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10
Part Star Trek, part Trump administration. Russell never disappoints.
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9.0
STOP PICKING ON THE REAL LIFE PERSON WHO ACTS LIKE THE CHARACTER IN THIS! THEY ARE NOTHING ALIKE!
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9.0
It's a good comic, which means that pedophile-supporter Ethan Van Sciver is blubbering into a webcam somewhere.
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8.0
Smart and very well-writen. One of the better Future State books so far.
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7.5
With Mark Russell, you know you're going to get a heavy dose of satire coming from the left side of the political spectrum. But nothing here is incongruent with the core of Superman's character and his ongoing rivalry with Lex Luthor. This comic is a really fun read with a great callback to the Silver Age, when Luthor ruled his own planet called Lexor.
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7.0
Much as I love Superman it was fun to see him get trash thrown in his face and retreat from Luthor , outmatched and outgunned. From the start of the issue Supes just bit off more than he could chew , and the proposition of A.I. rights made more sense from Superman in a few panels than Dan Slott did in his entire Iron Man run.
This is a slow read, but when the shit hits the fan for the Kents, the look on their faces is priceless.
And it's great to see Clark and Lois still getting it on in a broom closet at their ripe old age, true love never dies - as does the never -ending beef between Supes and Lex , exemplifies in these very pages.
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Audiomack.com/cvrthebard
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7.0
I like me some good political drama. The idea of United Planets has tons of potential and if used right, it could expose some real life problems not many people actually pays attention to, blinded by authority of United Nations, like the organization's selective ignorance of imperialistic wars and human rights violations, not even mentioning the infamous right to veto practically anything that few dominant countries (including the US, Russia and China) don't like. Mark Russell tries to show us the moral ambiguity and internal conflicts of such institution, and in a way he accomplishes that, but truth be told, I have no clue if that's intentional or just purely incidental. All the members of the United Planets are simply repulsive due to their reactionary nature and hypocrisy. They don't uphold laws and standards they claim to love so much. They're more than willing to put their emotions aside and approach the case of Lex Luthor calmly and reasonably. They act like children, arguing emotionally, which makes them, as well as United Planets overall, feel like a circus. Maybe not openly villanous, but certainly not one you'd ever want to sympathize with. As I said - I have no clue whether it was intentional, but I honestly felt like they're hardly much better than Lex Luthor himself here.
One thing I can confidently say Russell handles well is the sheer concept of populus being brainwashed by propaganda spewed by corrupt governments or corporations. The butt of the joke is of course Fox News, an American far right propaganda network, but it is equally true for other media outlets in other countries as well, whether national or private. There always are puppet masters who crave control over misinformed, divided sheeple. Manufacturing Consent explains it very well, so go and pick it up, that's a book everyone should read, I'm dead serious.
I dare to say Superman vs. Imperious Lex is one of the comics you're going to get the more from, the more you know about the world. To kids Superman will still be a do gooding boy scout who can do no wrong even when he commits an objective war crime. To teens his fight against Luthor will be perceived as limited by stupid and unnecessary laws. To adults, at least those mature enough to possess enough intelligence and mental maturity, both sides will be bad, but for different reasons. It's hardly an Alan Mooreesque deep dive into philosophy and politics, but certainly I welcome its existence. It's more challenging and ambitious than your generic good vs. evil capeshit story, but there's still a lot it would have to do to be perceived as a serious, intellectual work.
Overall not bad. Gotta appreciate its mature undertones, but their execution could have been way better. more
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5.5
I actually like the political message of this comic, that said, it's far too heavy-handed and feels way too forced. Superman is objectively in the right when he calls out Lex, but imposing his will on Luthor's planet does nothing but destabilize the lives of its inhabitants, that's literal terrorism... not a good look on the Man of Steel.
Also, it's odd that United Planets is not a democracy. One person objects and states Luthor should be allowed to join, thus undermining the rest of the representatives. Like the rest of Future State, the future looks bleaker and bleaker.
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5.0
I'm a bit late to the party this week. The reason is simply that I am just about over Future State as a whole, and my burnout hit its peak this past Tuesday. But I'm finally getting through all these comics and let me tell you, it sure is a mixed bag to say the least. This is the last Future State book of the week for me, and I was not looking forward to it. But then, I saw the user reviews. Lots of mad reactionaries. Trump invoked. Socialism?? I should've known better.
Mark Russell has a history of being a mildly critical liberal, something I've criticized him for many times before. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm no conservative. I'm an evil, socialist, anarcho-syndicalist pansexual. Much worse, I voted for Biden!
