Official : Bendis gets both books

[Miles To Go]

I call a cat a cat. No matter what happens. Especially in a fanbase supposed to support he Man of Tomorrow, not the Man of Yestercentury.

Having a wife and a son was/is something never tried long-term for the character, so the whole thing has been about depicting him as a man of tomorrow, for he is raising the future. Think on that.

[Vordan]

Sales didn't fall into the 40K range for the Rebirth Superman comics as fast as they have for Bendis' Superman though.

Very true. I personally thought them relaunching Superman was a bad idea. None of the other books were relaunched and just is going to make whatever future relaunch they've got coming up (which I personally think will be post-Scott Snyder's summer event) even more useless for Superman.

In this market falling sales is the norm but Bendis has fallen faster than DC wanted him to.

Not sure about this. We don't really know the expectations they had for him coming on-board. We do know they wanted him to tackle certain creative issues such as the spy organizations of the DCU, so that desire to have him use certain DC IP might have also been in part why they wanted him, not just sales. Because if they recruited him just for sales they are utter morons (which wouldn't be THAT big a surprise). Bendis hasn't been a big seller in years. However it's the ideas he's had like Miles Morales that make him valuable. Rogal Zaar has been a flop so far, but Red Cloud and The Invisible Mafia are good ideas that might stick around for a while.

I'd have been OK with a new writer taking over from Jurgens personally but I'd still take Jurgens at his worst over Bendis at his best. Also the comments from retailers that fans feel this isn't their Superman anymore is something I called when Bendis was announced to take over.

For me personally while I do like a few Jurgens works (Lois & Clark is the strongest thing he's written this decade imo), it's the recycling of plot beats I've seen before with him that are why I'm interested in what Bendis is doing. Hank Henshaw and Doomsday don't really do anything for me. I'm not a fan of the aged up Jon, I don't think it's really necessary since you'd get the same impact with Supes losing just one year of Jon's life, but I am a fan of Supes seemingly getting involved in intergalactic politics and championing the United Planets if that's Bendis' plan. I like the noir feel in Action and having all these organizations clash with one another. I mean when was the last time the Mayor of Metropolis was even mentioned in Superman comics? Metropolis has just been neglected for so long as an actual setting that I'm just happy to have it play a role again.

I would expect that Bendis may eventually relinquish one of the Superman books, I hope it's the Superman book personally. Put Jeff Loveness on that book to set guys like you at ease with a more "traditional" Superman book and then Bendis can focus on Action and building up Metropolis which is his strength as a writer imo. Bendis on the books is getting us Rucka Lois Lane and Fraction Jimmy Olsen which we'd never get otherwise, so if they do decide to go in a new direction I hope it's after those two books finished because then I can enjoy those two without worrying about them getting cancelled prematurely.

[Miles To Go]

Oh yeah, which is why I have so many fanfics some of which I've been writing for years.

Of course, and they're very good fics too, never tire of writing them.

Again, sorry, it was all very heat of the moment and I let myself get triggered/baited.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

As someone who dropped both books after getting tired of Clark being written as a spineless moron who throws regular temper tantrums and Lois as an moron who ditched her only son in outer space. All I’ll say about this sales decline, boy does it feel good to vote with my wallet.

[Miles To Go]

As someone who dropped both books after getting tired of Clark being written as a spineless moron who throws regular temper tantrums and Lois as an moron who ditched her only son in outer space. All I’ll say about this sales decline, boy does it feel good to vote with my wallet.

One has to think the revelation in The Flash that characters are acting weird because of some force is an authors saving throw right?

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

One has to think the revelation in The Flash that characters are acting weird because of some force is an authors saving throw right?

I don’t know anything about that, but I’ll take anything that retcons my favorite characters acting like pathetic shells of themselves for no reason.

[Vordan]

I don’t know anything about that, but I’ll take anything that retcons my favorite characters being written as pathetic shells of themselves for no reason.

Flash and Batman had another crossover which ended with the two of them leaving each other on icy terms. Ending has Batman remark to Superman that someone has corrupted one of the JL. For me it smacks more of setting up Snyder's Summer event, King's Batman event, or Doomsday Clock. Doesn't really feel tied to what Bendis is doing.

[manwhohaseverything]

I think pacing is also an issue with Bendis's run(i like double shipping thing) . His strength is world building. He should of focused on that.i feel there isn't any character that can give the "superman" a sense of wonder. He flies to the moon and punches it, but i still don't feel anything hopefully, With return of Jimmy that is fixed. His decision regarding jon and superfamily is controversial, fans of his run cannot deny that.
just look at the comments section.
Also, Rogal zarr is not working. That red cloud mystery was predictable and fell flat.

[Miles To Go]

Wow..those comments...I'm surprised the dislike ratio is low in comparison.

[Yoda]

I think pacing is a major issue with these. And so far each of the three completed arcs kinda ended on anticlimactic notes. Man of Steel, it ends mid-fight with Kara sending Zaar into the phantom zone. Superman, the arc ends abruptly mid fight (again) with Clark getting pulled out of the phantom zone. Action 1006 just kinda ends again. And we move on to a completely unconnected story. No resolution to any of the plot threads which I feel is kinda Bendis' style now. It's been a while, but I remember as decompressed as Powers and Ultimate Spider-Man were, the arcs all had resolutions and seemed self contained. Now he seems too focused on setting up everything, that all the resolutions fall completely flat or are non-events.

