Superman #29 Discussion and Spoilers

[sifighter]

Alright so Bendis is out and Johnson is in with Infinite Frontier with this two part story between his Superman and Action Comics titles. And what is this issue all about you may ask? Honestly while the story is on generic green alien monsters (seriously these might as well just be flying green xenomorphs) the main crux of the issue has to be between Jon and Clark as well something that I assume will establish a later crossover.

Now essentially Johnson here is acknowledging stuff that Bendis ignored with Jon being back, basically how awkward it is for everyone now. Because you need to look at it from everyone's perspective, to Clark and Lois Jon went from 11 to 16/17(?) in a manner of weeks but to Jon he lived those years. There is a bit of tension there as Jon reflects on his past but Clark hopes that he can get those years back in a way because he is much closer to them then Jon.

Another thing acknowledged is that Jon actually talks about people calling him Superman, and he doesn't like it. Because Jon actually kind of acknowledges some readers opinions, that Superman is not a job position to be passed down but actually Clark. It actually is a bit more emotional for Jon because Clark is his dad and he doesn't want anyone talking about his dad going away and Jon having to just simply replace him likes its easy. I actually kind of like this because we as readers are focusing on our fandom but the character of Jon just doesn't want anything to happen to his father because he cares about him and the day that Jon may take over as Superman may actually mean for Jon the day he loses his father because the only way he is The Superman is if Clark is dead or missing. It actually builds a bit more emotion into as its not "I don't think I'm ready to stand in your shoes", but instead makes it "I'm not ready for you to be gone", and that kind of emotional connection is something I hope that gets done with more as stories progress. I think this issue did a good job talking about the Kent's awkward family troubles at this time, though I hope Lois gets more to do.

Now onto that idea of why I think there might be a crossover.
spoilers:

Amanda Waller caused the freaking aliens, its basically a dimensional test by Starlabs working for Waller and while the aliens are fighting Clark and Jon they are relaying information on Clark's weakness to the aliens and Jon's strength to Waller. My assumption therefore is we are going to see a Superman and Suicide Squad crossover, especially if Waller has her hands on Conner.

end of spoilers

[Blue22]

Heh...Well I'll be damned. He really is trying a lot harder than Bendis ever did. Still not feeling it. But he's got two or three more issues to wow me. Johnson's got a chance. But you know what doesn't? That artist. My God. That was the definition of "early 2000s rush job". If that's gonna be the regular style for this run, going forward, I have even less incentive to stay.

Though I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the "Everyone compares me to Superman and I hate that." thing. You probably shouldn't dress like him, then XD

All in all, not bad. Still not what I want. But not bad. Again, it actually feels like we have someone who cares about Jon. I just wish it didn't come with this unnecessary executive mandate where he's gotta be built up as a replacement Superman. I thought that would have been over once Bendis and Didio were gone.

[sifighter]

Heh...Well I'll be damned. He really is trying a lot harder than Bendis ever did. Still not feeling it. But he's got two or three more issues to wow me. Johnson's got a chance. But you know what doesn't? That artist. My God. That was the definition of "early 2000s rush job". If that's gonna be the regular style for this run, going forward, I have even less incentive to stay.

Though I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the "Everyone compares me to Superman and I hate that." thing. You probably shouldn't dress like him, then XD

All in all, not bad. Still not what I want. But not bad. Again, it actually feels like we have someone who cares about Jon. I just wish it didn't come with this unnecessary executive mandate where he's gotta be built up as a replacement Superman. I thought that would have been over once Bendis and Didio were gone.

Don't worry about the art, this is only for the two parter with Superman and Action Comics, after this next month on Superman is Scott Godlewski and Action Comics is Daniel Sampere

[Kuwagaton]

Phil Hester is a good artist, but he needs to put in extra effort in making his style work for what he's drawing if that makes sense. Like Jack Kirby wouldn't draw a Buckler story because he couldn't lean on aesthetics. Hester here seems like he's not doing his best storytelling

[Vordan]

Yeah Hester didn’t grow on me like I hoped he would. Glad he’s not sticking around.

