Superman#3 Discussion and Spoilers

[Kuwagaton]

Agreed on the circumstances leading to the current situation. It's not related to a bad guy so I like how it randomizes factors in the war between Superman and Zaar.

Best issue of the title thus far. Lots of fun cameos, Superman racing around all over the place really showing the chaos of the situation, and Rogol Zaar's best showing to date, showing off his leadership skills and portraying him as more than just a generic hulking monster.

I mean, he did use guerrilla tactics to ambush the daylights out of Superman. I expect a lot more success for him next month though.

[Lucas 35]

I miss when the comic was twice a month. I feel that the story has not advanced much, I think they could have joined what happened in numbers 2 and 3 that would not change anything

[Robotman]

Love how Bendis is peppering in lesser used characters from Superman’s world. First we got The Guardian and now Livewire! When fully powered Livewire is a similar threat as Red Cloud. As she can become living electricity she’s a villain that Supes can’t just punch or hit with heat vision. Though Red Cloud poses less of a threat as Superman could just spin around at super speed and push her into the stratosphere.

Glad we got a version of the Phantom Zone that’s not just filled with Kryptonians. It’s cool to see an array of alien criminals. Plus we get Reis drawing some amazing splash pages! Was that a version of Doomsday in the background? Maybe the creature from Krypton’s past?

[Vordan]

I miss when the comic was twice a month. I feel that the story has not advanced much, I think they could have joined what happened in numbers 2 and 3 that would not change anything

We were spoiled with twice monthly. I wish the Superman books were still twice monthly as well. It was so nice to get Superman every week and the plot kept chugging along.

[Mantis Dad]

Liked the old phantom zone villain. Loving Rogol, he looks like a giant beast that uses nothing but brute strength, but he surprises me with his thoughts, words, and intellect; I hope he is not put on a shelf after this run.
Not a huge fan of star labs causing all this. Sad I didn't see the battle as the cover led me to believe (comics..what ya gonna do).
Overall, one of the better comics out there right now. Cannot wait for the next issue.
4.7 out of 5 stars for me.

[Flash Gordon]

This was dope.

[Lucky]

Another good issue. Loved all the guest characters, and it was great to see how Superman handled the various situations.

[HeroVladimir93]

Another great issue! Bendis does a good job at portraying Superman beyond a vanilla goody two-shoes who never gets angry or sad or shows any personality beyond eagerness to do the right thing at hand. He's clearly agitated by the problem he's facing, he knows the Phantom Zone and its denizens are not to be taken lightly, but he knows better than to let it affect his objective thinking. The treatment of the other Justice League heroes is a bit weird, however. It's note every day you see Batman vomiting or the Flash taking too long to catch his breath in the middle of a mission. Then again, I'm not a huge Batman or Flash fan, I'm not as emotionally invested in them as I am in Superman, so I don't think it's in my place to complain about it. By the way, I'm not gonna read a Batman book or Flash book and complain about how Superman is handled there. It'd be weird and shortsighted. Once again, Reis knocks it out of the park with his designs. It looks like we're gonna have a big, epic space battle next month.

[adkal]

As childish as it may be, I found it amusing that Bruce uses a 'toilet hose'.

The treatment of the other Justice League heroes is a bit weird, however. It's note every day you see Batman vomiting or the Flash taking too long to catch his breath in the middle of a mission.

They're being affected by the environmental changes resulting from the Earth being placed in the Phantom Zone.

The Flash's connection to the Speed Force has likely been lessened.

Batman's prior exposure to a whole host of things over the years may have made him a little more susceptible to the change than a 'regular' person, but regular people are also being affected.

[adkal]

I'm curious about the Kryptonian timeline.

I've only read the issue once, so I may be misremembering, but doesn't Rogol say that they teach about Jax-Ur (and, by extension, Dru-Zod) 'across many galaxies'?

Are we now back to Krypton having been destroyed 'a long time ago' rather than a more 'within living memory' approach? If so, then is Rogol ancient? If not, then are intergalactic communications and 'knowledge-sharing' at such a level that 'recent (modern) history' of Krypton is widely taught/known? (if that, then how did Rogol not know about Kal until he saw the sigil in the bar? Withdrawn from intergalactic society?)

Was Jax-Ur's destruction of Wegthor one of Rogol's triggers? A reason why he decided to target Krypton and Kryptonians?

I have so many questions...

[Vordan]

I'm curious about the Kryptonian timeline.

I've only read the issue once, so I may be misremembering, but doesn't Rogol say that they teach about Jax-Ur (and, by extension, Dru-Zod) 'across many galaxies'?

Are we now back to Krypton having been destroyed 'a long time ago' rather than a more 'within living memory' approach? If so, then is Rogol ancient? If not, then are intergalactic communications and 'knowledge-sharing' at such a level that 'recent (modern) history' of Krypton is widely taught/known? (if that, then how did Rogol not know about Kal until he saw the sigil in the bar? Withdrawn from intergalactic society?)

Was Jax-Ur's destruction of Wegthor one of Rogol's triggers? A reason why he decided to target Krypton and Kryptonians?

I have so many questions...

We don’t know when Jax blew up the moon, only that he did. Maybe information spreads fast or it happened a long time ago.

[Superlad93]

Forgot to mention how it was to see Bendis depicting his Superman actively thinking about and sometimes being frustrated by the lack of effort towards rehabilitation by his foes. We haven't gotten too many instances of that in the last few years, if I remember right, so it's nice to see as an active part of this take here.

There's an obvious parental nature Bendis Superman in the way he handles some criminals and in the way he functions around normal people/how the function around him, but it doesn't cross into overbearing or creepy like a few other well-meaning takes tend to. I think he strikes the balance by adding dashing of comedy (everything about the looting scene down to the perfect word choice, and Jimmy's photography almost implying a "ooo I'm telling!" nature to it lol), and the genuine empathy and patience Bendis adds in. The scene with Ray, Ted, and all the other big brains reads perfect because Reis gets a close up on Clark's face as he almost says "it was just an accident" as if he's talking about some mess Jon might've made.

That along with the moments of Clark making errors, or slips of the tongue while in the heat of the moment, and having to juggle all that's going on and finding time to ask how his sick teammates are doing really endeared me to Bendis' Superman this issue. I see the clear line from his comments about using what he learned as a parent to inform his take on Superman, and I'm now kind of waiting with baited breath for when he links the Super Family back together.

[HeroVladimir93]

As childish as it may be, I found it amusing that Bruce uses a 'toilet hose'.



They're being affected by the environmental changes resulting from the Earth being placed in the Phantom Zone.

The Flash's connection to the Speed Force has likely been lessened.

Batman's prior exposure to a whole host of things over the years may have made him a little more susceptible to the change than a 'regular' person, but regular people are also being affected.

Yes, I'm aware the Phantom Zone is affecting them badly; it's just weird too see Batman and the Flash out of action so quickly. You established some pretty good explanations as to why that happened, though. I never thought the Phantom Zone would destroy a planet, let alone poison its populace. Then again, writers have established some mildly interpretations of the Phantom Zone over the years, so I shouldn't be too surprised.

[Robotman]

I had a chuckle at Will Magnus basically saying “he guys, my specialty is robotics. I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

[JLH]

So glad to see Jax-Ur get some love again. As much as I enjoy Zod, DC spends way too much time fixated on him when there are so many other flavors of Phantom Zone criminals to choose from.

I agree. Jax-Ur was the highlight of the issue for me.