This issue only works if can shut your brain down to read it. The overarching “story” continues to be asinine and senseless and certain events it depicts are so ridiculous it can’t be taken seriously.

generic alien continues to be a third-rate villain with motivations that cannot be kept consistent, while the turn of events regarding the encounter shown in the issue are just pure idiocy.

There is a moment early on in the fight where Superman mentions he wants to use it as a “training moment” for his son. It almost reads as if the aging was done purely to deliver such a line, pointless “development” for sake of “clever quips”.

The art while the strongest factor present in this title since issue #1, has some panels which are simply terrible. So even this does not hold up for the entirety of the book.

I would not recommend anyone read this issue, much less purchase it and want to emphasize that despite the solicits this issue is NOT important or significant. It’s just bad. more

I think my favourite thing about immensely traumatic multi-year torture sessions with a man who looks exactly like your father but psychotic is how they absolutely do not impact you in any way mentally.

This series is so inconsistent in characterization and plot, but the quality is consistently trash.

Not the worst issue of the run so far, but that’s saying little considering it’s been decidedly subpar from the start. Does little to generate any interest in what follows and what it does answer is done in an unsatisfactory fashion. Couple that with general nonsense bendis has to add and it’s a mediocre issue.

Unstable person is still unstable, now with added time travel woes. Jon was aged pointlessly we come to find out.

So bendis finally explains how Earth-3 and the Crime Syndicate is still around, time travel. Easy way out, taken.
This was expected, easily called by anyone reading this book. Also apparently Jor-El never fell through the black hole, guess somehow he was strong enough to avoid it’s pull when it seems a whole chunk of their ship was sent through it. He spent “years” trying to figure out where Jon was, or it seems like it, but still only 22 days or so have passed? I don’t understand how this whole thing worked since Jor-El was not stuck in another dimension, but I find it hard to say even the writer knows what’s happening most of the time.

Jor-El claiming Jon ran away when he clearly saw him be dragged into a black hole is nonsense. About as much nonsense as generic alien (rogol zar) being able to escape the Phantom Zone. I mean, even Zod had to go to Ray Palmer and demand he activate the projector to enter it. But I guess now he’s tech savvy in addition to being of comparable strength and endurance to Superman.

Ending on what seems like a big battle would generally draw up some interest in what happens next, but considering the last time this happened we had overdrawn and pointless monologue over every scene I find it hard to say I expect anything to come out of it.
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I sure made a good call to expect nothing from the appearance of the Crime Syndicate last issue, because that’s what was delivered!
This issue was pointless, had little substance, as much filler as the “Knightmares” arc happening on Batman.
Do not purchase this issue, in fact I daresay don’t even read it, it’s not worth the time:

The best part of the issue is Superman’s dream/hallucination of a Kryptonian future. This occurs with no rhyme or reason, a “tease” of an upcoming storyline which fails to generate any interest due to the sheer senselessness of it all; Jon apparently takes quite some damage in this future losing an arm and an eye, that sure is a happy future. Cue first facepalm. Presumably the Legion of Superheroes attacks the Kryptonian gathering, which makes me fear for that team’s future at the hands of bendis.

The interactions between the Superman Family are very off and not consistent with how they acted in previous issues, which proves even more irksome when couple with cringeworthy dialogue such as Superman now not having to sleep or having anger issues he takes out on things. Again, I am perplexed that people actually believe this writer can portray Superman well. I have yet to see that.

The big fight with the Crime Syndicate teased last issue? It doesn’t happen, the team barely even appears. Ultraman is shown taking Superboy to a secluded volcano and keeping him prisoner there, using him as someone to vent to for some reason.
Suffice to say, that is not what people expected and considerably underwhelming since they reduce what should be an evil Superman to, in Jon’s words, a “messed up and totes uncool ‘jersey’ version of dad”. It takes bad villain monologuing to another level.

To note, Jor-El is thrown aside from the start so there goes anything involving him. Cool.

Most people expected an answer for why the Crime Syndicate is even present, Earth-3 having been destroyed and the Syndicate being killed in the Prime Earth. Well, this is a pre-New 52 version somehow, doubtful we’ll get an answer for it, so I am disappointed as I expected something like this be the case. The lack of involvement of the rest of that team is a major missed opportunity. The ending where Superwoman confronts Jon, that will lead to nothing equal to my interest in the next issue. This title continues to be a severely lacking comic book. more

This story how Grandpa is “crazy” seems to be getting out of hand. Unfortunately any respect you had for Ultraman is going out the window as you read this issue. Artwork is about 7/10.

Can we switch doomsday clock characters and put bendis there, cause i think he has far more chances to destroy the dc universe than dr.Manhattan; and i would love to see the character that he's writing kick his ass!!!

Everyone is apparently dumb as rocks in this issue, and this next Shyamalan-esque twist just allow the writer to crap on an entire other universe. I can’t but imagine Earth-3 will end up worse this time around that in its last appearance, in which it was destroyed.

More detailed review to follow later today.

I'm never going to be able to get around how, in order for this story to work, characters have to act completely out of character. If I had to give this anything, it's that the scene between Jon and Jor-El at the beginning had some good moments. And the cliffhanger was cool, as a spectacle. I don't know why it's happening, but hey, it's the Crime Syndicate!

It’s marginally better than the last issue, but the previous issue was a train wreck, so that doesn’t say much.

