Superman and the Authority

[Thor-Ul]

I like how the origins of Siv and Lia are keep intact, with Lia being the Flash from earth 9 and Siv being related to the Haven miniseries.

[HsssH]

and Siv being related to the Haven miniseries.

Was it any good?

[Thor-Ul]

Was it any good?

It had its highs and its downs and if youlike the work of Ariel Olivetti, you can enjoy it, but it was not particulary special. But as concept, it had a lot of potential. Something like Alien Nation/District 9 meets the Inhumans.

[Vordan]

I advocated for the marriage, back in the day, when Mark Waid and the others were going to do Superman and thought we should just deal with it to see what it was like.

Ok I was not expecting a Superman 2000/Superman Now bit in that interview but hey we got it confirmed that Morrison was pro-marriage! Man I still would love to read the Now version of their pitch…

Kryptonite, the greatest lie of all .

With some luck, they finally get rid of it, just like GL of yellow and WW of bondage.

Now there’s an interesting idea.

[Factor]

I like how the origins of Siv and Lia are keep intact, with Lia being the Flash from earth 9 and Siv being related to the Haven miniseries.

Wait, Lightray is supposed to be Tangent universe's Flash? Wasn't she a blond white girl? I think this is supposed to be another Lia Nelson.

[D.Z]

May not matter so much with post IF, reality reboot changed her.

[Bruce Wayne]

This should have been longer. OMAC (but also Lightray) were barely developed as characters.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

How are people liking this miniseries? How does it stack up to Morrison's other work?

Is this his last comic for DC, like he claimed Green Lantern was?

This was written prior to Green Lantern, so they weren't lying. This just got published after.

As for how it stacks up, it's difficult to say as this isn't really a complete work by Morrison. It's something that was cooked up for 5G, then abandoned and repurposed because DC would be idiots to shelf Grant Morrison's final Superman story.

I liked it for what it was, and I adored how Morrison resolved the stuff with the villains, but, like with most Morrison's stuff, I don't tend to really understand the deeper layers until I re-read it again and again.

[numberthirty]

How are people liking this miniseries? How does it stack up to Morrison's other work?

Is this his last comic for DC, like he claimed Green Lantern was?

One reader's take...

Ignore that angle, and enjoy this for what it is.

[Vordan]

This was written prior to Green Lantern, so they weren't lying. This just got published after.

As for how it stacks up, it's difficult to say as this isn't really a complete work by Morrison. It's something that was cooked up for 5G, then abandoned and repurposed because DC would be idiots to shelf Grant Morrison's final Superman story.

I liked it for what it was, and I adored how Morrison resolved the stuff with the villains, but, like with most Morrison's stuff, I don't tend to really understand the deeper layers until I re-read it again and again.

Reading the Rikdad annotations really add to the fun

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Reading the Rikdad annotations really add to the fun

Absolutely. Looking forward to seeing him unwrap it all. Ritesh Babu also does wonderful analysis of Morrison's work. These two are invaluable for helping plebs like myself understand all the different layers Morrison's got cooking under the surface.

Morrison's interviews are always helpful, too. The fact that Morrison wrote Superman & The Authority as satire is definitely, but readjusted slightly after seeing Janin's art is very interesting.

[K. Jones]

Loose ends:

• Secret of Kryptonite discovered by Supergirl that requires Superman to leave for a while: IIRC from Tom King's interviews, Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow is in continuity but not really referencing anything else, so I don't think this refers to anything that will happen in that book. It may or may not have influenced Kara's decision to leave Earth for her birthday in Woman of Tomorrow. This could be explained in basically any in-continuity Super-book, since Clark, Kara and Jon all have a stake in this.
• Authority leaves for Warworld: Yeah, setting up PKJ's Action Comics. Requires no further explanation. "We're going to save the world, but not this one" reads as a cop-out, probably intentionally, but... doesn't really do much else other than poking fun at the direction.
• Ultra-Humanite plans to attack Jon: Honestly this already read like the logical conclusion of it all: Superman changes the rules, Brainiac understands that he has changed the rules and questions what that means, but Ultra-Humanite is so outdated and frankly stupid that he doesn't get it and immediately goes to planning on repeating the exact same things with the new Superman. It's the definitive slide into irrelevance without Ultra-Humanite even being aware of it, and I don't think it's necessary to see him again when the issue already spelt out that he does not matter anymore.
• Lightray Is: Either something to do with PKJ's Action Comics or something being set-up for a later event comic.

As far as where this fits in continuity... all things considered it has to fit after Thao-La arrives at Earth (Action Comics 1030) but before those issues started to happen one after another without pause (AC 1033).

