Superman#8 Discussion & Spoilers

[Superlad93]

He also introduced himself to Arisa as just "Jon."

Didn't catch that. You're right. If he were still going by Superboy, then it would make all the sense in the world to introduce himself as such because they just called his father Superman at least twice before then.

And really thinking on it, "Jon Kent, Son of Superman" as an IP is pretty recognizable. That's the name of Superman's Earth father, quick and easy to write out, and he can always fall back on the son of Superman part for extra recognition.

Side note: Did you notice that Jon apologized to Jor-El after Jor apologized to him for not talking? At first I took it as Jon getting ready to chew him out (especially with how he answered him at the start), but I read it again, and it reads more sincere. Jon's warning to his dad last issue seems to now come off more as a plea for Jor-El as well as what a mentally compromised super genius with the powers of a god might mean for, well, everyone.

Also noticed Bendis makes a point to say that Jon got a lot of reading done in that first "year"/"summer." Hope that means some cool new alien know-how to go along with his new alien slang. Plus, I noticed that Jon makes a note that basically zero Earth news not related to Superman makes it out into the galaxy. More United Planets set-up I bet.

[Flash Gordon]

Mongul should be way more of a threat than that.

[Yoda]

I don’t know that it’s really reasonable to assume any significant time passed for Jon up to the black hole. He may be having difficulty recalling it due to the passage of time, but to assume that it was a long period presumes he would have to be ok with being away from home alone with zero contact with his parents for months if not years. Unless and until that’s acknowledged in the book or by Bendis somewhere it just doesn’t work with what we are shown. It’s sloppy, sure and unclear, like the memories of an 11 year old 7 years removed, but it doesn’t make sense otherwise.

I think at most we are seeing 2-3 weeks before they go into the black hole.

Or he time travelled back to them over shooting his arrival by 3 weeks, meaning kid Jon is in fact still out there somewhere.

[Vordan]

I liked this issue. Jor-El felt pretty sympathetic here, and it was cool seeing Jon and his grandfather kicking ass around the universe. One thing that I’m not sure how to feel about is the GLs. When a kid approaches a police officer and asks them to take him home, and then the guy that kid is traveling with approaches all ominously, that should raise some warning bells. On the other hand it is unfortunately not at all unrealistic for people who should be looking after vulnerable kids to mess up and not take proper care of those kids. Just recently read an article about such a case, so maybe that’s why it doesn’t seem too unrealistic unfortunately.

Art is great. I agree with the theory that Ultraman scars Jon. My guess is that the black hole bent time as well as space, so they were deposited in Universe 3 before Earth 3 gets destroyed.

[Superlad93]

I think at most we are seeing 2-3 weeks before they go into the black hole.

I'd say months over weeks. He says he doesn't know if it was a year, but he decides to dub it a summer, and he was already prepared for a full on summer out in space, so that's why I think it's likely months over anything.

One thing that I’m not sure how to feel about is the GLs. When a kid approaches a police officer and asks them to take him home, and then the guy that kid is traveling with approaches all ominously, that should raise some warning bells.

I just took that as them being sort of blinded by the fame of the House of El and Superman's legacy. I mean, Jor-El and Jon just teamed up to stop a large scale conflict, and apparently did a great job at it. The GLs likely think things are in order or this is some training thing. Plus Jon makes a point to say that his mom knows where he's at. Should they have dug in more? Yeah. But their reverence for the Superman name kind of got the better of them it seems.

[Tony]

It's a continuity error. Jon is referring to a different sector, not the one spoken by the Lantern

The emphasis on "in" and the pointing at his crotch I assumed he was saying her measurements
34 23 34 shows how I think I suppose I got nothing on the 345.

Edit

Put in 345 meaning and it came back with Angel of Change or some such so I think he ends with calling her Angel after dropping her measurements. I refuse to see it any other way and remove the one positive from the Bendis run so far, making me laugh once.

[Yoda]

I'd say months over weeks. He says he doesn't know if it was a year, but he decides to dub it a summer, and he was already prepared for a full on summer out in space, so that's why I think it's likely months over anything.

I'd put it at the most 1 month, maybe 2.We probably won't get a straight answer until we see how he comes back. I don't think Bendis just decided that space travel in DC Universe has a reverse time dilation effect and six months passes in days on Earth. Jon wouldn't be gone for months from his perspective and not care or make any type of effort to get back in touch with his parents. He knows he's got to be back in a few weeks or months for school. If he's out there and a year or even six months had passed without any word to or from his parents, that's kinda crazy to just write off as losing track of time.

