Superman by Josh Williamson and Jamal Campbell Discussion & Spoilers

[SuperX]

God I love supermans rogues,plus am I seeing things are does brainiac have doomsday dogs?

[Vordan]

God I love supermans rogues,plus am I seeing things are does brainiac have doomsday dogs?

He does! Seems that the event hinted at in the solicit for the Doomsday Special is indeed a Brainiac event.

Yep, that's what it will be, Vordan. The annual showed he was running for mayor. Though it kind of sounds like a knockoff of an old Marvel storyline, as the last three New York mayors have been Luke Cage, Wilson "Kingpin" Fisk... and former Daily Bugle editor J Jonah Jameson.

I can see the similarities with Jonah, and I actually really dug that, but I’m hoping it can be a more permanent (or at least long term) move for Perry. Nothing new under the sun so can’t shy away from potentially good stories just because others have done variations on them.

[K. Jones]

It took me a minute to catch up on Williamson's newish run here.

I'm a simple man. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. But you give me Lois Lane doing full-bore DAILY PLANET work and an act three twist where Livewire sells out! in the best way, and then put a "Bottled City of Czarnia" tag and some Doomsdogs on a last page and I'm pretty invested. Williamson was pretty deft with the continuity touches throughout Flash, so little things, like Cat's thousand-yard stare at the giant toy and Lobo bragging about being "Last Son" but muttering about Crush were nice touches. I think though that the Number One little bit of continuity is remembering that Miko Ogawa exists.

Dare I nitpick? Cat being back at the planet, even when CatCo itself, her independent company, was at least partnered or mentored by The Daily Planet, smacks of "let's reset so we can tell simple, classic Superman stories". I don't hate it. But Trish Q was literally created to replace Cat, who had moved on to bigger, better things. But seeing as how Cat got a huge scoop, a nod to her backstory, and a little bit of a level-up in reporter status, if the story addresses her move back to the East Coast I can hang.

[HsssH]

I'm not sure if Superman's villains can be "redeemed". After all, they are not Harley or Ivy.

[K. Jones]

I'm not sure if Superman's villains can be "redeemed". After all, they are not Harley or Ivy.

I feel that way about Parasite, but the issue kind of hangs a lampshade on it with the "really helpful bracelet" and the fact that SuperCorp is already shady because it's LexCorp, run by Mercy, and has Lexosuits on corrections officers at Stryker's, putting Superman in charge of a military-prison-industrial complex. Not that I've ever scoured the annals for Rudy Jones's kill count compared to any of the other Parasites, but "monstrous energy vampire" probably leaves some casualties. I mean, then there's Mercy Graves herself, giving a speech about redemption and the very premise of the storyline, where Luthor basicalled 86'ed Manchester Black for now just to maneuver Superman into some awkward long-term scheme.

On the flip ... as far as Livewire is concerned ... Harley & Ivy's redemptions (into ... strange, comedic, sometimes terrifying anti-heroism?) began the same day as their coded romantic relationship in 1993's Harley & Ivy, but then came 1998's Girls' Night, where Livewire is the first ever character to basically join their girl gang, and the redemptive bad girl, sometimes bad, sometimes helpful foil has been baked into her characterization since episode one.

Hiring her actually seems like something Lois would do. But I do hope she at least starts cutting lightning patterns into her business attire.

[Mantis-Ray]

I'm not sure if Superman's villains can be "redeemed". After all, they are not Harley or Ivy.

I just now remembered Maxima and Livewire both had stints as good guys.

Which not saying thats gonna happen again or to another villain, but its an interesting thing to be reminded of.

[The Frog Bros]

Fwiw, aipt (lots of acronyms here, lol) gave the Annual a perfect golden 10. Reviewer claimed it was the best issue in the run to this point. Sounds a little like hyperbole but I haven’t read the issue yet myself so I’ll reserve judgement just yet.

Anyhoo, great to see all the top notch reviews for this book and the current Supers in general.

https://aiptcomics.com/2023/08/08/su...l-2023-review/

[Vordan]

Dunno if it’s the best, but it feels like the culmination of how Williamson has been maneuvering the supporting cast into trying new things. He’s done a bunch of shake-ups and this feels like first showcase of said shakeups, and how they’ll be affecting the book going forward. Also we have a bunch of plot threads set up that show what the next year of the book will be about at least:

-Perry is running for mayor and buried stories about Lex’s early years for some reason
-Brainiac is searching for something buried in Metropolis
-Brainiac is connected to Doomsday’s attempted return from Hell
-Brainiac tagged Lobo for some reason and has a Bottled City from Czarnia
-Livewire will be working at the Daily Planet
-Marilyn Moonlight may choose to share her story with Cat Grant
-Parasite is at SuperCorp and is subdued for now
-Mercy’s backstory and reason for her loyalty to Luthor are being probed

There’s a lot of plot threads established in this issue that will be key going forward.

[Frontier]

I'm not sure if Superman's villains can be "redeemed". After all, they are not Harley or Ivy.

And even Ivy isn't really "redeemed" at this point.

[Vordan]

And even Ivy isn't really "redeemed" at this point.

I dropped the Ivy book but from where I left it she had abandoned her plans of wiping out humanity. Sure seemed like she was being reduced to “grump who wants to kill people but doesn’t because she loves Harley”. Not a “hero” but kind of a half-hearted villain which just bored me. Hope that’s not Livewire’s fate, what makes her fun here is how much of a gleeful unrepentantly selfish person she is.



Odd as it may be, if you tone down her bitchiness she’s not going to be anywhere near as fun to read.

[Frontier]

I dropped the Ivy book but from where I left it she had abandoned her plans of wiping out humanity. Sure seemed like she was being reduced to “grump who wants to kill people but doesn’t because she loves Harley”. Not a “hero” but kind of a half-hearted villain which just bored me. Hope that’s not Livewire’s fate, what makes her fun here is how much of a gleeful unrepentantly selfish person she is.



Odd as it may be, if you tone down her bitchiness she’s not going to be anywhere near as fun to read.

Yeah, I think her being able to talk @#$% about people through the Planet will placate her for a while but her impulse control is too low for it to be a permanent fix.

[Vordan]

Yeah, I think her being able to talk @#$% about people through the Planet will placate her for a while but her impulse control is too low for it to be a permanent fix.

Something else just occurred to me: Pharm and Graft haven’t approached her yet, or at least we haven’t seen them do so. I bet that when they come calling to offer her more power, she accepts.

[Vordan]

Maybe the Brainiac event will be him unleashing his Bottled Cities on Metropolis, in order to dig up whatever is buried there. Perhaps it will be similar to the War of Jokes and Riddles where it will be Brainiac vs. Lex and all the villains will choose a side? Superman will side with Lex but other villains like Doomsday and Lobo will be forcibly drafted into Brainiac’s service.

[SuperX]

Maybe the Brainiac event will be him unleashing his Bottled Cities on Metropolis, in order to dig up whatever is buried there. Perhaps it will be similar to the War of Jokes and Riddles where it will be Brainiac vs. Lex and all the villains will choose a side? Superman will side with Lex but other villains like Doomsday and Lobo will be forcibly drafted into Brainiac’s service.

I think any version of doomsday should have alwsys go homicidal for kryptonians,so a bottle city full of them should be like a buffet for him.

Lobo will think he didn't finish the job on his ppl,so he will want them all.dead

[Vordan]

Speaking of Lobo’s people, I thought they were all pacifists and he was the one exception which caused him to wipe them out for lols?



He still genocided them at least . Either they’ve devolved since Brainiac abducted them, or Williamson is changing Czarnia’s backstory.