#pkj really gets this family

[kryptonbabe]

This is evidence that these two share their single brain cell, they're more twins than Otho-ra and Osul-ra

As a bad guy, do you find that frustrating?

(Action Comics Annual 2023 #1)

[karaspal]

it’s such a shame pkj has written so little of supergirl given how well of a grasp he has on the character. he is one of my favourite modern-age writers to write kara. and the thing is, he pitched a supergirl story. one with her and thao-la called “supergirls”. and dc said “nah, we have other plans.” when they didn’t even???

guys, literally look how pkj talks about kara. he gets her fr.

“I love Kara I think Kara is one of the best DC characters. I've seen a bunch of different versions of Kara. In my ear, she is almost like a mother hen to all other Kryptonian adjacent characters, since she is more Kryptonian than anyone else, having lived and grown up there in a way that Clark never did. Even though she's sort of younger than Clark via some, you know, sciency reasons she's really older kind of in other ways. And I see her as kind of the matriarch of the EL family really. She's not always portrayed that way. But that's how I see her. I love writing Kara.” - PKJ

like, hello? he recognises kara as the smartest person in the room, writes her as mature, capable and confident, yet still headstrong and cocky, and what is more important, he doesn’t use krypton as the trauma that will always haunt kara till the end of her days, but rather as a found memory she carries that she gets to share with other people.

i’ve said it before, but one thing kara should always be is the holder of krypton’s spirit, but with enough time passing, it should be more about celebrating krypton’s spirit vs mourning it. it’s not fair for kara to stuck in the same cycle of anger for her planet forever. of course she should mourn her planet at first, but with enough time passing she deserves to heal. she doesn’t deserve to be haunted by it for the rest of her life. the bitter memories should bleed into found ones.

[thevindicativevordan]

Thoughts on “Superman and Lois” now that the show is over?

Not too surprised it's taken a while for someone to ask me about S&L S4. Between the upcoming Gunn reboot and MAWS, this show seems to have been squeezed out of the spotlight.

First a brief note on the series as a whole. Superman & Lois was a solid adaption of the characterizations and approach of the Triangle Era. Most of the diehard fans of the show that I've seen on social media are likewise big fans of the Triangle Era. For them this was their show, the Superman of Byrne/Jurgens/Loeb finally adapted in a way they enjoyed. As someone who does not rate that era as highly, this was never going to be my dream Superman show. I went in with the mindset that this was still a CW show with teenage leads. It was going to be annoying and outright cringe in certain areas, but as long as we got at least one good Superman or Lois segment per episode (and John Henry Irons too once he joined), I would keep watching. Credit to the creators, I thought they consistently delivered on that. Now as for the final season

Hoechlin and Tulloch were fantastic throughout the entire series, even when the material they had to work with was sloppy at times. Hoechlin's final speech where he narrates the rest of Clark's life tug on the old heart strings a bit, I can't lie. Tulloch really got put through hell this season, but I loved when she was always standing up to Lex and giving him a verbal lashing whenever she could. Right now I have them both at #2 in my personal rankings list for their respective characters.

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Wole Parks is my favorite Steel actor of all time. Yeah I know that the bar was in hell but damnit he still did a great job. Road to getting there was a mess but I did like seeing the JHI/Lana relationship adapted outside of comics. Since they got married here maybe we actually will see that marriage happen in the comics. Encouraging to think it might have some staying power after all. If I have one major complaint it's that they apparently built the perfect Steel suit and never let him actually wear it! WTF this is why "earning" the comic accurate look is such bs. Give the man his proper power armor with s-shield and cape! Ugh what could have been, he should've had that suit in S3 at the latest...

Michael Cudlitz might have displaced Rosenbaum as my favorite Lex, I'm not sure. I've been getting more and more disenchanted with "sympathetic villains" and having Lex here be an utterly reprehensible monster driven by spite and petty hate resonated with me. Hoult will probably end up taking the number 1 spot either way, but at least I'll have three good Lexs in my top three rankings.

