DC Nation #0 (SPOILERS) - free release on Reading Apps

[RepHope]

It's not like people have to construct bull scenarios like "OMG HE'S KILLING LOIS AND JON AND MAKING CLARK GAY" (actually met a person who thought that) when you can just look at his other work to see what dangers he's actually capable of. His finale to his Miles Morales Spider-Man run that came out today? A total and complete bust, it was freaking terrible. He just ended everything as quickly as possible in a way that screamed "Later losers I'm out of here". Him doing THAT on Supes is definitely a concern I have, but I've been liking what I've been reading so far.

[Clark_Kent]

I'm only speaking for myself. I didnt attack you or anyone. Just giving my opinion that from my perspective that maybe, just maybe, we actually see the story Bendis actually comes up with before automatically assuming the worst. I do understand why people might be upset, but i think all of us need to keep a cool head, see what the actual story published is first before coming to a particular conclusion. In other words, lets not panic unless we are given solid reasons to panic. This whole Lois not being at the Daily Planet thing , we dont know the circumstances yet. Its just a plot line. It isnt the first time we've seen a " Lois Lane ( or Clark Kent or Perry White or Jimmy Olsen ) leaving the Daily Planet" subplot over the decades and it won't be the last. She'll be back. Heck for all we know she will be back at her post by the time we get to ACTION 1001 and Supernan #1. Or...she may ne gone longer. We simply don't know.



If Lois is permanently sidelined or they undo the marriage /relationship with Superman again or they pull New 52. Type shenanagens with Lois , i'll join the pitchfork brigade. Anyone who has known me here for any length of time will know how critical i was of the New 52 and Lois' treatment during that era. So far i have no reason to think we are even approaching those dark times yet. Im a little concerned about certain aspects, but all we have to go on is this short little story so far.All we know is Lois abruptly quit and Clark can't tell anyone why, and that reason probably relates somehow to Lois protecting Jon from this new villain. Thats all we know right now. Once we actually read MOS, we will know where things are going.

Still my favorite poster on the boards. Agreed 100%, everyone needs to chill a bit & just follow the story. I think MoS being a 6-issue weekly is perfect, everyone will know if they are in or out for Bendis after only a month & a half. Not bad, if you ask me.

[Robanker]

I'm only speaking for myself. I didnt attack you or anyone. Just giving my opinion that from my perspective that maybe, just maybe, we actually see the story Bendis actually comes up with before automatically assuming the worst. I do understand why people might be upset, but i think all of us need to keep a cool head, see what the actual story published is first before coming to a particular conclusion. In other words, lets not panic unless we are given solid reasons to panic. This whole Lois not being at the Daily Planet thing , we dont know the circumstances yet. Its just a plot line. It isnt the first time we've seen a " Lois Lane ( or Clark Kent or Perry White or Jimmy Olsen ) leaving the Daily Planet" subplot over the decades and it won't be the last. She'll be back. Heck for all we know she will be back at her post by the time we get to ACTION 1001 and Supernan #1. Or...she may ne gone longer. We simply don't know.



If Lois is permanently sidelined or they undo the marriage /relationship with Superman again or they pull New 52. Type shenanagens with Lois , i'll join the pitchfork brigade. Anyone who has known me here for any length of time will know how critical i was of the New 52 and Lois' treatment during that era. So far i have no reason to think we are even approaching those dark times yet. Im a little concerned about certain aspects, but all we have to go on is this short little story so far.All we know is Lois abruptly quit and Clark can't tell anyone why, and that reason probably relates somehow to Lois protecting Jon from this new villain. Thats all we know right now. Once we actually read MOS, we will know where things are going.

Co-signed, and in that scenario I'll supply you a pitchfork.

I feel like younger or newer readers are jumping to conclusions before realizing that a story needs a hook to get you to keep reading and peril is the oldest in the book. If you got JLGL coming out of retirement and a host of talented artists all excited about what he's doing, you really should wait to see what the first salvo delivers.

