PKJ Action Comics Discussion and Spoilers

[rpmaluki]

I'm enjoying this so far, but the complete side-lining of Lois is a bit of a sore spot for me. I get that PKJ is telling a story about a fathers & sons, but making the wife & mother a non-character is a very odd choice, but it's possible there are editorial edicts that I'm not aware of.

Yeah, this has sadly caused me to dead brake on this post (pre) Future State storyline.

[Uncanny Mutie]

I liked Hester’s work on Green Arrow back in the day but it’s just not right for Superman and especially a cosmic story with alien monsters. It’s getting a lot of hate on social media from people who aren’t familiar with his previous work. I’m sure it’s pretty jarring if you’ve never seen it before.

Yeah, this is how I feel about Hester's Superman art: I have a soft spot for Hester's art since it was part of a Green Arrow run that I enjoyed years ago, but he is NOT a good fit for Superman and cosmic stuff. With that being said, if it was my first time seeing his art, I would absolutely hate it. But since I'm already familiar with it, I can tolerate it.

[PLG1962]

I just read Action 1029 and it just doesn’t feel like Superman to me

[Vordan]

Marvel is giving PKJ a lot of work, makes it all the more surprising that DC has put both Superbooks in his hands since he’s not an exclusive with them. He’s doing Alien and some symbiote stuff at Marvel that’s tied to an event, and at DC he’s doing both Superbooks and a Superman event. Dude’s schedule is packed. I asked him once if he would want to write a newsletter and I seriously hope he does. Really want to know all of his plans for these books.

[kalai]

Marvel is giving PKJ a lot of work, makes it all the more surprising that DC has put both Superbooks in his hands since he’s not an exclusive with them. He’s doing Alien and some symbiote stuff at Marvel that’s tied to an event, and at DC he’s doing both Superbooks and a Superman event. Dude’s schedule is packed. I asked him once if he would want to write a newsletter and I seriously hope he does. Really want to know all of his plans for these books.

He might be taking over the Venom book since that book is doing pretty well recently at Marvel.

[Vordan]

He might be taking over the Venom book since that book is doing pretty well recently at Marvel.

Could be, I’m sure Marvel won’t want to let that book lie fallow after Cates enormously successful run. If so I’m kind of shocked at how fast PKJ is being given these big opportunities. A year ago he was a nobody in mainstream comics.

[The Frog Bros]

I can't help but feel Superman 29 and Action 1029 were just soft openings meant as almost precursors to the official opening of his arcs next month. The story itself wasn't necessarily bad but it felt a bit redundant between the two books. And the art was subpar, for me anyway. Esp comparing to Reis over in that other book...

[hairys]

I can't help but feel Superman 29 and Action 1029 were just soft openings meant as almost precursors to the official opening of his arcs next month. The story itself wasn't necessarily bad but it felt a bit redundant between the two books. And the art was subpar, for me anyway. Esp comparing to Reis over in that other book...

Hopefully. The odds are against it. When a run starts poorly or mediocre, 90% of the time it doesn't get much better over time, imo.

[Vordan]

PKJ did a little impromptu AMA on Twitter, collected the relevant Superman stuff I could find but there’s more info there if you’re interested.
https://twitter.com/phillipkjohnson/...699270658?s=21

Favorite Superman Rogue that isn’t Lex (lol sorry)? Also were you always a huge fantasy fan?

PKJ: We’ve had a lot of Darkseid lately, but I really love Darkseid. But I think Mongul has the POTENTIAL to be cooler, in theory. Hard to beat Zod though. And YES, huge fantasy fan since the Hobbit cartoon

Krypto or Streaky?

Krypto.

In Reign of the Superman, Bibbo dove into a river and saved a puppy that someone had tried to drown. Bibbo bought a collar, gave the puppy the name “Krypton,” and hired a guy to engrave the name tag, but he charged extra for letters past six. Hence “Krypto.” I loved that

Best bizarre Jimmy Olsen transformation?

Doomsday in All-Star was pretty fire

could Superman beat Goku

Like a bad lil’ doggy

I hope all is well!
Will we see any of the Blue Lanterns from you set in present-day?

We’ll be seeing Blue Lantern Rowan Kent and her brother Ronan very soon in the Action Annual this year! Shouldn’t spoil about setting, but there IS a clashing of worlds, sort of.

Favorite Reign of the Supermen Superman?

Steel for sure, but I like present-day Connor a lot more then I liked that Superboy then.

What of the forgotten Superman mythos want You bringing back.

Oh man. I have a very specific answer for that, and if you can wait, it’s answered (and brought back) in this year’s Action Annual

How do you feel about Conner Kent as a character and will you ever include him in your run?

I dig Connor a lot these days, actually. Connor doesn’t really have a place in my current arc, but I would love to use him down the road

Favorite non-Kryptonian Superman/Metropolis adjacent hero?

Ugh. Impossible to choose. Lois, the Steel family, Bibbo. Lana too, actually

[Frontier]

Hey, at least Lois is his favorite non-Kryptonian .

[Nelliebly]

I'm enjoying this so far, but the complete side-lining of Lois is a bit of a sore spot for me. I get that PKJ is telling a story about a fathers & sons, but making the wife & mother a non-character is a very odd choice, but it's possible there are editorial edicts that I'm not aware of.

Obviously editorial is notoriously horrible to Lois in that office but during the new 52, there were several times when writers made it fairly clear that sidelining her was not their choice. Scott Snyder and Greg Pak both come to mind. Pak just flat out admitted that he had been trying to use Lois and editorial would not let him. Greg Pak was genuinely kind when asked about her. Gene Luen Yang was also kind when asked about her even when he was saddled with that awful Truth arc. Snyder basically just went around them and wrote what he wanted to anyway and got away with it somehow. Andy Diggle straight up quit the book.

