MAN OF STEEL (2018) Event mini-series Discussion thread (SPOILERS)

[Superlad93]

That would require the Council not wishing to save themselves or their families either, you realize. Frankly, I find both that and the idea of them successfully keeping such a secret from everyone but Jor-El less believable (and worthy of willing suspension of disbelief) than Superman and kin getting their powers from a yellow sun, but YMMV.

Jor-El would be in on the secret because he's part of the Council. But, I think it could work if they laugh off Zaar's thetas as the ravings of a jealous fool, and Jor-El's warning as trying to incite panic over the arrow slings of a relative caveman. I mean, who would expect one guy to be able to blow up a whole planet, right? And if Krypton is aware of the Circle of universe elders, then they know Zaar legally can't touch them because they haven't legally done anything wrong.

In such a context I don't think it's unreasonable to think they'd be pretty chill about the whole thing.

[vitruvian]

Jor-El would be in on the secret because he's part of the Council. But, I think it could work if they laugh off Zaar's thetas as the ravings of a jealous fool, and Jor-El's warning as trying to incite panic over the arrow slings of a relative caveman. I mean, who would expect one guy to be able to blow up a whole planet, right? And if Krypton is aware of the Circle of universe elders, then they know Zaar legally can't touch them because they haven't legally done anything wrong.

In such a context I don't think it's unreasonable to think they'd be pretty chill about the whole thing.

I guess this version would do away with the days or weeks of quakes leading up to the planet's explosion as well, so that they could remain chill?

[Superlad93]

I guess this version would do away with the days or weeks of quakes leading up to the planet's explosion as well, so that they could remain chill?

Yeah. I mean, if we're making it an act of genocide and relegating the natural disaster aspects to being just a galactic cover story, then there's no real need to keep the weeks of core quakes.

Edit: but that's just an option. I have no real idea what Bendis will decide on, but I'm very much interested in it, and I'm glad it's sparked new forms of Superman related conversation around here and elsewhere.

[manofsteel1979]

Nope.
Attachment 66905
Because killing people with Doomsday would certainly be aggression.

Hmmm. Yeah. Probably not the case then.

[Miles To Go]

Wow, that was certainly a WHAM issue. One minute you're smiling (Bendis brings some great humor to Batman) the next you're shedding a tear or two at the grief Kara and Kal share in wake of...well, I'll let you find out for yourself, but Bendis clearly wants to send a message of just what Zarr is capable of and how far he'll go for his cause.

Not much on the Super-Family front, and Jon seems to be stuck on a loop repeating the same question over and over again. Clark tells Kara the two are fine, just that they're "not there", which could be interpreted also as "at least they're not here" when talking about the kind of impact Zarr has made.

[blaster86]

Well that was cruel of him to do also my little theory on who starting the fire is red head firefighter chief.

[manofsteel1979]

Well...issue #3. Another fine issue.

Spoilers ahead!



Bullet points...

1) Goodbye Post-Rebirth Kandor. That was kind of a shocking moment that I hadn't considered or thought about with all the other stuff going on. There's probably an "out" that we don't see yet, but wow. Elevates the current threat.In the same vein...

2) R.I.P. Kelex. Again he'll probably be rebuilt at some point but it was sad to see the little guy get ripped apart.

3)Batman! Well used. Has one of my favorite dialogue bits the entire issue.

4)SUPERGIRL! Already a big fan of how Bendis writes her and Clark together. It's nice to see their old Pre-Crisis closeness return for real.

5)That art! Three issues in and it's still gorgeous work. Not a let down at all in that department.

6) Next issue seems to be where the fight between our heroes and our baddie happens.

7) As for Lois and Jon...no concrete answers yet...except some semi confirmation via dialogue between Kal and Kara that Lois and Jon are safe. Bendis is still teasing us on that regard. As it stands I doubt we will get any answers about their whereabouts until issue #6.

[Superlad93]

Oh my.

Interestingly enough, even though the actual act of what happened wasn't the end-all-be-all of drop the mic moments, it's the reactions and super visible emotions by Clark and Kara. And lets not forget Sook's frankly chilling depiction of the aftermath. The slick use of censorship mixed with just enough explicit material was a strong image juxtaposed by the reactions.

Bendis does his homework here. The Fortress is a dead rigger for Juergen's redesign, and even includes the train from Orlando's Supergirl issue, if I'm not mistaken. The only actual inconsistency is in Supergirl's voice. Orlando depicted her as not really grasping contractions or too much slang, if I remember right. But that in itself seems to be just and Orlando detail because both Jurgens and Snyder wrote her with a fairly relaxed and acclimated way of speaking contractions included, so I can't actually fault Bendis when it's 3 to 1. The Batman guest spot was nice, and I'm digging Melody.