I'm a bit nervous too, but I've actually spoken to someone involved and while I didn't get any details, I got nothing but positive energy and solid enthusiasm from them over Bendis' plans for Superman. If MoS sucks, I'm out unless I hear good buzz on the monthlies, but it could also be a great refocus on Clark while having an interesting b-plot for Lois and Jon.

Also, your typo made me realize I need a Supernan one-shot where he has to chaperone all his colleague's kids.

[Superlad93]

Lois both alive and back at the Daily Planet in Doomsday Clock btw.

[Soubhagya]

I'm sure there are ways to spin this, BUT I feel this is extremely problematic in light of Bendis' claims to Forbes and his response to John Siuntres' admission that he was perplexed that Bendis was going to write Superman and not Batman. I'm starting to get a picture of how this has all come to be: DiDio and Lee (for whatever reason) return from two years away from hands-on influence on the DCU. DiDio looks at Superman's performance in Rebirth, sees that the stories have been generally well-received and sold well, but still feels there's something wrong/lacking/in need of "tweaking" as he told the NYT when it comes to Superman.

Enter Bendis. DiDio decides that Superman needs a "shake-up" to be "relevant" (he apparently thinks the character needs this constantly because it's lacking something) and then goes to Bendis and says "hey, what ideas do you have for Superman?" Bendis and DiDio are spinning it to appear as if Bendis asked for Superman, but I highly doubt it at this point and in light of these comments. Does Bendis want to write Superman? Probably, but the connection he's claiming to the character seems tenuous. "Well, I'm Jewish and from Cleveland and so were Siegel and Shuster, so I have an affinity for Superman."

I haven't read every interview with Bendis over the years, but I've read many. He always spoke about his interest in writing Batman and even that interest seemed tied to convincing Bob Wayne to sanction a DD/Batman crossover.

From InsidePulse.com:



Notice that he contradicts himself even in this interview, first saying the character has "no value in our more modern culture" and then walking back his comments and saying "no, I said I didn't think he was indentifiable."

Granted, the comment about Superman having no value is in context of his support of Ultimate Spider-Man, but the other comment seems to ring true. I think DiDio and Bendis are feeding us a narrative instead of the truth about the latter's interest in Superman. This concerns me because it's dishonest but more important, it's another instance of DiDio/DC editorial putting creators on Superman who have name-recognition but no real affinity, understanding, or love of the character. Azzarello is another example of this.

Superman doesn't need to be "shaken up," he needs creators who understand and love him to write his books consistently. Despite those who didn't care for it, it can't be argued that we had that for two years with Rebirth. If it's not broken, it doesn't need to be fixed. I'm not saying we couldn't have added another title and another voice (maybe Meltzer or Dini), but I am saying we didn't need another shake-up that will ultimately diminish the character in the long run.

Since Dan Didio has this reputation among Superman fans, i won't say you are completely wrong in thinking this. I would like to share my thoughts. I did not like Superman before Rebirth either. I liked him when i was quite young. I loved Superman TAS. Then my love changed to the Batmans, the Spider-mans and the Wolverines. And now i am back to Superman again. Superman is awesome. I still love Batman, Spider-man and Wolverine, but Superman is by far my favorite.

Some people go through phases. I like to imagine that Superman really works for very young people or older people-the adults. I maybe wrong about that. But i think its alright if he made such comments back then. Three years ago if you would have asked me, i might have said something similar. I think that he is speaking the truth apart from the usual marketing. That's my present opinion. I don't think there's anything to suggest otherwise.

[Robanker]

I can attest to that. When I was younger, I didn't really care much for Superman. He was just okay. Since I hit my mid twenties, I've liked him more and more every year.

Cynicism sells really easily to teens who think they know better than anyone else. These days, a little optimism goes a long way!