Overall I enjoyed the issue but it suffered from decompression, with not much happening. I did like the character beats though, the awkwardness between the adult Kents and their son, Jon being scared for his dad and worrying about taking over. This two parter seems to mostly be just teeing stuff up so that the run proper can kick off in Superman 30 and AC 1030.

spoilers:

I am interested in Waller showing up. We saw with Suicide Squad #1 that there’s a much greater connectivity within the titles now. I’m hopeful that PKJ acknowledging Waller means that Kon won’t be left out of this upcoming Superevent, it would suck if they don’t plan to address Kon basically being abducted by Waller. I wonder if Waller will be at the center of said event? Also I’m guessing the alien queen who shows up at the end is the one narrating.

end of spoilers

[Myskin]

Decompressed, but interesting. PKJ handles Superman and Jon better than most writers in the latest years, including Tomasi and Jurgens.
Maybe "better" is not the right word, actually. But it is actually more readable to me. The fact that they are not trying to shove the happy Super-Family refrain down my throat (no more perpetual smiles, no more Super sitcom atmosphere) actually makes everything more interesting. PKJ's Superman has a solemn, dignified quality which makes him more sympathetic and respectable than the usual Superpreacher. I could actually be interested in the building of an enlarged Super-family/society, even if I am not sure that this type of comics is for me anymore.

[Journey]

I can't really read till I get off work but does he address how their epic failures as parents? Since we addressing **** let's really look inward ya know.

[Sacred Knight]

I'm going to guess that whole thing is a no go. Addressing that would be directly criticizing the last run because that wasn't the intent, it was just the result due to a poor set-up. There's nothing to indicate they're going to remotely criticize anything done in Bendis' run rather embrace it all.

[Journey]

If he chooses to embrace all that garbage then it's already a failure alot of that **** should be left in the past, not everything is meant to be fixed or expanded.

[Artemisfanboy]

If he chooses to embrace all that garbage then it's already a failure alot of that **** should be left in the past, not everything is meant to be fixed or expanded.

I agree that as far as I'm concerned this run is autmatically a failure in my mind and a waste of time. Though I do think things can and should be fixed by undoing Jon's age up. Which PKJ isn't going to be doing for whatever reason. I'm not going to be picking this up as there's nothing here for me as someone who strongly feels Jon just needs to have age up undone and that's the only way to fix things. I can only sincerely hope his run fails and the next writer will do the right thing and immediately undo the age up.

[Bruce Wayne]

DC doesn't want to alienate Bendis. They are not going to retcon his stuff while he's still working for them.

[Yoda]

I thought it was an ok start. I have a soft spot for Hester's art from his Green Arrow days, and weirdly to me his best scenes in this book were the quiet ones with Lois, Clark, and Jon and the conversation between Jon and Clark. The monsters and action scenes were pretty generic and fell kinda flat. Half the book being "silent" was an odd choice for a first issue of a new run as well. Is narration kinda PKJ's thing? With the way he used it in Future State and now this issue, it seems like that's his gimmick? I hope he takes a more direct route to the storytelling here, because that style always kind of grates on me after a while.

I may be in the minority, but that backup was pretty dumb to me. Turning Bibbo into a writer for the Daily Planet is out of left field and weird. I get they may be trying to get away from the stereotype they saddled him with, but it still seemed very odd and out of left field.

[Artemisfanboy]

DC doesn't want to alienate Bendis. They are not going to retcon his stuff while he's still working for them.

And all I care about right now is Jon being de-aged, I have no intention of compromising or giving up on this issue. I don't care about Bendis at all and If I were in charge I 'd de-age Jon regardless of Bendis's feelings. And frankly Bendis isn't pulling in the sales they expected, and I doubt AT&T is going to agree to renew his contract at the same pay rate since they're cutting costs.

[Vordan]

I thought it was an ok start. I have a soft spot for Hester's art from his Green Arrow days, and weirdly to me his best scenes in this book were the quiet ones with Lois, Clark, and Jon and the conversation between Jon and Clark. The monsters and action scenes were pretty generic and fell kinda flat. Half the book being "silent" was an odd choice for a first issue of a new run as well. Is narration kinda PKJ's thing? With the way he used it in Future State and now this issue, it seems like that's his gimmick? I hope he takes a more direct route to the storytelling here, because that style always kind of grates on me after a while.

I may be in the minority, but that backup was pretty dumb to me. Turning Bibbo into a writer for the Daily Planet is out of left field and weird. I get they may be trying to get away from the stereotype they saddled him with, but it still seemed very odd and out of left field.

They did say that the intent was for Bibbo as a sort of “guy off the street” to represent how the average Metropolitan would feel about all the crazy stuff going down. Think it was just a one off.

[Yoda]

They did say that the intent was for Bibbo as a sort of “guy off the street” to represent how the average Metropolitan would feel about all the crazy stuff going down. Think it was just a one off.

Yeah, I get what they are going for. But I had assumed that that meant that the backups would show that POV, not that the in-story explanation was the subjects of the stories would all end up as Daily Planet staffers. Just didn't work for me.