Val-Zod Appreciation Thread

[Anthony Shaw]

So, do fellow Val-Zod fans want him as the second Superman of Earth-2, or with a different alias? I'm partial to Valor myself, since it gives him a little bit more of a separation if a Multiversal merge happens again so we don't get a Huntress/Hawkman problem. Also, it kind of fits considering him overcoming his early fears once freed.

Just making him the earth 2 Superman would essentially doom this character to second rate status. He'll never be the primary Superman, so he's better off having his own identity. Just like Powergirl has avoided the fate of all the other non Kara Supergirls partly because her name isn't Supergirl. In short if his name is Superman then he's just an alternate version of the real one. If he's given his own name now he's a copyrighted character in his own right and DC has to use the name ever so often to keep the copyright. In short it's probably better in the long hall for the character to have his own name.

I completely agree with Val getting a new name in order to stand on his own as a character.

I think having more than one Green Lantern & Flash works, but not with Superman.

[leo619]

Just making him the earth 2 Superman would essentially doom this character to second rate status. He'll never be the primary Superman, so he's better off having his own identity. Just like Powergirl has avoided the fate of all the other non Kara Supergirls partly because her name isn't Supergirl. In short if his name is Superman then he's just an alternate version of the real one. If he's given his own name now he's a copyrighted character in his own right and DC has to use the name ever so often to keep the copyright. In short it's probably better in the long hall for the character to have his own name.

Disagree completely, it's the same thing that happened with ultimate spider man. By making him spider man, he already is guaranteed a set of importance in that world, now more than any time before. The same applies here, by him staying as superman, true he will be the alternate version but it gives him a immediate recognition and familiarity, something desperately needed in modern day comics, even more so by making him Superman you are making him "THE" big deal of that universe. You take that away and you take away his almost guaranteed rise to stardom, his important appearance in the comic book world. He wears the S on the chest to once gain show hope in a hopeless world (Earth 2), that wouldn't be as possible with a side name like Valor.

[HunterX]

I think having more than one Green Lantern & Flash works, but not with Superman.

i really dont see the difference.

[L.R Johansson]

I completely agree with Val getting a new name in order to stand on his own as a character.

I think having more than one Green Lantern & Flash works, but not with Superman.

i really dont see the difference.

Have to admit... neither do I. It's an alternate world, so just do it already.

The only thing I have a problem with tho'... is that there's already ANOTHER black Superman, Calvin Ellis, and he's getting a big-time push soon, by Grant Morrison, in Multiversity.

Now, one might think - "what does that have to do with anything? There's already like, a TON of white alternate Supes."

But that's the thing... there's only two of them ( 3? maybe?), and the rest are fairly similar-looking to standard Kal-El, so the
colouration-difference is one of the things that actually make these two alternates stand out. ( of course, Val-Zod is also a kind of alternate of General Zod and Chris Kent as well)

IMHO, that might be a problem, but it depends on what the intentions of the characters are. Launching a Superman -alternate is tricky tho', because there's the incredible glut - there's so many of them, official and unofficial. And if you suddenly have one that is similar to two others ( Blue Marvel, Calvin Ellis.) then the uniqueness of them all just suddenly drops, quite a bit.

And the less a Superman-alternate sticks out from the crowd, the less valuable, and useful, that alternate is.

[leo619]

Have to admit... neither do I. It's an alternate world, so just do it already.

The only thing I have a problem with tho'... is that there's already ANOTHER black Superman, Calvin Ellis, and he's getting a big-time push soon, by Grant Morrison, in Multiversity.

Now, one might think - "what does that have to do with anything? There's already like, a TON of white alternate Supes."

But that's the thing... there's only two of them ( 3? maybe?), and the rest are fairly similar-looking to standard Kal-El, so the
colouration-difference is one of the things that actually make these two alternates stand out. ( of course, Val-Zod is also a kind of alternate of General Zod and Chris Kent as well)

IMHO, that might be a problem, but it depends on what the intentions of the characters are. Launching a Superman -alternate is tricky tho', because there's the incredible glut - there's so many of them, official and unofficial. And if you suddenly have one that is similar to two others ( Blue Marvel, Calvin Ellis.) then the uniqueness of them all just suddenly drops, quite a bit.

