Jon Kent: Superboy Appreciation 2020

[DragonPiece]

Nope. I'm not letting this go. I can not live with a Jon who spent his important formative years from 10-17 being tortured on Earth 3. I'm not going to be able to forgive DC for this. I'm not coming back to the main continuity Superman books unless it's undone or Jon gets deaged and a chance to live out these years normally. Either it's fixed or I'm never coming back.

People keep making this mistake, but Jon wasn't tortured forever during those years. Like the last 3 or 4 years he actually just lived on the planet for a while, Bendis just never got around to exploring what he was up to then.

[Robanker]

As a fan of both Superman and Jon (both versions), I just want him to get his own book. My hopes was Legion would continue with teen Jon and we'd get a deaged Jon in the present, having come back from the future with no memory of what happened and ending Legion with Imra wiping his memory to preserve the future. Bittersweet, but everything stays intact. Everyone wins.

Alas, we lost a Superman book to his son and Lois is seemingly sidelined for Jon. Shame, but I do enjoy getting to read about both Jons for a while.

[Blue22]

People keep making this mistake, but Jon wasn't tortured forever during those years. Like the last 3 or 4 years he actually just lived on the planet for a while, Bendis just never got around to exploring what he was up to then.

To be honest, Bendis never really seemed to care about exploring it either. It's been very clear that he was more focused on the end result than he was the means of achieving it.

Everything that happened to Jon should have had some kind of lasting effect on him and his parents. But all of them have kinda brushed it off like spending 7 years of your life (some of that time being spent tortured in a volcano), away from your loved ones and stranded out in space, is just as mundane as stubbing you toe. Jon's no worse for wear and Clark and Lois don't seem all that broken up over the fact that they missed out on their child's most formative years because they both foolishly put their trust in someone who never did anything to earn their trust in the first place. Which is just all kinds of out of character but whatever. The damage has been done.

[Artemisfanboy]

People keep making this mistake, but Jon wasn't tortured forever during those years. Like the last 3 or 4 years he actually just lived on the planet for a while, Bendis just never got around to exploring what he was up to then.

That's not what they show. And it's still not acceptable to me. Don't try to sugarcoat and downplay the horriblness of what Bendis did. It needs to be fixed. Jon needs to get those years back, or I'm not giving the main continuity superman books another chance because I have no interest in a Jon Kent who spent seven years stuck on Earth 3 being tortured.

[manwhohaseverything]

To be honest, Bendis never really seemed to care about exploring it either. It's been very clear that he was more focused on the end result than he was the means of achieving it.

Everything that happened to Jon should have had some kind of lasting effect on him and his parents. But all of them have kinda brushed it off like spending 7 years of your life (some of that time being spent tortured in a volcano), away from your loved ones and stranded out in space, is just as mundane as stubbing you toe. Jon's no worse for wear and Clark and Lois don't seem all that broken up over the fact that they missed out on their child's most formative years because they both foolishly put their trust in someone who never did anything to earn their trust in the first place. Which is just all kinds of out of character but whatever. The damage has been done.

They wanted a new superman. They have been trying to fix superman for ages now. This time, they decided to get up a new one. Bendis just provided a convoluted road map. But, a roadmap nonetheless. If it were a manga, they could have just said timeskip and be done with it. Instead jon is stuck in a verse where damian cannot grow while Jon has to.

[Jackalope89]

They wanted a new superman. They have been trying to fix superman for ages now. This time, they decided to get up a new one. Bendis just provided a convoluted road map. But, a roadmap nonetheless. If it were a manga, they could have just said timeskip and be done with it. Instead jon is stuck in a verse where damian cannot grow while he has to.

Except timeskips in manga involve EVERYONE aging up during that timeskip, not just one.

[manwhohaseverything]

Except timeskips in manga involve EVERYONE aging up during that timeskip, not just one.

Yeah!that's what i said.Like dceased.They can't do that in main verse.

[Konja7]

In my case, although I am fan of kid Jon, I was never angry about Jon age up. Maybe because I never expect him to naturally grow up (since they wouldn't want other characters to become older). Also, I don't care if Jon is a kid, I like the character due to his personality.