Jon finally got powers, apparently they were going to drag that out until the final season no matter what? For that reason alone I'm almost glad they had to wrap things up in four seasons. I was getting majorly fatigued by the sibling drama and was glad they finally put that crap to bed. I had wondered if they would recreate S1 with Jon vs. Jordan as a full circle moment for Kal vs. Tal. But I guess that would have been too dark for this show, and as much of a selfish dick as Jordan could be, I couldn't see him turning murderous towards his twin at this point anyway. When Sam died to save Clark I figured that would be the only Kent Family death of the season.

Yeah I did like the final sequence where we got to see the Kents expand into a massive family, no way were they deliberately adapting it but my headcanon is something like PKJ's Future Stare House of El did exist in the far future.

Glad that the show went out on a high note in a way that satisfied the fanbase it had built. Could easily have ended up like The Flash, limping across the finish line with everyone glad to see it go. While I have no doubt there were some who felt the same way towards S&L, this at least got a proper ending to it's plot threads. Unlike Smallville or L&C I don't think S&L will have much impact on the Superman Mythos. It came after the Golden Age of Superhero TV had already ended, overshadowed by the endless swerves in direction of the film side, and MAWS is the Superman series that I foresee being the entry point for the younger generations. After Snyder left the character facedown in the dirt, this show picked Superman up, dusted him off, and hopefully put him in position for Gunn and MAWS to let him soar to new heights. For a CW show that is a far greater accomplishment than I expected.

[zahri-melitor]

Newish Comics:

Batman and Robin #14: I've got to say, I'm excited for PKJ. We're 8 pages into his B&R and another Bat family member has already appeared. Incredible! Titles can contain characters who are not listed on the cover name!

On top of that: I like the plot. The mystery feels like a fun lean into Gotham's haunted history.

My first impression of the Damian characterisation was: oh, you're using Tomasi. It felt really congruent with Damian during Tomasi's 'Tec run - 'Tec #1017, the Christmas orphanage issue, was what particularly came to mind. Is Damian more petulant than in Williamson's run? Yes, but some of that is going to be just the general changes between writers, and I can see the strings PKJ is choosing to pick up here. Good starting point.

Action Comics #1070: The A story: honestly, this felt like Waid clearing everyone out of the way for the plot.

The B story: oh gosh the art on this is gorgeous. Tamaki also has Kara clearing out, but interestingly here she's also making people forget? Just two very interesting stories to put beside each other.

Absolute Batman #1: ...I wasn't expecting this to be so silly.

One vibe I am getting from the Bruce and Alfred set up for this is that Alfred feels very Eddie Fyers. Still uncertain who I'd put Bruce as in the pair, but I'm leaning towards Connor.

Living Martha!!!!!! Excuse me we get a Martha actually on page?? Also happy to see Julia referenced immediately and willing to see what his intentions for Barbara are.

Otherwise: this feels very Snyder. Interesting backstory inversions. I can see the threads and analogies he's tugging on.

Hmmm. I think a lot of the reviews have been very overstated about this, but I'm willing to give it a go. It is absolutely not written for me, but I can see the exact audience it's aimed at and they clearly are enjoying it. Happy to give it a storyline or two to work out if this is Snyder writing cleverly and cleanly, or Snyder letting the title go to his head.

The Warlord #71: This week in Skartaris Jenny figures out Travis is missing. Also apparently in this alternate future, they built a bridge from Melbourne to Antarctica. Yes. Really. No I don't think anyone writing this story bothered to think about Tasmania.

(Antarctica now also has polar bears)

Travis and Shakira steal a flying ship from the future cops, fly it into future Skartaris and crash it, and the title actually remembers Skartaran is a different language to English. However, only to note that almost everyone in this conversation speaks both languages.

They end up at a Castle Deimos in future Skartaris...but it's a bar! Travis has four bourbons (probably the last ones he'll have in a while) and Shakira notices the mirror they travelled through hanging over the bar. They jump through and...everyone's back in Skartaris, ready to hand the title over next issue.