Sales wise, it's charting pretty well for DC regardless of the actual sales. Batman dropped 10,000 copies between November and December and that'd been stable for a while. At this point out from New 52 the books were selling less and were charting out of the top 50 I believe. So there's what we might have gotten back to that if it wasn't for Bendis. Tomasi and Gleason seemed to refocus a little bit towards the end, but even as someone who loves their run, from issue 26 on that book just meandered. So relative to the rest of the market, his sales are not catastrophically bad. And the drop off from November to January for Action was not that significant. Now if there's a big drop in February, that'd probably be a little concerning. But one retailer complaining to Bleeding Cool doesn't a Crisis make. It's still selling pretty well.

And this idea that Bendis was going to come in and have Superman selling 100,000 copies a month is a pipedream fed by BC and the like. Bendis hasn't sold that on non-event comics in like 10 years. I think his sales are probably within the ballpark of what they expected with the Leviathan event planned to give a boost once the initial bump wore off.

And Bendis asked for Superman, he wasn't brought in to revitalize it. Once here, he seems to have been given certain areas they wanted him to take a look at. But it's just not true that he was brought in to boost sales on these books. Additionally, there's that interview where Didio mentions that there was a plan to remove Lois from the books for a significant amount of time and it was Bendis who decided that she come back almost immediately. So Jurgens and Tomasi/Gleason could have been planing some sort of shake up with the family as well with the fallout from the Mr. Oz storyline.

[manwhohaseverything]

Nostalgia fanatics are unhappy than their "perfect" (read : boring and uninspiring) Superman was changed. meanwhile, the format of comics issues don't bring new readers because it isn't accessible outside of comic stores. As simple as that.

Your argument would only work with old fans.r/DCcomics is full of new readers and casual guys that started after new52 and rebirth. They are very critical about this run.

[Celgress]

As someone who dropped both books after getting tired of Clark being written as a spineless moron who throws regular temper tantrums and Lois as an moron who ditched her only son in outer space. All I’ll say about this sales decline, boy does it feel good to vote with my wallet.

Yeah, I agree, they have been acting way OOC.

PS I've also decided to recently take a break from the books (right after they aged up Jon).

[Miles To Go]

Jurgens and Tomasi/Gleason could have been planing some sort of shake up with the family as well with the fallout from the Mr. Oz storyline.

They were. Remember the Amazon solicitation for one of the Jurgens-penned Action Comics trades that never came to be? because of the Bendis hire? It said something would change Clark's relationship with his family. Something was always going to happen.

Also, Jurgens was going to include an aged up Jon in Batman Beyond, but that didn't happen either. Covers were even made for it.

[Superlad93]

I think pacing is a major issue with these. And so far each of the three completed arcs kinda ended on anticlimactic notes. Man of Steel, it ends mid-fight with Kara sending Zaar into the phantom zone. Superman, the arc ends abruptly mid fight (again) with Clark getting pulled out of the phantom zone. Action 1006 just kinda ends again. And we move on to a completely unconnected story. No resolution to any of the plot threads which I feel is kinda Bendis' style now. It's been a while, but I remember as decompressed as Powers and Ultimate Spider-Man were, the arcs all had resolutions and seemed self contained. Now he seems too focused on setting up everything, that all the resolutions fall completely flat or are non-events.

Sales wise, it's charting pretty well for DC regardless of the actual sales. Batman dropped 10,000 copies between November and December and that's been stable for a while. At this point out from New 52 the books were selling less and were charting out of the top 50 I believe. So there's We might have gotten back to that if it wasn't for Bendis. Tomasi and Gleason seemed to refocus a little bit towards the end, but even as someone who loves their run, from issue 26 on that book just meandered. So relative to the rest of the market, his sales are not catastrophically bad. And the drop off from November to January for Action was not that significant. Now if there's a big drop in February, that'd probably be a little concerning. But one retailer complaining to Bleeding Cool doesn't a Crisis make. It's still selling pretty well.

And this idea that Bendis was going to come in and have Superman selling 100,000 copies a month is a pipedream fed by BC and the like. Bendis hasn't sold that on non-event comics in like 10 years. I think his sales are probably within the ballpark of what they expected with the Leviathan event planned to give a boost once the initial bump.

And Bendis asked for Superman, he wasn't brought in to revitalize it. Once here, he seems to have been given certain areas they wanted him to take a look at. But it's just not true that he was brought in to boost sales on these books. Additionally, there's that interview where Didio mentions that there was a plan to remove Lois from the books for a significant amount of time and it was Bendis who decided that she come back almost immediately. So Jurgens and Tomasi/Gleason could have been planing some sort of shake up with the family as well with the fallout from the Mr. Oz storyline.

Whoa, hey now, get that cool headed and thoughtful look at a situation out of my face, guy.

Jokes aside, way to put things in perspective.

[manwhohaseverything]

They were. Remember the Amazon solicitation for one of the Jurgens-penned Action Comics trades that never came to be? because of the Bendis hire? It said something would change Clark's relationship with his family. Something was always going to happen.

Also, Jurgens was going to include an aged up Jon in Batman Beyond, but that didn't happen either. Covers were even made for it.

That was part of cross over, When superman was travelling through time with booster gold. It was meant to be future jon,but plan changed . I don't know about amazon solicitation. But, jurgens would be the last person i expect to mess with Clois and that too married one.