Future State: Superman books

[Robanker]

If you have an actual solution to a problem, and it's for a good cause, and you aren't breaking any rules, and you know you have no conceivable way of succeeding through your currenr strategy, I don't see why the horse would get offended. Jon picked the horse because he liked him. He even told the horse that he couldn't have won if the horse hadn't carried him that far.

I can totally accept why you don't like the solution to the problem, I juat don't think it's a big deal.


But One Punch Man isn't a story about how hard training will help you succeed. The whole premise that the protagonist became thta OP by doing 100 crunches and push ups every day is seen as absurd, a joke, and probably not the real reason. At no point does the story indocate that if anyone tried to train as hard as him they would gain his power. In fact, there's a famous opponent called the human monster, who is the epitome of succeeding without any powers, and beating everyone else through sheer skill ans intelligence in combat, and even he has absolutely no chance of defeating the protagonist.

What humanizes the protagonist in that story is that even with all that power he still has little things that bother him, and he doesn't really care about all the power he has.

You just described Superman as well.

[rpmaluki]

Jon here was basically All Star Superman, which still means he's redundant if his father is around. Still think the well-publicized "Brazilian mythology representation" is extremely dodgy, with Yara having to be told by Jon that the cursed mules are female, with Superman not believing in gods but gods do believing in Superman, and with Kuat ultimately looking like an idiot.

Otherwise, a very entertaining comic full of crazy awesome high concepts. But I'm not seeing this as a promising story for Jon so much as a well written creative dead-end.

Not a fan of Kara Zor El Superwoman this week, either. All the ambiguity about a disconnect between how Kara perceives thinga and hiw they actually are is gone in this issue, turns out people do hate her after all. And while the ending attempts to sell us on her attaining inner peace after letting go of her grievances, it still ends up framing her as equal to a dog after spending two issues constantly reminding us that her only positive attachment was a dog (I love Krypto, but this is too much).

Hopefully Worlds of War sticks the landing next week.

Haven't read FS yet, with that out the way, why do people hate Kara?

[Quinlan58]

Haven't read FS yet, with that out the way, why do people hate Kara?

Too far above them, they don't trust her, they get "smothering mother" vibes from her. Sort of thing that people criticize women in power for but usually don't criticize men for (as pointed out in the issue).

[Alpha]

You just described Superman as well.

True, although there are a few others who would disagree with us.

[Superboy-Prime]

The new Superman in Future State: House of El, Rowan Kent, is pretty interesting. It'd be cool if he could join the main continuity. Time travel shenanigans or something of the sort. A new Superboy! (Well, he'd never be the real Superboy, but we can't all be perfect.)

[rpmaluki]

Who is this Rowan Kent, where in FS did he appear? House of El?

[Superboy-Prime]

Who is this Rowan Kent, where in FS did he appear? House of El?

Rowan Kent is a descendant of Jon Kent, along with his twin Ronan Kent, a female Blue Lantern Kryptonian. Rowan is the new Superman of Earth.

Yeah, they're both in Future State: House of El.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Where'd you get that House of El image? Is there a preview out?

[Superboy-Prime]

Where'd you get that House of El image? Is there a preview out?

Nope, I got it from the colorist Gale Abdul Eltaeb's Twitter. Scott Godlewski is posting stuff from the issue as well. And, apparently, the character is Ronan Kent, and not Rowan like I previously said.

[manwhohaseverything]

But One Punch Man isn't a story about how hard training will help you succeed. The whole premise that the protagonist became thta OP by doing 100 crunches and push ups every day is seen as absurd, a joke, and probably not the real reason. At no point does the story indocate that if anyone tried to train as hard as him they would gain his power. In fact, there's a famous opponent called the human monster, who is the epitome of succeeding without any powers, and beating everyone else through sheer skill ans intelligence in combat, and even he has absolutely no chance of defeating the protagonist.

What humanizes the protagonist in that story is that even with all that power he still has little things that bother him, and he doesn't really care about all the power he has.

Never said,one punch man is about training.And regardless of absurdity,there is a struggle in one punch man of a dude who can't get excited about anything anymore.there was a struggle of a jobless,penyless and alone guy deciding to be a hero.even if the 100 pushup reasoning is absurd,it was a struggle for him.That is worth something.The act of putting an effort,i mean.That's what people find relatable.I don't care if superman lifts a planet or paper.as long as he gets his ass kicked by it.Those little things you mentioned is exactly what's missing.All i said was one punch man is relatable.why? he can't beat king in a video game.he can't beat master bang.He can't kill mosquito.he isn't popular like genos(a standard protagonist by all accounts).He wants to do all those thing.He isn't above humanity and doing all the grandstanding.That's all i meant.I would rather see jon lose with the horse than win by nonesense.
on a side note,I prefer that being the real reason(100 pushups) cause people needing the stupid surreal explanations like the sun,another planet,gamma bombs..etc for something that's never going to realistic,deserves to be made fun of.

