I enjoyed this quite a bit. Like others have said this is a filler issue. But it's a great one.

This series is off to a great start. It's been years since I've seen a characterization of Lois this good. I'm also very excited about a certain guest appearance.

I came for Crazy Steve, but what I got was Steve From Accounting. This was dull and underwhelming mess with some odd and dated dialogue and views of women thrown in for good measure. Yes, I know that this is an Elseworld and is supposed to be the origin story for a younger version of Miller's Dark Knight Superman, but I have to say that this still didn't feel like a Superman story. It really just felt like a homemade comic written decades ago that stars an obvious rip-off Superman except he ( and his supporting cast ) has neither Superman's charm nor personality. Pa Kent's characterization was a bit off, I didn't see much Clark in this version of Clark Kent, Ma's characterization felt flat, and Lana started out okay-ish but soon her characterization eventually morphed into just being "The Girlfriend". Also Ma and Pa and at times even Clark's dialogue and character seemed like a caricature of people from the Midwest. I'm from the Midwest and the dialogue made me cringe. Besides that it's just boring. Aside from an odd or bad choice here or there, there isn't much in this book you haven't seen before in other Superman origin stories, and those other origin stories did it better. The art while wonky at times is Romita's best work yet.

This issue was not good. The possible reason why Jon is missing is not a good one. Jon's characterization is not a good one. Some of Clark's characterization isn't good. The possible reason why Lois is missing is not a good one. Supergirl's voice in this issue is not what I would describe as good. Flash's line? Really not good. What seems to be Rogol Zaar's plan and tactics? Also not good. There are other not good things in this issue, but those things were the worst. I like some of the art, but it has been taking a nosedive lately.

This issue started off promising. Steve Epting is a solid choice and does a remarkable job of depicting the characters emoting. Seeing a snippet of Jimmy's crazy life was amazing. He's been MIA lately and I always appreciate when he's included. Jimmmy and Clark's interactions were amusing and I also enjoyed Perry and Jimmy's scene. However, like the other issues in this run this book suffers because in it, Lois makes an OOC decision just so the plot can advance. To be fair, she's actually better written here than her previous appearances. But the fact remains that this is yet another OOC act for Lois. Lois is fiercely protective of Clark. And while Jon is a fairly new addition to the family, she's been just as protective of her son. So what's missing from this issue is her deliberating and debating with herself whether she should tell her father and her having a conversation with Clark. Had that been included this issue would have been much more stronger. But it wasn't. And so this yet another issue where Lois is seemingly mischaracterized. Hopefully in future issues we'll see that she was debating with herself before meeting her father and that she talked to Clark beforehand. If that happens I'll happily change my rating. But for now this continues a worrying pattern of Bendis seemingly not understanding Lois' character. I have more hope than I had before because he's seems to be on the cusp of grasping her character. I can hope that he continues to improve in the future.

Well, the art was great as usual. However, this issue crumbles the flimsy ground that all the previous issues, and I'm including Action and Man of Steel in this, stood on. The awful, out of character decisions Lois was written to make in Man of Steel and Action now somehow look even worst due to Jon declaring that his grandpa is so crazy that they have to do something about it. Also aging Jon up is an awful decision that wrecks the uniqueness he held as child superhero and what little supporting cast he had.