Future State: Superman books

[LordUltimus]

Just decided that they needed their own thread now that they started.

[Journey]

I only read man of Metropolis so far but gotta say a lot going on, a lot not making sense. Spent most of the read wondering how we get here?

[sifighter]

I said this in the Jon thread but Jon here felt like a young 20 something who thought he had a brilliant idea realizes it was a huge mistake and is panicking to fix it. Like he’s struggling to live up to the expectations and responsibilities of being Superman on his own compared to having his dad and supergirl there to help him out.

Now it’s not a bad place to take a story and it’s a learnable moment for the Son of Steel but let’s see how the rest of this story goes.

[Journey]

Like I said in the Jon thread he's basically Patrick Star (Take Bikini Bottom & PUSH IT SOMEWHERE ELSE) only in this metaphor it's put Metropolis in a bottle.....

[Drako]

Why Kara is always the one throwing punches first?

[Vordan]

Cool so we’ll discuss all the books here? Was going to bump the old thread but this is fine too:



So yeah this is definitely a “Batman 666” type story for Jon. He’s in way over his head, doesn’t really know what he’s doing, struggles with feelings of inferiority towards his predecessors (his dad and Kara) and in his desire to prove himself has seemingly f***ed Metropolis up. In other words you can definitely see the Morrison influence.

I thought it was a really interesting story overall, you’ve got lots of little world building here and there, with hints at what’s to come like Trojan displacing Lex and Lexcorp which sounds like a great idea to me imo. Jon and Kara seemingly killed Brainiac and the military made Braincells from his corpse (dark as hell but intriguing). Despite what’s been said Jon doesn’t seem stronger than his dad here, hell Braincells specifically taunts him about being weaker than a full blooded Kryptonian.

One thing I really loved was how the citizens complained to Jon that superheroes will show up to deal with threats but they never really stick around to help repair the long term impacts. If that’s going to be something that will be focused on in PKJ’s Superman stuff I’m all for it. Stuff like Morrison Action where Supes stuck around to actually repair the damage caused by super fights is exactly the type of thing I love to see.

Overall this world seems interesting and I’d love to see more!

[rpmaluki]

A half blooded Kryptonian being stronger than a full blooded Kryptonian never made sense to me. Now if they said he was a little less susceptible to Krytonite/red sun because of his human DNA, then I'd get on board with that, easily.

[Superlad93]

Really strong opening.

Above all, it's a character piece on Jon, and the whole of the main feature builds around that, and literalizes a Jon's whole struggle as the new Superman. And to my knowledge, it's Jon's first real character piece of this nature.

Just to name off a few of the literalized elements of Jon's struggle:

- Brain Cells represents Jon's doubt in himself. It's every single stray thought of negativity and self doubt that Jon's had being whispered back at him. Incidentally, this is also very easily the most interesting version of the Brainiac concept to date.

- Kara represents Jon's Kryptonian half, and the inherent power and ease of it. The power to force things right when they're wrong. Everything she says to Jon while under the influence of Brain Cells is what Jon thinks of himself.

- Clark, while never shown, casts a shadow over the whole book, and becomes the ideal to which Jon compares himself.

- The fact that Brain Cells is altering aspects of the people of the city via tech is a direct reflection on Jon's human half being seen as a negative.

- When Jon goes down to talk to the people after the fire, it's to get at the idea of him being "in-between worlds". He's both "above them" and one of them, and having to navigate that is still something he struggles with.

- The very fact that Jon makes the move to shrink the city is to show just how scared and worried he is of screwing up. He needed to call a big timeout and place the city somewhere he knew (or thought he knew) it would be safe. But Brain Cells thought ahead, and predicted this, thus framing this as a very human mistake he made.

The back ups where then there to flesh out the world outside of Jon, and they do a really good job, and were much appreciated.

I hope the trend of Future State writers taking over the main books to continue their stories continues (like it seems to be with Ridley and Tim Fox as Batman in the present day) because I'd love to see Lewis with way more room to work and build.

Also...

TIME LUCHADORS!!!!

[Vordan]

Ok I read the backups.

Mister Miracle by Easton was kinda eh? Like I didn’t really get the point of this story. The art wasn’t very good either. Hope it picks up next issue.