Considering how often you **** on Clark for just being a compassionate person as pushing some Christ allegory and how much you push for him to be a bully again, I'm really starting to question what you find relatable, dude.

I **** on clark cause he doesn't feel genuine to me as a character.I can't make you understand that.But i hate fakeness in characters .Second as if, kicking puppies is what i want clark to do.when the corrupt strong take your pacifism for cowardice and lack of strength.You don't stand down.if that's toxic masculinity or bullying so be it.Just because clark is willing to break the rule,tear down structures and be outlaw.Doesn't mean he has no code of ethics.simply put.

[Robanker]

Never said,one punch man is about training.And regardless of absurdity,there is a struggle in one punch man of a dude who can't get excited about anything anymore.there was a struggle of a jobless,penyless and alone guy deciding to be a hero.even if the 100 pushup reasoning is absurd,it was a struggle for him.That is worth something.The act of putting an effort,i mean.That's what people find relatable.I don't care if superman lifts a planet or paper.as long as he gets his ass kicked by it.Those little things you mentioned is exactly what's missing.All i said was one punch man is relatable.why? he can't beat king in a video game.he can't beat master bang.He can't kill mosquito.he isn't popular like genos(a standard protagonist by all accounts).He wants to do all those thing.He isn't above humanity and doing all the grandstanding.That's all i meant.I would rather see jon lose with the horse than win by nonesense.
on a side note,I prefer that being the real reason(100 pushups) cause people needing the stupid surreal explanations like the sun,another planet,gamma bombs..etc for something that's never going to realistic,deserves to be made fun of.

Not the most popular: Clark isn't the most popular hero in the DC Universe and hasn't been for at least two decades. Generally, even in-universe, Batman is treated as the "cooler" hero no matter what Superman does for people.
Deals with small problems all the time: He's overly frustrated by how much of a bastard his best friend can be but tries to be a good friend to him regardless and his best friend pays him back by thinking of new ways to kill him.
Can't kill/beat X: most magic heroes have Clark's number even when he should by all accounts put them down with ease.

BIGGEST OF LOLS for 100 pushups being a real reason to be Saitama. Being a space alien is more realistic than doing a workout regimen pretty much every cross fit person on the planet already does and comes nowhere near close to Saitama.


As always, Clark usually does have the qualities you complain about but choose to ignore, but alright.

Moreover, you really just don't like Superman if you're complaining that he used his powers. I honestly do not understand you, dude. It's like complaining Batman used his detective skills to solve a problem when the book was called "Batman: the Caped Crusader" and you expected him to go on a quest for the holy grail.

I **** on clark cause he doesn't feel genuine to me as a character.I can't make you understand that.But i hate fakeness in characters .Second as if, kicking puppies is what i want clark to do.when the corrupt strong take your pacifism for cowardice and lack of strength.You don't stand down.if that's toxic masculinity or bullying so be it.Just because clark is willing to break the rule,tear down structures and be outlaw.Doesn't mean he has no code of ethics.simply put.

Except that the behavior you decry isn't fake. It's who he is and has been for decades.

Clark doesn't generally stand down. He usually stands up. He just doesn't bully people as much anymore because we've found that a lot of behavior from the 1930s has been proven on multiple fronts to do far more harm than good.

You want a Superman who bullies people into doing the right thing. The problem is he creates a totalitarian vacuum that blows up once he dies and after that he's left a society unable to govern itself. Instead of saving the world, he put a definite expiration date on it or he simply forces it into uniting under a common threat: himself. 1938 Superman operated under "might makes right," and while he was in our corner... for how long? Moreover, the Western world at least has grown incredibly distrustful of entrenched power and a character who represents absolute power must be handled with greater care. It's all well and good when we see Clark on our side of the line but he's such a galvanizing figure that he can absolutely ruin things by trying to do the right thing-- in fact he has. Multiple times.

