Good luck to you, asshat

@TheHyruleElf Dude, you're the one being an ass. @Pseudnik How are Clark and Lois in this dysfunctional?

I liked this issue but also see it as dysfunctional. I don’t really understand why Lois would spend months in a hotel room away from family to concentrate on writing a book when Clark still goes to work and Jon is off world. Yet still need regular visits from superman. Maybe I’m missing something. We have been teased for several issues about a big secret. Without that I would have thought this was a great issue.

@Doomy I'm calling this guy out on his shit. "Political Posturing?" What does that even mean? If that makes me an ass, than go ahead dude.

Calling someone an ‘asshat’ because they have a different opinion than you is wrong. Pseudnik has a right to their opinion and they didn’t personally attack someone. Frankly, Bendis’ Lois and Clark relationship to me seems odd and out of character, so I stopped reading supe and action, but will give this a try due to Rucka. I think most people know Rucka is a pretty political guy and it will show in his stories, so I’m assuming this is what they meant by ‘political posturing’

Yea this start out seeming to be good but quickly turned to garbage.

was this any better than Batman: Odyssey?

I didn’t read Odyssey, but this was pretty bad. The art to me just had heavy inks and the story was kinda hard to follow. I like Deadman and saw it through to the end, which the end was disappointing. I don’t know...if your really, really like Deadman I guess pick it up, but it wasn’t that good.

that sounds a lot like Odyssey. it was a terrible terrible story, but i was so excited to see Neal Adams drawing Batman again that i rode that ship to the bottom of the ocean. i tried the Superman Neal did a while ago and that too was sadly disappointing. maybe i'll try the first issue to see if it's atl east worth getting a collected TPB? . . . . on sale of course! . . . . . . btw, don't bother with Batman Odyssey. i recently tried to read it, and it just ended up giving me a headache.

I tried that Neal Adams Superman and gave it about two issues and dropped it. Haha...yes; don’t pay full price for the Deadman trade

it took me a bit to find this thread in my activity. i just got the digital trade of this for $4.99. . . . . sure i probably overpaid? but i figure i might at least enjoy it for the art. . . . . don't know if you read Digital or not? there's a huge DC Comics sale at comixology until this friday. Nov.23,2018. . . . . many digital trades for only $4.99.

I read mostly physical books, but I do get some things digitally. $4.99 for whole series?? If so I don’t think you overpaid. Curious what you think of it. I actually had trouble following story

i've been collecting for so long that i've got far too much to store. plus it gets harder and harder to decided what to keep and what to sell. after seeing comics piling up with DC's many different weekly series i've decided to go digital for some things. . . . Yeah! i got the WHOLE series collected for only $4.99. ...i liked the art a lot. the story was... well, i really did enjoy the art!! :D

Ha!! At least you only paid $4.99. I have same issue with storage too. I just like the feel and smell of a new book in my hands, but I only get maybe 12-15 books a month. Not too bad

yeah. i just wish i'd had the same good sense to wait on Batman Odyssey. i'd bought all the single issues, the hardcover, the TPB and then in digital. The story was awful, but i really like the art in that one. "12-15 books a month" 12-15 single issues? ...i probably buy even less than you. problem is, i've been collecting for so long, i've got walls of filled longboxes lined up. and that's even after getting rid of more than half of what i've accumulated over the years. ah! to be a collector.

Wow...I’m not quite there. I have about 5 or 6 longboxes, i went a long time not reading comics. Got back in about 5 years ago. Yeah - 12-15 single issues a month. That probably is kinda a lot

i've been collecting on and off since the late 80's till now. if i knew then what i know now, i'd never had sold my 1st prints of Batman #426–429 or my original set of Mirage TMNT. live and learn. ..yeah i'd gone a long time out of the game too. Grant Morrison on Batman drew me back in. i was buying 11-12 issues a month. once the new52 hit i was up to 30+ issues a month. though i did drop quite a few of those after a few story-arcs in.

when DC started with their weekly series and having multiple events on top of one another, i had to drop a LOT of what i was buying. some titles i went cold turkey, some i decided to trade wait. but there are some stories that i really enjoy the art, story or both that i'll actually pull the single issues as well as double dip for the collected edition. sometimes even get the omnibus. there are some series like Lone Wolf & Cub or Berserk that i have to buy digital just to save space.

