Superman: son of Kal-El

[Iclifton]

Not going to lie, I thought I was going to like this a lot but it was pretty meh. Everything seemed a little on the nose and Damian did not sound like Damian at all. Barely anything happened. As far as set up goes, not much was. Hoping for a better next issue.

[hairys]

Taylor has sort of simplified the stakes of the series with this first issue. The success of his run will now probably rise and fall on his ideas about how Jon can "do more" and "be the cure" instead of just "fighting the symptoms." Will Taylor's ideas be smart or at least interesting? We'll find out.

I'm guessing the series will end up getting panned.

[garazza]

My one hang-up about not supporting the book is that I agree with Taylor's intentions, politically-speaking. If and when this book fails, I fear that DC's penchant for learning the wrong lesson will be to step away from the politics and bar any future forays into it. I agree that, what little I read, was a little on the nose, but I would rather books that choose to step into the political arena to be clear and unequivocal about what it stands for and not be vague and not commit to any one position.

[Vordan]

Taylor has sort of simplified the stakes of the series with this first issue. The success of his run will now probably rise and fall on his ideas about how Jon can "do more" and "be the cure" instead of just "fighting the symptoms." Will Taylor's ideas be smart or at least interesting? We'll find out.

I'm guessing the series will end up getting panned.

9B15DEE2-9B6D-491A-B383-063922F312D3.jpg

Critically I think Taylor has yet to put out a book that’s been poorly reviewed, although some have flopped sales wise.

[Blue22]

Yeah this book definitely isn't in danger of getting bad reviews. It's the sales numbers that really matter here.

[Hizashi]

It always feels weird hearing people not like X-Men Red when that was the book that made me a huge Taylor fan lol

Then again, I loved Geoff Johns' Teen Titans and a lot of people hated that too.

There wasn't anything necessarily wrong with his X-book, it just feels like he made a promise in the first issue and ultimately failed to deliver.

No matter how popular a work, someone will always hate it. Nothing is universally beloved. I don’t like Claremont X-Men, outside of GLMK and DoFP. Hell I don’t really like X-Men in general outside of Morrison, Whedon, and Hickman.

GLMK might be my favorite X-Men story, and I like Morrison's and Whedon's runs with the X-Men (despite the flaws in New X-Men.

It isn't that Taylor wrote a bad story, I just don't think it was as great as many made it out to be. Definitely seemed to me that it was partially a case of it's main competition being two books that, by all accounts, were pretty terrible.

[Hizashi]

Taylor has sort of simplified the stakes of the series with this first issue. The success of his run will now probably rise and fall on his ideas about how Jon can "do more" and "be the cure" instead of just "fighting the symptoms." Will Taylor's ideas be smart or at least interesting? We'll find out.

I'm guessing the series will end up getting panned.

I'm curious why you think the book will get panned?

9B15DEE2-9B6D-491A-B383-063922F312D3.jpg

Critically I think Taylor has yet to put out a book that’s been poorly reviewed, although some have flopped sales wise.

Were those critic reviews or fan reviews? I know that they're not mutually exclusive, but there is a distinction.

[Hizashi]

My one hang-up about not supporting the book is that I agree with Taylor's intentions, politically-speaking. If and when this book fails, I fear that DC's penchant for learning the wrong lesson will be to step away from the politics and bar any future forays into it. I agree that, what little I read, was a little on the nose, but I would rather books that choose to step into the political arena to be clear and unequivocal about what it stands for and not be vague and not commit to any one position.

I don't know, my biggest problem with politics in comics is precisely when they're too on the nose. If I can hear the writer's voice coming out of the characters mouth, I'm pulled out of the story, the particular politics don't matter. I hope it's not as bad as all that.

[hairys]

9B15DEE2-9B6D-491A-B383-063922F312D3.jpg

Critically I think Taylor has yet to put out a book that’s been poorly reviewed, although some have flopped sales wise.

Oh I'm not talking about Issue #1. I'm talking about down the line after he reveals his ideas and they turn out to be poorly thought out or uninteresting. And I'm talking about user ratings and the posters on CBR. I don't think we'll end up liking this series, but I can see the "professional" reviewers giving him high marks still. The other thing is Morrison might be doing something similar over in the Authority book, so there might be an unfavorable comparison aspect to this, too.

[Blue22]

Definitely seemed to me that it was partially a case of it's main competition being two books that, by all accounts, were pretty terrible.

Which is really shame. Gold and Blue both had promise. And Gold had a really good start. Hell, Blue was what finally made me come around to the O5 (Jean in particular) after Bendis soured me on them (there seems to be a running trend of Bendis ruining characters for me)

[Vordan]

I'm curious why you think the book will get panned?



Were those critic reviews or fan reviews? I know that they're not mutually exclusive, but there is a distinction.

These are from whoever counts as a “critic” on Comic Book Review Roundup. To be honest the biggest difference between a critic and a fan is one writes their reviews for free and the other gets paid minimum wage lol.

[hairys]

I'm curious why you think the book will get panned?

Let me amend that to panned by fans. My thinking is that Superman has a long history and has had many great creators working on him over the decades, and to my recollection, not one of them has been able to use Supes to solve "inequality" for example. I don't know that I consider Taylor to be such an intellectual powerhouse that he'll come up with something that all those great creators couldn't.

[Hizashi]

Which is really shame. Gold and Blue both had promise. And Gold had a really good start. Hell, Blue was what finally made me come around to the O5 (Jean in particular) after Bendis soured me on them (there seems to be a running trend of Bendis ruining characters for me)

I think they overstayed their welcome very quickly and the direction for Blue didn't change my mind. Taylor writing a better book than those two is the textbook definition of damning with faint praise.

[Hizashi]

These are from whoever counts as a “critic” on Comic Book Review Roundup. To be honest the biggest difference between a critic and a fan is one writes their reviews for free and the other gets paid minimum wage lol.

Yeah, critic seems like a dirty word these days. I'll just have to decide for myself if I like it, I guess.

[Vordan]

Yeah, critic seems like a dirty word these days. I'll just have to decide for myself if I like it, I guess.

Here’s the User Reviews:
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I think part of why it’s being well received is you can read this and not be confused which is what would happen if Taylor dropped continuity heavy details like “by the way I spent years in a volcano on Earth 3” the way some people want.