Action Comics #35 AND Batman/Superman #14 spoiler/discussion thread

[Sacred Knight]

Pak you sneaky devil, you deliver the goods again. You guys were wrong about the article like I thought. But so was I.

spoilers:

He really did write an article to the blog about how Superman needs to stay away. But he did it as bait. Because he knew Lois would see it, get pissed off, and counter it with all the reasons the world still needed Superman. Which was exactly what Clark wanted to happen. He wanted her to illustrate it, not himself. Love it. Lois is great too by the way, but yes her memory of the secret is gone. Interesting side-stuff of significance later: The phantom zone projector imploded during the battle with Brainiac which sent guys like the Phantom King back, but it also swallowed up the menagerie, Kandor and Shay Veritas. With the projector broken Superman and Supergirl need to wait for the Fortress to respawn (heal itself), before the projector along with the rest of the damaged Fotress is back up and running and they can go rescue the them. This will take 40 days. Lana's parents did not survive the Brainiac coma. While very happy to see Clark alive a part of her is resentful that her parents were among the casualties, a fact Clark understands and that she does not try to hide. She later even admits that she "agrees" with Clark (not knowing the set-up nature of the article) that Superman should go away for a while. This rift will likely be played on more. Also, she and John Henry are officially dating.

end of spoilers

[Superlad93]

Greg Pak, reminding me why he's the best thing to happen to the character since Morrison. That's just such a great and playful idea in an almost neo silver age like way. It really smacks of something that the Clark from Grant's Action Comics would do.

In Pak we trust, and may we never forget.

[The Beast]

That was disappointing to say the least. By the end of the issue, Lois responds to Clark's blog that Superman needs to get his butt home, so he can see how inspirational the people of Metropolis are as they come together to rebuild the city...

I wonder how those people would feel if they knew that Superman was busy sulking at home and trolling his supporters online?

[Sacred Knight]

He wasn't sulking, he was taking a few days off to recharge. Laying low as his friend even suggested. He certainly was pondering things and processing things, but that's not sulking. Dude spent two months navigating deep space to get home, I don't think the people would freak out if they knew he was taking a breather, no. As for the trolling, I've always loved a wiley Superman.

[manofsteel1979]

I really have to get this issue. I think. Its clear Greg Pak is the best thing to happen to Superman since Kurt Busiek wrote him.

And now that Doomed is over I can go back to ignoring Superman/Wonder Woman again! Yay!

Oh..that's right. ...Doug Mahnke is drawing it soon.

Damn you DC for making all of Superman's books readable, forcing me to give you my money.

[Flash Gordon]

He wasn't sulking, he was taking a few days off to recharge. Laying low as his friend even suggested. He certainly was pondering things and processing things, but that's not sulking. Dude spent two months navigating deep space to get home, I don't think the people would freak out if they knew he was taking a breather, no. As for the trolling, I've always loved a wiley Superman.

Ha! I love a wily Big Blue too!

Clark is not the kind of guy to ever lay down. He comes in swinging. He's not a man who lingers or doubts himself. He's a man of action.

[Blacksun]

Ha! I love a wily Big Blue too!

Clark is not the kind of guy to ever lay down. He comes in swinging. He's not a man who lingers or doubts himself. He's a man of action.

not in Action 35

[K. Jones]

Ah, Action is back, but I can't consider it "BACK" yet because this is more of a denouement for SuperDoom and didn't feature Kuder (who hopefully has mondo run-time now!)

Pak's characterization continues to be really good, but because it's a fallout issue there's a LOT of touchstones to cover so it's not exactly the best one-issue chapter ever. But I liked how the "possibility of mopey-Clark" could only be a one issue thing as he got back in touch with his humanity and all his friends basically came to his aid.

Still, the weird part of the issue is how it hinted at all these ... well ... COOLER stories that happened while he was "Away". I want to see Baka rescue Metropolis from Subterraneans, dammit! I want to see Superman on a trek through multiple Black Holes that aren't the ones Omni-Brainiac ended up in.

But the potential for the future now that the crossover is over should be pretty well back on track. And this Lana and Steel dating thing is one of the cooler moves I've seen in Superman's extended friends & family in a long time. Oh, and Lois still rocks.

[GregoryD]

it had some hipocrisy, people die anyway. But it won't make me killing one person less awful because of it

He didn't kill anyone. That's kinda the point. 13K people died during Brainiac's control over the Earth, not because of Superman.

[Blacksun]

He didn't kill anyone. That's kinda the point. 13K people died during Brainiac's control over the Earth, not because of Superman.