Thanks Grell. (I miss the amount of bondage you had in earlier issues of this comic)

[bisupergirl]

which clois kiddo is your favorite and what is your opinion on each one of them? im talking chirs, jon (eh), and the twins.

chris is definitely my favorite out of all of them! i just loved his relationship with lois and clark so much.... his dynamic with clark in particular was so special. i always think about that scene where clark takes him up in space to look down at earth and telling him that he belonged there because that's what jonathan would say to him when he felt insecure as a kid.... wahhh.... hated that he got aged up prematurely and put into a relationship with thara, but even then i still really liked the stories he had as nightwing (and i just really loved seeing two kryptonians use the nightwing/flamebird mantles <3). HATE that they fucked his character over in modern comics... i don't know what that THING is but it's NOT my son.

i really loved the twins in the warworld saga but it's pretty clear that no one knows that to do with them now that pkj isn't on action comics anymore. it seems like williamson isn't that interested in including them in either his superman or action comics runs (other than in background appearances) which is a shame! i hope someone circles back to the red son and starchild thing that was teased before they inevitably get erased or killed off or what have you.

jon just sucks. sorry to him. i'm definitely biased against him for a multitude of reasons but i just think he's really lame and really boring. i can't help but feel so annoyed whenever i see him in literally any context. a lot of people think the biggest problem with his character is that he got aged up prematurely (and that definitely didn't help) but honestly he was boring and kind of lame even as a child. i feel like a big part of his appeal as a kid was that he was cute and had the supersons dynamic with damian, but as someone who only incidentally gives a fuck about the batfam that really doesn't appeal to me unfortunately! maybe if literally anybody had developed his relationship with kara or kon i'd care about him, but alas! sorry to any jon enjoyers that follow me, i'd like to say i'm exaggerating my dislike of him but i'm really not.

and special shoutout to the only biological clois child i care about: laura kent. she appeared in exactly one issue of the superman family (#200) and didn't even really exist, but she was cute and had an attitude so i love her :)

[ultfreakme]

I genuinely don't care if you like Chris or not. He's a fictional character, so you don't even need a reason to dislike him. It's your right to hate him if you want. But nitpicking a six-year-old's every move to justify your hate for him isn't it. And also, don't try to dismiss his abuse because "it doesn't make sense." It's wrong to do that. You should probably consider joining Tim Drake's fandom because this is the same thing they do to Damian.

It's obvious the reason you don't like Chris is because you like Jon. But maybe don't go on Chris' tag, a tag used by his fans, and say how you don't believe anyone cares about him. The tag you should've used is "Anti Chris Kent." You wouldn't like it if someone said, "I don't understand how anyone can like Jay Nakamura" and tagged the post "Jay Nakamura." (And no, I don't hate Jay. He is a cool dude. It's just an example.)

As for your arguments:

You don't need your hand held through the whole story to understand why Chris acts the way he does. He's an abused kid who latches onto the first adult who shows him kindness. It's not a headcanon, it's shown in the story. They don't need to spell it all out for us to understand;

Seriously, nitpicking a child saying he is hungry? Really?;

In the story after the one with Tim, Chris is shown to be scared Clark is going to abandon him. It's why he acts like a picture-perfect kid. At the end of the story, Clark reassures him he would never because they are a family now;

Even post age-up, Chris is still Clois' kid. That's how adopting a kid works. Lois is a recurring character in his portion of New Krypton. Chris has something the twins don't—a relationship with Lois. Unfortunately, PKJ never bothered to give Lois any scenes with the twins. Not that he had the page space to;

Almost every argument you gave as to why you don't like Chris can be used for Jon. He was tortured for years by an evil version of his dad and came back normal. He even ate an apple and isn't hungry Clois kids something you dislike? Jon shows no signs of PTSD, no nothing. So clearly, a character showing no signs of previous abuse (even though there isn't a right way to be an abuse survivor) is a problem to you only when you already don't like the character;

Don't try and dismiss Chris' abuse because "it doesn't make sense" for Zod and Ursa to do that. They are monsters and what Chris went trough sucks;

At the end of the day, unlike the Batfam, Clark and Lois' kids don't get enough time and space to develop properly, so there's a lot more that could be done with them. This applies to Chris, Jon, and the twins. There are things I didn't like about how they handled Chris' character (mainly his New Krypton arc), and there are things I didn't like about how they handled Jon and the twins. None of them are perfect or have had their full potential utilized.

