PKJ Action Comics Discussion and Spoilers

[Vordan]

Ok we get some more worldbuilding on what the chains mean. They’re basically the equivalent of victory wreaths for Warworlders, you “grow” yours with every fight you win. Jon and Thao continue to not like one another at all, and Thao doesn’t seem to have the exact Kryptonian power set? She doesn’t seem as powerful as the Kryptonians are. That one panel with the Warzoons had some pretty insane gore for a mainline Superman book, Sampere showing off his Injustice roots I guess lol. And Waller ***** it all up between Atlantis and the USA, with the rest of the League more concerned about the imminent world war that could break out over the slaves on Warworld. Guess this is seeding the origin of Clark’s disillusionment with the League and decision to build an Authority team.

Another good issue overall!

[Superlad93]

PKJ does not miss, man.

Another strong issue. Loving the geopolitics, League politics, and the sense of a living breathing El family in this book. Also the Warworld stuff grows more and more interesting with every insight. I love the actual utility behind the chain worship, and how it's just flat out slave brain washing by Mongul. It makes him and his family so astonishingly evil that you kind of just want to know more.

I grow ever more convinced that Thao-La will be the new Supergirl, and that she's going to be staying on Earth in Lois' care either before or after the Warworld arc. I love how her and Jon don't like each other. So many of you said that you've been waiting for Lois and Clark to have a daughter and for Jon to have a sister, well, here she is! And I love the idea behind her! Can't wait for the moment where she finally come into her own and snaps those chains Superman style. When Lois called her family regardless of what she was sent here to do I pumped my fist!

[Vordan]

Mongul having these underlings is doing a lot to build him up as a threat. You lose something I think when the Big Bad has to constantly handle everything themselves rather than delegating the task to underlings:

[Quinlan58]

Man, this book just keeps getting better.

• I’ve been noticing the whole “humanized/dehumanized” stuff a lot today for some reason, so it’s interesting to me that of the two agents in the opening scene, the one expressing doubts is the one that gets to have a face.
• The bright blue of the one trying to take Genesis away, as well as the mere fact that he’s trying to do so, makes me wonder if this decision may be psychically influenced by the fragment.
• Yay politics. China and Russia have veto power in the UN so weird to see the UN spoken of as if it were independent from those. I figure PKJ didn’t want to imply it was just “the West”. Atlantis blocking the entire Atlantic ocean is one great way to show just how powerful they are and how dangerous situation is getting.
• Batman acting as representative of the US government here.
• The ones who take Superman’s proposal of dealing with Warworld are both new members of the League. Excellent choice to have Black Adam be the one to cast doubt on the claims of Warworld having slaves, both because of his status as former villain and because as head of a foreign government he’d be quite wary of an American claiming “freedom and democracy” as reasons to intervene somewhere else.
• “I didn’t come here to settle international disputes or decide the allocation of someone else’s resources.” This is an excellent line to call attention to the fact that the JL really has no authority to be deciding what they’re discussing about. Clark’s following suggestion that his family and him would be fixing that problem works as a great reminder in that context that they are not political figures, but private and unaligned people working outside of the system (and thus their solutions cannot be along the lines of what Batman and Aquaman were discussing before).
• Having enjoyed all of the above, I do believe casting the JL in the role of The Man against which the individual superhero must rebel to achieve anything meaningful is a pretty overdone trope… but hey, if every other member is benefitting from throwing the JL under the bus, why not Superman?
• Jon’s continued resentment towards Thao-La is pretty great.
• It’s good to know Lois is aware of exactly why Jon is scared. I was thinking maybe he only told Damian that but it turns out he did tell his mom (and most likely his dad). With that said, weird that no one is directly addressing those issues with him, if they’re aware of their cause.
• Thao-La’s nerves when Lois says “He’s afraid you’re going to take his dad away” is pretty good.
• For a second there, I thought when Thao-La said that the loser must give iron to the victor, she meant “blood”.
• The whole talk about chains here was an excellent piece of worldbuilding, as is the ceremony right before one of the warzoons is killed. It makes even the mooks inspire sympathy and pity on the reader.
• All this talk of Waller reminds me that she appeared in the very first issue of this run. Add the whole Conner situation and there clearly must be something planned here.
• Thao-La talks about everything becoming quieter when Clark speaks. This is clearly the case in every scene he’s in during this issue (everything he does exudes power and supreme confidence), but so much in previous ones. It also adds some interesting context to how she may have perceived their initial encounter after she woke up.
• I like how close Thao-La and the unconscious Phaelosians appear to be. Gives me hope they’ll be actual characters, and maybe one or both of them will accompany Clark to liberate Warworld.
• Good ol’ “powers connected to emotions” with Thao-La’s heat vision (is it even heat vision?) here.
• Lois outright calling Thao-La family. Superlad above suggests that they might have her be taken in by the Kents as a daughter, and if that’s the case, then I’ll celebrate.

Overall, loved the issue, love how PKJ’s building up Clark’s conflict with the JL, Jon’s fear, Thao-La’s conflict, the whole of Warworld, love everything about Sampere’s art, the sheer power his characters exude (while not missing subtler emotions), how lived-in the Fortress feels now, mostly like Lucas’ colors, it makes everything look a bit too slick for my tastes but on the other hand it also makes everything feel airier somehow, almost every panel here makes me feel like a breeze is blowing on my face.

[oneveryfineday]

I really liked this panel.



It’s funny how the addition of a single line of dialogue can change a picture from glorious and hopeful to downright threatening. This isn’t a fun family team-up, but the power of the House of El as a kind of political dynasty. “You will answer to us” is not a humble personal appeal. After failing to get the JL’s support, Clark gathers his family members—the other two most powerful people on the planet—as a display of force for conflict deterrence with the real intent to engage in aggression if it comes to worst. Clark has an edge to him and it’s a very different vibe for the House of El but I love it. Can’t wait for the action to ramp up next issue especially with Sampere sure to deliver us some epic art.