I started in 80s too. I’m same way...if I knew then what I know now I would not gotten rid of my Walter Simonson Thor issues. Life of a comic collector...what drew me back was geoff johns doing Green Lantern/Flash reborn and blackest nights TPB. Then picked up Infinite Crisis and Legion of 3 Worlds TPB...from there jumped back into single issues with new 52

well, alright!! very cool to chat with another longtime reader! :D . . . yeah, it's not easy deciding what to keep and what to ditch when it starts piling up. true be told, i don't regret some of the comics i've sold as much as i'd like to imaging i do. i know i just don't have the space for everything. ..ha! i actually just picked up Blackest Night 0-8 in the recent digital sale. i'm pretty sure i also got the collected Infinite Crisis volume as well as a bunch of other great DC collections.

though my next read will be 'Uzumaki' by Junji Ito. i promissed my girlfriend i'd read that next. it's her favorite graphic novel, and i kind of own her since i'd gotten her to read all of Morrison's spanning Batman run, the Tomasi Batman & Robin, and a bunch of other series as well. ...so far i've read the first chapter. it's actually really good. very disturbing in a good way for those into horror. the art in particular is what i'm really enjoying in it. B&W inks with detailed cross-hatching.

Well, now I'm quite interested. I'll have to check it out.

ohhaimark, check this one out if you ever get the chance - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - https://www.comixology.com/Uzumaki-3-in-1-Deluxe-Edition-Vol-1/digital-comic/721027

Alright! That looks good. I have a lot to read right now, but I’ll get around to it eventually.

Man, can i ask you somethin, is doomsday clock canon?!

Not sure where it fits in current continuity but as far as I know it might be, there are stories that at least tie-in to Dr Manhattan’s prescence in the DCU

All i know is that is set one year in the future!

He doesn't have the "voice" of anyone right, he is taking a veritable crap on every single character here and the Superman legacy all at once. This is utter garbage.

RBL i coundn't have said it better myself!!

I concur!! Dropped this when I saw where it was headed. What’s wrong with portraying a healthy, happy family like Tomasi and Jurgens did?? It grounded Superman. Made him more human and relatable.

Exactly, but i think bendis is not allowed to destroy the family, cause in doomsday clock, they're still together and fine as always, so it's like a relief to me, what i'm really afraid is what he has prepared after doomsday clock gets concluded

He has prepared because in a tweet he said about issue 1 or 2 of Superman, he said after doomsday clock it will make sense

And his messing up Jons voice and Lois has already destroyed the family. His man of steel issue was only good at issue 6

Yeah but i think all the events that are happening right now are placed before doomsday clock, i think what you're talking about was barry's hair turning red, right?!

Yea

Yeah i read an interview where he said it will all be explained in the upcoming events of doomsday clock, or it could be an ink problem

Well.. i'm only going to read after dr.Manhattan reestablishes the fabric of space

Honestly whether Doomsday Clock plays a part or not, bendis’ bread and butter as far as storytelling goes is hamfisting a story regardless of how is goes against all characterization and breaking any consistency with continuity. Since Supes is the most storied hero in comics, it just exacerbates this “practice”. It won’t improve, it’s gonna remain crap until a new creative team takes over and they will have their work cut out fixing all his “work”.

Yeah,you're absolutely right, guess we'll have to wait two years to read another decent story, i'm not purchasing this crap!

Or wait until the sales fall

You've concisely said exactly what my reviews want to express. He is the most ill-suited wirter for this character.

*writer

I do get why anyone would like this. What I don't get is how there can be three other users in this review section having the same exact reviews as you with identical scores and dates. And all of them were created in the span of the last three days. Surely, nothing wrong is going here.

I’ve been calling bendis’ run crap from the start of the Man of Steel mini, so speaking for myself, I wouldn’t bother making other accounts when I consider the reviews I write to be enough.

Hahaha are you sure this guy is not from FBI, man who would've bother to create other accounts, what for.. To atack bendis, i'm just giving my opinion here, and i don't need different accounts to prove my point, that he sucks as a writer; and don't be ridiculous, i wouldn't waste my time since he doesn't even know that i exist, and i don't hate him, he's a good and kind man, but he writes shit, and i'm speaking on my behalf!!

i finally just got the collected edition of this. really looking forward to reading it. :)

I liked it. It was fun.

ah! excellent! i can't wait!

So sad that you have to create an account to hate on a comic and a writer. You only review superman and action comics since Bendis join, I pity you

It's not that short.

Yet I can write entire essays on how the current volumes of Superman and Action Comics are absolute garbage. And yeah, I’ve felt compelled to continually review the Superman family comics since bendis took over because they went from legitimately good stories to absolute trash. If they were not as bad as they are and a complete affront to Superman himself, I would not do this. But as long as people keep rating this barely passable garbage as 7+/10 I’ll keep stating what I believe.

And Super17 you forget I also thought the Man of Steel mini-series was a massive stain on Superman’s legacy after it’s historic issue #1000

Well damn, I like garbage. Who knew? Are you, possibly, able to elaborate why this is bad? I'm curious.

bendis can't maintain consistency in the characterization of his own original character, rogol zaar, possibly the most generic "alien warlord" type there is. He blatantly ignores established continuity and has characters act in ways that make absolutely no sense given their previous portrayals in other, and even concurrent, books; look at how Barry Allen appears in this title, you'd think he's the biggest idiot there ever was. To me his humor never hits its mark, it's always cringey.

