PKJ Action Comics Discussion and Spoilers

[Yoda]

Bendis should've had Lois tell Jon and Jor-El she wanted to go back. Didn't she just leave with, just, like a note or something? And then she avoids Clark for some reason.

No, he knew she left and watched her leave. My issue with it was just handled in like a page of flashback. The not telling Clark thing was incredibly dumb and really served no point. I think the idea that Lois would find herself a little out of place and unnecessary with Jon and Jor El on their trip isn't ridiculous - and the idea that she would be a little overwhelmed with being treated as royalty off Earth could have worked really well into Clark going public and her issues with her own dad - but it all just kind of happened to happen to get pieces in place for another plot point as quickly as possible. And her having friction and being a little ansy to get back to work worked well as a subtle dig to the pie baking Rebirth Lois, but again, it wasn't executed well and could have been handled much much better.

For all the flack Bendis gets for decompression, I found his whole run to be incredible rushed. A lot of it reads like outlines. I think he'd be better served at this point as being like a "showrunner" for the books and then other writers were able to flesh out his ideas.

[Celgress]

Bendis should've had Lois tell Jon and Jor-El she wanted to go back. Didn't she just leave with, just, like a note or something? And then she avoids Clark for some reason.

That was perhaps the worst part; Lois claiming she "missed excitement" and was basically "bored" being a mother and wife. While Lois has always been ambitious her character was shaped by her upbringing thus she would NEVER do to Jon or Clark what her father did to her and her family. This is a major trait (or flaw if you will) of her character anyone writing her SHOULD KNOW SO!

[Frontier]

No, he knew she left and watched her leave. My issue with it was just handled in like a page of flashback. The not telling Clark thing was incredibly dumb and really served no point. I think the idea that Lois would find herself a little out of place and unnecessary with Jon and Jor El on their trip isn't ridiculous - and the idea that she would be a little overwhelmed with being treated as royalty off Earth could have worked really well into Clark going public and her issues with her own dad - but it all just kind of happened to happen to get pieces in place for another plot point as quickly as possible. And her having friction and being a little ansy to get back to work worked well as a subtle dig to the pie baking Rebirth Lois, but again, it wasn't executed well and could have been handled much much better.

For all the flack Bendis gets for decompression, I found his whole run to be incredible rushed. A lot of it reads like outlines. I think he'd be better served at this point as being like a "showrunner" for the books and then other writers were able to flesh out his ideas.

Oh, okay. I thought she just abruptly left without telling them anything.

I mean, even that version of Lois tried to work at the Hamilton paper and was going on adventures with her family, and she ended up working at the Planet again anyways, so it didn't seem like a dig that needed to be made.

[Blue22]

No, he knew she left and watched her leave. My issue with it was just handled in like a page of flashback. The not telling Clark thing was incredibly dumb and really served no point. I think the idea that Lois would find herself a little out of place and unnecessary with Jon and Jor El on their trip isn't ridiculous - and the idea that she would be a little overwhelmed with being treated as royalty off Earth could have worked really well into Clark going public and her issues with her own dad - but it all just kind of happened to happen to get pieces in place for another plot point as quickly as possible. And her having friction and being a little ansy to get back to work worked well as a subtle dig to the pie baking Rebirth Lois, but again, it wasn't executed well and could have been handled much much better.

For all the flack Bendis gets for decompression, I found his whole run to be incredible rushed. A lot of it reads like outlines. I think he'd be better served at this point as being like a "showrunner" for the books and then other writers were able to flesh out his ideas.

I'd rather have "Pie Baking Rebirth Lois" than a Lois who leaves her child in space with a madman just because she feels like she doesn't belong there. No, lady. You are a mother. To a ten year old boy who's currently on an ill advised summer trip with a man you and your husband had no reason to trust. As long as Jon's with Jor-El, you belong there. That was ridiculous.

[Yoda]

Oh, okay. I thought she just abruptly left without telling them anything.

I mean, even that version of Lois tried to work at the Hamilton paper and was going on adventures with her family, and she ended up working at the Planet again anyways, so it didn't seem like a dig that needed to be made.

Dig was probably not the right word there. Her returning to the Planet in Jurgen's Action run was, to me, along the same line of thought as her needing to get back to work herself because working a local paper in Hamilton would not be enough for her. Plus at that point, she was still "Lois Smith" in hiding. So I don't really see the general idea of her wanting to get back into things again in Metropolis as being all that out of left field, but the execution was the issue because I don't think that Lois' idea of getting back to work would be sitting in a hotel room writing. The Lois in Leviathan Rising and Event Leviathan is her peak under Bendis after a really shaky start. I think even the first half of her miniseries was pretty well done, before it went off the rails in the second half. We got an all time classic Lois story out Rucka though for my money with the Sam Lane funeral issue.

