Official : Bendis gets both books

[Sacred Knight]

Whatever Bendis says, Jon's age-up smells of editorial asking to make the kid more independent from his parents and free Clark from playing "Superdad".

I wouldn't be surprised. There's really nothing being done here that cannot have been done with him as 10, I agree with those upset about the change in that regard. If Superman's going to have a family, it should definitely be werid, I agree with that, but again weird and teenager doesn't necessarily have to go hand-in-hand. So I tend to lean toward your way of thinking on this, that it was more of an edict. If so though I'm in full support of it if moving away from Superdad was at all a factor.

If it is more of an editorial thing, I would start to doubt the chances of it being reversed even after Bendis.

[Jackalope89]

I still stand by my own theory that Didio was planning on doing something drastic with Jon whether Bendis came to Superman or not.

Didn't Bendis himself say that it was his idea to age up Jon?

Anyway, I'm fine with weird. Its comic books and fiction, weird things are supposed to happen.

But aging up Jon like this, making Clark and Lois into awful parents to do it, and so much more, yeah. I guess my only hope going forward is that this entire run gets retconned somehow and someone like Tomasi takes over.

[Sam]

I still stand by my own theory that Didio was planning on doing something drastic with Jon whether Bendis came to Superman or not.

Bendis has taken full ownership of it and that's really all we've had to go by. Is it possible Didio had something else in the works as well? Yeah, but I'm taking Bendis at his word on this.

[Claude]

Bendis has taken full ownership of it and that's really all we've had to go by. Is it possible Didio had something else in the works as well? Yeah, but I'm taking Bendis at his word on this.

I think it's only fair to do so - but then again, there are lots of reasons a creator/organisation might do something that they simply would want to risk the backlash for admitting. I always think about Scott Snyder when it comes to points like this - who's work I'm not a gigantic fan of, but who seems like a nice guy. Back when he was writing Batman, he was asked on Twitter why he so rarely used Damian - and he gave a very honest answer about how, as a father of a son about that age, he simply couldn't get himself to believe in a version of Batman who would take his ten year old son out to fight Scarecrow.

He admitted that not every writer felt that way, and that clearly a lot of fans disagreed, but for him it literally broke the character he was writing to say "suit up, Damian - let's go on patrol". And he got sooooooo much **** for it. And that's for Damian - a character who's packed full of "excuses" to be Robin, right from birth!


And so part of me wonders if Bendis - or other higher-up DC creators - might have had a similar reaction to a bright-eyed, excitable Jon Kent. Tomasi's run was - for lack of a better word - "cuddlier" than most other modern Superman runs, but even so I still felt a little pang whenever Clark would take his kid to help him fight a vicious, meat-eating dinosaur or whatever. Sooner or later, editorial would have had to deal with that - especially if the tone of the book turned.

[Ascended]

Few more members of the Legion confirmed. Mon-El confirmed to be part of the team.

Now Im very, very interested in what Bendis is doing here. Setting things in the 32nd century.....we could just be dealing with a sliding time scale with the same characters, or descendants or who knows what....but if Mon-El is involved....I feel like there's only one Lar Gand, yknow? So how does he factor into things?

Should be interesting, and Valor (Mon-El is a stupid ass name and always has been) is one of my favorite Super characters who almost no one remembers (including myself) half the time.

Is it petty that the only reason I no longer entertain this series is due to Jon's scar?

Well, I feel like you dont need to justify why you don't like something. You do you, and all that. But it does strike me as an odd thing to get hung up on, I barely notice its there at all.

And the Legion.....man, that is such a crazy, awesome concept. If you're a newer fan its no wonder you don't know who they are. But I say give them a chance; it's like a fusion of the Teen Titans and Star Wars and, when done right (which hasn't happened a lot lately, admittedly) they're pretty fun.

I still stand by my own theory that Didio was planning on doing something drastic with Jon whether Bendis came to Superman or not.

