PKJ Action Comics Discussion and Spoilers

[Vordan]

The Annual was a fun story and no surprise that I loved what PKJ did with the PZ. Brought back that old Pre-Crisis Phantom Zone mini by Gerber and used Aethyr:



Didn’t even know about all this, I gotta go read that mini! Was cool to see Henshaw (I was hoping the Phantom King would show up) and I really love the House of El cast. Reiterating again that I wish we were getting a “House of El” book like the Future State Batman book!

That interview makes it seem like Warworld isn’t just going to be a one and done, it will be a big part of the PKJ Action story going forward. Fantastic, it’s a piece of Superman lore that has ample room to grow and build upon, curious to see what the long term plans are.

[Quinlan58]

Thoughts while re-reading the issue:
- Brandon has that All Star Superman vibe of always being relaxed because so few things can actually hurt him, he can afford to be. Speaks very informally too (my favorite being his comments about Khan's gift of blood being "the most Phaelosian wedding gift ever"), and of course the stubble makes him look even more casual.
- Alura is, well, named Alura after Kara's mother and her father is named Van-El, presumably after Kal's son in For The Man Who Has Everything. I guess we can speculate on her parentage from that. There goes my hope that future generations of Kryptonians would stop including the father's name in the daughter's, too.
- Khan has a scar crossing over his eye that is sometimes there and sometimes not.
- Art gets across how much Alura and Khan love each other very easily.
- So Brandon and later Ronan may be Superman, but Kara is the head of the House of El.
- It's beyond weird to think that this entire ceremony must have originated from Clark, Kara and maybe Jon and Lois, because this is all way more formal than I'd expect from any of those.
- So Khan doesn't have a named house, but Thao-La presumably did given the structure of her name. Is Thao-La's parentage more prestigious than it is implied for Khan? Are there people who do have Houses among the current Phaelosians and people who don't? Is that from Krypton itself, or something that happened over the years?
- Good to see their consistently respecting the Phaelosian traditions as well as those of the House of El. There's this sense that of course the House of El is of a much higher social standing than them but they don't really see it that way. I'm still not a fan of putting all this royalty aspect into Superman's legacy, but as I've said before too, that ship sailed decades ago.
- I'm starting to think the white streak in Pyrrhos hair is not so much a sign of him being older then immediately apparent as an indicator that something similar to the Lazarus pits happened to him. He's just giving me too much of a Jason Todd vibe between that white streak and the red color scheme. Then again, white streak is also inconsistent.
- Khan itching for a real fight against Pyrrhos. Also good stuff.
- Kara was taken down way too fast. Pyrrhos was completely helpless when faced with Kal, so I was expecting Kara to also be able to school him. Cool to see he can use magic, I guess, but I don't appreaciate Kara being Worf-ed for it (thus implicitely putting her way below Kal) when there's an entire cast of new characters that are already established as weaker than Pyrrhos who could have been used.
- Ronan is reacting to the Phantom Zone as "oh, he found that historical old thing" while Brandon's reaction is more along the lines of "he found the stuff of legends".
- Theand'r is hiding behind Brandon at the beginning of their fights in the PZ. Big difference from her later self in House of El.
- The designs for the monsters in the PZ are the most boring "vaguely Lovecraft-lite" stuff.
- Brandon tells Theand'r to "keep her distance and use energy blasts only", only for everyone (including Theand'r and Brandon) to immediately engage the monsters in hand-to-hand melee (no signs of heat vision anywhere).
- Henshaw's design implies he's seen Clark fairly recently.
- The monsters hanging from the ceiling admittedly do look very cool.
- Henshaw implying Kal used the Zone constantly for his enemies. Good to see he's still driven to tarnish his reputation as much as possible.
- A dead Mr. Miracle, I'm guessing we'll never know which (if it's even one we know and not a future one).
- Once again more inconsistencies with how much of Henshaw's left arm is left bare, and in the same page too.
- Gotta say, this is a far lesser "the Els show mercy to Henshaw" story than Action Comics 999.
- Brandon passes the torch to Ronan, but honestly Ronan didn't feel particularly more deserving going by this story than any of the rest (Theand'r excluded, of course).
- The end of the ceremony feels much less awkward with Kara with her feet on the ground rather than floating above everyone.
- Theand'r is Superwoman. Whatever happened to the end of Kara's Future State book where it was stated her title did not become something to be passed down among descendants?
- Byla hugging Thao-La looks extremely emotional to him. I'm guessing he is thinking either of her future suffering (and how he'll not be able to protect her) or of his own death. We also see the prophetic visions isn't inherent to Phaelosians but most likely something they learn.

Overall, a good story but not something that excites me as much as PKJ's regular issues.

[Last Son of Krypton]

The Warworld storyline seems is going to be one long giant plot (2 years long perhaps?). Starting with SM forming his own Authority team and, maybe, getting to him trapped in Warworld to play the gladiator in the final act of the storyline?

[The Frog Bros]

By far the best part about writing Superman is having his voice in your head all the time...

Reminds me of a quote from the recent Morrison interview:

It's always easy to get into his head, he's so beautiful

[Vordan]

The Warworld storyline seems is going to be one long giant plot (2 years long perhaps?). Starting with SM forming his own Authority team and, maybe, getting to him trapped in Warworld to play the gladiator in the final act of the storyline?

I think Warworld is going to be a massive long term part of the story, just like how the Magistrate seems to be for Tynion Batman, but it may not be the only focus. I cants we them dragging out the toppling of Mongul for years on end.