I could buy that Jon right now, in recounting the story to Clark and Lois, is fuzzy on how long it was or that it seemed longer. He more or less acknowledges that himself with his "summer of silence" comment. But from the actual functional time, I don't think that is what went down. Jor El didn't speak to Jon at all for more than like a week and Jon was ok with it? It was probably like 2 days. Bendis has kids this age, so I'm sure he's familiar with the experience of having a kid tell you something is taking forever and it being like 5 minutes.

I mean if that's how space travel works, Jon will be 30 by the time him and Clark get back from finding Jor El. Plus, we all assumed Lois was MIA for months and it was like a week or two until Clark tracked her down.

[LordUltimus]

Something feels off to me, and I think it's that the narrative and Jor-El's character seem to be at odds with each other. Jon's reaction to Jor-El bearing his heart out and pointing out their connection as oddities as well as family being "Wow, this guy is crazy, I need to run away as soon as possible" is portrayed as being 100 percent right. Additionally we have Lois and Clarks reaction more or less treating it like Jor-El intended for all this to happen, with Clark even contemptuously dismissing this existential crisis, the Green Lanterns shuffling off awkwardly when he shows up, and "the summer Grandpa wouldn't talk to me".

What makes it weird is that, taken on it's own, Jor-El IS sympathetic - he's going through emotional turmoil, he tries to bond with his grandson, he helps people throughout the galaxy and has an unerring ability to tell who's the good guy in a conflict, and even offers to take Jon home. Maybe the future issues will portray this a bit better since we've been getting biased perspectives, but for now, I feel like there's a weird disconnect with what the narrative is telling us about Jor-El and what he's actually like.

[Superlad93]

I'd put it at the most 1 month, maybe 2.We probably won't get a straight answer until we see how he comes back. I don't think Bendis just decided that space travel in DC Universe has a reverse time dilation effect and six months passes in days on Earth. Jon wouldn't be gone for months from his perspective and not care or make any type of effort to get back in touch with his parents. He knows he's got to be back in a few weeks or months for school. If he's out there and a year or even six months had passed without any word to or from his parents, that's kinda crazy to just write off as losing track of time.

I could buy that Jon right now, in recounting the story to Clark and Lois, is fuzzy on how long it was or that it seemed longer. I more or less acknowledges that. But from the actual functional time, I don't think that is what went down. I mean if that's true, Jon will be 30 by the time him and Clark get back from finding Jor El.

Plus, we all assumed Lois was MIA for months and it was like a week or two until Clark tracked her down.

Well summer is 2 to 3 months. So he's at least mentally cool with being gone for 2 to 3 months because that's what he originally planned on. Plus I don't think Jor-El and Jon fought all those battles in just a week or 2. The way Jon talked about it framed it as at least a month or so of adventure before the no talking.

So far in terms of what actually happened to him out there, we don't have a real reason to call Jon unreliable, and it's not written as such.

But what we're not taking into account is the fact that Jon and Jor would be going through different time zones almost constantly. The sense of what a single day is would be long lost for someone who is used to a normal day and night cycle.

In terms of his way back after the black hole? I'd say we should also take into account not all time in every universe passing the same, and Jon's mode of transport. Remember, most characters in the DCU uses some form of worm hole tech to keep their travel short and cut down on time changes. GLs use space ways, the JL and New Gods use Boom Tubes, Adam Strange uses Zeta Beams, and the list goes on. Basically, in terms of space travel, no one really just cuts a straight line from point A to B without some sort of hyper space deal.

It just seems like Jon might have been one of the unlikely few to be out in space with 1) no immediate means of hyper space travel and 2) no real idea where he is or where to go. That would pretty comfortably explain how 3 weeks = 7 years for Jon.

[Yoda]

Well summer is 2 to 3 months. So he's at least mentally cool with being gone for 2 to 3 months because that's what he originally planned on. Plus I don't think Jor-El and Jon fought all those battles in just a week or 2. The way Jon talked about it framed it as at least a month or so of adventure before the no talking.

So far in terms of what actually happened to him out there, we don't have a real reason to call Jon unreliable, and it's not written as such.

But what we're not taking into account is the fact that Jon and Jor would be going through different time zones almost constantly. The sense of what a single day is would be long lost for someone who is used to a normal day and night cycle.

