Event Leviathan discussion thread

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I enjoyed this a lot, but I gotta say the reveal of Leviathan felt somewhat like a cheat, despite all the clues they'd been dropping that it was Manhunter-related, because Bendis simply didn't put in the work to establish who he is before the reveal. That's not really playing fair with the readers who weren't already familiar with that character.

[Osiris-Rex]

All this to give Bendis his DC-Hood villain. Prepare to see Leviathan in every other story he writes, either directly or as the one pulling strings behind the scenes.

Leviathan is everyone. Leviathan is everywhere.

[Uncanny Mutie]

I gotta say the reveal of Leviathan felt somewhat like a cheat, despite all the clues they'd been dropping that it was Manhunter-related, because Bendis simply didn't put in the work to establish who he is before the reveal. That's not really playing fair with the readers who weren't already familiar with that character.

Exactly!!! That's Bendis, though. He takes a lot of shortcuts with his writing and hardly, if ever, "puts in the work."

[exile001]

As this was in essence a Superman event and with the whole Manhunter thing I was hoping Leviathan was going to be Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg (Superman). He was head of the Manhunters under Johns, so it kinda made sense to me (though his motives would have to be explained, probably another way to prove he's the better Superman). I love the character and he really needs to be reclaimed and given a solid direction in the Superman books.

It is funny that Mark Shaw gets yet another identity, though.

[Frontier]

As this was in essence a Superman event and with the whole Manhunter thing I was hoping Leviathan was going to be Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg (Superman). He was head of the Manhunters under Johns, so it kinda made sense to me (though his motives would have to be explained, probably another way to prove he's the better Superman). I love the character and he really needs to be reclaimed and given a solid direction in the Superman books.

It is funny that Mark Shaw gets yet another identity, though.

...Y'know, that actually would've been kind of cool.

[married guy]

I think someone needs to sit down with DC writers and explain how 'murder mysteries' work.
Tom King and now Brian Bendis completely missed the mark after telling all and sundry they're 'playing fair' with readers.
I'm disappointed as I expected better from Bendis.
Six issues and we STILL didn't get an ending!!
Weak as piss.

[phonogram12]

I was kind of expecting it to be Guardian before the penultimate issue, TBH. He did show up in the series earlier as more than just a passing character and I could see his motivation. At least I was partly right him siding with Leviathan. And also, wasn't he a pawn of the Manhunters way back during the '80s Millenium event?

While I did enjoy the series and do share Bendis' fondness for Mark Shaw, I do think it was kind of a cheat making him Leviathan as well. I don't, however, entirely understand why people expected Leviathan to be all wrapped up by the end of the story. I remember distinctly Bendis saying that the character would remain a significant presence after the series was over.

[Agent Z]

Is the Jim Harper in this story the original or a clone?

[phonogram12]

Is the Jim Harper in this story the original or a clone?

Honestly, I'm not sure if it even said. I'm pretty sure it was never stated either way in the Action Comics issues leading up to this, either.

[BruceWayneJr.]

.....So you're not excited for Event Leviathan 2?

[Osiris-Rex]

.....So you're not excited for Event Leviathan 2?

More excited to see where Leviathan is going on the Supergirl TV show. Seems a lot more scary.

[Desmark]

As someone else said, this wasn't "Heroes In Crisis" bad, but it wasn't exactly super-good, either. Pretty to look at, some occasionally amusing bits of Bendis-speak, and a hero-turned-villain with a compelling motivation for future stories, but:

1) This whole story could have been told in an 80-page giant with about half as many characters, and not one scintilla of the tension would have been lost.
2) The hit-to-miss ratio of Bendis's "wit" remains on the "unfortunate" side for me. YMMV.
3) I felt a tiny gut-punch when Superman didn't recognize Mark Shaw. Granted, he's being drawn like no version of Mark Shaw ever, and it's at least a couple of reboots ago, but if you're going to make a nostalgia play in your big reveal, I think you have to go all in.
4) (Gets on his hobby-horse) If you're going to write ANYTHING about the Guardians, Green Lanterns, or Manhunters, I demand that you know the difference between "universe" and "galaxy." When your "smart" characters use them interchangeably, they sound like idiots.
5) I can't shake the feeling that Bendis only has a superficial grasp of DCU Manhunter history. Which is fine, because a) it's stupidly complicated, and b) reboots, but I'd like to be proven wrong.
6) We better get a decent "Why I Became Leviathan" story out of this. And it better be told in a one-shot, not another 6-issue mini.
7) Seriously, what WAS the point of that second detective group?

I think they were the equivalent of the cartoon detective squad to justify the 'Event' title.
Detective Squad in. What seems to be the problem Lois Lane?

[Kevin Street]

It seems like everyone here has already discussed the problems with Event Leviathan, but I'll add one more voice to the chorus.

I didn't like this miniseries. It started with a great premise, but didn't develop it. As a mystery... well it wasn't really much of a mystery. It works better as a superhero event, but even there it has major flaws. For me the biggest problems are: far too many characters who simply have nothing to do, and a story that just tells us things rather than showing them. The first two issues take place in more or less real time, but after that the story becomes a series of conversations punctuated with the occasional physical act that goes nowhere. If they stripped out four or five of the scenes where groups of people talk to each other and replaced them with scenes where characters are doing things like infiltrating "Leviathan Island" or interrogating prisoners or even just fighting it would have made a better story.

[Aahz]

I have only read the mini and the two specials (and not what happend in the Superman books) and to me the whole thing felt like parts of the story were simply missing.

And without knowing much about the character who turned out to be the villain, and what let to him becoming Leviathan, the big reveal in the end also didn't really worked. (Reminds me a little bit on the Enfys Nest reveal in Solo)

[Kevin Street]

The Superman books give you a better sense of the threat that Leviathan poses, because they show more of the mysterious disasters where whole buildings seem to implode, and they show a little more about how Leviathan seems to be obsessed with getting Amanda Waller, but not Sam Lane. And at one point Superman battles a huge monster dude who never shows up in the Event Leviathan miniseries. (Seems like the creators just forgot about that monster.)

Edit: Oh yeah, and one more thing. In the Superman books Leviathan accidentally implodes a college in Ohio in a fruitless attempt to get Amanda Waller. What happened to the college students and faculty inside? Did they all willingly join Leviathan? I still think there's some kind of mind control going on, even if the miniseries seems to say the spies joined willingly.