Superman #9 came out last week, the second chapter of The Unity Saga, and another chapter in the hard life of Jon Kent. I have to say, it has been hard to read these last two Superman books in the same month that I am also reading the fun-loving anime style Superboy in Adventures of the Super Sons. In this issue, writer Brian Michael Bendis continues to put our friend through the physical and psychological wringer. It isn't easy to read sometimes.
The Superman book as a whole has overall been the lesser of the two super-books on the shelves and part of that has to do with the whole family dynamic being played up here. We went from Peter Tomasi's super-family, heading to the town fair and going on vacation together, to this unit, split up through time and space, not even living together. I still don't know if I quite understand Lois and Clark's relationship these days and this issue continues that confusion.
And while Jon might be proud of his personal growth during his lost years, it seems that growth through abandonment and torture will never be as good as growth through love and nurturing. How can this poor kid, faced first with his genocidal schizophrenic grandfather, than the evil version of his father, and then the evil version of his mother ever live through it unmarred.
The issue's art is again split between Ivan Reis and Brandon Peterson. Reis does the present day stuff and continues to draw a classic Superman. Peterson brings a softer touch to Jon's flashbacks. His work on expression is fantastic, especially given how terrified and brutalized Jon is here.
But this remains something of a storyline I wish would not have happened. It still makes little sense, especially given that it started with Jon heading off with Jor-El and Lois leaving him there.
On to the book.
The book opens on World Peace Day, a day when Superman and his family will be celebrated. After all, World Peace Day came about because of Superman's efforts.
But this is a flash-forward. Superman has a raven-haired super-daughter who looks to be in her teens. Kara is something of a Superwoman.
And I would advise people to look carefully into the crowd. Jimmy is married (to maybe Talia?) with a young son. There are second and sometimes third generation heroes present.Fascinating.
General Zod and his family arrive to also honor Superman and to perhaps promote a more galactic or universal peace. But before he can even shake hands with Clark, a marauding horde flies in behind. Or is that the arrival of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Some of those outlines seem awfully familiar. (Can we just get a Legion book on the shelves!)
Then, oddly enough, it turns out this has been something of a vision or a daydream by Superman. He admits he hasn't slept in some time and probably should.
It is similar to the drunken vision Zod had in Superman #5.
Of course, in the past, I have reviewed Superman #365 which showed (that at least in the Bronze Age), Kryptonians needed to sleep so they could dream.
I can't help but think that this is also a vision of Zod being propped up as bait at some point in the future, the hordes of Rogol Zaar right behind him.
Snapped out of his vision, Superman seems a bit groggy.
Lois succinctly sums up the situation and tells Clark that he needs to be 'front and center'. This is a big problem. So when Superman says 'we have this', it is almost to simple a response. How can they 'have this' when they don't even know the problem, the history, or the threat.
Lois' surprised face shows just how odd a response that was. Great work by Reis there.
But it just adds another layer of awkwardness to the already odd current Lois/Clark dynamic. I just don't get this relationship.
Last issue ended with Jon ending up on Earth 3 and being confronted by the Crime Syndicate
Before the whole team can lay the beat down, Ultraman scoops Jon up and drops him into the middle of a volcano. And now the psychological torture begins.
First off, Ultraman looks just like his father. And Ultraman basically maroons Jon in this place. He berates him. And he takes pleasure in the fact that Jon has to suffer this isolation and emotional barrage from someone wearing Clark's face.
What's worse is because of this world, Jon retains his invulnerability and super-strength but can't fly.
Okay, I guess I have to roll with this somehow. I mean, it makes the setting of the volcano (a sort of hellish landscape) possible.
Again, nice art by Peterson showing how frightened Jon is at being stuck there.
During the story, Clark gets upset wondering how long Jon was there. I suppose hearing your son was traumatized has to bother him. But then again, if you were so worried, why would you send him home with Mr. Oz.
Even Jon has to admit he was waiting to be saved by Superman *or* Jor-El. But no one came.
Throughout the issue, we see Ultraman's psychological attacks. While he did punch Jon once, it was mostly more screaming and taunting. Wearing Clark's face while he says that this torture might bring out some true potential in Jon is terrible.