Like I said, like what you will. Don't care. Just don't go on characters' tags and say you don't understand how anyone could like them. I ain't coming back to argue more, this is my last anon. Peace.

You're right I should have used the anti tag. You know, I outlined about 5 times, that I am NOT talking about the character. I had also said "hey, this is all entirely on ME, I am not convinced by this storytelling". I had not mentioned Jon extensively(three or four lines iirc) & stuck mainly to the super twins. I had constantly said "Geoff John's fucked up writing this story". You are the one who kept sending me asks, I gave you an explanation. I had repeatedly said "I see why people enjoy the themes attempted at being explained by Chris Kent but the execution was not compelling to me "

I will not be treating a fictional character, ultimately vehicle for storytelling and conveying themes, like an actual human. The Zod-Ursa thing, let me illustrate; Brainiac is an absolutely evil villain but he wont be calling any potential child of his a "little shit" or resorting base verbal abuse because despite this being legitimate child abuse behaviour, because for Brainiac-the-character, its OOC. He'd call any child of his inferior and dismiss any concerns or questions the child has, he won't be using his own hands, he'd be using his tech, he'd not raise his voice. And if he did, I'd ask why because this isnt in line with previous behaviour. I'd say the same for nice character as well, Clark's kindness is different to Bruce's because their backgrounds dictate the way they act. Clark is going to take a kid he rescued to park & talk to him lots and initiate jokes to calm them. Bruce is going to give a kid he rescued candies, speak to them calmly and have a more settled tone focused on helping this kid process the experience. Character motivation and MO.

I am not going to feel bad about asking a fictional character to be written with more coherence. I'm not nitpicking. That was an entire page with a giant establishing shot out of about 20 pages. I'm not nitpicking an actual 6 year old, I'm questioning GJ and the artist's choices in depicting that entire interaction so strangely. This entire medium is visual storytelling, and im going to ask for better. Chris in that issue was apparently so insecure and afraid he was....lifting shit up and smiling the entire time, cool as a cucumber. The tone was WILD. Pardon me for critiquing a creative move.

EDIT ADDITION: "He even ate an apple and isn't hungry Clois kids something you dislike? Jon shows no signs of PTSD, no nothing. So clearly, a character showing no signs of previous abuse (even though there isn't a right way to be an abuse survivor) is a problem to you only when you already don't like the character;" this made me crack up oh my god.

Okay, I'll take it seriously. Jon ate an apple, Jon actually on his return from torture volcano time specifically, pointedly, ate a LOT. Because we see via art on previous pages that Ultraman was barely feeding him and when he did, it was a LIVE PIG. Jon's hungry because of the torture. Even a detail you think is innocuous had previous establishing moment. Jon still eats and eats a LOT, because he was starved. Abuse impacting behaviour! And Jon does show symptoms of PTSD throughout SOKE & AOSJK & every subsequent run he's been in.

It manifests as his insecurities about his powers, and his apprehension around Clark! Jon's been told by Ultraman and many others that he is a tool, an object for people to do whatever they want with. He is also been a rather mercurial and too-powerful tool who on-page has been manipulated for his powers specifically time and time again(even in the recent arc). So how does Jon deal with his trauma? By controlling his powers and making them as fine-tuned as possible. Jon DOES exhibit signs, and it makes sense for his character. His entire deal is being a good Superman, and to do that he neglects anything bad that happens to himself and keeps suppressing, this plays a role in his coming out too (illustrated in SOKE #5 and in Dark Crisis). So no, Jon eating an apple & exhibiting signs of PTSD in a covert manner....is intentional and entirely present & you'd have to read subtext. This is where the writing leaves stuff for readers to pick stuff up from the background and won't handhold me through, which you have entirely forgotten despite how obvious it is.