Speaking of which, I think Clark will rush to back to the Fortress once he senses that Lois is in danger, leaving Kara and Jon to deal with the conflict themselves. I’ve been waiting for those two young Supers to team up for a long time and I’m excited to see what their dynamic is like.

This was a great issue for Lois as well. Both Clark and Lois have risked their lives to save Thao-La now, so maybe they’ll all come to see each other as close family? And with Jace and Nubia taking center stage I think DC wants to create an all black Trinity, possibly with Thao-La or Calvin Ellis taking the Super spot.

[oneveryfineday]

https://www.cbr.com/superman-phillip...son-interview/

Some excerpts from a new interview. Theorize away!

With Superman being the biggest superhero in the genre, what was something you were really keen on adding your own voice and mark to when taking the helm?

I want to see the most epic, larger-than-life Superman we've ever seen, in the most epic context possible. I want to see Superman kicking ass in a gigantic, living Frank Frazetta painting, taking on monstrous intergalactic despots and mad elder gods on the most terrifyingly otherworldly landscapes we've ever seen him in. I want to see him facing armies of enslaved alien warriors we never knew existed and setting every one of them free, spreading the legend of Superman across the multiverse. Superman calls Earth his home, but he's seen more of the multiverse than almost anyone. And he's about to be reminded that there's still a lot out there he HASN'T seen. That's what I want to explore: a new ERA of Superman, as big and operatic and aspirational as we can make it.

While a possible future was foretold and teased by Future State, what surprises can you hint at as we see big changes coming to the entire Superman line this summer?

Well, if I tell you they won't be surprises anymore, but maybe I can just drop some words in here without context:

- The Orphans of the Source Wall

- Trial of the Unmade

- The Warworld Engines

- The Orchard of the Dead

- And finally, the TRUE origin of Warworld

[Vordan]

It’s nice to have Superman writers getting interviewed again

[The Frog Bros]

"Kicking ass in a gigantic, living Frank Frazetta painting..."

oh hell yeah.

[Vordan]

Been wondering what the hell was up with the little baby Mongul for a while now. PKJ have some background on the old guy, he’s an old warrior who has served many prior Monguls before and was a gladiator in the arenas a long time ago. But the kid he’s been tight-lipped about until he gave a hint today:

That character does, in fact, have a robust backstory that I hope we’ll have the space to reveal. Spoiler: it’s not Mongul’s child, and not a warzoon by birth.

https://twitter.com/phillipkjohnson/...855877639?s=21

As for what the interview teased, guessing all of those are concepts Clark will confront on Warworld. Can’t really begin to guess what they are, but “Orphans of the Source Wall” feels like it will be tied to the “Genesis” energy I think.

[Quinlan58]

An "Orphan" was mentioned in today's issue, in the context of the warzoon who sacrificed himself starting the sacrificial rite by saying "The Orphan calls". "Orchard of the Dead" also appears to be their afterlife.

[Vordan]

An "Orphan" was mentioned in today's issue, in the context of the warzoon who sacrificed himself starting the sacrificial rite by saying "The Orphan calls". "Orchard of the Dead" also appears to be their afterlife.

Unless it’s perhaps tied to the Phantom Zone (which I’m still wondering if that’s tied to the Warworld Saga or if it’s what will come after), I think you’re on the money here.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Now that PKJ's not stuck treading water until Taylor & Timm's book was ready, I'm definitely starting to warm to his stuff much more. Taken in isolation, Action Comics is pretty great stuff while his stuff on the Superman title was utterly superfluous.

The backups continue to be a waste.

[Last Son of Krypton]

Another great issue. I didn't enjoy reading SM that much since... Bendis' first arc? Or Pak's run?

[Vordan]

https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2021/0...-in-the-middle

Another interview!

You’ve been building the larger Warworld story since Future State. What kind of potential did you see in Warworld to become a key part of the DC Universe? And how have you enjoyed having the runway for this type of longer-term storytelling?

I’ve always seen a ton of potential in Warworld. We’ve seen the “entire planet devoted entirely to waging war” concept expressed in plenty of stories, but I think the potentially massive nature of that concept is often lost while we focus on a single aspect or a single character. When we learned that we had a chance to tell a long-form story in Warworld, my collaborators and I set out to make it a real place where every aspect of life revolves around the concept of dominance, much the way life on Frank Herbert’s Dune revolves around water scarcity. Religion, architecture, economy, language, music, clothing, it’s all about domination. That’s what makes the warzoons what they are, that’s why the Monguls have ruled there for centuries, and that’s what makes THIS particular Mongul the most dangerous who has ever lived.



By the time this story has reached its conclusion, what was once a tiny corner of the DC Universe will be blown out into a rich and meaningful world—one that feels real, poses a real threat to its enemies and is home to a cast of characters that feel as fleshed-out as the Justice League.

The Dune comparison is 100% my type of thing! Very excited by the way PKJ talks about Warworld and how he’s approaching it, can’t wait to see his take unfold!

[Robanker]

Now that PKJ's not stuck treading water until Taylor & Timm's book was ready, I'm definitely starting to warm to his stuff much more. Taken in isolation, Action Comics is pretty great stuff while his stuff on the Superman title was utterly superfluous.

The backups continue to be a waste.

While I'm warmer on Action than you are, Superman has been a slog and the backups are underwhelming as well.

I'm still waiting to pick up this week's issue as I've been home sick a few days, but this run's been setting up for some cool Cosmic Superman stuff that I've been looking for.