Is this a sort of 'Killing Joke' with Ultraman trying to break Jon.
In the end, it looks like Jon breaks him. We read this page and hear how miserable Ultraman is, crying and talking and talking and crying.
I did like this page set up. In the back of my head, it reminded me of Reis' cover of Superman #1.
But more importantly, the word placement, Jon's inner thoughts, cover up the bulk of Ultraman. It shows graphically that he didn't equate Ultraman with his father. He didn't see that doppelganger face or even the phony shield. This is just a faceless sad man.
Nice use of those text boxes to convey that message even if it covers up finished art.
Ultimately, Jon figures out Ultraman's patterns, recognizing that when the villain suffers an emotional breakdown that he won't be back any time soon. After one such episode, Jon decides to escape. He blocks the volcano from erupting, blowing it up beneath Jon's feet and setting him free.
From there, we have a super-hobo tramping across the country, trying to be a hero in a lawless world.
Yes, I get that Jon is proud of making his way cross country and helping people. But what a life for a kid, on the run and hunted.
So after an issue of emotional torture by his 'father', my guess is we will have an issue of physical torture from Jon's 'mother'. And I don't know if I want to read that any more than I wanted to read this.
I guess I have to wait this one out. I hope, somehow, that Jon is still that happy-go-lucky kid who was a foil to Damian. But I can't imagine that is true. Who'd think that I would miss Rogol Zaar?
Overall grade: C
7 comments:
This whole run is disappointing & upsetting. It's Superman written by & for people who hate Superman and every character in his orbit, trying to "improve" it to mangle it into something they'd like.
It's more disappointing that this run is being well reviewed. I couldn't believe the guy reviewing it for The Beat thought it was GOOD. We don't care about Ultraman's mood swings, dude - we care about Jon, and watching him be tortured issue after issue is exhausting. At least when it happened in the Manchester Black storyline, there was comeuppance at the end & Jon was responsible it. In this, he's just a prop for his parents.
I cannot wait till Bendis gets bored and moves off of this. This is unreadable. Unfortunately, since they hyped him like the second coming for some godforsaken reason, that won't be until a lot more damage is done.
PS - anyone else squicked out that Kon!Superboy is a teenaged father in Bendis's Young Justice? It looks like we're back to the unaging Kon, so there's a "technically" out, but it's a disgusting one usually reserved for gross anime fans. This whole era has just started, and it is SUCH a train wreck.
You know what this reminds me of- new52 Kara but atleast bendis hasn't made Jon an angry kid. She too had to face her father being corrupted into cyborg Superman, was manipulated by that alien in that planet where any shape could form (God I forget the names) and then had to face her resurrected dead mother who she had to convince not to kill her earth mother during rebirth. She too was around Jon's age then as well.
I feel about this type of growth through emotional trials arc just like I felt the one Kara had to go through in new52- just plain bad. Although I will argue that Kara had it worse. Atleast Jon has a family whose memory he can latch onto and go back to.
I wonder what's the deal with Ultraman's Jersey accent?
And why does he bring Jon a pig? Is that what Jon is eating? Volcano BBQ?
I have a theory:
That full page of Jon's thoughts are Bendis's own thoughts. "Talking, so much talking. When he repeated it he would change something so you know he's always kind of lying. You can't even trust the stupid story."
And then "stories about HIS group of super-people and HIS Lex Luthor and how hard it was to be him and how bad his life was and how everyone was always challenging him and how no one listens to him or really respects him... and after a while, he'd cry."
Is Ultraman weepy? This is such a bizarre tale for so many reasons that I think it's autobiographical.
Everyone wants to know how there are now two Robins, and Conner is back, and no one knows what's up with Lois and Clark's relationship, and what kind of parents would let Jon go off with Jor-El, and why did Lois leave them early and have some kind of weird hookup with (HIS) Lex, and why she and Superman were kissing in public, and why did she tell her father without consulting Clark, and why did Jon have to be aged up -- everyone wants to know just what the heck is going on!