I feel like it's entirely possible Didio wanted *something* done. He's the guy who approved of Jon being created so I dont think it was a "remove Jon completely" thing. But a drastic change when it wasn't strictly necessary? That does sound like Didio. Bendis might've come up with the aging idea, and we have no reason to think otherwise (though office politics do make liars of us all at times) but I wouldn't be surprised if Didio decided he wanted something radically different from what Tomasi did.

[Vordan]

You may have liked Our Town, but Bendis specifically called out anything that any family can do. Going to fair would seem to qualify. And despite all the weird, the Bizarro arc was grounded in some very realistic and relatable ideas as well. The whole sequence with Jon trying to sleep in Metropolis and the family dinner was amazing with Jon getting all awkward over Kathy. Plus, the epilogue of that had the family deal with moving and revisiting the fair. Everything weird was attached to something very real and normal and it made everything feel very relatable. That balance made the Superfamily shine. Bendis hasn't done that. He's doubled down on the weird and taking away the grounding Jon was built on.

I'm happy to talk this out with you, but seriously, your post before annoyed me. I just want to make sure we're clear that being glib with me for saying something I didn't in fact say is not okay. If your frustrated with Jon fans complaining that's fine, but don't take it out on me (though I realize that also may not be what was happening from your perspective). I have a right to voice my opinion and frustrations as much as anyone else on here. Your arguments are well-reasoned and well-argued and I respect your right to feel the way you do and you're usually do the same, but I just want to make sure we're good on that.

Fair enough.

I still stand by my own theory that Didio was planning on doing something drastic with Jon whether Bendis came to Superman or not.

Bendis says as much in the Word Balloon Q&A. AC 1000 was always going to cause a shake up in the status quo.

[Superlad93]

Okay so, I've listened to the first part of the interview twice now to really confirm my feelings, and I very much feel like this Legion idea with Jon is extremely elegant in its simplicity, and just overall inspired.

Just to recap: Bendis is openly calling this his "Ultimate Legion of Super-Heroes" in the same style of his Ultimate Spider-Man. Bendis that it would be obvious to those anyone who thinks about it for a second because it's "start over from scratch, take the stuff you think really is of value to this generation--to this society, this culture, and focus on that--bring out the truth." He even said "its' almost the same job" He then continued that "like with Ultimate Spider-Man, I got to cherry pick all these awesome things and bits and pieces that other creators had done over the years and put them together to be Ultimate Spider-Man. I'm getting to do the same thing with the Legion."

And with all the appropriate implications, this is INSPIRED, to me. I struggle where to even begin, but I guess it all starts with Superboy.......the original Ultimate Universe character for DC all the way back in 1945 in More Fun Comics. Superboy was created with little to no regard to Superman's continuity beyond the superficial. Superboy was specifically created to "present a version of the character to whom younger readers could easily relate." Is that LITERALLY not the origin of Ultimate Spider-Man and the whole Ultimate line? It doesn't just stop there either, because you've also got aged down versions of Lex, Mxy, and Lois showing up. They even created original characters like Lana and Pete. Once the Legion became part of his supporting cast and things were removed from the shaky promise of the continuity in Superman's book, it was its own thing basically. This is the same formula that Smallville adopted decades later.

This idea allows for an "Ultimate Superman/Superboy", in the form of Jon Kent, in the same continuity as normal Superman. This allows for Ultimate style reimaginings of classic Superboy and the Legion stories and ideas that are geared specifically towards a fresh new audience. I've been waiting for Bendis to unambiguously confirm this in some way, and here we are! So many things are clicking into place for me now in regards to the idea behind this whole thing, and it's exciting and fascinating. Genuinely, this could be something special.

[Sam]

Fair enough.

Great. We'll cool then.

Bendis says as much in the Word Balloon Q&A. AC 1000 was always going to cause a shake up in the status quo.

I think Bendis was just talking about the writing team. He was responding to the idea that he waltz in from Marvel and went, "I want Superman. Screw Tomasi and Jurgens. I'm the bigger name." He's saying he didn't take the book from them and there was a vacancy, which makes sense considering all the fill-ins on the Superman title. It doesn't mean a status quo change for Jon was in the cards before Bendis came on.

[Vordan]

Great. We'll cool then.