Yes I know superman didn't killed anyone. but not need to downplay their deaths

[Superlad93]

Let me start out by saying I'm personally sorry that my resolve in Pak ever wavered even for a moment. Doomed and just the direction that the Superman of today (my today) seemed to be going had me down in the dumps. But with this one two punch of comic book goodness my solar cells are once again recharging! So lets talk about the greatness that was Pak comic book today!


Action Comics:We jump off with Action Comics #35 and it starts out having us REALLY think this is a crisis of confidence thing that will last us from a good minute down the road. Not on Pak's watch it won't it seems. But beyond the aversion to sad Superman we've got hella supporting character work dawg! John and Lana in Smallville and helping around the world is just awesome. Pak literally put two of my favorite characters in Superman's world together. I particularly enjoyed how familiar John was with everyone and how alive and vibrant Smallville was. It felt like a town should, even a town that just went through some sh!t. I also particularly enjoyed Superman's interaction with Supergirl at the FOS and just that whole scene TBH.

But the big ball dropper here is Lana the true believer Lang wavering in her belief for the big man. It's call over to ideas of religion and moments where one's faith is tested only you grew up with this god and showed him how to kiss a girl. It's a really bold stroke but I feel like things have been building to this with Lana since day one. You go back and read past issues and you see little throw away lines on how she feels sprinkled everywhere. She knew Clark's way of doing things would come back to bite him but she also knew he could handle it. But what she didn't factor in was could the world. It's some pretty big emotions to deal with.

But like the good comic book writer Pak is, we won't be dealing with them with a chat over coffee or a passionate debate in someones house etc. Nah. We'll be fighting zombies and the supernatural for the soul of a small town while we deal with it. THIS. IS. HOW. YOU. WRITE. SUPERMAN. It is.

Batman/Suoerman: This story Pak has been down recently with the memory deprived heroes is just good ol fashion fun, man. I'm really enjoying the parallel structure in this issue as both heroes sort of hit some road blocks as they hit a bit of a cross roads. The choice being are they really those guys that everyone says they are? Without the harsh memory of the gunshots that night is Bruce still cut out for being Batman? Superman is told about how he had such a big heart that he would even make friends with the monsters, but it sounds odd to him. Catwoman is almost a little devil whispering in his ear to give in to the pure cathartic nature of being him. She even brings ups some good points by saying Superman never bothered to as who he was. He fell from the sky, realized he was the most powerful thing on the planet and just ran with it.

I'm really enjoying this exploration of the characters. But one character in particular that stood out was actually Lois Lane. I mean in here and in Action she's really just so likable and fun to read as she must feel like the only sane person in the room during the events of this book. I myself don't normally find Lois to be more than ok most of the time when not written by guys like Morrison, but here and in Action I really would just smile when I saw her on the page.

Lastly......yo.....dat art tho! Like both issues were just absolutely beautiful. Really enjoyed both fill ins to the point were I wouldn't even be that mad if they were to go full time even though Kuder and Lee are god-like. But still, yeah sick art all around.

Long story short, I loved these books and I'm back and hopeful again. Pick em up now!

[DochaDocha]

One thread for both? Works for me.

AC#35 didn't hit for me like it did for you, but I still enjoyed it. It's not abundantly clear to me why Superman would blog an article titled, "Who Needs Superman, Anyway?" Now, all my joking about how that's a poor practice of journalism ethics (I really don't care, I just enjoy running bad jokes into the ground), it feels like a melodramatic turn in the story. At least the title does. I've been playing a lot of Borderlands 2 lately, and one line my friend and I love making fun of is, "I will say self-deprecating things so that you are indirectly forced to compliment me!" and the blog article title almost feels that way to me. Either that, or Supes is earnest in his criticism (and I don't believe Superman to be like that), or maybe Clark Kent is a clickbait master (this would actually make sense in the story, since Lois said his blog was in dire straits). Now if it's the latter, then there's actually something old-timey about how Clark finds ways to grind Lois gears, which is something I've missed from pre-1990's stories.

I wonder what kind of alibi was put in place why Clark Kent didn't get a hold of Cat Grant for two months. Maybe we'll get a story showing how deep in the doghouse Clark is with Cat. I mean, Bruce's press release about the phony junket would tell Cat that Clark's away, but surely you'd think she'd wonder why he hasn't produced anything in two months, and why she can't get a hold of him in the electronic age.

Having read the issue, I think any resemblance between bearded Clark and Greg Pak is entirely non-coincidental.

