Official : Bendis gets both books

[LordUltimus]

Reminds me of what Johns' was doing during New Krypton.

[Superlad93]

I would love to see something like this, especially if they still have it set that Zod and Jor-El were once close on Krypton. Some of the best parts of World of New Krypton were when Kal & Zod were working together and beginning to form a work relationship, even if they personally still didn't trust each other. Bringing Zod into the family for a while could make for some good storytelling.

You're totally right, and for whatever dumb reason I completely forgot that Jor-El was still around and Zod is out of the zone and is now bringing up a family, and how nothing has been done to nudge these two together into a space.

It's the opportunity of a life time, and, no matter what the character decides on, maybe the single biggest character defining moment for Zod possible after his creation. It's Chekhov's gun, but none of us noticed it for whatever reason.

And that's not even getting into whatever Jor-El does to make Jon say "grandpa's crazy" when they come back. There's a hefty amount of moving parts and things paying off from Man of Steel.

Reminds me of what Johns' was doing during New Krypton.

Bendis has been studying all of Johns' Superman and DC stuff, so I can only imagine that was part of it. Since New Krypton isn't in continuity anymore, this is an opportunity to basically strip mine aspects of it as a writer sees fit. Jurgens already got a head start with Lor-Zod, a version of New Krypton, and Zod as the leader of a people.

[Vordan]

Zod attempting to be an evil mentor to Kal ala Ra’s Al Ghul sounds interesting. But we just went through a period where Lex was an anti-hero. I’m leery of turning all of Kal’s Rogues into allies. There aren’t exactly a ton to go around right now.

[Superlad93]

I'm personally cool with the ones they've explored turning into anti-heroes/allies so far. Atomic Skull was doing nothing but collecting dust, and now one of my favorite stories featuring him is the back-up story from the Action Comics special where he's still working with the cops.

Zod? Lets all be honest for a second, Zod, as he's been popularly depicted, is pretty wack. Zod during New Krypton was about as interesting as he's ever been anywhere, imo. So, taking some from that and making him a Doctor Doom type (with his own nation/world to look after) who isn't so blind in their hate that they can work with our hero, and who's actually working towards a from of betterment for a people (his people) is far more interesting to me than they guy who's biggest claim to fame is that he's the bad Superman that tells people to kneel. Plus the possibility of a galactic political angle has me far more interested in him than I've maybe ever been.

I'm personally good with switching up some of the old mainstays while we create new villains next to them.

[LordUltimus]

I still want to have Live Wire in the Electric Superman suit working with STAR Labs, like in the good half of Grounded.

[HeroVladimir93]

I'm personally cool with the ones they've explored turning into anti-heroes/allies so far. Atomic Skull was doing nothing but collecting dust, and now one of my favorite stories featuring him is the back-up story from the Action Comics special where he's still working with the cops.

Zod? Lets all be honest for a second, Zod, as he's been popularly depicted, is pretty wack. Zod during New Krypton was about as interesting as he's ever been anywhere, imo. So, taking some from that and making him a Doctor Doom type (with his own nation/world to look after) who isn't so blind in their hate that they can work with our hero, and who's actually working towards a from of betterment for a people (his people) is far more interesting to me than they guy who's biggest claim to fame is that he's the bad Superman that tells people to kneel. Plus the possibility of a galactic political angle has me far more interested in him than I've maybe ever been.

I admit New Krypton did good job in giving Zod some semblance of moral ambiguity, much like Man of Steel.

[Vordan]

I'm personally cool with the ones they've explored turning into anti-heroes/allies so far. Atomic Skull was doing nothing but collecting dust, and now one of my favorite stories featuring him is the back-up story from the Action Comics special where he's still working with the cops.

Zod? Lets all be honest for a second, Zod, as he's been popularly depicted, is pretty wack. Zod during New Krypton was about as interesting as he's ever been anywhere, imo. So, taking some from that and making him a Doctor Doom type (with his own nation/world to look after) who isn't so blind in their hate that they can work with our hero, and who's actually working towards a from of betterment for a people (his people) is far more interesting to me than they guy who's biggest claim to fame is that he's the bad Superman that tells people to kneel. Plus the possibility of a galactic political angle has me far more interested in him than I've maybe ever been.

I'm personally good with switching up some of the old mainstays while we create new villains next to them.