There’s some good moments here, like the first pages with Jon and Jon-El talking about their places in the universe. It’s interesting and explores their characters. However, things quickly went downhill from there. Narrative is inconsistent at best (Superman randomly hitting asteroids when he gets mad doesn’t look good, and Mongul randomly attacking his old Fortress for some reason doesn’t make sense), and characterisations remain wack (what the hell Lois, also, what’s with Kilowog and Arisia? They’re known Green Lanterns! They wouldn’t have left a kid who’s asking for a way home alone with a shady dude!).

It’s just...pretty bad. Ugh, when will Bendis get off this book? more

What is the point of any of this? I have never liked Jor-El being back and I like all of this even less. Lois is suddenly a garbage parent, Jon is suddenly a garbage teen, and this comic is unsurprisingly garbage.

Can Tomasi comeback to Superman

This is what some might call a f*ck you five. Only reason it's not a 1/10 is because of the art and the brief warm fuzzy feelings I got when

Bendis is completely ignoring both established Rebirth continuity AND his own continuity established in his other Super book. He has spent 19 issues now doing what exactly? Split up the SuperFam for no apparent reason except to age up Jon Kent, and tell everyone that Jor-el/Oz is crazy. That's it! Sure, he spent a good chunk of time teasing Rogol Zaar, but he never made him a compelling villain beyond being a genocidal strongman - and then he made it all moot when he sucked earth out of the phantom zone at the end of #6. Then he billed this issue as the one where we - finally - find out about what Jon's been up to... Only to tell us what he was doing with Lois! We should've been given this snippet of the story over in Action 1004, as there is no f*cking way Clark's first questions after he reunited with Lois wouldn't have been about Jon.

Bendis is spinning his wheels, there is no story here. I'm so upset with how much time and money I've wasted on this run I kind of hate myself at the moment. Even as I write this a 5 feels generous, but Superman is my favorite character so Bendis has gotten a longer leash that he would've on any other character. Sadly, I think it's time to officially remove both books from my pull more

#fireBendis

No good/bad review for this one. My thoughts on it can be summarized in one emoji:💩

Any hopes I had that this will make sense are gone now.

Superman’s decision to let his wife and kid leave with Jor-EL, and Lois’ decision to leave Jon with Jor-EL makes even less sense due to the “shocking reveal ” that’s not really a shocking reveal. Not to mention Lois reasoning for leaving Jon behind and not telling Superman she’s back is not properly explored or explained.

Lois reaction to seeing Jon again completely contradicts her behavior in Action #1004.

Both the dialogue and Lois’ characterization continue to be extremely off.

If what Bendis done to the character is not reversed, it will damage any chance he has of sticking around.

I stuck around because I thought things would get better.

It has not.

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This is really bad. The whole issue and story depends on us not knowing Jor-El is bad. But he is. We've seen it. Why is it a shock to anyone? Why did Lois leave her son with this clearly evil character after one mission? Even if he wasn't evil, that's some garbage parenting. This is so dumb because it contradicts all that Rebirth Superman/Action Comics strove to do. That whole era can be described as The Kent Family era. Lois would never leave her child with Jor-El. None of this would've even happened if these characters were in character. This is incredibly lame. Just like Man of Steel was. more

Tl;dr I did not think it would be possible for bendis’ writing to get worse on this book, he proved me wrong. Please save yourself the physical pain it will cause on your eyes and do not read it, buying it would be far too much and contribute to one of the worst books out there.

On to the actual contents now, so know spoilers will follow:

Issue ends on another “big twist/reveal”, because apparently bendis cannot continue a story without one. This is itself a showcase of a his lackluster writing in this book. About the “reveal” itself it’s basically “Man who was a villain is stated to be bad”. I stare blankly into space because it’s the only way I can react at something so blatantly obvious from even Man of Steel. There was no reconciliation had between Superman and Jor-El or anything to indicate that after their last encounter he was not a villain.

From what little we get to see from the journey the Superman Family took we now know Lois left her son in space with his “grandfather” after a single mission deciding she was not needed. Because I presume that ensuring Jon would not be influenced into following in the footsteps of Mr. Oz and continuing to instill in him the proper values and ethics of the person his parents want him to be is unnecessary in the face of just having superpowers. Great parenting shown here, thanks bendis.

Going by that we’re meant to believe Jon is not an impressionable young man who needs no further guidance by his parents and is trusted to know what to do in case his grandfather, who was last seen as a villain, asks him to do something that goes against his values. But while I shudder to think of what Jon will reveal happened in the following “years” of his trip, as of now we are just left with a considerably older Superboy who was aged just to allow the writer to explore how parents would feel if they missed out on raising their child. He chose to sacrifice the development of a character for the chance to explore an idea; he will undoubtedly waste this opportunity and reverse before anyone else can actually work with it.

It hurt to see Lobo make a short cameo, because he’s one more character to add to the list of those bendis has gotten wrong, but surprisingly what he says is the best advice Jon has gotten in this title. Seeing alien people worship Superman was ridiculous, because he actually strives to not be seen as someone who should be worshipped/relied on to that degree and while Superman has indeed assisted other planets in times of need the impact he’s had on the galaxy is far lesser than that of the GL Corps who has been outright shunned by the citizens of certain planets.

The dialogue itself is poorly written, cringeworthy in more than one ocassion (Jon laughling at was is not even arguably a joke Jor-El makes comes to mind), and I can’t help but say he does not get a single character “right” in the entire issue.

This is the worst issue in the run so far and it decidedly looks like it will not improve. Save yourself the hassle and avoid this title until a new creative team comes on board. more