Superman and the Authority

[Ascended]

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

I'm enjoying it for Morrison's character work and the ideas he's playing with.

I think that character-wise, this is perhaps the most compelling Superman that Morrison has ever written; a fusion of All-Star's zen and infinite optimism, but with the drive and social conscience of t-shirt era Action Comics.

The premise behind the Authority is a good one and feels like a natural evolution of Clark's character while also breaking (relatively) new ground.

The roster is interesting. A little too on the nose in its parallels of the old school Authority, but a good mix of personalities and abilities, with the added fun that these guys are meant to cover up for Clark's reduced power levels. The Justice League and it's roster of Big Names this is not, and that's kinda sad but at the same time it ensures that the focus remains squarely on Clark, which is good.

The art is fantastic. Can't say enough good things about the designs, facial expressions, body language, and layouts. And Clark's new costume is pitch perfect. If he *doesn't* stay in this costume I will start riots in the streets.

Only real downside to the mini is that it's only four issues, and Morrison is just setting the stage for someone else to write the "real" story. And it hurts, knowing that all these cool things are happening in the mini but Morrison won't get to do anything of substance with the group.

As for whether this is Morrison's last DC work, who knows? I feel like "Morrison is done with DC" has been a headline we've read several times over the years, only for them to eventually return.

[Vordan]

It is over already!????

Remember still feeling that way even after 18 issues of Morrison on Action lol. Always want more when it comes to Supes and them.

[HsssH]

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

Green Lantern was the last, this one was written before GL was finished.

[TheKryptonMan]

I'm enjoying it for Morrison's character work and the ideas he's playing with.

I think that character-wise, this is perhaps the most compelling Superman that Morrison has ever written; a fusion of All-Star's zen and infinite optimism, but with the drive and social conscience of t-shirt era Action Comics.

The premise behind the Authority is a good one and feels like a natural evolution of Clark's character while also breaking (relatively) new ground.

The roster is interesting. A little too on the nose in its parallels of the old school Authority, but a good mix of personalities and abilities, with the added fun that these guys are meant to cover up for Clark's reduced power levels. The Justice League and it's roster of Big Names this is not, and that's kinda sad but at the same time it ensures that the focus remains squarely on Clark, which is good.

The art is fantastic. Can't say enough good things about the designs, facial expressions, body language, and layouts. And Clark's new costume is pitch perfect. If he *doesn't* stay in this costume I will start riots in the streets.

Only real downside to the mini is that it's only four issues, and Morrison is just setting the stage for someone else to write the "real" story. And it hurts, knowing that all these cool things are happening in the mini but Morrison won't get to do anything of substance with the group.

As for whether this is Morrison's last DC work, who knows? I feel like "Morrison is done with DC" has been a headline we've read several times over the years, only for them to eventually return.

If DC knows what's good for them, they should make Morrison an offer that he can't resist . An ongoing Superman & The Authority book.
As it stands now, Clark has only one book ongoing.

[Vordan]

Unfortunately (for me) Moz has that Hollywood money, comics are peanuts compared to that especially when you’re doing work for hire.

[sifighter]

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.

[HsssH]

It is interesting that this, by the looks of it, was building toys not only for PJK's Action, but for Taylor's SoK as well?

In a way this book has three "to be continued" segments: Brainiac and Ultra against Jon, Superman and the authority against Warworld, Lightray IS. Now, you could probably argue that Warworld and Lightray IS will take place in PJK's Action, but to me it was clearly presented as a separate storyline and "main one", while Warworld is just a first real test. Are we going to get new series?

"I fail to comprehend his strategy" by Brainiac was also very interesting point to me. Clark is switching gears and his old foes are not sure what is going on.

[sifighter]

It is interesting that this, by the looks of it, was building toys not only for PJK's Action, but for Taylor's SoK as well?

In a way this book has three "to be continued" segments: Brainiac and Ultra against Jon, Superman and the authority against Warworld, Lightray IS. Now, you could probably argue that Warworld and Lightray IS will take place in PJK's Action, but to me it was clearly presented as a separate storyline and "main one", while Warworld is just a first real test. Are we going to get new series?

"I fail to comprehend his strategy" by Brainiac was also very interesting point to me. Clark is switching gears and his old foes are not sure what is going on.

Who knows, maybe the Lightray thing is some sort of set up for whatever big Darkseid story is coming up next year....then again this is Morrison and not Williamson so who honestly knows. I will admit I would enjoy a sequel series to this.

Can’t wait to see Ultra-Humanite return to fight Jon in ridiculous bodies. Seriously I want to see him put his brain copies in a random army and just swarm Jon, especially that T-Rex looking one.

[HsssH]

I guess it is possible that it is related to what Williamson is doing, it is a bit similar to how Yang ended his archivist story in Batman/Superman.

[Alkaeus]

Anyone know what the whole "secret of Kryptonite" thing is?

Also, as someone who hasn't been reading PKJ's stuff, I think this series has convinced me to pick up his Warworld storyline.

[Quinlan58]

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).

[HsssH]

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.

Very good point on Ultra-Humanite and works as a reason why he never amounted to anything despite being the first.

[Vordan]

Brainiac and Ultra-Humanite make a fun team! Honestly kind of sad this may be the only time we get to see them together. My prediction is that Brainiac will chase after Clark while Ultra-Humanite faces Jon. Totally cool with seeing Jon and Humanite tangle, damn did this story make him cool though. The secret of Kryptonite… is that a PKJ plot or a Taylor plot? Feels like a PKJ plot to me but we’ll see, that Ultra-Humanite was the one who kept bringing it up means it might be a Taylor deal. Was really cool to see white Kryptonite used to beat Humanite and by Lois!

Overall I thought this was satisfying but it made me wish we got 12 issues from Morrison. They really have a fun handle on the Authority here and of course their Superman never not feels part of a huge world.

[Yoda]

https://www.cbr.com/superman-and-the...son-interview/

From the main page and spoiler heavy, but I think this is a really solid interview with Morrison unpacking things. I like their explanations for the more pragmatic stuff and I agree with their statement on how far you can push a "Superman cleans up the world" story, in fact I've used that same example on here several times.

[Ra-El]

Kryptonite, the greatest lie of all .

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