Superman#6 Discussion And Spoilers

[Miles To Go]

spoilers:

Clark thinks a little about the early days of his relationship with Lois, and it's mainly a deconstruction of the whole "she can't sleep with Superman" argument. There are lots of splash pages as the fight between Clark, Zod and Rogul Zarr is covered. Clark yells "For Kandor", words he has only said to three people, Kara, Bruce, and Diana, and now he intends it it for Zod's ears. Suddenly, he is pulled out of the Phantom Zone, leaving Zod at Zarr's mercy. Zarr pummels Zod and takes him prisoner. Clark wants to go back in, but is informed there are people that are in need of rescuing. As he saves people, Clark's thoughts turn to his father and his absent son, when Jon surprises him, urging him not to freak out

end of spoilers

Quite a lot of splash pages...I'm more annoyed at the other cliffhanger we got with Zod and Zarr. Bendis once again subverts expectations with how he brought Jon back...I was expecting something brooider, but there was warmth and grace to how he came back, and he's, so far anyway, lost none of his sass.

And "not a shape-shifter, not a trick" actually made it into the dialogue.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Oblicatory mention that Ivan Reis’s art was simply outstanding this issue. That being said I was really hoping they’d explain what Rogol Zarr’s deal is by now. I feel like a lot is riding on whatever backstory Bendis gives him. Because this arc really ended up being filler. Rogol Zarr is still in the phantom zone just like he was in the beginning and we’ve learned nothing about him. Only difference is now he has Zod. And besides the last page nothing really changed for Clark either.

[manwhohaseverything]

The Issue felt wierd had too many splash pages with too many line. I don't know what I feel about Jon.too early, but I feel it is waste of perfectly good kid character. Oh well! Atleast he still has his boyish face.I believe they can play around with the height. personality seems to be the same. Which I feel is a little cheap. The kid lost year of his childhood on a stupid space trip. I want atleast some change .I hope they continue the Supersons atleast with this Jon.The arc did not have a good payoff,felt pointless. Rogol zarr, atleast for now is generic as ever. Pacing of the story is really not great. The art is great.
And was that a Martin Luther king Jr reference from zod? It was weird and out of place.

[Superlad93]

Need to digest it more, but this may be my favorite issue of his Superman run. I might be in the minority here, but those splash pages kind of enhanced that whole section of the book to this mythic renaissance painting status. Then add what I felt was brilliant internal thoughts from Clark, and it read like Clark was almost losing himself in that moment. In those seconds he of all people had tunnel vision because he was still hurting as a citizen of Krypton. That moment where Clark basically says sics Zod on Zaar with a battle cry of grief and solidarity was absolutely chilling. Then when Ray literally brings him back to reality and responsibility the splash pages end to signify the end of Clark's tunnel vision.

Oh boy, oh boy, that ending! Favorite part was Clark scanning Jon on reflex before he would even speak. And I gotta say, the kid looks really good when drawn in the book. His still young face only accentuated by "Hi dad. Don't freak out." Very pleased with how this return page was handled.

Also Adam Strange totally knows something, and Reis is on some next level sh!t with the art here. Not one page or panel done poorly.

And was that a Martin Luther king Jr reference from zod? It was weird and out of place.

Did your forget that last issue Zod literally had a dream about Zaar, the house of El, Kandor, and his house? They were visions given to him by a substance he ingested that's native to his new world. Not really dealing with the quote by King at all.

[rpmaluki]

This book was just beautiful to behold. Those splash pages just...work. I like how Reis switches it up to accentuate the story. Will say I breathed a little sigh of relief "hearing" Jon. Yes he looks older but Bendis getting his voice right (whatever that means these days) will make the adjustment a little easier.

One thing Bendis is doing right, at least, is amping up my eagerness to get the next issue. I miss the Rebirth days of waiting two weeks instead of a month.

Edit: spoilers:

Man I wanted Superman to get back in the PZ so bad. I hope Bendis doesn't leave us hanging. Hopefully we will actually get answers to Zaar's presence now that Jon and Jor-El are sort of back. I would hate it to be pushed back even further as much as I love Jon and want answers about what happened to him in outer space with his Gramps.

end of spoilers

[Kuwagaton]

The splash pages were hilariously blatant, but they managed to pull it off.

I kind of suspected the ending but it's still...

I get the cop out. Zod jumped into the Zone and he, like Zaar, will fight to the death. But the bad guys aren't just locked up. Zod did at least 25 years of prison and breaking out was the only way to not spend eternity in there. And now he has a family. Leaving him to get mauled and killed by that group (there's really no other outcome, and Superman would know that personally) just isn't right. "Hey there are other people to save" isn't an excuse.

[Yoda]

Art was amazing. And the internal monologue from Clark was great as well. Bendis continues to have a great handle on his voice.

BUT that was a supremely frustrating issue that was anticlimactic and closed out the first arc of the book without answering much of anything. Yes there’s a few more clues, but there are far more concrete answers in Supergirl #25 today than in this whole arc. Bendis decompression in full effect lately. I was expecting a rushed conclusion and probably an info dump, but this was just dragging things out further.

Probably the weakest issue of his Superman run and up there with Action 1004 for a really botched execution and a real display of all the worst traits Bendis has as a writer.

Even the cliffhanger was kinda annoying because there’s no sense of time between the events.

[Yoda]

The splash pages were hilariously blatant, but they managed to pull it off.

I kind of suspected the ending but it's still...

I get the cop out. Zod jumped into the Zone and he, like Zaar, will fight to the death. But the bad guys aren't just locked up. Zod did at least 25 years of prison and breaking out was the only way to not spend eternity in there. And now he has a family. Leaving him to get mauled and killed by that group (there's really no other outcome, and Superman would know that personally) just isn't right. "Hey there are other people to save" isn't an excuse.