My main problem with teen Jon is that Legion comic was pretty horrible (in my opinion). The dialogue was pretty annoying and the characterization was pretty bad.

That's not what they show. And it's still not acceptable to me. Don't try to sugarcoat and downplay the horriblness of what Bendis did. It needs to be fixed. Jon needs to get those years back, or I'm not giving the main continuity superman books another chance because I have no interest in a Jon Kent who spent seven years stuck on Earth 3 being tortured.

The comic shown that Jon escaped from the volcano when he was younger and he mentioned he was some time in the planet,

That said, even if it is "just" one or two years trapped in a volcano, that should have some emotional consequences for Jon. However, Bendis seem to just forgot about that.

[DragonKent17]

Yeah, Bendis dropped the ball on that and his retun on Prime Earth was short lived when the LOSH approached them quickly not giving him time to breathe and recover mentally when they started treating hm as a "Messiah Archetype" smh

[Artemisfanboy]

In my case, although I am fan of kid Jon, I was never angry about Jon age up. Maybe because I never expect him to naturally grow up (since they wouldn't want other characters to become older). Also, I don't care if Jon is a kid, I like the character due to his personality.

My main problem with teen Jon is that Legion comic was pretty horrible (in my opinion). The dialogue was pretty annoying and the characterization was pretty bad.



The comic shown that Jon escaped from the volcano when he was younger and he mentioned he was some time in the pkanet,

That said, even if it is "just" one or two years trapped in a volcano, that should have some emotional consequences for Jon. However, Bendis seem to just forgot about that.

The Jon who escaped from the volcano looked exactly like 17 year old Jon from what I remember. And yeah having this for any significant amount of time should have left significant emotional scarring and stunted development. You can't just gloss over this kind of thing. And him roaming around Earth 3 like some people think can be used as a fix isn't going to happen, especially with it being replaced by the new Schmidt version. Anything he did or anybody he could of theoretically helped or made friends there with no longer exists. I'm never going to be able to accept Jon having spent his years between 10 and 17 being stuck and tortured on Earth 3 his main canon fate/history. So unless they fix it and give him back those years eventually I'm just stuck complaining and not picking up the main Superman books. Which is a small benefit to my wallet but otherwise remain sore point for me with DC.

[rpmaluki]

He definitely escaped long before the seven years, spent the rest of his time helping/saving people who I believe weren't as appreciative as they would have been on prime earth. He lived under the radar until Superwoman found him learnt that Ultraman had hidden his presence from her and then tried to kill him thereafter, that's when Jor-El showed up, in the nick of time and saved him from her and they escaped earth 3 immediately after. When he got home, he'd adopted a vocabulary of words that wasn't from this earth to show that he'd actually lived in an alien environment for quite some time. That would not have been the case if he was alone in that volcano for seven whole years despite Ultraman (who spoke normally from what we saw).

How would they "give back" those years when he actually lived them, granted in a different location? It's not like he went to sleep and woke up seven years older. He wasn't brainwashed or anything. Ultraman imprisoned him in an environment he believed Jon would not be able to escape, yet Jon did just that. Him looking older to some is an art issue, the dialogue supports that his imprisonment did not last seven whole years. We know that in the volcano he was faced with an evil version of his dad, not ideal, but he still understood/appreciated his father and all he'd learnt from him that no doubt helped/motivated his escape and the rest of his time on that earth he spent it helping as many as he could wherever he could. Sure Bendis didn't do a deep dive but it doesn't nullify or void the time he lived or his experience.

[Artemisfanboy]

He definitely escaped long before the seven years, spent the rest of his time helping/saving people who I believe weren't as appreciative as they would have been on prime earth. He lived under the radar until Superwoman found him learnt that Ultraman had hidden his presence from her and then tried ried to kill him thereafter, that's when Jor-El showed up, in the nick of time and saved him from her and they escaped earth 3 immediately after. When he got home, he'd adopted a vocabulary of words that wasn't from this earth to show that he'd actually lived in an alien environment for quite some time. That would not have been the case if he was alone in that volcany for seven whole years despite Ultraman (who spoke normally from what we saw).