I liked the parts with Lana. She's layered. She's happy to see Superman survived, but she partly blames him for why her parents died. As such, we get a realistic interpretation of how friends react under various circumstances: we have friends we care deeply for, but sometimes they let us down, and it's those sort of disappointments that hurt the most. If I had to critique any aspect of Lana's interpretation, I thought maybe she came on a little strong with her bitterness at the end, but I can understand it. I mostly, but not entirely, like the idea that she and John Henry Irons are now in a relationship.

Now let's look at Batman/Superman. Let's get this over with: I generally roll my eyes when there are stories in which Superman is not of sound mind for whatever reason and acts unlawfully, and I can't really absolve this story completely, but I still had fun with it. First, I'm going to laugh at this Superman's costume. He looks like a pro wrestler, going shirtless, wearing a fake championship belt, and wrist bands. It's so corny, but corny in a good way, or more precisely, corny in the way comics should be. I enjoy how Catwoman acts as the devil whispering into Supes' ear. How many other characters would be so well-suited for that role? Additionally, misery loves company, so the umpteenth story of how Superman is acting bad is a lot more palatable when you see Batman is going through a similar condition. I've been hot and cold on this title, and I'll probably forget all about this issue in the next couple of days, but it delivered the sort of enjoyment I look for in these books.

[Superlad93]

I agree with you in part with the blog post. But I also look at it in context with the Lana thing. He just saw his oldest friend in the world give up on him a bit. So if her resolve can be shaken so deeply then why not everyone else's he must wonder? So creating it was more just to see what the public thinking was. Now this was also playing on the rather cynical nature of the internet and information age. He disguised himself as one of those rageaholics and took to the blogs. Lois acted as a bit of a melting pot for the voice of the people. She shot it back at him as an indirect pep talk.

Makes him look a wee bit needy I'll say but I forgive it (SLIGHTLY) since it used the internet culture in a interesting manner (the flame war of Lois and Clark haha). Made him look a little clever too. I pretty much think this after Doomed was rather unavoidable in some form or another so better this than the man going grounded and walking everywhere.

Also I love Superman's costume in Batman/Superman. It like the whole book has such a great sense of humor and irony about it that it just oozes charm. It's fast and punchy comics that gets you up and running. Nowhere is it ever really asking you to take the gravity of the book and hold it till the next issue like your breath. It's almost like an India Jones movie or an old 40's Superman cartoon. Just a great serialization of these characters that just puts them in these out of their comfort zone situations in a fun way.

It's just good pick up and read comics. Really not enough of those around and next to 0 of them have Superman or Batman in them which is just odd. DC makes the new 52 because they feel their book are too intimidating with their long histories and big long story lines. So they clean the field and.....do it again.

These long ass stories that never have a satisfying resolution to them because they set up for the next big thing and the next big thing etc. Sometimes I just want a story to end and Superman turns to the reader and winks and that's it. Story over. Clean the field for the next one. So it's a breath of fresh air when I read the first two arcs of Batman/Superman and this arc.

Even though they go into and come from other arcs they still feel rather stand alone and end rather satisfyingly (Superman flying for the first time, Superman helping that lady with her money etc). Not really the one an done but it's as good as we can get and I thank Pak for it.

[ekrolo2]

AC #35 was a big win for me, especially how it did a twist on the "Who needs Superman" thing which could've been really cliche but using it as a way for Clark to prove to the world, and to himself the effect he has on people was a stroke of genius, although I'm glad that Lana stating that people becoming weaker if they have him to defend them all the time without them taking care of themselves was a nice counter balance to it. One problem I often find with Superman is that despite the fact he could probably kill us all in an instant without breaking a sweat, he always gets praised up the ass for and there never seem to be people worried about him (except Lex because hes well Lex) which really strikes me as odd and naive of people. I do hope we get more people like Lex & Lana in the series to show to make this vocal minority more present instead of it being a lone paranoid rich guy who's just saying it because of his ego.

[Sacred Knight]

Although Supergirl never mentions it, I wonder if Cyborg Superman got sucked into the Phantom Zone too. His whereabouts are completely unaccounted for and he was in the Fortress with everyone else at the end. I would hope so because I'm sensing Pak is leading up to a pretty cool Phantom Zone arc featuring Superman and Supergirl pretty soon. It'd be cool for Supergirl to find out the truth there and have things kinda come full circle. Would be a great chance too for Zor-El to get a heroic legitimate death to free up the Cyborg body for Hank Henshaw.