PREVIEW: Batman/Superman, #11

[Superlad93]

It all still relies on the same technology; the core mechanism is located in the Fortress. If all entrances in and out cannot be controlled from there, then it cannot be operated period. The only logical thing to assume, then, is that all aspects of the Phantom Zone can be operated from the Fortress including shutting all of its doors. Why the hell would anyone keep other doors open which can be breached randomly elsewhere and which cannot be controlled from the main system? That just doesn't seem safe or make sense. The only sensible thing to conclude is that access of any sort from anywhere can be controlled using the technology in the Fortress, and that shutting it down in every way is an option. Accordingly, shutting the Phantom Zone off from the world should have been something that was considered before this particular moment. Plus, as I indicated earlier it still doesn't explain why Steel can just start operating the controls when it was previously established that Superman made it so only he could operate them.

That's not fact. The Zone is automatons from the portal in the FOS. That is just a device that Jor-el built to accesses the Zone when he discovered it. The fact is the Zone is on the mirror side of all of space time as we know it. When you are in the Zone you are just living in another frequency parallel to ours. This was all shown with Action comics 13 (the Krypto issue). Krypto had been watching over Superman since Krypton blew. If your theory were correct then that would be impossible as the collector had not yet come to Earth bringing with him the projector.

The idea is that one can breach the Zone in many different ways without really needing the portal. Xa-Du did it even while the portal was closed by first coming out using his ecto technology then switching places with Superman via the portal. He was already out put he trapped Superman in there after. Also Superman was able to effect the real world with out the use of the portal by using Xa-Du's ecto tech and his will power.

The main idea is that the portal has very little to do with maintaining the Zone's breachablity as the Zone is everywhere in the universe. So no one kept the door open on Superman's end. I don't see how you can conclude that the FOS portal is the only means to and from the Zone when that has been proven wrong almost each time the Zone is mentioned.

[Superlad93]

I don't believe the fact that Zod was able operate the machinery of the Fortress more expertly than the ignorant Superman is proof that that Doomsday's damage was fixed. I also think it's ludicrous to assume that the Zone just repairs itself. Moreover, after the atomic blast prevented Warworld's escape, the Zone was set back to square one -- Zod and Faora were still in there and so was Doomsday -- so really they could leave again whenever they wanted.



I'm not suggesting anything close to not locking the door anymore. At this point, though, its weaknesses are manifest and something needs to be done so that problems like this stop happening. Maybe it needs to be housed in space or something, because having its exit points on Earth seems like a recipe for disaster. Lastly, I'm also questioning how Steel is able to operate the Zone doors at all considering it has been established that only Superman should be able to operate it.

People could still get through the Zone no matter where the device/portal to it is since the Zone is EVERYWHERE. See Action comics for details on this.

[Superlad93]

Okay.....What. Are You. Talking about?
Seriously, that's not even close to the point I was making.
I will reiterate.
Doomsday and Zod escaped while the door was closed. Yet, to make Faora and Warworld escape as well, Zod's plan is to open a portal. That means Faora and Warworld could not escape on their own, otherwise, they would have. That means that, as far as we know, these people are still unable to escape without using a portal, hence the need to shut it down so Earth won't have to deal with Doomsday Superman AND a hundred Kryptonians AND Warworld. Hence the need for somebody to stay behind and stop them by shutting down the obvious exit.
None of this have anything to do with Superman's or Zod's ability to use his own tech.

Agreed. There are simply covering the base that they know they can control. The only people to ever escape the Zone without the portal was Xa-Du (who will be in this issue), Doomsday, and Zod. Zod states that he used Doomsday to escape so really it's just Xa-Du and Doomsday. The way Doomsday got out is the big question. It wasn't from the portal as we see him come up in the ocean nowhere near the FOS.

[misslane]

Okay.....What. Are You. Talking about?
Seriously, that's not even close to the point I was making.
I will reiterate.
Doomsday and Zod escaped while the door was closed. Yet, to make Faora and Warworld escape as well, Zod's plan is to open a portal. That means Faora and Warworld could not escape on their own, otherwise, they would have. That means that, as far as we know, these people are still unable to escape without using a portal, hence the need to shut it down so Earth won't have to deal with Doomsday Superman AND a hundred Kryptonians AND Warworld. Hence the need for somebody to stay behind and stop them by shutting down the obvious exit.
None of this have anything to do with Superman's or Zod's ability to use his own tech.

Based on the preview for this issue (seen here), this time Doomsday seems to have escaped the Phantom Zone through the Fortress going by what looks like a hole surrounded by damage. Also, Zod obviously got out along with Doomsday before, so something has to be done to prevent breaches like that in the future. Why was it considered safe to just leave Doomsday in the Phantom Zone as a ready made Zone door buster? Shouldn't he have been killed in the Phantom Zone itself, if killing him was considered okay when deliberated this time around? I'm also just confused by Soule's design here period. If Doomsday can be used to create portals places other than the projector's home base in the Fortress, what does that say about the Zone? It's an interdimensional portal that somehow has a range of permeability that extends throughout the entire Earth -- its deserts, its oceans, everywhere? It has to be controlled by its home mechanism somehow just like WiFi, I would think.

