Superman #17 Preview

[Sacred Knight]

I'm a fan of 'em as well. Hell its why I'm so vigorous in defending Morrison's interlude in his Action saga. I think breaks to allow readers to chew on either what's going on elsewhere or digest a just completed storyline work well. The latter is how they were often used most back in my day. A big storyline ends and then maybe they do a standalone Matrix story (even for that issue using the title Supergirl).

[manofsteel1979]

I'm a fan of 'em as well. Hell its why I'm so vigorous in defending Morrison's interlude in his Action saga. I think breaks to allow readers to chew on either what's going on elsewhere or digest a just completed storyline work well. The latter is how they were often used most back in my day. A big storyline ends and then maybe they do a standalone Matrix story (even for that issue using the title Supergirl).

I loved those back up stories in Morrison run . The one where Supes went back to the night of his prom to say goodbye to Jonathan Kent....Man. after losing my dad a couple years after that , that back up story holds even more emotional meaning for me. If you didn't get moved by that, you have no soul.

[Sacred Knight]

Very sorry to hear about your dad. But I totally agree.

[rui no onna]

Yep. In fact I have missed the occasional interludes that serve to enrich the world Superman exists in. Why not have an issue here and there where the supporting cast takes center stage. Why not have say, a Jimmy and Perry adventure. Or Bibbo regailing Jon with tall tales of his favrit Etc. With both books double shipping, there is 48 issues a year. 80 pages a month 4 years worth of page count for most other characters per year. There's room to do these sorts of things.

Would love to see more Daily Planet staff hijinks in Action Comics. I really enjoyed Superman #7 "Our Town" and from the previews, I think I'll enjoy this one, too.

[Sacred Knight]

I'm hoping that after Reborn its been revealed that Lois and Clark have worked pretty much only part-time for the Planet since Jon was born. When the family moves back to Metropolis, it also marks the Kents return to the Planet full-time and maybe they could do some sort of "celebration" issue regarding that.

[SuperCrab]

Filler issue/one-shot. Reborn starts with issue #18.

Cool. Thanks.

A man in long underwear punching things.

They got rid of the underwear-on-the-outside. Now he's just a man in blue pants who punches things. Men can wear blue pants and punch things.

I get that it's a sort of whimsical fantastical type setting of the sort that has traditionally appealed to children, but I think by this point in history, we've seen more than enough R-rated movies and comic books designed to appeal to an adult audience that we know that superhero stories do not necessarily have to be children's stories. Besides which, even when I was a child, I preferred stories about adults. You don't have to be an adult to appreciate stories about adults, just as you don't have to be a child to appreciate stories about children (I just tend not to like stories about children).

I guess since it's just one issue, I can ride it out and see what they do with Reborn. I've made no secret that I don't like the Jon element to things, but if it just gets to the point where he's a character in his own book that I can ignore and a minor character in Superman and Action Comics who mostly is in the background and dealt with through the prism of two adults raising children, that might be mildly palatable.

Just as an aside, I have to mention that my favorite Superman, the New52 Superman, wore blue jeans when he was starting out and eventually body armor, possible Superman's least silly costumes ever. But there's nothing wrong with blue pants. I mean, come on. They got rid of the trunks (A move I agreed with). What more do we want? Superman to fly off and fight crime in a business suit? Blue pants are fine. Even the trunks weren't horrific given their history (They were common in strongmen competitions and such and conveyed something to readers in 1938 back when that stuff was still popular, or at least in the cultural memory), but I'm glad they got rid of them.

The only caveat to the trunks thing is that I think if they were ever to do an R-Rated Man Men style Superman title set in the 1950s (An idea that I've been pushing for a while), I would put Superman back in trunks in that title only, just because it'd fit the time period, and the whole idea would be to mesh all the old tropes (changing in a phone booth, etc, the old sayings, etc.) with the smokey rooms, alcohol, and womanizing of a 50s newsroom depicted frankly with an adult audience in mind ala Mad Men, the television show set in the 50s devoted to a Madison Avenue advertising firm.

[Coal Tiger]

Cool. Thanks.



They got rid of the underwear-on-the-outside. Now he's just a man in blue pants who punches things. Men can wear blue pants and punch things.

I get that it's a sort of whimsical fantastical type setting of the sort that has traditionally appealed to children, but I think by this point in history, we've seen more than enough R-rated movies and comic books designed to appeal to an adult audience that we know that superhero stories do not necessarily have to be children's stories. Besides which, even when I was a child, I preferred stories about adults. You don't have to be an adult to appreciate stories about adults, just as you don't have to be a child to appreciate stories about children (I just tend not to like stories about children).

