Dark Knights of Steel Maxi Series - By Tom Taylor and Yasmine Putri

[Prime]

Batman is the main character isn't he? Even if he is an EL.

[Last Son of Krypton]

spoilers:

Kal was the real villain all the time, and Batman will be the one true hero of the story.

end of spoilers

[NaVi]

I have not read the number, but if what they say about the ending is true, it would be something incredible, for batman, even the writers who are fans of superman prefer batman. It's clear that Superman has the worst comic/manga fans in the world, I'm not just saying this because of the writer, I'm saying it because in some forums, Superman fans are delighted with the idea.

[Ra-El]

spoilers:

Kal was the real villain all the time, and Batman will be the one true hero of the story.

end of spoilers

Taylor really show the love he feels for Superman...

[Drako]

In the other forum we discussed that it looks like it's a shapeshifter trying to incriminate the Els.

spoilers:

Clark holds the kryptonite without any effect to him and Zala seems shocked to the news that she killed Black lightning's son.

end of spoilers

[Yoda]

In the other forum we discussed that it looks like it's a shapeshifter trying to incriminate the Els.

spoilers:

Clark holds the kryptonite without any effect to him and Zala seems shocked to the news that she killed Black lightning's son.

end of spoilers

Yeah, there is definitely something else going on. spoilers:

I'm guessing its Martian Manhunter or White Martians. They say it's "our world" to rule which could be taken as the El's but easily apply to something like Martians. And the rest of the prophecy could also implicate the Martians as opposed to the El's it's been taken for. But yeah, he grabs the kryptonite from Bruce with no response. That's a dead giveaway that things are not what they appear to be. And the Zala bit cements it pretty much.

end of spoilers

Taylor is definitely using everyone's assumptions about him, particularly like those here, for misdirection.

[NaVi]

That it is a trick does not change things much, superman would still be a useless man who he has captured and that is why the whole planet is in danger,batman will be the great hero who saves them all. he's still a superman fan who uses superman to make it clear how awesome batman is.

[Vordan]

Yeah, there is definitely something else going on. spoilers:

I'm guessing its Martian Manhunter or White Martians. They say it's "our world" to rule which could be taken as the El's but easily apply to something like Martians. And the rest of the prophecy could also implicate the Martians as opposed to the El's it's been taken for. But yeah, he grabs the kryptonite from Bruce with no response. That's a dead giveaway that things are not what they appear to be. And the Zala bit cements it pretty much.

end of spoilers

Taylor is definitely using everyone's assumptions about him, particularly like those here, for misdirection.

Yeah it seems to be an impersonator, because that reaction and response was utterly bizarre otherwise.

[Yoda]

Yeah it seems to be an impersonator, because that reaction and response was utterly bizarre otherwise.

spoilers:

Yeah, that reaction really only makes sense in the context of this Martian realizing that Batman was now a greater threat being half-kryptonian and taking the opportunity to kill him with the kryptonite. They are trying to eliminate the El's and can't do it to the full blooded ones directly apparently, but took the opportunity to try to take out Batman. I'm curious whether or not he's going to have Martian Manhunter be opposed to or part of this conspiracy. It was all set up as misdirection, but that was definitely not the real Kal-El and we haven't seen the real Zala either for a bit.

end of spoilers

[Drako]

That it is a trick does not change things much, superman would still be a useless man who he has captured and that is why the whole planet is in danger,batman will be the great hero who saves them all. he's still a superman fan who uses superman to make it clear how awesome batman is.

We don't know if Clark is captured.
The imposter didn't capture Zala.

[NaVi]

We don't know if Clark is captured.
The imposter didn't capture Zala.

taking into account that we are talking about a writer that the best thing he has done with superman is to turn him into a zoombie (it is better to be a zoombie than a dictator) I think it is very obvious, as long as the theory is true.

[Yoda]

Capture is possible but I don’t know if it’s any more likely than just some slight of hand in the storytelling given what we have seen so far. spoilers:

Harley isn’t with Kal-El when Batman meets up with him. He’s probably still in Ivy’s forest. The Zala/Diana scene and the settings similarity to the Bruce/Kal-El one is intentional to sell the shock and misdirection.

end of spoilers

[Drako]

taking into account that we are talking about a writer that the best thing he has done with superman is to turn him into a zoombie (it is better to be a zoombie than a dictator) I think it is very obvious, as long as the theory is true.

It's not obvious, Clark is in the forest with Diana, Ivy and Harley.
The culprit is trying to make the originals take the blame.

[Vordan]

Real knock against the series is how repetitive it is. Have you read any Taylor DC book ever? Congrats you pretty much know who the major players will be and how things will unfold. Swear we’ve seen Taylor rehash the same Harley/Ivy beats over and over again. You’d think he’d want to focus on someone else for once.

[Zagre]

Reposting from the DC hub:

This series is, as of now, probably the weakest I’ve read from Taylor, everything is just handled extremly poorly. And it has nothing to do with making characters evil because, as repetitive as that may be, spoilers:

right now I'll take evil Superman over this being an imposter (because at least that would give the characters actual drama that doesn’t feel like it’s there because it has to be). Great! It’s an imposter. So that means there’s no real conflict between the houses, it’s just a fakeout. Did Jacob die because there’s an actual story to be told between the different houses given Jacob’s father killed Kal and Zala’s father? Nah, it’s just because plot. And could Kal or Zala interact with his father’s murderer (who also happens to be the only person that had agency in this series (Black Lightning) and show some real emotions? Nah, he’s also dead at the hands of an imposter.

end of spoilers

What’s the shocking reveal of the Green Man? Is he a character we’ve seen already seen in the story that whose identity we could guess? Someone who has already interacted with the characters so him revealing himself to be the villain could make for an engaging story? No. It’s just… A guy. A Joker/Luthor fusion that we’ve never met before and that we couldn’t possibly figure out had anything to do with this story. How exactly is that a reveal? Why are you playing it as a reveal? There’s no mystery there.

There’s no story, the characters are paper-thin and all the conflicts feel extremely manufactured because Taylor wants the brutality without having his characters actually do things to advance the plot that may make them less superficially likeable (with how little personality they show it probably doesn't matter at this point), so everthing feels like it’s just happening randomly because reasons. It’s just a bunch of people being told stuff waiting for a “shocking” thing to happen at the end of every issue. Plus it’s a slog to get through.

spoilers:

This last swerve is the perfect example. It’s just another fakeout, so why is this here? We know that probably ain't Kal so there's no drama between them, we know Bruce isn’t dying so it's not like other characters can blame Kal for anything. There’s no story here. You’ve got a fake character stabbing Bruce and sending him away with a punch just because. That’s not a twist, you read that and don’t get surprised you’re just dumbfounded. It’s doesn’t reveal anything to the audience, it’s doesn’t give anything new to the characters that a less “surprising” scene wouldn’t have. It’s just Taylor wanting a scene to be shocking because he knows almost nothing else has happened in this issue.

end of spoilers

Plus, and this is just personal preference. Some writing choices feel completely amateurish. spoilers:

Kal may not be evil, but giving the Batman counterpart Superman’s powers and (seemingly) the nice part of his backstory (if the ending with the Kents means anything) is just eh.

end of spoilers

This is GoT-season 8 level bad.