So, what I'm saying is, if there's a world destroying creature that can get out just by breaking through a prison barrier that's been shown to be too flimsy to contain it given its multiple escapes, and the danger that other prisoners like Zod could still somehow use Doomsday as a tool to escape, then at this point it seems prudent to just shut the whole thing down. Get rid of the Phantom Zone. Take it and its prisoners and get it off of Earth or turn it off entirely. Or someone should have dealt with Doomsday while he was in there instead of waiting until he inevitably became a problem outside of it. Also, if this is the case why are solicits for upcoming stories suggesting that the Phantom Zone is a last hope for containing Superdoom? At this point it's very clear that the Phantom Zone is not a workable prison for any form of Doomsday.

Also, you keep ignoring my other point about the controls of the Phantom Zone projector being coded only to Superman so only he can use them. It's wrong for Pak to imply that Steel could so easily operate the controls when Soule established that only Superman could do that.

ETA: I believe this time around, we're supposed to believe that Doomsday got out via the Fortress in the Arctic and somehow (I honestly don't know how nor believe it's plausible) The Tower was responsible.

[Lax]

That's just forgetfulness on Soule's part. Both were in there for what must have amounted to a hounded thousand years or more relative to what we feel. It's either a retcon or an oversight. Both of which I'm not a fan of.

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Sort of yes and sort of no depending on how you wanna look at it. On one hand the powerful Phantom Stranger master of the ocult was not only effected but trapped and tortured by the people in the Zone and Krypto had to keep him safe. He could only leave when he got back his hat and cape. As powerful as he is he had to play by it's rules.

But then again Superman just essentially finds a scientific explanation for most of what the Stranger says. It's like " You call them lost souls I call them prisoners" ect. It's a rather fascinating conversation and idea. It effectively introduced "supernatural" aspects into the new 52 Superman in a big way yet kept it grounded in Superman myth. It's never really "just magic".

In some ways it's like Kryptonian's were so advanced they could explain and use the unexplainable. They could put a math equation to a magic spell spell in some ways if you look at it like that.Then the idea becomes "just because you can explain it does it not make it magic?". Great concept with a LOT. Hope it's not dead.

....

But for you prosperous and if you want to just explain it away you can just say "magic" and keep moving on if you like.

The inconsistency is there regardless of how it's explained. Sounds like a choice between "magic", "retcon" and "oversight".


If it's "magic" then Batman going in makes sense as the Zone would affect him regardless of his durability. If it's "retcon" or "oversight" then I stand by what I said earlier about sending Steel instead. Any cold extreme enough to give Superman frostbite should kill a human with half his face bare.

[Superlad93]

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The inconsistency is there regardless of how it's explained. Sounds like a choice between "magic", "retcon" and "oversight".


If it's "magic" then Batman going in makes sense as the Zone would affect him regardless of his durability. If it's "retcon" or "oversight" then I stand by what I said earlier about sending Steel instead. Any cold extreme enough to give Superman frostbite should kill a human with half his face bare.

You should probably wait for the issue to actually come out before making the sweeping statement that it's one of the two on Pak's part. The next page could very well be Batman in his head explaining what it feels like to be in the Zone and if it hurts or not. The oversight could just be one Soule's part. I mean maybe while in there Batman gets a suit to use as "clothes make the man" in the Zone. Then again the retcon could be all around. Or it could have all gone back to the way it was in Morrison's Action run. Who knows right now.

[Lax]

You should probably wait for the issue to actually come out before making the sweeping statement that it's one of the two on Pak's part. The next page could very well be Batman in his head explaining what it feels like to be in the Zone and if it hurts or not. The oversight could just be one Soule's part. I mean maybe while in there Batman gets a suit to use as "clothes make the man" in the Zone. Then again the retcon could be all around. Or it could have all gone back to the way it was in Morrison's Action run. Who knows right now.

All my questions could be answered beautifully in the very next page, but in the mean time we're left with what we're left with.


Presumably the preview was posted so we would share our thoughts so...

[Superlad93]

All my questions could be answered beautifully in the very next page, but in the mean time we're left with what we're left with.


Presumably the preview was posted so we would share our thoughts so...

Please don't mistake my comment as a dismissal of the very idea of you sharing your thoughts because it absolutely is not. All I was trying to say was to keep an open mind about what could happen. I've enjoyed the ideas that you brought up and made me remember.

[scary harpy]

I love the the cover for this issue.

How often does a comic show a close-up of a dog's derriere?

[Auguste Dupin]

All my questions could be answered beautifully in the very next page, but in the mean time we're left with what we're left with.


Presumably the preview was posted so we would share our thoughts so...

Amusingly, an explanation litteraly happens on the next page.
Also, that issue was awesome, really. And Xa-Du is now officially my favorite Phantom Zone prisonner. Such a Magnificent Bastard.

[Lax]

Please don't mistake my comment as a dismissal of the very idea of you sharing your thoughts because it absolutely is not. All I was trying to say was to keep an open mind about what could happen. I've enjoyed the ideas that you brought up and made me remember.

It's cool.


So, after reading the entire issue, the Phantom Zone is as much of an enigma as ever. Maybe that's ultimately the point, a reality outside of time and space, a place between life and death, mysterious and unknowable.