Love the way Bendis introduced Superman this issue. Sook's art totally makes it. Speaking of Sook's art: it may just be my favorite looking issue so far, and that's saying A LOT. Seriously, his page layouts are so freaking strong and dynamic, and you can so very clearly see the "camera" in every shot. The sense of visual continuity is meticulously kept in every shot. It's approaching Frank Quitely levels of visual continuity. He simultaneously emulates movie quality while remaining distinctly comic book with how he manipulates time and space.

In terms of things I didn't like? The Lois and Jon scenes being dealt out in this crumb style is starting to grate a bit. It's like, sure, I'd love to switch to what they're doing/what's going with them, but just giving us one new page makes me feel like I'm missing out on a page of main story rather than learning about a subplot. That said, I really gotta give it up to Bendis for slightly re-contextualizing Jon's "dad, what is that" line for just before the big moment. It's, in my honest opinion, a very strong double-entendre punctuated by Sook's image. Oddly enough that slightly feed into the Lois and Jon flashbacks and speaks to Clark's character in a way that I like a lot.

One of my favorite parts is Clark reflexively wanting to lie to or shield because he loves her Kara. That's a function of how he knows to express his love for a person. Speaks volumes about him in retrospect, and I think that might be what Bendis is going for. I also think it's dealing in that inherent paternal/big brother aspect of the character, and the words after seem to support this thinking.

Also, that "I know all their names" part, my boy!! That part sold it just as much as Sook's art. Also the look on Zaar's face when he just gets there kind of endeared me to him a bit. I don't know what it was really, but I think it was a good choice to make Zaar's first time in the present basically silent.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Since Kandor's status and history has been rebooted and revised too many times to count over the last few years, this felt like a pretty good send-off for the concept that avoids any continuity headaches while simultaneously setting up Rogal Zorr as a truly despicable bad guy.

Still not sure what's going on with Lois and Jon, but it doesn't appear to be related to the Zorr or the arson storylines.

Bendis continues to impress here. He's been bringing his A-game every time now. It seems pretty apparent now that Man of Steel is serving more as a springboard for Bendis's Superman & Action Comics runs, rather than a stand alone story. By releasing it weekly, Bendis gets a running start to convince any skeptical readers of his take on Superman and his world. Pretty smart move on Didio's part, and, thus far, much more effective than No Justice was at setting up Snyder's Justice League.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

With Kandor gone, that pares down the surviving Kryptonians down to Kal, Kara and the Phantom Zone criminals, correct?

How many Phantom Zone criminals are there? A few dozen?

[Superlad93]

Now *rubs hands together* wuss good wit dat new Fortress, doh?

I wonder where Bendis is gonna put it? Still the arctic? Another dimension? This breach was pretty traumatizing, so I gotta imagine he's gonna take new precautions the next go round.

[DetectiveStrange]

This was an excellent issue - very well done. Bendis’ MoS has been great.

That being said, it REALLY bummed me out to see Kandor destroyed. I had been hoping that Bendis would be the one to give us the first great modern Kandor story, but it looks like that won’t be happening:/

[manofsteel1979]

This was an excellent issue - very well done. Bendis’ MoS has been great.

That being said, it REALLY bummed me out to see Kandor destroyed. I had been hoping that Bendis would be the one to give us the first great modern Kandor story, but it looks like that won’t be happening:/

Nothing is forever, especially in comics. I suspect there is more to Kandor's destruction and fate than meets the eye.

[Rise]

I liked this issue more than previous one and it's nice to finally see Kara and Superman teaming up.

[Kuwagaton]

Guided Reading has been blowing my mind Wednesday mornings. I have to call Bendis a master director and the artists he works with are so absurdly talented. Such subtle and graceful transitions from panels. Just about all of it is my favorite, but just to name I'd say:

- Moore's light pointing up to Superman, then to see his shield in that intimidating pose, then to that cheery introduction, with Bendis actually doing one of the better jobs I've seen of lampshading the whole thing and setting up the guest star.

- during the Fortress invasion, Zaar is caught by the sadness of Lara and the disapproval of Jor-el, and it to me caps off a very deep and genuine effort to honor Krypton on the part of Bendis.

Overall, I think a pretty great story is being told. It's huge enough in scope to feel like an event kind of mini series, but it's really just some good creators getting into business as usual on a property new and exciting to them. I felt a little deceived (not that I cared, but in principle) that the story on the cover wasn't in there, which... I dunno if that is tricking newcomers who might want the story on the cover. Although it's cleverly a complete six panel recap in itself. I can't wait to not only put them side by side to got a better look, but also get the first sequences of the story side by side.

With everything else being so good, frankly I am perfectly fine with the Fabok insert. Jon is such a 10 year old, haha.

Nothing is forever, especially in comics. I suspect there is more to Kandor's destruction and fate than meets the eye.

Yeah, I don't think it's gone forever or anything. Still really sad to see all those characters used like projectiles to strike Superman.