New American Alien Spin-Off Series From Max Landis

[Powertool]

If we are getting a Landisverse, I wanna know what happened to Barbara Minerva. I'm guessing she, Oliver and Victor all got shipwrecked together, I think Oliver might have alluded to that when he and Clark were in Metropolis. And somehow she gets cursed into becoming Cheeta. I assume, Zsasz goes crazy because that's what he does. There was really good set-up for an interesting dynamic between Cheeta and Superman in this universe.

That's not what happened. In issue #4, while recalling the time spent on Starfish Island, Ollie explicitly talks about how hungry, cold, afraid and alone he felt. Pretty hard to feel alone if you get shipwrecked with all the passengers of a 60-meter yacht, don't you think? Unless of course he was the only survivor of the tragic accident, but then that would open up a whole new can of worms.

[Netherman14]

/U/ZacPensol on reddit described "American Alien" as "too much like a stereotypical CW take on Superman (more-so than 'Smallville'), which is to say that it felt like a spoiled rich kid who grew up in Hollywood wrote his interpretation of how a small-town Kansas farm boy would 'find himself'" which is more or less spot-on for how I feel about it.

Let's do pros and cons!

PROS:

• Superman and Robin together on a team? That's my two favorite super-heroes!

CONS:

• "Superman: Agent of Batman" is a title I'd come up with to satirize DC's tendency to prioritize Bats over Supes. The unironic use of such a title is infuriating, and nothing about hearing it makes me think "Superman AND Bat-Agent Robin", it's just "Superman works for Batman because Batman is better". As titles go, it can go straight to hell.
• Superman fighting and losing to everyone and their mother? Christ!
• "Clark" as a the single signifying name applied to Superman drives me nuts, and Landis calls him that pretty much exclusively. It implies a reduction of both Clark Kent and Superman into a single less-than-competent entity who is neither a dynamic, two-fisted Man of Tomorrow nor a mild-mannered but justive-oriented journalist. It's just- you know. The worst of what "Smallville" had to offer taken to extremes and without any of the mitigating factors, and I think that's just how Landis thinks of Superman.

I think I'll pass.

And Zac is right, It felt like Landis writing himself as Superman. not Landis writing Superman as Superman, it's quite a cardinal sin. also, please stop with the whole grounding Superman with the "he thinks he's human to the core". he's not, he should know and accept the fact he's an alien with (cough cough New 52 Superman cough cough). I'll be passing on this as well.

[DragonPiece]

Also enjoyed american alien, but very skeptical about literally everything Landis is saying about this spin off. Nothing sounds good too me about it.

[jason white reborn]

Cheetah and superman is a sexy pairing...they would make a cute kryptonian hybrid kitten...that destroys all that clark holds dear

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I rather the mini focus on his supporting cast interacting with the larger DCU than just him and the justice league.

[HsssH]

Reactions are pretty much identical to announcement of American Alien. Hope that it will be just as good.

[C-Dot]

I don't get it. I mean, I just don't get it. Guy makes a video on YouTube with his Hollywood buddies trashing "Death of Superman," and DC goes out of their way to hire this guy?

I watched another video of Landis', which I think was about how he'd improve "Death," and then he went onto this long tangent about how Batman would train him. As my five-year-old niece says, "I can't even..." Stop thinking of Superman within the prism of Batman. If he's going to get tips from Bats, it better be about human psychology. That's about the only thing I'd read.

Anyway, maybe it'll be good, but I'm not interested.

Yeah I wasn't a fan of his Death of Superman video....and I'm a bit skeptical about this book.

[Man_of_Tomorrow]

I wasn't a fan of American Alien, too contemporary for my taste. But maybe AoB will be good.

But I won't lie, I think Landis doesn't have a good grasp of the character and I know many will disagree but his writing is too superficial.