PKJ Action Comics Discussion and Spoilers

[oneveryfineday]

Yeah I liked the development of Jon’s heat vision. Guess they’re finally starting to show how he’s “more powerful” than his dad. Story is fine but it definitely feels like filler now that we know it’s just laying the ground for Taylor’s Jon book and PKJ Action.

Yeah, this definitely feels like filler compared to Action, which had a lot more important pieces moving around. Still, this is a nice side adventure and made me realize there’s actually not a lot of “Superman & son” stories even in Rebirth.

Maybe it’s just PKJ’s writing, but surprisingly I find older Jon works better than younger Jon in these father/son outings since Clark doesn’t have to be busy lecturing him or keeping him away from danger. Jon also gets the chance to rise properly to the occasion. Their dynamic works better when they’re closer to equals IMO.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Yeah, this feels like plate spinning to me, and the backups continue to be completely skippable.

[manwhohaseverything]

I don't know.i love the back ups.that's how you do world building.You put in small nugets and foreshadowing that builds to larger narrative.I love bibbo in general.So?whatever.Poor bibbo though.as for jon,i like the kid use powers like that.But,it felt like talk.Show, don't tell.just have the kid do some wierd thing with his powers.I would love it if jon learned how to fight in the future.time luchadores where you at?

[Quinlan58]

I agree I found Jon's "new" use of heat vision underwhelming, specifically because of the art, which depicted it mostly indistinguishable from regular use of heat vision (that explosion wasn't out of what I normally expect, and it was so close to the enemy that it looked like it had just connected normally rather than some distance away). Other than that, I felt the story was ok, a perfectly enjoyable if unremarkable father-son adventure.

Back-up was a step up from last issue (which was in turn far better than the one in the first issue), though I didn't find the new Gangbuster particularly more brutal than the old one, and thus that part fell pretty flat.

[Superlad93]

I found how the new use of heat vision was shown to be pretty underwhelming from a visual perspective, yeah.

However, everything surrounding its use was on point. Specifically I really enjoyed how Clark rules out heat vision entirely, and then Jon-- with a slight air of stubbornness to him-- more or less goes "okay, but wait though".

This is then made even better when Clark takes a second to asks him how he even did what he did, and Jon's response is so perfectly chill and nonchalant. I love that he doesn't break it down perfectly in super science, but rather you just get the sense that it's his creativity.

It also works in conjunction with the character work PKJ has been doing with him. He downplays himself and his accomplishments especially when compared to his father. You can sense the shift when he's talking about his dad to the new king. There's pride and awe in the way he speaks about Clark.

And this works well because you slowly realize that the way Jon and everyone else looks up to and marvels at Clark, Clark himself marvels at Jon in much the same way. Jon is Clark's Superman.

_________

Apparently (or at least it's implied in interviews by PKJ) heat vision isn't the only aspect of his powers Jon has more fine control over when compared to his father and other Kryptonians. So I wonder how that will manifest? Seems like a safe bet he'll be able to shift the radiation output of his heat vision to eventually beat the shadowbreed, but what else is possible, and with what other powers? Flight, strength, speed, even his durability.

I have to assume since this whole arc is completely in service of leading up to Taylor's run, Taylor will pick up this plot thread if he wasn't the one to suggest it in the first place.

[manwhohaseverything]

I think of jon as the peter parker superman .Spiderman has better action than superman comics does.It normally has emotional content.

The action itself isn't treated that badly.I hope they change his entire movement pattern.make it More alienesque .just like spiderman's movement is more like a spider.Just drop flying savior thing.Make him a gliding alien from space.change the way he sits,walks,flys..etc.I am not asking to copy either Spiderman or a spider.Also #nocapes4jonkent or atleast make it small to make his movements pop just like in the goldenage.

[Vordan]

Lengthy podcast with PKJ came out yesterday. I found it to be a bit more substantive than previous ones, likely because he can now talk about how Taylor and his books will work. There's a little bit more on the Future State books, more on generally how he sees Superman and Clark, what of his run has come out and how the storylines fit in the future.


http://theaspiringkryptonian.com/202...nnedy-johnson/

Some tidbits I found interesting:

- Taylor's Superman #1 appears to be set after his first arc of Action and possibly the September Event. He said Taylor has written it so we won't get spoilers for the Action run, but it will all fit together eventually.

- Lois, Supergirl, and Krypto will be featured in his Action run and that it's "full" with them so no Connor. It does sound like the way he was describing his run before seems like it was kind of vague because of Taylor's involvement, but he's a little more candid. I don't know if its because of the pushback, but he mentions Lois being in the book.

- He mentions how he gets tweeted at daily by kid Jon fans and he's sees it as kind of like Jon may look different but he's still the same kid. He went through tough things and because of who his parents are he came out intact. He sees that as a good character for Jon. And he again notes that if you want Kid Jon, he's still in the Super Son's books.

- He liked Mongul a lot, but sees him as previously being kinda generic. Meaning most of his stories, including the classics like Moore's, could be told swapping in any of Superman's rogues. He wants to change that. This Mongul is a descendant of the original, so he's building off Bendis' use of Mongul as a title. We are going to see a lot of War World "culture" like the idea of chains and Mongul's sidekick there being seen as a respected warrior or War World.

