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

[Miles To Go]

I don't get a malicious vibe at all from Bendis and so far both issues of Man of Steel have been a good indication that he hopes to leave his mark on Superman through a quality run as opposed to being the guy who broke up Lois and Clark..

He's definitely not going to do that, he's said that if we give the story the year it takes to play out, he'll show us how much DC value the family.

[jackolover]

I found the two galactic powers were very scared of Rogol Zaar, because they never decided to confront Rogol for fear he would kill them. Those galactic powers just seemed so incidental. Do they ever appear in the big events? I don’t read DC much, just this series so far.

I feel Superman made a mistake in that incident with Lois and Jon, and that’s why Clark is estranged from Lois, and why Clark is hurting. If Clark did choose something else over his family, then I can see why Lois fled. She doesn’t want to be with Clark if he can’t be with her 100%. And this could lead into what’s wrong with Kryptonians. If Clark’s Kryptonian parents can’t think of themselves as being deserving of escaping the annihilation of Krypton, then maybe Clark is undeserving of being ethically right either? It’s all a psychological exercise for Clark to resolve what is wrong with Kryptonians and therefore what is intrinsically wrong with Clark?

[Miles To Go]

I feel Superman made a mistake in that incident with Lois and Jon, and that’s why Clark is estranged from Lois, and why Clark is hurting. If Clark did choose something else over his family, then I can see why Lois fled. She doesn’t want to be with Clark if he can’t be with her 100%.

Again, I don't think it's as cliche as estrangement, not with what Bendis has promised about the family and what he's said about them having different rules (which is even echoed in the issue by Tracy Q). Most of us are of the opinion Lois and Jon are merely off-world, and we know who took them through the leaks Bendis himself supplied.

[Myskin]

I found the two galactic powers were very scared of Rogol Zaar, because they never decided to confront Rogol for fear he would kill them. Those galactic powers just seemed so incidental. Do they ever appear in the big events? I don’t read DC much, just this series so far.

The Circle is a new concept, created by Bendis. However, the members of the circle belong to pre-existing alien races of the DCU.
There is an Oan (the blue guy), what appears to be a Thanagarian king (the guys with mask), Sardath from Rann (the guy with the googles; he's the father of Alanna, Adam Strange's wife), Myand'r from Tamaran (he's the father of Starfire). I can't recognize the ice creature, though.

[manofsteel1979]

I'll speak for myself and I'll jump to conclusions: I am pretty sure that Bendis won't write anything disrespectful or unfair regarding Lois or Jon.
Bendis is not Chuck Austen or a newbie who thinks he's the new Alan Moore. He is one of the most competent writer in the US and in the span of a couple of decades he almost singlehandedly recreated Marvel from scratch. Everything he has done since he came to DC has been perfect from a PR point of view. Even if he wrote something which doesn't work that well (personally speaking I didn't even like Bendis when he wrote Daredevil or USM, but it was a long time ago and I had enough time to change my tastes), he would always be 100% professional in his attitude and approach.The mere idea that he would ruin Lois Lane for shock value is bogus as far as I am concerned.

I am pretty much in agreement here with you. Putting the Superfamily in some sort of jeopardy doesn't mean disrespect. It just means you are trying to tell a story with dramatic weight. Unless Bendis is completely lying i don't get the vibe from him that he wants to erase or kill or permanently side lining the concept of the marriage to Lois and his relationship with his son Jon. The most he's doing is redefining the dynamic a little bit.

For what it's worth, he's sang nothing but praise for the Rebirth work with Superman and has a lot of enthusiasm for the Superman line, so if he does do anything to the marriage, it's not to be edgy but because he genuinely believes he has a big, wonderful story to tell. I love the marriage, so I don't want it going anywhere, but I don't get a malicious vibe at all from Bendis and so far both issues of Man of Steel have been a good indication that he hopes to leave his mark on Superman through a quality run as opposed to being the guy who broke up Lois and Clark.

Granted, it's still very early, but he hasn't lost any of the energy from when his run was announced and that's impressive in an age where you get assblasted 24/7 on social media.

Of course, if after a few arcs in Superman/Action they're still not together I'll start to feel a bit sore.

As a fan of the Rebirth run and all that it entails, even I understand the pre MOS status quo can't go on indefinitely.Between Convergence, the Lois and Clark series and the double shipping Action and Superman runs We've had the equivalent of over 4 and a half years worth of stories in little over under years. It's frankly time to rethink that aspect of this universe a little bit and find a new angle to tackle it from. Again that's the only thing i am getting from what Bendis is saying and so far doing.

This is why i think that whatever Bendis do with Superman won't be a bad thing, he has a tendency to ignore continuity to fit his story or alter charactherization too heavily, but this franchise lost that many years ago, so i'm not that worried for whatever he might do here.

Let's face it, I doubt anyone even on the Rebirth teams knew what exactly was and wasn't canon. Even after REBORN. All they pretty much did was get rid of the two Supermen angle, retcon away Superman/Wonder Woman, and slam Post Crisis, preFlashpoint and Nuperman together as a hodge podge where all the big stuff still happened, and moved on. It's a Frankenstein monster of a continuity. One that's better than before 2011, but still a mess and it will never not be a mess, and that's on DC and WB, not Bendis. To hold him accountable for continuity hick ups and contradictions at this point is sort of picking nits. We don't even really know that much about Post Reborn Krypton to even say if Bendis has contradicted anything.