Philip Kennedy Johnson has been extremely standoffish and, borderline, dismissive anytime he’s been asked about Lois and he’s been asked about her quite a bit as I understand on Twitter. Literally all he would have to do is just do the bare minimum of acknowledging that she’s underused right now but he understands that she’s very important, respects her place in the myth and hopes to address it.

I’ve been uncomfortable from the start with the way he hyper focuses on the relationship with the son and goes on and on about how important it is that Clark is a father but has absolutely nothing to say about the woman who literally gave Jon life.

If it was an editorial issue, you would think he could at least pretend to care about her or just show a tad more courtesy when he’s asked about her. Which makes me think it’s not editorial but who knows.

[Nelliebly]

Hey, at least Lois is his favorite non-Kryptonian .

Yeah I’m sorry I know we are laughing about it but it’s genuinely uncomfortable how much he has gone out of his way to minimize her. Again it’s 2021 and they literally just launched a TV show with her name in the title that is apparently like the most streamed show in the history of the entire CW network.

It should not be this hard for the man they brought in to write the freaking Superman comics to pretend to like her more than BIBBO.

He’s writing Superman books and she’s Lois Lane.

Try harder, Phil.

[Vordan]

More from the AMA

What’s your favorite thing about writing Superman ?

Writing Superman makes you want to be the best version of yourself. When you have his voice in your head all the time, and you do, say, or think something that’s unworthy of him, you see it with a clarity you might not have otherwise, and you want to be better.

What story made you want to write Superman and why?

Superman 400, All-Star Superman, Kingdom Come. Loved the artful take of Superman 400, which I hadn’t seen before. And All-Star and Kingdom Come because they nailed Clark’s voice from the Christopher Reeve films and gave me the same electric feeling

I wonder, is it possible in your house of El period we might meet descendants of other major DC characters?

Yes. OR...those characters themselves. Check out that cover from the upcoming annual...real close

[Blue22]

Really looking forward to getting more House of El Stuff from him.

[Robanker]

Obviously editorial is notoriously horrible to Lois in that office but during the new 52, there were several times when writers made it fairly clear that sidelining her was not their choice. Scott Snyder and Greg Pak both come to mind. Pak just flat out admitted that he had been trying to use Lois and editorial would not let him. Greg Pak was genuinely kind when asked about her. Gene Luen Yang was also kind when asked about her even when he was saddled with that awful Truth arc. Snyder basically just went around them and wrote what he wanted to anyway and got away with it somehow. Andy Diggle straight up quit the book.

Philip Kennedy Johnson has been extremely standoffish and, borderline, dismissive anytime he’s been asked about Lois and he’s been asked about her quite a bit as I understand on Twitter. Literally all he would have to do is just do the bare minimum of acknowledging that she’s underused right now but he understands that she’s very important, respects her place in the myth and hopes to address it.

I’ve been uncomfortable from the start with the way he hyper focuses on the relationship with the son and goes on and on about how important it is that Clark is a father but has absolutely nothing to say about the woman who literally gave Jon life.

If it was an editorial issue, you would think he could at least pretend to care about her or just show a tad more courtesy when he’s asked about her. Which makes me think it’s not editorial but who knows.

Yeah I’m sorry I know we are laughing about it but it’s genuinely uncomfortable how much he has gone out of his way to minimize her. Again it’s 2021 and they literally just launched a TV show with her name in the title that is apparently like the most streamed show in the history of the entire CW network.

It should not be this hard for the man they brought in to write the freaking Superman comics to pretend to like her more than BIBBO.

He’s writing Superman books and she’s Lois Lane.

Try harder, Phil.

Editorial really doesn't like her, at least historically. We're in a new regime so hopefully it changes, but I'm not betting on it. That said, a lot of the Ol' Boys club is seemingly purged so I think in time we'll start seeing more respect for Lois when she does show up even if it's not as often as we'd like.

What I will say is I sincerely hope his tight-lipped nature on Lois is more because there are some huge plans for her elsewhere he can't spoil and it's him being a good collaborator holding him back. I doubt that, but we know Bendis has plans for her over in Checkmate and he seems unable to speak of what's happening in a few months for any character, so with luck it just looks worse with Lois because she's harder to speak in platitudes about with respect to the cosmic focus. A lot of his talks even for Clark and Jon have been very broad "I like him as a dad and hey space," at least from what I've gleaned. For all we know, Bendis taking control of Lois in Checkmate was on the condition that he controls her and Phil actually can't control her fate despite running the Superman books. Does that sound stupid? Yes! But I've heard stories from editorial meetings of many writing teams across all mediums that make it sound quite plausible. We really don't know what's up.

Can he do better in addressing Lois Lane's fans? Yup, and I wish he would because she's my favorite character after Clark himself, but as I get older I'm learning more and more how hard it is to need to speak to multiple sources for hours on end and say absolutely nothing about the key players. We know the basic trajectory he wants to direct the book in, but not really any details. Even so, I'm still worried but I'm hopeful. I went into KSD's Aquaman dreading the Big Three New Aquaman Writer Woes (amnesia, movie synergy and torpedoing his relationship-- oh my!) but taking a chance paid off big in the long run and she delivered a pretty fun run. Hoping my misgivings with what's being said about Lois ultimately prove unfounded in the end.

I'm still a bit behind in my reading so I can't comment much on his work (I did cheat and read Batman/Superman by Yang which was excellent) but this is me looking for a silver lining in a cloud otherwise poised to rain on my parade.