How would they "give back" those years when he actually lived them, granted in a different location? It's not like he went to sleep and work up seven years older. He wasn't brainwashed or anything. Ultraman imprisoned him in an environment he believed Jon would not be able to escape, yet Jon did just that. Him looking older to some is an art issue, the dialogue supports that his imprisonment did not last seven whole years. We know that in the volcano he was faced with an evil version of his dad, not ideal, but he still understood/appreciated his father and all he'd learnt from him that no doubt helped/motivated his escape and the rest of his time on that earth he spent it helping as many as he could wherever he could. Sure Bendis didn't do a deep dive but it doesn't nullify or void the time he lived or his experience.

You're inserting a lot of your own retcons, supposition and fanfic to fill in the details and try to make what Jon went through seem less horrible. As presented it looked like Jon spent seven years stuck in a volcano and a very short amount of time hiding and trying to get off. It does not work for me and never will.

There are plenty of way to de-age Jon and have him live a normal life growing up on the main Earth experiencing the things he should have. I understand I might be being something of a status quo minded reader and not really caring about what it would do the adult Jon, but frankly, as a reader I don't care about him. We're dealing with a fictional character. As a reader I I do not like or appreciate his theoretical "life" or "experiences" on earth 3 and want them nullified and voided. Challenge of the Super-sons is nice and I'm supporting it, but I don't like the idea Jon has being stuck on Earth 3 and tortured for seven years in his future. I'm supporting it while boycotting the other main Superman books in hope of eventually influencing DC to undo the age up. I cared about the younger Jon and want the younger Jon back in the main continuity present and that's that. It'd pretty clear from DC they wanted the age-up without any real concern for the details of how it should have effected Jon, and I want the age up undone, and am admittedly not taking the older Jon into consideration much. It's not like DC has with how they've glossed over the situation. So maybe I'm thinking in a how to get from a point A to B matter, but that was DC's original thought anyway.

[rpmaluki]

Several people have said he did not spend all seven years inside the volcano. Jon's mind wasn't warped by Ultraman and whatever he was trying to achieve in putting Jon in a volcano, he did some heroing after escaping the volcano, although I cannot remember the word he used when he first reunited with Clark but it wasn't anything from prime earth, how's that retconning/fanfic?

You can feel however you want about Jon, that's got nothing to do with my post, I was talking about what happened to Jon on earth 3. He lived every second of those years, so he can't get them back. He didn't lose them. Clark and Lois are the ones that statement might apply, 3 weeks turned to seven years.

[Blue22]

Yeah, as unpleasant as his life might have been, Jon's not the one who lost any time. His parents did. I suppose there is still "time lost" in terms of his time on earth with his friends and family. But he still lived out that full seven years. It sucked, from both his perspective and a narrative one. But it happened.

[Artemisfanboy]

Several people have said he did not spend all seven years inside the volcano. Jon's mind wasn't warped by Ultraman and whatever he was trying to achieve in putting Jon in a volcano, he did some heroing after escaping the volcano, although I cannot remember the word he used when he first reunited with Clark but it wasn't anything from prime earth, how's that retconning/fanfic?

They don't provide a hard timeline for Jon's experiences nor is it fleshed out, nor is it likely to be. The way it's presented Jon spent the majority of his time being trapped in volcano. And that word easilly could have been and was more likely picked up in the space part of his trip. You are inserting your own interpertation of details with the intent of trying to make the situation with Jon seem palatable.

You can feel however you want about Jon, that's got nothing to do with my post, I was talking about what happened to Jon on earth 3. He lived every second of those years, so he can't get them back. He didn't lose them. Clark and Lois are the ones that statement might apply, 3 weeks turned to seven years.

Yeah, as unpleasant as his life might have been, Jon's not the one who lost any time. His parents did. I suppose there is still "time lost" in terms of his time on earth with his friends and family. But he still lived out that full seven years. It sucked, from both his perspective and a narrative one. But it happened.

I would not consider Jon's experience being trapped in that volcano for years "living" and trying to retcon and reduce time in the volcano by increasing time alone in hiding does not really help. I consider that time lost and want it given back to him so he can experience a normal life being raised by his parents and hanging with his friends. 10-17 covers a significant amount of important developmental years and downplay or handwave them away and saying 'he somehow came out ok so it doesn't matter' doesn't work.