In terms of his way back after the black hole? I'd say we should also take into account not all time in every universe passing the same, and Jon's mode of transport. Remember, most characters in the DCU uses some form of worm hole tech to keep their travel short and cut down on time changes. GLs use space ways, the JL and New Gods use Boom Tubes, Adam Strange uses Zeta Beams, and the list goes on. Basically, in terms of space travel, no one really just cuts a straight line from point A to B without some sort of hyper space deal.

It just seems like Jon might have been one of the unlikely few to be out in space with 1) no immediate means of hyper space travel and 2) no real idea where he is or where to go. That would pretty comfortably explain how 3 weeks = 7 years for Jon.

ok, I'll agree 2-3 months before going into the black hole would work. But to have him literally age like a year or more and write that off as losing track of time isn't believable and doesn't track with what we are shown. I think the disconnect between what Jon is telling vs. what the art is showing is there for a reason. Though they visited one planet and liberated another with Lois and that took like a day.

I think what we are going to see is Jon's 7 years are spent mostly on the other side of that black hole and in coming back he ends up relatively around the same time he went in. Isn't that how it worked in the original Legion Lost series?

[Artemisfanboy]

Age-up isn't for shock value. It's to ship Jon off to join the Legion and remove him from the books entirely. And it's not stuff that will be fixed; Bendis's story is unfortunately becoming a central part of the DCU over the next year, per that announcement DC made.

That's the kind of thing I'm afraid of. That this is some roundabout OMD-esque way to get Lois and Clark childless and "single". I also pray and hope your wrong or enough reader backlash can change DC's minds and get them to course correct if that's their plan. Jon needs to be rescued at a younger age via time travel or something at either the end of run or the beginning of the next writer's. If they don't it'll at least be a major downer ending for me and if the next writer shows no indication resetting things that would be sign for me stop paying attention, if don't get frustrated at what they do to the marriage or earlier.. I'm also prepared for expect this to last at least another year or two. I don't see see Jon getting reset until fall 2020 at the earliest if they respond as possible.

And also what announcement, and when was it made?

[Truman Burbank]

And also what announcement, and when was it made?

That "Year of the Villain" announcement that came out earlier mentioned there would be stuff related to Action Comics in the 25-cent book they're putting out as the kickoff.

[Superlad93]

Plus, they visited one planet and liberated another with Lois and that took like a day.

I think what we are going to see is Jon's 7 years are spent mostly on the other side of that black hole and in coming back he ends up relatively around the same time he went in. Isn't that how it worked in the original Legion Lost series?

Granted that particular conflict when Lois was there only took a day, but that was also A) not a situation where Jor-El seemed to do his open channels of communication tactic and B) it was a sneak attack at super speed. Presumably the other conflicts took longer given the scale and the attention from GLs.

I've never read Legion lost, but given Bendis love for the Legion, that seems possible. If that's the case, I wonder if he explored space in Earth-3 looking for his way home? Depending on what Bendis decides, I could see Jon only being out in Earth-0 space for 2 or 3 months, and then the lion's share was on Earth-3 trying to get home.

Oh, and the fact Jon has trouble telling Earth time in space kind of leaves any perspective young Jon in space book with a blank check in terms of duration, huh? You could milk just that for as long or short as you like for a Wonder Comics book.

_________

You know what? Suppose he actually spent those 6 years jumping from one universe to another? The solicit (and they shouldn't be taken at face value given no "wars" were fought) says "traveling through space, young Jon Kent has faced everything the universe could throw at him" almost as if the space chapter in his journey closed, right? Then it goes on to talk vaguely about how Jon made it home from Earth-3, but that doesn't leave out the possibility of him jumping from other universes to do it. I'm reminded of the fact that Bendis shared what seemed to be an alternate universe Clark, Lois, and daughter of Superman, so I'm guessing more than just Earth-3 is in play here. Plus it would be similar to how he had Miles jump from world to world after and before facing the evil version of his dad.

[Flash Gordon]

Honestly I kinda like the stuff with Jor-El and Jon. Doppelganger of Superman's dad taking Superman's son on a tour of space. I was disappointed with how Jor-El was handled and brought back but Bendis is making it work in interesting ways. Some really cool moments between the 2, here.

I do wish that Jon wasn't the focus of 2 whole issues. Especially reading this monthly. He makes a good secondary plot, but Superman should hold the primary story.

[Last Son of Krypton]

Not a bad issue. Bendis run has been hit and miss, but I liked this issue more than the previous one (one of the "misses", imo).