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

Some of the dialogue feels off and weird! Though damn why recently whenever Lois is in an issue, she has to be all sexy like. Kind of dumb of them to be talking out in the public for people to be watching them. Should have at least gone inside. The art is truly beautiful! The story itself is okay! Jon’s temple of doom story was okay but just to say that Jor-el is insane and that’s the end of the issue is pitiful! We already know that he’s insane and crazy from Man of Steel. From what I saw it’s more like Jon went crazy especially on those bad guys. more

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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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

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