[Robotman]

While i enjoyed the second issue, I really wish they wouldn’t have given Rogol Zaar the space motorcycle. It was way too reminiscent of Lobo. They’re trying to show that Rogol is a serious threat. They don’t need to be taking inspiration from Lobo, who is intentionally an over the top and comedic character.

[The Dying Detective]

Let's face it, I doubt anyone even on the Rebirth teams knew what exactly was and wasn't canon. Even after REBORN. All they pretty much did was get rid of the two Supermen angle, retcon away Superman/Wonder Woman, and slam Post Crisis, preFlashpoint and Nuperman together as a hodge podge where all the big stuff still happened, and moved on. It's a Frankenstein monster of a continuity. One that's better than before 2011, but still a mess and it will never not be a mess, and that's on DC and WB, not Bendis. To hold him accountable for continuity hick ups and contradictions at this point is sort of picking nits. We don't even really know that much about Post Reborn Krypton to even say if Bendis has contradicted anything.

Well for one thing at least it allows people to pick and choose which elements are in continuity and they don't have to worry at this point on confusing fan they now just say everything happened.

[Jody Garland]

I found the two galactic powers were very scared of Rogol Zaar, because they never decided to confront Rogol for fear he would kill them. Those galactic powers just seemed so incidental. Do they ever appear in the big events? I don’t read DC much, just this series so far.

As is said, the Circle is new. However, at least the Guardians have taken proactive roles in Cosmic events before, notably Appa Ali Apsa (The Guardian used) was key to the Green Arrow/Green Lantern series and was a sort of antagonist in the Green Lantern Mosiac series.

The icey guy is brand new, though, and doesn't seem to even belong to a prexisting race.

Got to say, I thought the second issue was fine, but Bendis' dialogue for the Circle kind of grated me. It just doesn't sound dignified enough for them, though the content of the dialogue was fine. It just needs a bit of refinement on the voice. Good second issue, overall, though.

[manofsteel1979]

Well for one thing at least it allows people to pick and choose which elements are in continuity and they don't have to worry at this point on confusing fan they now just say everything happened.

True. I was just saying that it's sort of odd that people seem upset at Bendis disrespecting continuity ...when there is so much up in the air given the continuity prior to SUPERMAN REBORN is vague.

I think given the alternatives right now the current situation in regard to how continuity is treated for Superman is the best case scenario.

[The Dying Detective]

True. I was just saying that it's sort of odd that people seem upset at Bendis disrespecting continuity ...when there is so much up in the air given the continuity prior to SUPERMAN REBORN is vague.

I think given the alternatives right now the current situation in regard to how continuity is treated for Superman is the best case scenario.

Well in regards to Superman's origin it was clear under Dan Jurgens. How would you describe this situation as the best case scenario?

[Krypto's Fleas]

A lot of nitpicking going on in this thread but if you are just evaluating the first two issues on their merits alone, I think this is an A or A minus.

[Sacred Knight]

I'm not reading this as Clark and Lois being estranged as in she's left him and they're genuinely on the rocks. I'd be very surprised if that was the case. I still think they're separated via "Super" means, and that's why it has to basically look that way from everyone else's perspective.

Now, would it bother me if they were "on a break"? Not really. Its been done before. But the fact it has been done before is why it would be slightly disappointing as that's less interesting than what appears to be going on. I know the couple were apart during New Krypton. But any emotional beats in regard to that was completely ignored. One of the many reasons that storyline sucked, in fact.

[SanityOrMadness]

I am pretty much in agreement here with you. Putting the Superfamily in some sort of jeopardy doesn't mean disrespect. It just means you are trying to tell a story with dramatic weight. Unless Bendis is completely lying i don't get the vibe from him that he wants to erase or kill or permanently side lining the concept of the marriage to Lois and his relationship with his son Jon. The most he's doing is redefining the dynamic a little bit.

Thing is, I feel like putting Lois in danger in a Superman story has NO dramatic weight whatsoever. No-one believes she's going to die and stay dead - the absolute furthest they would go is wiping out the marriage, and they already tried that within the last decade before backing off (indeed, they actually doubled-down on it by adding Jon to the mix).

And, hell, even on the story's own terms - why the lie about the "book deal"? Surely that's disprovable in the most banal way - why not at least have Clark *admit* Lois is missing?

And I still think "this guy destroyed Krypton!" is about the laziest possible retcon you could have to give your new Big Bad "dramatic weight".

[PS: Wasn't the Planet's last owner of record one L. Luthor?]

[nonsense man]

I am guessing this is to fake out people who can threaten his family if they have galactic backing I was afraid the recent bendis would show not the 2002 one who wrote great stories with Luke and his family. I guess he needed a new challenge to recharge himself or marvel especially the editors and newbies really were toxic to him. Though I hope that means others could use Jon and Lois in other stories hopefully

[Robotman]

I wonder if it was Ali Apsa or the ice/crystal alien that abducted Lois and Jon in order to protect them from Zaar.