I literally led you through why, from an objective standpoint, PKJ is a better storyteller, but you keep making this into a conversation about the characters and act like I have kicked an actual breathing 6 year old and made him cry. I read the Tim issue, I further read to the issue where Chris Kent finally expressed an actual emotion that made sense for his character and it took.....let's see....about 10 issues from his moment of existence? And it was done by a different writer! Busiek is good at writing Chris & I'm sure if they continued writing him, or started by writing him, they'd have done a better job with everything. The whole abandonment and adoption theme actually exists as a thing under Busiek in Superman.

I don't care about Chris. It's not a "ahaha I'm evil I hate this abused child" thing. I don't care about Tim, Damian or a million other characters with similarly tragic backstories which probably got handled well. I personally, am not compelled by him and in year 2020-2024 when I jumped into comics, I have more options of super kids to enjoy.

You dont need to make me imagine a scenario where people say Jay or Jon sucks and they arent compelling because half of Jay & Jon's tags are a billion times worse than the two lines I said, often with people tagging on "Chris was better" accompanied by sprinkles of biphobia, homophobia and a dash of racism against Jay. I didnt even say "Chris Kent bad". You are also free to think Jon and Jay dont compel you. If you make such a post, I will block you and delete any ask outlining that, because I don't care to subject myself to that. I'd also probably make a meta post on my own blog about jon and jay. I said I dont think Chris Kent fans exist because at this point in time, the Chris Kent iteration is completely gone from any ongoing storylines and I just didnt think people would be dead-set on a writing decision made over a decade ago. That'd be like saying "hey I miss robin version of Jason Todd, he should come back" at least in my perspective, but I am clearly wrong.

You could've just directly initially informed me to put in the anti tag, you are right in asking for that and I am sorry I didnt do that. I assumed you wanted a conversation with me since this is my blog, my platform & I'm too detached to Chris & the Super twins so I can talk in terms of writing rather than "this character is precious blorbo". I had only read on the Geoff John's Action run and the writing and art was so bad and that's all literally anyone in the chris kent tag even talks about. I get that you're defensive about chris, but you're barking up the wrong tree on speaking of his good traits because I just, I really dont care. Not dislike. I'm utterly indifferent to him as a character. The fan reaction from that side to Jon is what prompted me to make the initial post.

If you are still reading for some reason, go forth, have fun making Chris headcanons, live your best life. I still am not compelled and am confused why people are this hung up on him.

[sci-fi-pony]

Action Comics #1051 is finally here!! 🥳🎉 My life is complete. My heart is full. I could not stop smiling while reading it.

~ First, the art is gorgeous. Kudos to Sandoval and Herms, they did a fantastic job

~ That intro panel with the whole fam made me so indescribably happy 🥰

~ Kon and Kenan playing video games together!!!!!!!!!!! This is everything I've ever wanted in life. Thank you, PKJ, with all my heart

~ John and Natasha being included in the family dinner night <3

~ Kara being such a good aunt 🥺

~ Really love Jon's new design. Just wish it wasn't so similar to Kon; it's kinda hard to tell them apart now

~ Kon called Kara "cuz"!! <3

~ Clark and Lois getting another chance to be parents finally! (Please please please, DC, just let them have this. It'd be so mean to take it away from them a third time.)

~ Kara's hair is gorgeous in this issue

~ Let's not forget the backup stories! Seeing the White Farm again had me so emotional. That was such a good era :')

~ Ranger! Is! Back! (Seriously though, where DID he disappear to??)

~ Power Girl and Nightwing! Two of my favs in one story, what more could I ask for?

~ LOVE the art in the Power Girl issue as well. It's so whimsical and fun!