But Guardian by Lewis (same guy who did the main Jon story)? Holy **** there’s more Metropolis worldbuilding in this little issue then we’ve gotten in decades. Lewis has a great voice for Guardian, and a great analysis of why people would want to come to Metropolis:
0452E081-A2FE-4EF6-9A7C-78D2B6C63C9E.jpg

Like what the hell Lewis manages to actually remember the names of all the different boroughs of Metropolis and Cully actually gives them some distinctive personality? There’s actually a neat explanation for why people would want to come to Metropolis, because it’s a place where amazing things happen and it promises you could be amazing too? Why do we never get stuff like this in the main Superman books? Metropolis is going to be in good hands with Lewis writing the backups in PKJ Superman.

[Superlad93]

Despite what’s been said Jon doesn’t seem stronger than his dad here, hell Braincells specifically taunts him about being weaker than a full blooded Kryptonian.

Based on what PKJ very candidly said about Jon having it in him to be be stronger than his dad and Kara, but not showing "yet", I'm thinking that's the set up for the pay off.

Nearly the whole book was Brain Cells putting Jon down for being half human, and not his father or Kara, and also just putting down the idea of being human and "predictable" in general. So, I'd wager that the pay off is him being a half Kryptonian finally ends up making him more powerful than a full one, thus not being what Brain Cells could have foreseen.

And if they're going off Tomasi (and Jurgens) then his greater power is linked to his emotions, so once he gets his confidence he may get his power boost. That would also explain why Jon doesn't show that power throughout his first decade fighting alongside Kara. She'd have been there as an approximation of his dad (given that they're now pushing that she's just as powerful as Clark) thus adding to his lack of confidence.

It's even possible Brain Cells HAS known about that potential all along, thus he's been putting Jon down to suppress that power.

And from a writing stand point, in the same house of logic that's allowing Jon to be more introspective and easily retable than his dad is viewed as, they likely like having a Superman who has something to work up to power wise.

[rpmaluki]

I did consider that BC was putting him down intentionally to mask the fact that Jon is potentially stronger, he just hasn't tapped into the fullness thereof. No villain wants the hero to dial to 100 where his power and abilities are concerned.

I do think DC wants/needs a Superman that is working towards a goal (whether he reaches it is besides the point) as opposed to one that's already reached it, as much as I adore Clark but he's reached his zenith at this stage and is my go to guy any given day. In terms of storytelling, that's not great.

[Vordan]

We were talking about Jon seemingly very much taking a lot from New 52 Superman, and I gotta say this issue definitely is in the same vein as Superman Unchained and early New 52 Supergirl. The military stages an assault on the Fortress of Solitude with drones (except instead of Red Sun lasers it’s Kryptonite lasers), Kara and Jon are at each other’s throats, there’s definitely a familiar vibe here.

[Superlad93]

I do think DC wants/needs a Superman that is working towards a goal (whether he reaches it is besides the point) as opposed to one that's already reached it, as much as I adore Clark and is my go to guy any given day.

Setting a measuring stick to be overcome is one of the most relatable stories you can tell with a character. It's, among other reasons, why Batman wins fights with Superman in such spectacular fashion. And unfortunately, Clark never has that measuring stick in constant, tangible, and easily relatable way (most of the time).

And one may argue that's not the point of his stories, but I counter with the simple fact that these sorts of stories are very easily engaging and popular. I mean, My Hero Academia, right? Literally a whole story about meeting a surpassing the physical personification of a measuring stick, and you *get* those ideas and emotions without even trying.

[Vordan]

Setting a measuring stick to be overcome is one of the most relatable stories you can tell with a character. It's, among other reasons, why Batman wins fights with Superman in such spectacular fashion. And unfortunately, Clark never has that measuring stick in constant, tangible, and easily relatable way (most of the time).

And one may argue that's not the point of his stories, but I counter with the simple fact that these sorts of stories are very easily engaging and popular. I mean, My Hero Academia, right? Literally a whole story about meeting a surpassing the physical personification of a measuring stick, and you *get* those ideas and emotions without even trying.

And we do know that Jon has helped found a new version of the JL later on down the line, so we can infer that he eventually does become the “Paragon” people expect Superman to be. Although given Yara seems to have a bone to pick with the United Planets, I do wonder if Jon never quite gets the same widespread adoration as his father did.

[Superlad93]

I do wonder if Jon never quite gets the same widespread adoration as his father did.

Probably not in his lifetime, no. And that's likely part of the whole "something to work towards part".

PKJ acknowledges, in basically every single interview he does, that Jon's destined to be a big deal...eventually.

So, in some ways Jon kind of has two measuring sticks to live up to: his dad, and the man the Legion tells him he'll become. Unfortunately, part of the fun of Jon *not* being Clark is the fact that we'll be able to see flashes of that power or greatness while also seeing him stumble or fall flat on his face.