[Yoda]

I'd rather have "Pie Baking Rebirth Lois" than a Lois who leaves her child in space with a madman just because she feels like she doesn't belong there. No, lady. You are a mother. To a ten year old boy who's currently on an ill advised summer trip with a man you and your husband had no reason to trust alone with him. As long as Jon's with Jor-El, you belong there. That was ridiculous.

Again, the Jor El that Bendis wanted to use, wasn't the Jor El that you all like to claim he was throughout. He used the Oz character without the Oz characterization. He wanted a annoying father-in-law and not the former terrorist version. He didn't put in the work to connect those dots which is why it doesn't work. It's not like Lois' presence would have affected literally any of the events that happened later on. They got into the equivalent of a cosmic car crash.

[Blue22]

Again, the Jor El that Bendis wanted to use, wasn't the Jor El that you all like to claim he was throughout. He used the Oz character without the Oz characterization. He wanted a annoying father-in-law and not the former terrorist version. He didn't put in the work to connect those dots.

Just because he didn't want to acknowledge that Jor-El doesn't mean that Jor-El just...didn't happen. Him "not putting in the work to connect the dots" doesn't make this situation any better. In fact, it just makes things worse. And even if they were willing to throw Jor-El's past actions under the rug, what exactly had he done before that to justify leaving him alone in space with your child, with no means of reaching them in case of an emergency (like the one that ended up happening)? Just because he's Clark's biological father? So what? They still barely knew the guy.

[Frontier]

Just because he didn't want to acknowledge that Jor-El doesn't mean that Jor-El just...didn't happen. Him "not putting in the work to connect the dots" doesn't make this situation any better. In fact, it just makes things worse. And even if they were willing to throw Jor-El's past actions under the rug, what exactly had he done before that to justify leaving him alone in space with your child, with no means of reaching them in case of an emergency (like the one that ended up happening)? Just because he's Clark's biological father? So what? They still barely knew the guy.

And then they proceeded to make him come off even more unstable or untrustworthy with the whole cosmic illuminati/Rogal Zaar thing. And then he gets executed in, like, five seconds.

[Yoda]

And then they proceeded to make him come off even more unstable or untrustworthy with the whole cosmic illuminati/Rogal Zaar thing. And then he gets executed in, like, five seconds.

Yeah, I mean all that plays into it. I don't disagree that none of that works as executed. I think it all definitely could have if it was fleshed out better.

[Blue22]

Honestly, if Bendis really had to do it the Jor-El way, he should have just had the guy straight up kidnap Jon. Or have Jon sneak off with him after his parents told him "no"

Those are, like, the only logical ways that could have gone down without making Clark and Lois look inept.

[Superfamily]

Honestly, if Bendis really had to do it the Jor-El way, he should have just had the guy straight up kidnap Jon. Or have Jon sneak off with him after his parents told him "no"

Those are, like, the only logical ways that could have gone down without making Clark and Lois look inept.

That would be a good idea, and Clark and Lois wouldn’t look like awful parents

[Flash Gordon]

Kal-El has no reason to trust Jor-El? What are we talking about here?

[Superlad93]

Randomly just occurred to me, but since PKJ is following Bendis so closely, and he's talked about how much he loves his Legion, Clark starting over with multiple families over a thousand years is actually totally in line with things.

As we learn in issues 10 and 11 of Legion, "Kryptonian life is a fertile one". Krypton repopulated the hard way over a thousand years. So, in addition to wanting to find companionship, Clark also had to do his part to repopulate a race. Over in Legion, Mon-El already has 3 daughters and was still dating Phantom Girl all while not being older than 18 to 20.

But since it's "the fall of the House of El" according to PKJ, I have to wonder if only Jon's (thus Lois') line (the twins Rowan and Roan Kent) ends up making it through thus leading to Mon-El and taking an unfortunate chunk out of the Kryptonian population?

[Blue22]

Kal-El has no reason to trust Jor-El? What are we talking about here?

Yes. Given everything that happened the last couple of times they met (regardless of whether or not Bendis wants to acknowledge those events happened) and the fact that Clark's only interactions with him beforehand were from old archives in the Fortress of Solitude (unless there's something I'm missing, which there very well could be), neither Clark nor Lois had any reason to put so much trust in that man that they were perfectly fine with leaving their kid alone in space with him for weeks. Clark knows of Jor-El but he did not know Jor-El. And low and behold, Jor-El ended up proving that in the end.

[Superlad93]

And low behold, Jor-El ended up proving that in the end.

Ironically, Jor-El still didn't do anything to harm Jon, and what happened still remains the equivalent of a freak tornado appearing out of nowhere and hitting them while they're driving.

Even the stuff with The Circle is framed more like the space Illuminate who stopped threats before they happened while not telling people. It's just that some members took things too far for personal gain, and that lead to Krypton's destruction. Jor-El is ultimately culpable by association, but he really just comes off as Reed Richards at his most "I know better than you, so let me save you" than any sort of bad guy.