I think my only real complaint was the whole thing with Jon apparently not being on board with the new siblings. It's just odd that Clark and Lois didn't think to sit down and have a thorough discussion with him about it. But I'm assuming they'll revisit that plot point later in this story arc, so I'm not too upset. (I'm actually really hoping Kon will be the one to notice and talk to him about it, since he's been through a similar experience of being "replaced" first with Chris and then Jon. It might be a good way for them to bond as well.)

Also, Kenan's new haircut looks so weird to me. I understand why they did that — his usual hairstyle looks too similar to Jon and Kon — but it will definitely take some getting used to.

Anyway, I'm just happy to once again be adding Action Comics to my pull list. Feeling very hopeful for this new direction for the series, and I can't wait to see more of the Superfamily in March. ❤

[wesavegotham]

If this is what they are doing then I'm not sure how to feel about it. And not just because how DC handles the al Ghuls is often absolutely terrible.

PKJ is not currently writing a Batman book, so I suspect that this might be what he meant when he said that he has one not yet announced DC book.

Considering the scale of this (evil Batman led al Ghul family that has taken over their whole planet and now wants to expand their power to other earths) I fear that this might end up being yet another event.

Damian has been in a lot of those recently. His solo comic basically ended up being only set-up for two events (Shadow War and Batman vs Robin/Lazarus Planet), he played a minor role in Dark Crisis and he's currently stuck in BvsR/Lazarus Planet, which his solo got cancelled for.

Which is a problem in my opinion. These events often focus on a lot of characters at the same time and are usually a lot more plot-driven than character-driven. Characters act in certain ways to make the plot happen instead of the plot being written to fit the characters. The large scale of the threat being thrown at Damian also often comes with two problems:

Relationships and emotions often get pushed to the side in favor of dealing with the villains that are currently trying to take over Gotham/the planet/the universe. And then DC never publishes a smaller story where these things could be adressed.

The threats are so big and powerful that a character like Damian can't really do much against them. There is a reason why in Dark Crisis and Lazarus Planet Damian's main contribution to solving their problems is to come up with a plan that could hopefully enable other characters to gain more power to fight the threat. It's the only thing he can do because his skillset is not suited to deal with these kinds of threats. He also doesn't have the same plot-armor as Batman. The writers are not going out of their way to give Damian something cool to do like they do with Bruce, who usually gets some moment to shine in battle no matter how dumb or illogical it is.

I personally prefer small scale, personal and character/relationship-driven stories over these big events that Damian can't really contribute much to. But DC seems determined to put Damian in these events and to not use him anywhere else.

Some time ago PKJ wrote a story in which al Ghuls from a different timeline (lead by an alternate Bruce who became Ra's heir, married Talia, had several children with her, took over the world etc) did...something in the main universe. My memory of it is fuzzy. I guess I should re-read it.

Anyway, PKJ already teased that he has plans for the al Ghuls and also responded to a fan on twitter worrying about Damian not showing up anywhere after Lazarus Planet/Batman vs Robin #5 by calling them crazy (as in: don't worry, of course there will be Damian content after that).

From everything I've heard that seems to be the most likely story for Damian to play a role in.

[davidmann95]

What Are Your Dream Supermythos Projects?

* Put Fraction on that Webtoon thing for a Superman strip. He was talking about conversations with DC for post-Jimmy Olsen projects, this would need real talent behind it to not immediately die on the vine, and his formalist kick means he'd probably have the best chance of anybody in DC's rolodex at adapting to scripting for the vertical scrolling format.

* Have Yang and Reis continue their momentum with a The Life & Times Of The Son Of Superman miniseries. Someday somebody's gonna do 'here's Jon's whole journey in one book', they have the pedigree, and Yang's the best DC has in terms of who could nail the obvious central concept of Jon as a second-gen immigrant learning about his background, the forces he'll face in the world, and growing up to make different decisions from his dad about how to be a part of that world and how to help it.

* A proper Lois Lane ongoing, or at least her fronting a Daily Planet book.

* An anthology mini for Jon; I'm sure you could get plenty of creators interested in doing a few pages with their spin on Lois and Clark's kid across the assorted stages of his life.