What we get here, at its core, is a comic that would be in excellent company with the weaker side of Stephen Colbert's Late Show monologues. It's not saying anything risqué or provocative.
It's generally acknowledged but ignored that Capitalism thrives on exploitation. Us Americans, at least, tend to pay lip service to the condemnation of the sweat shops, the slave labor, and the colonization and occupations of other countries, but we still buy all those cheap, cheap goods that were only made possible through suffering! And we also ignore the abysmal conditions that our own workforce is put through, so we can't even claim to be self-interested. There is a surprisingly substantial percentage of the workforce that would rather fight against its own interests than dare unionize. And who can blame them when they've been taught to gasp in horror at the most milquetoast criticism of our economic systems? This stupid little comic book forum is a microcosm of how fucked we all will be.
Do you notice how I'm kind of just pulling at a vague thread from this comic in order to make a broader point about crazy, kooky politics? That's because this comic is, in my opinion, vague and empty. There is not much of substance here that I can really hone in on. And yet, the response to this issue makes it seem like it's the reckoning of the bourgeoisie. But no, it's just some Trump criticism mixed with themes of colonialism. Pro-tip to all my conservative time-wasters, you really should stop being so reactionary. It doesn't make you look good. It makes you look like how you want to pretend us leftists are actually like.
Trump was a terrible president. He held the people in contempt. He was legitimately a proto-fascist. I could spend hours just listing off all the ridiculous and harmful ways he fucked America. And yet, for a good portion of the citizenry, he was a good man who had our best interests in mind and wanted to desperately drain the swamp, but the establishment wouldn't allow it. The fact that so many people were conned and come to his defense even after he incited an insurrection, is just proving this comic right. People are easily conned especially when you exude opulence and power, and when you have a news network devoted to kissing your ass, while you downplay any dissenting opinions as evil, immoral or fake news, and throw spurious claims and ad hominems at any opponents to shut them down as quickly as possible....
Guess what some of the people in this stupid little comic book forum are doing?
I could go on to defend politics in comics and point out for the millionth time that they've always been in comics and there is no 100% escape to be had in most storytelling, as it is a reflection of our reality, and our society and culture, and the systems of thought present at any given time.
I could also go on a huge, big rant about reactionaries and Ben Shapiro's "facts don't care about your feelings" phrase. You know, cite a bunch of his emotional arguments he's made in the past about abortions, trans people and Israel. I could point out how conservatives are constantly trying to reframe the narrative of the criticism of their oppressive ideas and policies as though they're the ones who are oppressed for having "different ideas," which is straight out of the fascist handbook.
I won't do those things though, there's no point. And frankly, this comic doesn't deserve this much discussion. I'm not looking forward to issue two.
EDIT: Thanks to some of my good friends on this site, I learned that Merlyn is talking shit about me in the comments of his own review. I couldn't see it because he has blocked me, hypocritically enough. I'll explain why I blocked him initially. Look at where the conversation was headed in the comments of this review. I didn't want him spamming my comments with nothing responses again and again and again. I'll unblock him now, since he can't handle the inaccessibility to my reviews' bussies. more
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5.0
Fun little story with some great art and some hopeful yet unrealistic themes.
I think its offensive that THE Lex Luthor, one of the smartest people in the universe, who has the potential to bring Earth into endless prosperity but is held back by his obsessive hatred of Superman, would resort to creating drones to strip other planets of resources to elevate his own in a not so subtle parallel of the United States.
However, its easy to shit on humanity and Earth while promoting utopian idealism in a world of infallible sun gods and super powered guardians always there to catch humanity when they fall.
One must remember that these themes are great dreams, certainly possible in a world with Superman, but we don't live in that world.
more
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3.0
too old
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1.0
Hey kids!
Do you want to read a book that preaches at you with thinly disguised messages about the virtues of socialism while at the same time telling you how bad people who disagree with the authors political view points are? Well then this is the book for you! Honestly this book became stomach turning around page 4 and was a difficult read to finish. If you want to know what is killing sales then look no further than this book. Honestly Mark Russell is a one trick pony in terms of writing. Turn the page already man, move on.
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1.0
Mark Russell is a political ideologue with TDS. EVERYTHING he writes is political propoganda. Get out of comics already, you suck
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10
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10
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10
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9.5
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9.0
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8.5
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8.5
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8.0
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8.0
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8.0
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7.5
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6.5
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4.5
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1.0
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1.0
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1.0
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1.0