Atomic Skull I’m fine with. And if they used Doom as a template it would be fine too. Doom can be an anti-villain, an anti-hero, or a classic villain and all feel in character for him. I’ll admit: Zod hasn’t really had a strong showing as a villain, and I actually agree with you about him needing some deeper characterization. Jurgens constantly having him scream KNEEL! every 5 seconds started to get on my nerves. So I’ll just hope Bendis aims not to make Zod a straight up hero but an uneasy morally ambiguous ally could prove interesting. I really should read New Krypton, I read the ending sucked and it discouraged me from reading what came before.

One thing though: I feel that Rogal as he exists right now has all the same problems we see in Zod. So if Bendis is planning to swap Zod out for Rogal, I don’t know if that’s actually a good idea. Rogal is going to need a lot more development, and people are already getting impatient with how much time Bendis has spent on him already. I’m not too impressed by him myself.

[Myskin]

As I said in the Superman 4 thread, I have my own theory about how the whole thing will develop. It's something I have entirely made up based on some vague deductions, so take it with a grain of salt:
spoilers:

IMHO there are three main plots at work here: 1- Zod and his New Krypton planet (as far as I know, this plot point was introduced during Jurgens' run and never really developed) for Kandor refugees and maybe Phantom Zome criminals. 2- The "cosmic conversation" and the United Planet saga 3- Rogol Zaar The way I see it, Bendis is creating a situation where New Krypton and Earth will sit at the same table - together with other planets' representatives - to manage whatever the United Planets usually deal with, and maybe they will find themselves at odd with each other - basically a political version of the New Krypton saga. However, the new element (I repeat it, it's entirely speculation on my part) will be Rogol's role. The way I see it, Bendis is setting Rogol as someone who is partially right or even justified, or at least motivated by understandable reasons, in his actions (an anti-hero, basically) and Superman could also take his defenses at one point. When that moment comes, Supes will be forced to act on THREE fronts: Kryptonians, earthlings and Rogol Zaar. Besides that, we have the Circle, whose role isn't entirely clear at this point. Even if Superman is the sci-fi series (and AC is the "detective" one), I think that Bendis is creating a political thriller/spy story which takes place in the space. Basically Homeland/Three Days of the Condor/All of the President's Men, but with Kryptonians.

end of spoilers

[Superlad93]

1- Zod and his New Krypton planet (as far as I know, this plot point was introduced during Jurgens' run and never really developed) for Kandor refugees and maybe Phantom Zome criminals.

Oddly enough, this plot thread was picked up in Green Lantern. Zod, Ursa, Lor-Zod, and Eradicator find a planet orbiting two suns, and they take it for their own. The indigenous people actually pretty into it from what I remember. Think The Superman The Animated Series episode "Absolute Power," but the people weren't secretly against their Kryptonian royal family.

Some things of note from that story: The two suns augment the Zod family's power greatly. The take Kyle's ring and mine it for data on other planets on the galaxy without the GLs knowing it. Zod also helps the GLs fight the Dark Stars.

It's a very space Doctor Doom situation. You bring up an interesting idea. Given the events of Superman issue 4, where Jax-Ur's allegiance is strongly implied to have changed, I wonder if either he'll go over to Zod's New Krypton or if he'll uses his pull as a shot-caller in the Zone to maybe bring over some inmates to New Krypton?

[HeroVladimir93]

All I want is for Bendis to keep the story focused on Superman; well, giving the supporting characters some screen time and development is nice, but Superman must always remain front and center. I want the story to keep focused on the characters; not the events the characters are going through or the actions the characters are performing, the characters themselves. I want Superman and his community to express themselves, to say what they are feeling, to have opinions, to be genuine human beings, not just sketches on paper. And before anyone says anything, I never saw any substantiation to the argument that the Jurgens/Tomasi era was basically "the adventures of Jon Kent, featuring Superdad." Superman was always the primary hero, Jon was his sidekick. He might had some issues dedicated to his development, but never took the primary hero's position away from his dad. That's why I have no problem with Bendis dragging his story arcs for a while (but it would be nice if he did speed things up in the "Unity Saga"). If something Bendis is doing right here is the character-driven storytelling.

[Myskin]

Oddly enough, this plot thread was picked up in Green Lantern. Zod, Ursa, Lor-Zod, and Eradicator find a planet orbiting two suns, and they take it for their own. The indigenous people actually pretty into it from what I remember. Think The Superman The Animated Series episode "Absolute Power," but the people weren't secretly against their Kryptonian royal family.