[Restingvoice]

Same here. Only for me, the reason I found 80s Superman uninteresting was that the story I read seems more interested in portraying Superman as a paragon than as a character. Once I read the stories where he's allowed to be dorky, joke around, has a hobby and have fun, he became more interesting.
So far I've enjoyed the portrayal of Superman by Siegel and Shuster in Golden Age, Morrison's New 52, Tomasi's Superdad, Loeb's SuperBat and Pak's BatSuper, but didn't enjoy Byrne's Man of Steel who's too ideal and Lobdell's version who went too far in the other direction.
Bendis is still too new to judge.

[Kirby Krackle]

Count me in as one of those people who didn't like Superman in their youth. Heck, 10 years ago I was 18 and thought he was "okay" but never would I have imagined he'd become my favorite Superhero of all time. Personal growth, tragedy, and overcoming some low points among other things have led me to embrace Superman in a way that I just haven't with any other character in any medium. So yeah, I don't hassle Bendis for finding his connection to Superman this late, when many of us die hard fans obviously have.

[The Dying Detective]

I actually never found Superman all that interesting until I got into comics (though I did like the DCAU Superman mainly in Justice League) and began reading Tomasi's Superfamily take based on his interview however it seems like Bendis will still write the family dynamic in his own unique way.

[HandofPrometheus]

I didn't find Supes interesting till I read Byrnes run.

[titansupes]

Loved Superman since I first discovered him back when I was three or four, and that love for the character has only gotten stronger and stronger. As for the DC Nation story I just read-- Really enjoyed it. Looking forward to more.

[Prof. Warren]

It's not like people have to construct bull scenarios like "OMG HE'S KILLING LOIS AND JON AND MAKING CLARK GAY" (actually met a person who thought that) when you can just look at his other work to see what dangers he's actually capable of. His finale to his Miles Morales Spider-Man run that came out today? A total and complete bust, it was freaking terrible. He just ended everything as quickly as possible in a way that screamed "Later losers I'm out of here". Him doing THAT on Supes is definitely a concern I have, but I've been liking what I've been reading so far.

The criticism towards the Miles finale isn't completely fair, in my opinion. Not to say that it was particularly good or satisfying because I don't think it was but the reality is that there's no way Bendis could have been allowed to write a true finale for the character. Miles is going to be handed over to a new creative team soon so Bendis had to be mindful of leaving Miles in a status quo that wouldn't be disruptive to where the next team plans on picking up from.

Also, given that Bendis surely had long term plans in mind for Miles, there was no way this arc was originally supposed to be an end for Miles. So of course there was going to be a somewhat slapdash quality to this final issue as it was only at the virtual last minute shaped to become that.

As for Bendis' Superman and the DC Nation story in particular, while I found Bendis' contribution to Action #1000 to be the weakest entry in that issue, I was pleasantly surprised with what I read in DC Nation, which seemed to me to be by far that issue's strongest piece. So he's one for two so far for me with Superman.

Of course, it didn't hurt that his DC Nation story had absolutely lovely art to help sell it but writing-wise I liked the emphasis on the Planet, I liked Bendis' characterizations of both Clark and Perry, I liked the callback to the President Luthor storyline and the new reporter with a hidden agenda is intriguing.

As for people freaking out about Lois...I'd say let things play out a bit before jumping to conclusions.

By the end of Man of Steel, which isn't far off, people will have a pretty good sense of whether or not they like what Bendis is doing with Superman.

[bigstupidjellyfish]

I never thought I’d like Superman as much as I do now but he’s still not my favorite, I just understand him a lot more now. I probably would’ve gotten into him earlier if they did Superman 2000 though.

[SiegePerilous02]

I used to dislike Superman a lot as a kid, and vastly preferred Batman. After reading stuff by Morrison, Moore and similar authors, I can't get enough of him. Meanwhile, I've grown tired of that Bat stories I was drawn to as a teen (where he is overly dark and brutal), even if I overall still love Batman. Now they are equal, along with Diana, and my favorite at any given time depends on my mood.

[Man_of_Tomorrow]

Bendis' story felt very old-school pre-crisis Superman, maybe due to the art.

But I really enjoyed it, it was the only one of the three teasers that actually had something to offer.