Superman #41 Discussion

[Auguste Dupin]

I appreciate you both for sharing your perspectives. I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around the logistics, but I couldn't help feeling suspicious. Your explanations help me see it with some more clarity and, while I'm still a little worried, I do feel reassured. So, thank you.

If you need a bit more reassurance, I'm rereading this right now, and at one point, the blackmailer sends a text to Clark while we can still see Lois leaving the room.
So add that to my list of reasons why this is feels unlikely to me.

[manduck37]

A pretty solid issue. At first I was annoyed that it looked like Clark was giving in to blackmail (that's just not Superman) but then it was revealed that he had a plan. So the turn around that he was only pretending to go along with blackmail and really had a plan in place to undermine it was a nice touch. It was pretty smart, as it gives him time to figure out who the mysterious texter is. I love the callback to the Golden Age Superman "taking a plane" at the start. Good character moments. I really enjoyed seeing Clark and Jimmy work a case together.

[Myskin]

This thread is probably a good enough place to announce it... Pak is launching a new Hulk series with Frank Cho at Marvel. Will they succeed in keeping him on AC? God, I hope so.

[MeloDet]

I really hope that Bleeding Cool's theory of why Lois exposed Clark is correct. It's ambiguous enough that Clark doesn't look like an a-hole for being angry, and Lois doesn't look cruel for exposing him. I can see things from both their sides. Unlike other fans I was never really worried about whether or not Lois would have a good reason for exposing Clark, but I was worried that Clark might end up looking like an arse. If, as one of the initial theories had suggested, Lois had exposed the secret to save Clark's life, then it would've been difficult to side with him. I'd would've been able to understand where he was coming from in an emotional sense, but it'd be disappointing if he hadn't moved past it fairly quickly. With this theory I can see someone siding with either Clark or Lois fairly easily.

[Auguste Dupin]

This thread is probably a good enough place to announce it... Pak is launching a new Hulk series with Frank Cho at Marvel. Will they succeed in keeping him on AC? God, I hope so.

Well, it's not like he wasn't doing Marvel books while doing AC at the same time, so I don't think it means anything in itself.

[Prime]

This thread is probably a good enough place to announce it... Pak is launching a new Hulk series with Frank Cho at Marvel. Will they succeed in keeping him on AC? God, I hope so.

Please don't leave Action. Pak is one of the few writers who gets Superman.

[jaybay]

Just because someone can do something doesn't mean they should, and using up such a power on something he doesn't need to use it on when he can't anticipate what he'll be needed for even in the very next minute, is grossly irresponsible. He should only use that power as a last resort.

This took me out of book. They turned Superman into a junkie, a person people already consider ineffectual and stupid for becoming an addict, who doesn't care or consider the worse case scenario for himself or the people who might need him. People already think Superman is a dumb bag of bricks. It felt like a set up for Batman or some other Leaguer to teach Superman how to be a real hero.

[Auguste Dupin]

This took me out of book. They turned Superman into a junkie, a person people already consider ineffectual and stupid for becoming an addict, who doesn't care or consider the worse case scenario for himself or the people who might need him. People already think Superman is a dumb bag of bricks. It felt like a set up for Batman or some other Leaguer to teach Superman how to be a real hero.

That argument might have worked had the solar flare any negative consequence, but as is? How on Earth was blowing up the robot with the solar flare a bad call? If anything, by going all out as soon as he could, he prevented to fight from causing more material damage and possibly making casualties. And there's certainly nothing in the book even implying he used this particular method because of a feeling of addiction, and not because he simply felt it was the most effective way to take down the thing. He even managed to use a smaller version of it so that he wouldn't have to wait as long for his powers to come back (and to the point that it wasn't even an explosion, but giant sunrays coming out of his eyes and mouth). Plus, he did try to punch it, and it didn't work all that well.
But I'm always surprised by this fanbase's ability to bring Batman in the mix even when nobody's comparing them(and when he's "dead" and therefore, unavailable to lecture Clark).

[HsssH]

This thread is probably a good enough place to announce it... Pak is launching a new Hulk series with Frank Cho at Marvel. Will they succeed in keeping him on AC? God, I hope so.

Honestly I'm more concerned about Kuder than about Pak.

[misslane]

If you need a bit more reassurance, I'm rereading this right now, and at one point, the blackmailer sends a text to Clark while we can still see Lois leaving the room.
So add that to my list of reasons why this is feels unlikely to me.

Good catch! Thanks again.

[misslane]

This took me out of book. They turned Superman into a junkie, a person people already consider ineffectual and stupid for becoming an addict, who doesn't care or consider the worse case scenario for himself or the people who might need him. People already think Superman is a dumb bag of bricks. It felt like a set up for Batman or some other Leaguer to teach Superman how to be a real hero.

I agree. I mean, I do appreciate that it was established that Superman has a decent amount of control over the magnitude of the flare, but it didn't seem like a wise choice all things considered. So the solar flare beat was a bit off to me, and maybe it's just me but I wasn't that fond of Clark rushing to accuse Jimmy of selling him out so quickly. I would have thought Jimmy had earned Clark's trust enough not to immediately get grabbed tightly by the arms and angrily accused of betraying his best friend.

[Jeremiah]

I really hope that Bleeding Cool's theory of why Lois exposed Clark is correct.

I'd bet on it.

[misslane]

I'm beginning to think the big villain or at least one of the villains of this arc is Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim's Intergang:

[Auguste Dupin]

Honestly I'm more concerned about Kuder than about Pak.

Well, Kuder has tackled writing duties before, and with success, so if Pak does end up leaving, I'd say that having Kuder on both art and writing duties would be the next best thing.

[Deniz Camp]

This thread is probably a good enough place to announce it... Pak is launching a new Hulk series with Frank Cho at Marvel. Will they succeed in keeping him on AC? God, I hope so.

Nah, he's been doing work for other companies pretty consistently for a while now. He was doing "Storm" for Marvel and "Turok" for Dynamite. I talked to him at Special Edition and he is very dedicated to "Action", and the new Superman direction. I think it's a matter of now having a co-writer on Action (Kuder); he probably has a little more time freed up for more new work. He'll have a creator-owned thing coming out soon too, I believe.

If he were to leave something, it would be Superman/Batman I'd bet, but my guess is he's staying.