Even the Ultraman characterization itself is off unless he is known to be a weepy self-pitying guy with a New Jersey accent who flies around holding pigs.
Bendis is consciously or unconsciously admitting that he is the Ultraman.
Or at least, that he feels we have made him out to be the Ultraman of the story. Someone seens as a torturer from another (Marvel) universe who is telling stories about HIS superpeople in his own way, and is so misunderstood he is having a breakdown.
I truly hope it's not that bad, or that I'm just thinking too much. Cause now instead of being angry, I'm feeling sad.
OK, one more theory - this story about Ultraman is so preposterous, that it's not true. For some reason Jon (or whoever this is) is making it up.
T.N.
"I truly hope it's not that bad, or that I'm just thinking too much."
Definitely I think you're thinking too hard about this. It isn't like Bendis isn't used to be bashed by fans, and he has never previously turned a character into his "Why everyone hates me" mouthpiece.
I'd say this is simply how he sees Ultraman. Someone who outwardly is ruthless and heartless but feels miserable deep down. Evil people feeling miserable is a very common literary trope.
Anyway, the art is stunning. The story is... well, I can't say I like it.
Nonetheless, I think it's uplifting that, even though Jon was lost in a nightmarish world where everyone was awful and he was confronted by evil versions of his parents, he never stopped being good, never stopped doing good and never lost faith.
I'm intrigued about the opening scene. Why are Superman and Zod having similar dreams? Is that the Legion? And, look, someone remembers Kara Zor-El exists and is part of this family. I'm sorry, but I grew tired of Jurgens and Tomasi pretending she didn't exist ninety percent of the time.
I'm sticking to my (first) theory that this isn't Jon, but Son of Ultraman lying through his Earth 3 teeth. Please god. I just want the cute kid back in the old family dynamic. Maybe Brian Bendis is just having 'fun' changing things because he knows there's a post-Doomsday Clock reset coming.
I love your theory that Superman is about to learn the old sleep deprivation lesson (again!), Anj.
OK, just tweeted BMB like so: '@BRIANMBENDIS Good morning from Scotland! A wee query, what exactly is the Lois/Clark set-up after their chat a few months back? Are they living apart for some reason? Is she meant to have split up with Clark and be seeing Superman (they kissed publicly, I recall). Thanks.'
and received this back: 'Specifics to be revealed but they are 100% together and 100% in love. See the upcoming superman 80 page special for a big update on the superman family and #DCEVENTLEVIATHAN #whatsupwithjimmyolsenthough'
At least he's acknowledging the confusion! And good on him for the speedy response.
As for Anon's query, I'm not 'squicked out' that Conner Kent now has a wife and child, even if he's only in his late teens. it's hardly unheard of and certainly not worthy of a 'gross!'. Some teens fall in love and have children, it may not be the ideal start, but plenty are doing their best, and making a good fist of it; they need support, not condemnation.
Ok I'll stop trying to psychoanalyze the situation and continue to be patient. Looking forward to the plot developments Bendis is promising.
T.N.
"As for Anon's query, I'm not 'squicked out' that Conner Kent now has a wife and child, even if he's only in his late teens. it's hardly unheard of and certainly not worthy of a 'gross!'. Some teens fall in love and have children, it may not be the ideal start, but plenty are doing their best, and making a good fist of it; they need support, not condemnation."
I have a feeling that, if Kon was SuperGIRL, there wouldn't be this much tolerance for a sexualized teenager. Also, this is DC, so even if you don't see anything wrong with an eternal 16 year old getting married when he's still physically & mentally immature, his wife & kid are gonna DIE. That's all DC knows to do with heroes' families. That or crap like this.
Bendis will just say whatever he needs to say to sell his stuff, so I have ZERO faith in anything he's saying. It's a "shut up and give me your money" line, not an actual verification of anything. The work speaks for itself, and it's rather poorly spoken.
T.N. - the point you made about no one wanting this Ultraman was explicitly why the reviewer at The Beat thought this issue was so great. He thought it gave Ultraman "depth". So unfortunately, since even the sites that are supposed to be more than hype machines are praising this awful story, we're gonna be stuck with it & its fallout for some time.
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