Yeah, in old iterations of the PZ it wouldn’t matter because they were ghost essentially but best case here he’s leaving one of his enemies to kill the other and he knows it.

[Superlad93]

Even the cliffhanger was kinda annoying because there’s no sense of time between the events.

What do you mean by this specifically?

[Yoda]

What do you mean by this specifically?

In the sense that there’s nothing to really give the sense that the events of the first Superman arc concluded, the events of Action Comics and Lois coming back happened. Other than his costume looking like it was fixed there’s no sense of how the books fit because Action definitely has to fit inbetween those last couple of pages.

[Superlad93]

In the sense that there’s nothing to really give the sense that the events of the first Superman arc concluded, the events of Action Comics and Lois coming back happened. Other than his costume looking like it was fixed there’s no sense of how the books fit because Action definitely has to fit inbetween those last couple of pages.

Ah, I see. Well yeah, that's true. That's the balancing act of working two comics about the same character, and keeping the story for each book contained enough to feel its own, but just linked enough to feel like the other is out there. I didn't really expect there to be an overt moment of "and this is where you slot in Action Comics" in at least this issue. But if we get Lois in the next issue of Superman (and solicits say we will) and she's in that hotel room, and they have that 2 to 3 issue back space recap, then I think we're good.

But, no, you're right, this issue didn't have that in any overt way. But then again, if you are reading both, you've kept up with last issue of Action (1005), you've seen Miss Goode's desk with the Phantom Zone story, and you saw the laps in time here, then I think you (we) can put two and two together for the sake of keeping things straight. To be honest, I think this is only something one would think about just because it's the same writer. I mean, back in Tomasi, Gleason, and Jurgen's run they had the Kents move to the city twice at almost opposite ends of the runs, and Jon gained sustained flight about 2 times before Super Sons made it 3 and added pomp and circumstance to it. It's the nature of more than one book about the same people, I feel.

[Yoda]

Ah, I see. Well yeah, that's true. That's the balancing act of working two comics about the same character, and keeping the story for each book contained enough to feel its own, but just linked enough to feel like the other is out there. I didn't really expect there to be an overt moment of "and this is where you slot in Action Comics" in at least this issue. But if we get Lois in the next issue of Superman (and solicits say we will) and she's in that hotel room, and they have that 2 to 3 issue back space recap, then I think we're good.

But, no, you're right, this issue didn't have that in any overt way. But then again, if you are reading both, you've kept up with last issue of Action (1005), you've seen Miss Goode's desk with the Phantom Zone story, and you saw the laps in time here, then I think you (we) can put two and two together for the sake of keeping things straight. To be honest, I think this is only something one would think about just because it's the same writer. I mean, back in Tomasi, Gleason, and Jurgen's run they had the Kents move to the city twice at almost opposite ends of the runs, and Jon gained sustained flight about 2 times before Super Sons made it 3 and added pomp and circumstance to it. It's the nature of more than one book about the same people, I feel.

I get that, but we aren’t dealing with two writing teams. It’s one writers stories. And I know this stuff never fits 100% but it’s kinda a thing with Bendis. And one that I generally don’t mind much because I’m not a continuity cop, but he fudges a lot within his stories. And it really wouldn’t take much just a little different wording on those last couple of pages.

And it’s something I would probably not have cared about had I found the rest of the conclusion satisfying instead of frustrating.

[WallyWestFlash]

beautiful art. I know its been said a million times but I was blown away yet again with today's issue.

With that being said, this issues had some things I liked but over all this was a disappointment. I liked Clark's monologue. I like when writers give Clark a personality and make him have some doubts and conflict. It was over done just a bit much but was fine over all. The splash pages were really used a lot. I hate that. It was made a little better by the great art and inner thoughts but still.

As other posters said above, this was very anti climatic. I did like Superman's conflict that he was pulled away and wanted to go back but there was no conclusion at the end. And still Zar is pointless and uninteresting. Nothing was actually done or revealed when all is said and done and that is disappointing.

As is the trend these days there are no stories with a beginning, middle and end. Just teases of a story that doesn't reveal or tell anything but rather a clue of what might happen next time. Lame.

I was pleasantly surprised at the way Jon seems to still be his nice self but we'll see.

[Superlad93]

I get that, but we aren’t dealing with two writing teams. It’s one writers stories. And I know this stuff never fits 100% but it’s kinda a thing with Bendis. And one that I generally don’t mind much because I’m not a continuity cop, but he fudges a lot within his stories. And it really wouldn’t take much just a little different wording on those last couple of pages.

Well, the way I've rationalized it is that over in Action Comics we get none of Clark's internal dialog. Some times we don't even follow him closely. So there's nothing to suggest that he wasn't still pondering all this in the pages of Action Comics between 1001 and 1004.

And it’s something I would probably not have cared about had I found the rest of the conclusion satisfying instead of frustrating.

Yeah, I can see how that might lead you to pick at other aspects of the book. I guess from my perspective I never saw this as a conclusion. When he said it was a year long story line I took him at his word. This was more a turning of the page for me. However, I will say that I could've done without 2 of these last 6 issues. But right now I'm thinking more about Lor-Zod and Ursa coming to Earth looking for Zod (and maybe bring an army), Jax in the Phantom Zone likely helping Zod, what Jor-El knows, what Adam Strange's shifty ass knows, what thought Clark had at the end of issue 5, what Zaar is and how his body works, and what's Jon's situation going forward.

[Rakzo]

Short issue where barely anything happened and it even feels like we're just going in circles at this point.

Oh, and Jon only appeared at the last page which makes the cover showing his importance kinda like fake advertisement.

Great art at least, other than that, dull read and I'm sure the next one is going to be much worse.