- He didn't like the idea of Jon bottling Metropolis in Future State and said "his" Jon wouldn't do that. Though he thought Watters handled it well. He said he told Watters he better have a "damn good" reason for it cause it was such a drastic action. Similarly, his Infinite Frontier story wasn't meant to foreshadow any dark future for Jon and he said Spectre is proven wrong at the end.

- The events of the future that Jon knew are already been changing because of his presence in the present. So it remains to be seen what of Future State actually happens.

- He envisions his Jon as having returned from the future after finishing his time with the Legion. But that will be left open in case someone wants to use him with Legion. It's noted that given the nature of time travel, it really doesn't matter and doesn't prevent anyone from having Jon in the Legion concurrently.

- He demurred on whether or not Jon will still be in a relationship with Saturn Girl in Taylor's book, saying Taylor has plans for that and he didn't want to get into it.

- His Action and Taylor's Superman will cross over in the future, after these initial storylines - so not like this year or anything. Down the road a bit. They haven't worked out the mechanics of it yet, but he said it is in the plans.

- House of El wasn't his idea. It was brought to him. He did work out genealogies of the descendants of Superman but he said the idea that Clark went off and had tons of kids isn't how it works. Conceptually he said they all could be Jon's descendants. He did say the background genealogy he created does have Clark remarrying centuries in the future, but its not a situation where he's having kids left and right. There's no breakup with Lois or kids in the immediate future.

- He's envisioning a "Jurgens" style run, i.e. for a very long time. Whether he stays on that long isn't up to him.

There's a lot more to it. He gets into his conceptualization of Superman a bit more than I've heard in previous interviews.

Just started listening to the podcast, one thing that he wants to do is bring in Regan, the suicidal woman from All-Star, into Action at some point. Originally he wanted to make her the POV character for Superman: Worlds of War, but the timeline felt off so he ultimately didn’t do it. Says he loves those small moments Superman can get one on one with civilians, I hope there’s some in his Action run then.

[The Frog Bros]

"The only true wisdom consists of knowing you know nothing." -- Socrates (as quoted by Bill S. Preston, esq.)

"The multiverse is so vast, Jon. The more I learn of it, the more I learn I don't know anything." -- Superman #31

Clark getting Socratic in the newest issue.

What I liked about Jon's heat vision blast was that Clark was impressed not only the physical outcome of it, but he also praised Jon for being creative to think of the idea. Like it when they hit on intelligence that can supplement the physical powers.

[manwhohaseverything]

"The only true wisdom consists of knowing you know nothing." -- Socrates (as quoted by Bill S. Preston, esq.)

"The multiverse is so vast, Jon. The more I learn of it, the more I learn I don't know anything." -- Superman #31

Clark getting Socratic in the newest issue.

What I liked about Jon's heat vision blast was that Clark was impressed not only the physical outcome of it, but he also praised Jon for being creative to think of the idea. Like it when they hit on intelligence that can supplement the physical powers.

You know Socrates didn't invent that idea.....

[DragonPiece]

Yeah, this feels like plate spinning to me, and the backups continue to be completely skippable.

I don't wanna judge them because I just stopped reading them at this point, but yeah, they seem to unecessary and add nothing to the overall narrative. I guss midnighter could eventually be important with the authority connection.

[TheKryptonMan]

I agree I found Jon's "new" use of heat vision underwhelming, specifically because of the art, which depicted it mostly indistinguishable from regular use of heat vision (that explosion wasn't out of what I normally expect, and it was so close to the enemy that it looked like it had just connected normally rather than some distance away). Other than that, I felt the story was ok, a perfectly enjoyable if unremarkable father-son adventure.

Back-up was a step up from last issue (which was in turn far better than the one in the first issue), though I didn't find the new Gangbuster particularly more brutal than the old one, and thus that part fell pretty flat.

Reading the latest Superman book , it's underwhelming . It's all set to set up Jon and make Clark seem weaker, when Clark is in the prime of his life. The back ups are not even needed at this point . DC just wants $4.99 per issue , how long before they get rid of back ups ? Really disappointed with DC's direction at this point.

[Robanker]

The backups really haven't contributed much, but overall right now everything feels a bit like a decompressed trailer for the status quo coming up.

[Yoda]

The main story continues to remind me of the type of filler arcs we had during Rebirth and I guess now we know it really is a filler arc more or less. That said, I do like how they used Jon's powers and his talk with the alien was well written. His characterization is really good here and it's setting up Taylor nicely.

The backups are truly a waste of pages at this point. Like we have the Daily Planet staff, Maggie Sawyer and the MCU, all sorts of other characters to play with and we're getting Bibbo & E List 90's characters. Who greenlit this nonsense? The Midnighter ones are at least connected to the main storyarc and Worlds at War. I suppose it's possible Taylor will do something with these, but I doubt it and it just seems pointless.

[rpmaluki]

I'm hoping that down the road, there'll be a way for me to buy these books without the backups, I don't want to waste money. If it was the daily planet stuff, maybe I'd shill out all five bucks for it (nope).

[Yoda]

I'm hoping that down the road, there'll be a way for me to buy these books without the backups, I don't want to waste money. If it was the daily planet stuff, maybe I'd shill out all five bucks for it (nope).

I've long wanted a Wire-esq take on Metropolis told through the Daily Planet, MCU, Star Labs, etc. That I'd pay $5 for on its own. Not this nonsense. It's legitimately dumb.