I guess since it's just one issue, I can ride it out and see what they do with Reborn. I've made no secret that I don't like the Jon element to things, but if it just gets to the point where he's a character in his own book that I can ignore and a minor character in Superman and Action Comics who mostly is in the background and dealt with through the prism of two adults raising children, that might be mildly palatable.

Just as an aside, I have to mention that my favorite Superman, the New52 Superman, wore blue jeans when he was starting out and eventually body armor, possible Superman's least silly costumes ever. But there's nothing wrong with blue pants. I mean, come on. They got rid of the trunks (A move I agreed with). What more do we want? Superman to fly off and fight crime in a business suit? Blue pants are fine. Even the trunks weren't horrific given their history (They were common in strongmen competitions and such and conveyed something to readers in 1938 back when that stuff was still popular, or at least in the cultural memory), but I'm glad they got rid of them.

The only caveat to the trunks thing is that I think if they were ever to do an R-Rated Man Men style Superman title set in the 1950s (An idea that I've been pushing for a while), I would put Superman back in trunks in that title only, just because it'd fit the time period, and the whole idea would be to mesh all the old tropes (changing in a phone booth, etc, the old sayings, etc.) with the smokey rooms, alcohol, and womanizing of a 50s newsroom depicted frankly with an adult audience in mind ala Mad Men, the television show set in the 50s devoted to a Madison Avenue advertising firm.

It's long underwear. There's nothing wrong with long underwear, it's one of the tropes of Superman. To be longing for the tropes that define Superman to go away seems pretty anti-Superman to me.

[Superlad93]

I'm getting a Stranger Things vibe from this...

My thoughts, exactly. But I guess Stranger Things was giving an E.T. vibe with the kids riding bikes and the small town thing. But all that stuff is pitch-perfect for a Superman story, too. In fact, it was pretty good when Pak gave us the super sci-fi horror New 52 Ultrahumanite, and it was pretty good as well when Jeff Lemire gave us the weird Smallville horror stuff in his Conner Superboy run. I love this kind of stuff!

Great art. Great "slice of life" in the increasingly interesting life of the last grandson of Krypton.

Read my mind!

I'm so glad this issue is still coming out with more or less the same story we were supposed to get. Due to Multiplicity's obvious heavy rewrites, I've been a bit bummed out lately. It was my most anticipated story after Dino Island. In fact part of the reason I was looking forward to it so much was because of all of the plates it was going to juggle. It was gonna have the return of JLI, Superman and Super-Man meeting, answers regarding Clark's status in the multiverse, a new mysterious foe, a team up between all of the Supers, and a fun back-up style Jon and Kathy adventure that spins into it's own deal as a sort of epilogue to the arc. We ended up getting only like 30% of that, and it really bummed me out. It's obvious that Tomais and Gleason's original plans were edited greatly, and likely in favor of Reborn stuff.

So long as they can pull and issue #7 with this one and get me fully back before Reborn, I'm good. Not that I don't still look forward to Reborn (it looks really polished so far), but I'd like to have hype going into it, ya know?

[SuperCrab]

It's long underwear. There's nothing wrong with long underwear, it's one of the tropes of Superman.

I don't know what gives you that idea. Long underwear has a sort of fluffy texture. These look smooth, like normal cotton pants, or perhaps kevlar to hold up to high speed flight and some portions of some battles. Maybe spandex if you still need it to be weird to fit your conception of Superman.

[rui no onna]

Curious, anyone else feel kinda bad for Jon? The note on the fridge just strikes me as a bit sad.

[Sacred Knight]

It is, but at the same time its inevitable that's what being the child of Superman and Lois Lane would be. His father belongs to the world and his mother's job is a huge part of her life. It should be portrayed as one of the downfalls of being the son of the greatest superhero in the world. Not to say he should live a downer life, but its a life where he has to realize quickly he has to share his parents...especially his father. I see it as a positive in terms of future characterization more than anything else. That everything about him and his life isn't perfect. Its good, just not immaculate, it comes with its own set of issues.

[spirit2011]

Curious, anyone else feel kinda bad for Jon? The note on the fridge just strikes me as a bit sad.

That happens, been alone a lot when I was a kid because my mother had to work.

[rui no onna]

That happens, been alone a lot when I was a kid because my mother had to work.

Guess that's one difference with traditional Asian households. They're often multigenerational. My grandmother lived with us so there was always at least one adult at home while I was growing up. Plenty of extended family, too.

[BeefBourguignon]

American children of the 1980s were very use to this. AKA Latchkey kids.

[Netherman14]

Guess that's one difference with traditional Asian households. They're often multigenerational. My grandmother lived with us so there was always at least one adult at home while I was growing up. Plenty of extended family, too.

I was never left alone at home as a child, only very rarely did that happen. only now am I allowed to be home-alone.