I think Bendis was just talking about the writing team. He was responding to the idea that he waltz in from Marvel and went, "I want Superman. Screw Tomasi and Jurgens. I'm the bigger name." He's saying he didn't take the book from them and there was a vacancy, which makes sense considering all the fill-ins on the Superman title. It doesn't mean a status quo change for Jon was in the cards before Bendis came on.

I think Lois was the one who was going to be put on a bus for a while. I remember Bendis talking about that on a prior Word Balloon, where he talks about how Rucka’s Lois series came to be. Tomasi creates that Morrison Boarding school for Jon and Damian so I think the plan might’ve been to initially dump Jon there where he could basically not have to show up in the main Superbooks for a while.

[Sam]

I think Lois was the one who was going to be put on a bus for a while. I remember Bendis talking about that on a prior Word Balloon, where he talks about how Rucka’s Lois series came to be. Tomasi creates that Morrison Boarding school for Jon and Damian so I think the plan might’ve been to initially dump Jon there where he could basically not have to show up in the main Superbooks for a while.

Yeah, the Lois thing is kind of why I think there wasn't a major plan to get rid of or alter Jon before Bendis came on board. He's talked about Lois being sent away and him changing that. I may not be 100% on board with what he's doing with Lois, but I'm glad she's still around. If there was some awful alternative fate for Jon, why wouldn't he be mentioning that?

The West-Reeve School was not a boarding school, hence Damian helicoptering from Gotham every morning, but you might be right that having Jon spend more time in Super Sons than Superman could have been an option on the table. Honestly, I probably would have preferred that scenario, because Super Sons would have been able to continue undisturbed and the option of 10 year old Jon in the Superman title would have always been there to make a return.

[DragonPiece]

Saw Bendis post this, the unity saga ends with issue 15 of Superman. https://twitter.com/BRIANMBENDIS/sta...15042849775616

Surprisingly quicker than I expected.

[MeGrimlock420]

I know this is click bait.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/06...n-comics-1012/

[Sacred Knight]

If so I still say this is a good move. I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it again, the public face of Clark Kent should NOT be one which is envied by his peers. That so wildly misses the point. If you know the real Clark Kent, you know he's not a loser, but only a few know for obvious reasons. Bendis will get crap for this but the reality is he's one of the few writers who is proving he gets what the dual identity was for in the first place.

I still think this can be worked out to not make Clark look like a total victim, but even if so I'll be fine. Its just too bad its taken this long, and that it had to be to accommodate marriage/children stuff.

[Superlad93]

I'm doubling down hard on my "Clark is Jon's 'step-dad'" theory. Making the Kents a blended family fits perfectly in line with what Bendis said about him wanting to make them a "modern family." I don't think just switching Clark for Superman really does that.

[Nelliebly]

The problem with this angle is that it inevitably plays into the misogyny towards Lois that both writers and fandom are extremely famous for. And I know the response is going to be “well it doesn’t have to be that way blah blah blah” but the reality is that, historically, very few writers actually have shown the ability to handle this kind of thing without being unfair to her and fandom, which remains extremely sexist on the whole (sorry it’s just the reality) is not charitable towards her and never has been.

Do I think this kind of thing could be handled in a way that’s fair to Lois? I mean....maybe? Rucka will definitely try and he is definitely one of the only people I’m remotely comfortable with given that his love and loyalty to Lois and to female readers runs deep. But on the whole? This kind of angle is extremely messy and plays right into the fandom perception that Lois already battles (unfairly) that she “doesn’t deserve” Clark/Superman. It also paints her as a jezebel to the public in a way that, again, is uncomfortable given that Lois is a female character who has battled people unfairly and misogynistically calling her a “slut” and “w****”

It’s just playing with fire with the reputation of a female character that is so often on the receiving end of a lot of abuse and misogyny. That’s all I’m saying, guys.

Frankly, I would like to see Rucka let Lois say that whoever she sleeps with is no one’s business as we certainly let powerful men get away with a heck of a lot and the double standards towards women and their sex lives are gross and unfair.