* Okay so I just now started reading On A Sunbeam and yeah let Tillie Walden do literally whatever she wants with Superman if that would happen to be something she would care to do.

* An ongoing anthology for the Superman family ala Batman: Urban Legends.

* A Lois and Clark romance book from McKenna Jean Harris.

* Superman and Superboy meet All-Might and Midoriya.

* If Morrison is in fact consulting on the Superman books beyond doing the bare minimum to line up Authority, given PKJ is using the House of El already a big Superman Squad story based on the abandoned All-Star spinoff, since the ideas for the other two became Morrison's Action Comics and The Just.

* Once the current runs are done, give Action to Brandon Thomas and Son of Kal-El to Dan Watters.

* Sarah Leuver did some DC work so hey, give her a book to play with.

* Publish Superman & Lois: Ignition.

* I wouldn't have thought of Dan Schkade when thinking naturals for Superman, but after David Lynch's Superboy give him something stat.

* Someone somewhere do something interesting for once ever with Conner Kent.

* Give Maggin a Black Label book to do whatever he wants with.

* We're talking pure dream books, let Marguerite Bennett do a full Superman of Remnant spinoff mini or oneshot from RWBY/Justice League.

* An all-ages ongoing, good lord how long has it been

* Absolute Action Comics, with the assorted artists coming back to redraw the armor as the real suit.

* T-shirt Superman is out there wandering the multiverse, do a mini or oneshot or something with that guy.

* Mandatory 'whatever Doc Shaner, Al Ewing, Dan Mora, Jamal Campbell, Bilquis Evely, Christian Ward, Garth Ennis, Mike Huddleston, Tula Lotay, Chris Samnee, Jonathan Hickman, Fiona Staples, or Juan Ferrara would want to do with him'.

* In terms of pals nowhere near the big two I'd love to see get their shot anyway, Deniz Camp and Charlotte Finn.

* The heck with the AAA studios, do The Lego Superman Game.

* We're about to have Hoechlin, Jordan, Calle, Routh, Cavill, and whoever'll be in the Coates movie operating at around the same time, do a Superman Beyond movie.

* A big animated movie to go with Spider-Verse and Lego Batman. Maybe an anthology thing.

* Superman & Lois but moved to HBO Max and with Todd Helbing removed as showrunner. Really any prestigey ongoing Superman show, but I'd trade the prestige for keeping Hoechlin and Tulloch.

* An Adult Swim Jon Kent series aimed at older teens.

* Do the Tartakovsky short.

* More Superman novels! It's Superman! shouldn't have been a one-off in swinging for the fences there.

* Someone dig up/restore The Multipath Adventures of Superman.

[karaspal]

Hello! I saw that you're a Supergirl fan and I'm trying to read some of her books. Is Supergirl 2016 a good representation of the character?

not really, no. at least not the initial one. it gets good once marc andreyko starts writing it. then bad again once he is off the book.

the rebirth series took a lot of inspiration from cbs supergirl and imo the show got a lot better once it moved to cw. kara in the first 20 issues of the rebirth series is portrayed as less confident and more timid, and that's not really how she is. the comics also took a lot of its elements from the show, even if it didn't make sense to do that. i love and adore the supergirl show and kara in it, yet i hate the rebirth run, so even if you are a fan of cw!kara, i wouldn't recommend the run.

but fear not, i'll give you some recs. here is a full reading order if you want to read everything she's been in. if not, here is a smaller reading guide:

supergirl (2011) is a great start. it has some meh stuff, like kara's costume, which was not great, but you get used to it. i'd recommend the run as a whole (minus the boring crossovers), but if you don't want to read it all, the first arc with the world killers (#1 - 7), red daughter of krypton (#28 - 33, but mind you, it crosses over with "red lanterns". reading order for the full story you can find in the link i gave above. just scroll a bit, it's under the 52 section) and crucible (#36 - 40) were the best arcs.