[Last Son of Krypton]

I think Warworld is going to be a massive long term part of the story, just like how the Magistrate seems to be for Tynion Batman, but it may not be the only focus. I cants we them dragging out the toppling of Mongul for years on end.

Sure. He'll likely step also on other planets and dealing with other villains before getting to Warworld and Mongul jr.

[Vordan]

Sure. He'll likely step also on other planets and dealing with other villains before getting to Warworld and Mongul jr.

I actually think he’ll deal with Mongul first and then move on to other worlds. Hoping he goes after Brainiac too at some point.

[Quinlan58]

I actually think he’ll deal with Mongul first and then move on to other worlds. Hoping he goes after Brainiac too at some point.

That'd be cool, but I think Brainiac may be used in Superman Son of Kal El rather than Action Comics, going by Future State.

As far as other villains for PKJ's run, since we're focusing on surviving Kryptonians and the Phantom Zone, Zod and his family are a must, right? There's also been a lot of references to the Fourth World, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see villains from that one (maybe not Darksied, though, if he's too big as the villain of Infinite Frontier to fight with a single hero).

[Vordan]

Zod and his family seem like an obvious choice as well given the cosmic nature of the upcoming run. I’m sure Brainiac will clash with Jon and Kara at some point, but I’m kind of hoping Clark cripples Brainiac’s cosmic operations which force him to limit himself to Earth, that would be a cool way to “hand off” the character if there are plans to pit him against Jon.

Of course there’s obviously going to be OC villains, everyone makes them and Johnson has already started with the Shadowbreed, I just hope that some of the classic Rogues can be used as well. Given the cool world building for the Phantom Zone, I’m still hoping for the Phantom King to show up, and Mxy would have no problem screwing with Clark out in space.

[Last Son of Krypton]

I actually think he’ll deal with Mongul first and then move on to other worlds. Hoping he goes after Brainiac too at some point.

I think we'll get SM as gladiator as a later shake up before SM returning on Earth.

[Morgoth]

https://www.lunardistribution.com/fi...connect_15.pdf

ACTION COMICS #1036
THE WARWORLD SAGA BEGINS! After learning of an enslaved race with mysterious ties to Krypton, Superman and the Authority travel across the galaxy to dethrone the new Mongul and liberate Warworld. Introducing new characters and a new corner of the DC Universe, the biggest Superman event since the Death and Return of Superman begins HERE!

[Nelliebly]

Man, everything being said here just solidifies my decision to stop buying Superman comics for awhile. I stopped buying when Johnson took over and it’s clear I made the right choice.

I am planning on buying Tom Taylor’s book to keep up on Jon Kent but Philip Kennedy Johnson and everything he’s doing is so off-putting to me, I can’t even properly put it into words.

Not one thing about this appeals to me. I don’t care about any of these randos. I don’t care about a Superman who has no life on Earth, who never sees his wife, where Clark Kent and Earth is a non-entity. I have zero investment in any of this.

Meanwhile, over on the CW of all places, Superman is thriving as they’ve finally grasped that the focus on Clark as a person is what people ::want:: to see. And yet, over on the comics side, it’s just more of this garbage where Clark Kent is a non-entity, Lois remains sidelined and it’s just space adventure after space adventure. This is all shady as hell to be honest. And it’s legit depressing to me that this is the direction that Philip Kennedy Johnson is taking this character. Bendis made a lot of mistakes and I didn’t like everything he did but at least I believed Bendis liked Superman. Philip Kennedy Johnson clearly doesn’t. Because if he did….he would actually invest in Clark Kent. He would invest in Lois. He would invest in telling a story that isn’t….whatever the hell this is. I’m supposed to be super invested in all these random characters Johnson created when he’s done nothing but sideline Lois for months? Nah. Keep it.


They have really lost their way this time. I’m out.

[Nelliebly]

He doesn’t have Superman’s voice in his head because he doesn’t care really care about Clark Kent in the slightest and if you don’t care about Clark Kent than you don’t care about Superman.

It’s a real bummer that Johnson is going to be on the books for so long.

There is literally no chance this new direction means anything positive for the overall Superman brand and you are kidding yourselves if you think otherwise. He is going to absolutely destroy the comics Superman franchise and someone else is going to have to come in and pick up the pieces in a few years time to try and repair the damage and bring it back to something remotely recognizable. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[NaVi]

He doesn’t have Superman’s voice in his head because he doesn’t care really care about Clark Kent in the slightest and if you don’t care about Clark Kent than you don’t care about Superman.

It’s a real bummer that Johnson is going to be on the books for so long.

There is literally no chance this new direction means anything positive for the overall Superman brand and you are kidding yourselves if you think otherwise. He is going to absolutely destroy the comics Superman franchise and someone else is going to have to come in and pick up the pieces in a few years time to try and repair the damage and bring it back to something remotely recognizable. Lather, rinse, repeat.

better superman than clark, the super farmer is already boring, so even with a good quality series, the audience is not exactly high. 30 years of the good and boring boy, the boy of the speeches, it is time to see Superman setting an example and not just talking, to see action comics and not Sunday mass.

[SiegePerilous02]

I'm not really getting where he doesn't care about Clark Kent.

Unless it's because he's not adhering to the strict "Clark Kent is who I am, Superman is what I do" stuff from post-Crisis, in which case...YMMV on how interesting that is to read all the time.