It might be the first time it has ever occurred to me that insofar as naming conventions, "Lightray" is basically the opposite thing as "Darkseid". Even "Lightray Is" might not have clicked for me had Eclipso not gone off on a bender of a tangent earlier in the issue to her about binary constructs, black & white, good & bad, light and dark. Without light, everything would be dark ... only because there is a light shining on a cosmic body can it be said to have a "dark side". And frankly, only because there's light shining on it can it have a light side either. New Genesis and Apokolips could, may, might only exist the way they do because a cosmic power shines its light upon them, so Lightray the concept could be destined for bigger things.

There's some interesting things shaking out in New Gods land at present that I'm rather curious about. A new riff on a variant Lightray ... a further exploration of Shilo instead of Scott Free, and Darkseid moving in the shadows as always ... sort of a "New Gods: The Next Generation" dynamic going on in the Superbooks and I'm here for it. They do need to get wise and include Jimmy Olsen in all the shenanigans, though, let's be real. I mean, and literally the Forever People, since "New Gods: The Next Generation" was a concept Kirby baked into the original runs.

...

Continuing. This was a weird little miniseries. I liked it a lot and I'm frankly a little frazzled noting just how much it ping-pongs around with sort of self-referential Morrisonian puzzle pieces, from Action to All-Star, to Seven Soldiers and Final Crisis, probably with a hint of Multiversity I'm just not pinging yet, to The Authority to whatever else, slotting sort of effortlessly into his greater tapestry and sort of "timeline of Superman's life" thesis and even giving us that Morrison dazzle of both reinventing and making Ultrahumanite cool again while simultaneously casting him in the role of redundant and irrelevant. He even updates his fastidious attempt to reconcile Comics and The Animated Series Brainiac stuff by furthering it even more - I had the distinct feeling the second Superman said "only Kryptonian readable AI something" that Moz has watched Superman: The Animated Series again since writing Superman last. I'm down with it. I thought that ... crap, what was it ... Villains Forever or Forever Evil Villains Month or whatever Brainiac one-shot had done exceptionally well holistically integrating various Brainiac Lore (no big shock there, it was Tony Bedard, who had done a banger of work with the Coluans during L.E.G.I.O.N./R.E.B.E.L.S. in the thick of the Johns Revamp.

Actually it was with those two early N52 comics, and Johns vintage take, in mind that I'd rewatched Superman: TAS myself, and noting because the episodes are right next to each other, a Brainiac episode followed immediately by the Collector/Lobo episode, I thought to myself ... ah, I can reconcile this so easily in my own brain as "it's weird that this Collector figure isn't just Brainiac" and then "I mean ... who says it isn't?" Seemingly warring Brainiac concepts seem so infinitely immediately reconcilable the second you think of what Brainiac is, who Brainiac is, what Brainiac has done to himself to be what he is. At the end of the day ... a concept IDENTICAL to the tools that he provided to Ultra-Humanite to use in this very issue, just used, well, much more efficiently, sophisticatedly and without so much ego and pride thrown in.

[TheKryptonMan]

So I’m going to assume that putting on the classic costume at the end was an attempt at tying it back into Action Comics. That’s how I’m reading it anyway.

One thing that stands out for me is when Lois says to Clark , " The fading powers look really suits you, Smallville " .
Which leaves me wondering if Clarks powers are really fading, or is it just a ruse to get Earth to accept Jon as the Superman of Earth , and for Clark to go out into the Galaxy and have other adventures .

[Bored at 3:00AM]

One thing that stands out for me is when Lois says to Clark , " The fading powers look really suits you, Smallville " .
Which leaves me wondering if Clarks powers are really fading, or is it just a ruse to get Earth to accept Jon as the Superman of Earth , and for Clark to go out into the Galaxy and have other adventures .

Batman mentioned in the most recent issue of Action Comics that he knows Clark was covering up his diminished power levels, so I don't think it's a ruse. Presumably, the encounter with the forgettable aliens from those earliest PKJ fill-in issues on Superman are going to be the cause for his power's failing.

[Robanker]

Batman mentioned in the most recent issue of Action Comics that he knows Clark was covering up his diminished power levels, so I don't think it's a ruse. Presumably, the encounter with the forgettable aliens from those earliest PKJ fill-in issues on Superman are going to be the cause for his power's failing.

Yeah, it'll be that for sure so that they have a clear delineation point, and it can be made temporary when they want him full-powered again.

Minor sidebar, I really appreciate Lois being big attracted to Clark once he gets some grey in his hair. It's always heartwarming to see a couple embrace their partner's age rather than just lament it... Which bring sup how weird it is that she doesn't look a day over 30, but I guess that's Janin.

Lois appearing young and Clark looking 50 does feel weird given he looks his usual 38-40 in Action, but I guess we'll figure it all out eventually.