He effectively took away one of the facets of Superman that lead to the biggest growth in his character in the previous volume, his family, for no reason. The way he did so makes absolutely no sense, because the last time Superman actually saw his father, who he let his family leave with, they were enemies. They never reconciled, yet he ignored that. He portrayed Jon Kent in a way that is basically the opposite of how he's shown in Super Sons, a book exponentially better than this one.

An example taken directly from this issue, he has no idea how Superman's powers work. The way he used his solar flare here is not in line with the actual idea of how it functions. He also basically has Superman forget how the initial conflict with rogol zaar was resolved. It's part of his M.O. of ignoring everything established about a character just to tell whatever story he wants, no matter how asinine it is.

There's plenty wrong with the writing, and no matter how good the art may be it cannot compensate. For every great splash page showing what may be a great action sequence, you have panels filled with senseless dialogue that just takes away all the momentum it can build up.

With Flash, I agree, he does come off as a bit of dumbass. Not so much in this issue though. Rogol Zaar I think is consistent. Big, angry alien hell-bent on killing Kryptonians. Generic? Maybe, but I think it's executed well. As for ignoring established continuity. It's a bit hard to tell nowadays what's in and what's not in continuity, but I don't recall any deviation from continuity made by Bendis.

rogol zaar is anything but consistent, he's initially shown as a being wanting to "safeguard the universe", then he's willing to kill an entire planet and billions of inhabitants to get to 3 kryptonians. He's supposed to want to eradicate kryptions, then he strikes a deal with one of their biggest criminals who's part of the race himself.

Everything to do with Jor-El here is a massive deviation of continuity. His lack of an understanding regarding Superman's powers can easily fit into that as well. Jon choosing to leave his parents for a grandfather who last time he encountered him was an ENEMY of his father, is downright stupid.

Heroes who have faced multiple multiversal threats losing their damn minds and not being able to maintain any shred of composure? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

As for the Superfamily, that angle is more touched on in Action Comics. But I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because it's clear that he is trying to build towards something. We still don't know what happened on that trip with Jor-El. Maybe Robin's attitude rubbed off a bit on Jon and he decided to stay in space with Jor? Maybe that's why Lois wasn't very keen on meeting with Clark? One thing is for sure. Super-dad made me like Superman.

For that trip to even make sense, there would have to be a reconciliation with Jor-El. That never happened. That makes the whole premise of his family leaving with him be ludicrous. Jon choosing to leave his family, when it goes against the very values he was instilled in, is as I said, dumb as hell. The previous volume with Gleason and Tomasi was fantastic. This is a far cry from it and from the "Super-dad" you just stated you like. This is terrible writing.

If there is something bendis can write it's street-level heroes with very limited history and characterization so he can mold them as he chooses. But the most storied Superhero in all Western comics, that is the worst fit for him to manage.

As far as Action Comics goes, it's not any better than this book, is equally crap. Maybe even more nonsensical than this one if issue #1003 is any indication of the quality of its story.

Just about the only main universe book with Superman being released right now worth a damn is Justice League. The key difference between that book and Superman & Action Comics, bendis has no hand in it.

Well, I will refrain from any judgments right now, since we don't know everything about this whole ordeal with Jor-El. In Man of Steel there were only tidbits of info and in AC it's just getting some spotlight. So I'll wait.

I won't, the idea behind is frankly beyond dumb, and it ignores clear storylines that just happened in the past volume. It asks for far more suspension of disbelief that it merits. Everyone acts out-of-character, sometimes in the most nonsensical of ways, and whatever "intrigue" the story is supposed to build is just lost through that. The art is great though, too bad the writing cannot measure up.

Noted, RBL. I agree that this issue was not perfect, but I still enjoyed it. Totally respect your opinion though. Serious question: Do you like any current comics? If so, which ones?

Justice League, Aquaman, Detective Comics, and Green Arrow are a few I consider good. The Flash is for the most part solid, Hal Jordan & the GL Corps was pretty good, sucks it ended. Probably the Wild Storm is what I’m enjoying the most. JL Dark, Odyssey and Hawkman have promise. Stuck to DC with this list.

Nightwing tended to be good, but the Vire story arc was weak and issue 50 should never have existed, but depending on how long they draw that cheapness out how bad it will be.

Right on, Wild Storm is friggin' great! Nice selections, man!

Thanks, man. Nice to see someone else appreciates that book, it's really good mix of espionage, sci-fi action. Would really like to see a few more titles in that line, but so far it's going strong.

I agree with your analysis RBL and actually I just dropped both Superman and AC from my pull list.