how they go about the Super Sons dynamic, but it's fair to point out that Jon seems to be about as tall as Wallace West (age 14) in Damian's Teen Titans, and obviously Damian runs around with him and others taller than him just fine. Nobody, his partner in Son of Batman, was also taller. I imagine they'll use Super Sons team ups similar to how they do Batman and Superman team ups. They make them mini events/big deals in either book.

As much as,I would like Jon teaming up with Legion,I would have liked it more if he remained the same age and personality.And I don't think they have any plans for supersons after the mini.That old dynamic might be done after this.I don't think DC can pulloff the Fun and wild adventures of two super kids with one being almost an adult.Jon might be sent of into the future with Legion though which will be cool.

[Konja7]

As much as,I would like Jon teaming up with Legion,I would have liked it more if he remained the same age and personality.And I don't think they have any plans for supersons after the mini.That old dynamic might be done after this.I don't think DC can pulloff the Fun and wild adventures of two super kids with one being almost an adult.Jon might be sent of into the future with Legion though which will be cool.

It's possible Jon is still 13 or 14. He may just look older (for the art).

In that case, it wouldn't be so difficult that Jon still interacts with Damian (who is 13).

[manwhohaseverything]

It's possible Jon is still 13 or 14. He may just look older.

So what,he is going to be a kid stuck in older body?

[Konja7]

So what,he is going to be a kid stuck in older body?

I say Jon looks older, not that his body is older.

In comic, you have characters who looks older than they are. Wallace West (Kid Flash) is just 14, but he is a tall as Jon's new appearance.

[Superlad93]

How is piting Jon against Conner,help Jon's popularity?

That's not really putting anyone against anyone in the antagonistic sense. It's addressing directly the core concepts between the two (Son of Superman, and man made clone replacement) and it's digging into the contrasting elements there to bring out story and character dynamic. And it actually hearkens back to the silver age where Lex and Clark grew up together in the same town. The idea being to overcome the rivalry that their dad's cultivated.

If this statusquo change backfires(people just hate Jon) wouldn't it, fasten the process of ending the character.

Unlikely given the level of push behind him.

And powerwise wouldn't they(Jon and Conner) be redundant and since they will be of similar age.

No. Conner has a special form of telekinesis in nearly all his incarnations, and Jon has full Kryptonian powers along with the implication that his status as a natural born hybrid will give him newer powers to come.

Otherwise Jon and Kon would have atleast been of different age and maturity level.

You don't know what age Jon is or his maturity level. We don't know what he'll function like coming back.

This might also cause a fan divide

Dude...Jon Kent being a character at all has caused a massive fan divide. I don't care anymore so long as the stories are good. All this internet tribalism can go kick rocks. I'm not interested.

As much as,I would like Jon teaming up with Legion,I would have liked it more if he remained the same age and personality.And I don't think they have any plans for supersons after the mini.That old dynamic might be done after this.I don't think DC can pulloff the Fun and wild adventures of two super kids with one being almost an adult.Jon might be sent of into the future with Legion though which will be cool.

We have no idea what they're doing with Super Sons after the mini, so I won't speak on that one way or the other. But I will say that I don't think it makes sense to say what DC can and can't pull off with a property when you have no idea of their next move or who will be on the book.

[Superlad93]

Wallace West (Kid Flash) is just 14, but he is a tall as Jon's new appearance.

Exactly. Wallace is literally just a year older than Damian yet look at the difference in height or even his muscle mass and structure.

[Vordan]

Yeah “fan divide” is meaningless. There was plenty of fan divide over bringing Superdad into the New 52 and then having him replace New 52 Superman. The real question is will this badly affect sales? If it does then there’s cause to worry if you’re a Bendis fan, and cause to rejoice if you hate Bendis. That Action Comics Lois issue caused a lot of divisiveness but it sold just fine, so DC and Bendis didn’t care.