Some things of note from that story: The two suns augment the Zod family's power greatly. The take Kyle's ring and mine it for data on other planets on the galaxy without the GLs knowing it. Zod also helps the GLs fight the Dark Stars.

It's a very space Doctor Doom situation. You bring up an interesting idea. Given the events of Superman issue 4, where Jax-Ur's allegiance is strongly implied to have changed, I wonder if either he'll go over to Zod's New Krypton or if he'll uses his pull as a shot-caller in the Zone to maybe bring over some inmates to New Krypton?

Well, your answer is here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn4HX-vB...y=brianmbendis
The guys on the bottom picture don't seem to be PZ criminals (the attire is clean and elegant; Jax-Ur's clothes were ripped and ruined), and that's why I thought about Kandor refugees.

Of course, Jax-Ur could still play a role and quite frankly I'd really like to see some developments for the PZ villains (not only Jax, but the monsters and the aliens from the latest issues).

[Superlad93]

Well, your answer is here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn4HX-vB...y=brianmbendis
The guys on the bottom picture don't seem to be PZ criminals (the attire is clean and elegant; Jax-Ur's clothes were ripped and ruined), and that's why I thought about Kandor refugees.

Of course, Jax-Ur could still play a role and quite frankly I'd really like to see some developments for the PZ villains (not only Jax, but the monsters and the aliens from the latest issues).

Yeah, I've seen that picture, but I don't think the image is a representation of reality. I think that's Kal and Zod in the Zone and the people around and behind them are sort of idealized representations of their friends, family, and people close to them. In Zod's pic you'll notice a guy with a mohawk. That's one of the indigenous people of Zod's New Krypton. And over on Superman's side you'll notice Kara, Superwoman-Lois, Jon, and a transformed Jimmy Olsen. Kara is likely not showing up in Superman because she's tracking down info on the Circle; Lois is no longer Superwoman and, while the timeline is flexible, I don't think he'll be reuniting with Lois twice (one here and one in Action) given in issue one he was still looking for a way to talk to them.

So that's leads me to believe that while those are very likely the Kandorians or at the very least just normal Kryptonian people, I think they're a sort of mental projection while in the Zone.

[DragonPiece]

Yeah, I've seen that picture, but I don't think the image is a representation of reality. I think that's Kal and Zod in the Zone and the people around and behind them are sort of idealized representations of their friends, family, and people close to them. In Zod's pic you'll notice a guy with the mohawk. That's one of the indigenous people of Zod's New Krypton. And over on Superman's side you'll notice Kara, Superwoman-Lois, Jon, and a transformed Jimmy Olsen. Kara is likely not showing up in Superman because he's tracking down info on the Circle, Lois is no longer Superwoman and, while the timeline is flexible, I don't think he'll be reuniting with Lois twice (one here and one in Action) given in issue one he was still looking for a way to talk to them.

So that's leads me to believe that while those are very likely the Kandorians or at the very least just normal Kryptonian people, I think they're a sort of mental projection while in the Zone.

That makes a lot of sense, I kept wondering how that page would play out.

[Lvenger]

Bendis' Leviathan story may cross over with the Batman books along with both Superman series according to Bleeding Cool.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/10...man-crossover/

It's only a rumour based off NYC bar gossip of creators complaining that they have to alter their plans to fit in with Bendis' event so take with a healthy pinch of salt.

[HeroVladimir93]

I think I can accept Jon's anxiety and pressures by understanding that he is a 10-year-old boy who goes on crazy adventures on a regular basis and rarely, if ever, has time to process what's happening to him and the world at large. When the adrenaline rush wears off, Jon is left to ponder what exactly is he gonna do with his life. Jon can express his fears and weaknesses to his family because they are his family and they understand him more than anyone else in the world. He can say he is fine in one moment, but in another he can say he is scared of what he could become and didn't say so earlier because he wanted to put up a brave face for his family and friends. It's perfectly normal for people to have opinions and ideas that are completely opposite to the opinions and ideas they normally have. That's not an out-of-character moment, that's not bad writing, that's just how life works. Hopefully, Jon's time with Jor-El will give him some significant character development. As for Rogol, well, I only put up with him for the sole reason that he is not required to be a multifaceted, fully developed character. He is just there to be the catalyst for the hero's journey and moment of self-realization. Once Superman is done with him, maybe we can move on to something better.