And the less a Superman-alternate sticks out from the crowd, the less valuable, and useful, that alternate is.

Huh? There's barely any similarities between the two characters at all, the only similarity they share is that they have wear the emblem. Calvin is essentially clark kent, the african version. Val Zod is not, he's a completely new character whose pacifistic (Calvin isn't, nor is even Clark,) whose the son of a pacifistic Val Zod, if that's not completely different from a normal superman character, I don't know what is. The only similarity they have is that they share the same skin color and they both wear the emblem. That's pretty much it. In the end, not only is Val Zod very different from Calvin Harris, he's very different from Clark to be honest. Especially nu52 Clark which is much more direct and in your face. The closest character you would find to Val Zod would be a pre52 Clark of the early days, and that's pretty much it.

With that said, Calvin isn't getting a big push. I'm not sure where you're getting this information from. True he's appearing in a book by grant morrison, but that's only for 1 or a few books at the most. Remember each issue is dedicated towards a entirely different earth universe, it's not the calvin harris show. And After grant is finish with his book, Calvin will fade off into obscurity again, because the chances of there existing a calvin harris book is slim to none.

[CagedLeo730]

President Superman is Calvin Ellis not Harris. Get it: Cal (vin) El (lis).

[leo619]

So it's amazing at how well Val stuck to his guns in the latest Earth 2 issue. He won without throwing a single punch in which few people can attest to lol. I'm still confused as to how brutaal just evaporated after Val caught his punch but that definitely showed the strength of Val no question.

[Lexrules]

Never trust a Zod.

Something deeper is going on with this character and I have a feeling it's not good for the Earth 2.

[leo619]

Never trust a Zod.

Something deeper is going on with this character and I have a feeling it's not good for the Earth 2.

haha I definitely disagree with that, right now DC is sitting on possible gold with Val Zod as their miles morales, I highly doubt they would convert that especially when they so adamantly portrayed him as such a pacifistic. Taylor even said himself that Zod is the superman he always wanted to write lol.

[Francisco]

haha I definitely disagree with that, right now DC is sitting on possible gold with Val Zod as their miles morales, I highly doubt they would convert that especially when they so adamantly portrayed him as such a pacifistic. Taylor even said himself that Zod is the superman he always wanted to write lol.

A Superman who spends little time fighting and a lot of time rescuing/helping people? I can get behind that.

[leo619]

A Superman who spends little time fighting and a lot of time rescuing/helping people? I can get behind that.

Exactly! That's the type of superman I want to read about, though I will admit I've been somewhat disappointed with the last two issues of world's finest. Both of them had val zod on the cover so I expected Val to be in the issue, but he was no where to be found. I kinda feel like that's false advertisement lol.

[kidstandout]

Exactly! That's the type of superman I want to read about, though I will admit I've been somewhat disappointed with the last two issues of world's finest. Both of them had val zod on the cover so I expected Val to be in the issue, but he was no where to be found. I kinda feel like that's false advertisement lol.

hate that so much, same with karen

[Sodam Yat]

I haven't been reading Earth 2, but has Val-Zod ever displayed heat vision? Going from the solicitations, his heat vision looks a bit different from other kryptonians, but it could be only the EARTH 2: WORLDS’ END #7 cover. It looks a bit like an optic blast. It looks cool and different.

[TrooperCameron]

His optic blast looks pretty cool on that cover.

[leo619]

I haven't been reading Earth 2, but has Val-Zod ever displayed heat vision? Going from the solicitations, his heat vision looks a bit different from other kryptonians, but it could be only the EARTH 2: WORLDS’ END #7 cover. It looks a bit like an optic blast. It looks cool and different.

Actually this is the first time we've seen Val use heat vision. His body is still absorbing sunlight at a crazy rate so over time he'll continue to gain more kryptonian powers, but I'm glad that he's finally reaching kryptonian level strength finally. At the same time, those blast are pretty cool.