The golden age approach isn't sustainable in such a cynical world as today where we fear power and we grow more cynical by the moment. I firmly believe we need a more proactive Superman but if we went super hard in the other direction it doesn't solve as much as you'd think. The primary reason Clark evolved into a beacon of hope as a way to justify his commercial value in narrative was because you had more imitators and darker heroes arise and he needed to be the wellspring from which all other cloths were cut. He was the purest iteration of a superhero because he kind of revolutionized the concept and as such he's evolved into their natural paragon: he's the bar. He's important no matter how much we want to fool ourselves into thinking he's just a character and should be treated as such-- he's still the embodiment of the entire genre. When Superman becomes an *******, a rogue or a saint, it genuinely influences the entire DC Universe to a degree-- even when he's continuously dumped on by editorial. So Clark-- alongside reader sensibility-- had to grow up and accept that just punching someone in the face and saying "be nice" wasn't actually going to solve problems. It just made people learn craftier ways to be dickheads. It's why Lex endures as his greatest villain-- he circumvents the 1938 quality of Clark-- physical application of change. Lex is entrenched. He can't be uprooted. He can just be vaporized but then Clark proves Lex right and the world collapses.

So he has to win an ideological battle. Yes, it's because these comics are corporate IP and designed to serialize forever that Clark will never enact change. Stick to limited series or adaptions if you want an ending. That's not the way this industry works and Superman is no exception. As with life, it's the daily struggle that gives it meaning-- and Clark struggles a lot, just not physically so much as emotionally and mentally. His struggles are that of an adult in contemporary settings, who has people and places he cares for and is trying to be the man they believe him to be while also enacting change on his community in a way he finds satisfying.

Yes, I know, you only care about struggle if it's physical so as a result Clark's dealing with the same issues everyone else does isn't relatable. Even so, that's a big part of his appeal-- his story is our own but on an exaggerated scale. If that doesn't appeal to you, well bummer, but he gets in fist fights a lot too.

It's been shown in his stories and in other character's just how much you can't simply try and force the DC Universe to behave. It needs to be guided.

Sure. You're right insofar as it doesn't mean he doesn't have a code of ethics-- but if he's upending the table and tearing down structures then what does he do to build up new ones? If all Clark-- the strongest creature in his usual status quo-- does is tear **** down and not install something better he actually doesn't have a code of ethics. It makes him a villain. That's literally what they do-- they tear **** down to fit their own ends.

Why is it your Superman is just a barbarian hero who wants to fight things, break **** and never deal with the consequences? He's just a playground bully at that point. You constantly point to Zorro and other swashbuckling pulp heroes but I question if you actually consider the other side of Zorro's coin: Don Diego de la Vega. He actually does care about his community and while he does the most good as Zorro explicitly, he has been shown at times to be invested in helping in other fashions. Robin Hood does much of the same. The reason these characters are so beloved isn't just because they're daring men of action-- it's because what they do is designed to usher in change.



You don't like him using his powers. You don't like him being a space alien. You don't like his personality.

I don't know that you actually like Superman so much as the idea of him you've cobbled together. Make no mistake, we all have our personal Superman but you seem to enjoy perhaps 3% of published content and I just have to wonder why you spend so much time complaining about the other 97% instead of diverting your attention to something else you enjoy more. I was genuinely happy for you when I saw you respond to Future State Jon because it seemed like you found your flavor of Superman, but even then it's just one very specific Superman and generally agreed upon in most comic book discussion circles as one of the lowest points of FS (and already seems to break from PKJ's vision for the character). Already the future looks grim for the Jon you loved. I just don't think the version of Superman you want will ever really be published in any substantial manner.

Just based on what you've described, I'd suggest looking into Conan the Barbarian. I genuinely think you'll find some enjoyable stuff across multiple eras of that character (either the Thomas or Buseik, both of which I enjoyed. There's also the current stuff I've heard is very good.)

Have you looked into The Rocketeer? Fun book, may be up your alley.

If you haven't seen them, Matt Wagner did some Zorro books I've heard good things about.

Darwyn Cooke's run on The Spirit was rock solid.

All these have more pulp sensibilities at (YMMV depending on the iteration/team working on them) and seem more worth your time and attention than a character that has proven to be a very strong point of frustration. I really do hope you find some stuff that's more to your liking but I'm just at a loss for how you keep thinking the entire universe is going to hard 180 on Superman.

For what it's worth, I hope you enjoy the sophomore installment of Worlds at War. Gladiator Superman in Space looks like it's up your alley. I know it's something I've been waiting to read.

[Superlad93]

[Superlad93]

[Superlad93]

[Alpha]

Is that from House of El? Please give us context when you share previews