after that, i'd recommend jumping right to marc andreyko's run - supergirl (2016): #21 - 33. before that, you do need to read man of steel (2018) for context.

next comes supergirl: woman of tomorrow. it's the best supergirl story you can find and one of the best superhero stories in general.

despite how little pkj got to write kara during his time on action comics, i'd still recommend checking it out because he understands her character very well - action comics annual 2021 (a possible future for kara and the house of el); action comics (2016): #1044 - 1049 (back up stories); action comics (2016): #1051 - 1060 + annual 2023. mind you, she has a supporting role in this story, not a main one.

after that, she had a one-shot team-up with the martian manhunter action comics: doomsday special (2023) which was good.

she is currently a main character in the house of brainiac story and i like the way she is written there.

if you're willing to read comics from the previous era, the run sterling gates and jamal igle did is considered a classic. it's supergirl (2005): #34 - 59. it does, however, cross over a lot with the new krypton arc that was happening at the time. full reading order you can find in the reading guide i linked.

and if you're willing to go pre-crisis, she had two solo runs. one was in 1974 - supergirl (1974), and the other - 1982 - supergirl (1982). she also had stories in various dc comics. an era i absolutely love is when she was an actress in new york - the superman family (1974): 208 - 222.

and comics you should stay away from, in my opinion - supergirl: being super and last year's supergirl special #1. both are written by mariko tamaki and i just don't vibe with her kara. another one is kara's first appearances post-crsis. anything kara written by joe kelly and jeph loeb is a big no-no.

anyways, sorry for the long answer lol. happy reading.

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week ?

Superman Lost #7 - Giving people cancer has become Lex’s “crowbar” and I love it. Such a smug asshole, knew Priest would write a great Lex . Priest did a fakeout with Superman cheating but I hope he actually follows through on Lois dying. Probably won’t, but it would be a stronger story if he did. All the people going “THIS IS HOW YOU GET INJUSTICE” reminded me that we need an Elseworld story with the guts to kill Lois off and not have Clark go batshit insane.

Superman #7 - The Chained is whatever, there’s potentially something interesting in him being Stryker like I suspected and Williamson hinting that he’s the reason Conner has TTK, but I am intrigued to see Lena II return to continuity. All you need is Lena I getting fished out of the fridge underneath Lexcorp and we can have a proper Luthor family reunion. Brainiac’s motive turns out to be pretty mundane, he wants a family I guess, but the why and how of it may still prove interesting. Least Brainiac is still a bastard, wipes out a planet as a means for doing a test run. If nothing else the Superfamily throwing down with the Czarnians should be fun.

World’s Finest #20 - Waid’s found his footing again! Strong start to the KC arc after two lackluster arcs in a row. Enjoyed seeing Clark and Bruce have different orders at Planet Krypton from what their Earth 22 counterparts did, nice way to demonstrate the differences between them and their counterparts. Am I reading too much into it, or is KC Superman ordering milk while our Superman ordering coffee intended to show that KC Supes is pretty childish as opposed to our Supes being more “adult”? And we will get a proper Superman vs. Magog fight after all, excellent!

Nightwing #107 - Boring. I don’t care about Bea since I dropped Nightwing during the Ric era, and without Redondo to cover for him all of Taylor’s usual weaknesses are starting to grate on me. Would drop the book but Redondo is coming back at some point so I might stick it out.

Green Lantern: War Journal #2 - First time the two Johns have ever interacted I think, would be cool to see Stewart put his architectural skills to use in rebuilding Metropolis. Plug your plotlines anywhere you can PKJ, I’m here for it, but Genesis popping up here makes me wonder if the Revenant Queen will be revealed to have a connection to Aethyr? He did turn people into monsters in that Annual PKJ did about the FS House of El traversing the PZ.

JLvGvK #1 - Not as strong a start as I hoped, truthfully it was boring. Funny that Toyman was the one to bring the Kaiju over to the DCU, most relevant he’s been in years. Going to pick up the next issue now that the setup is all done and hope it improves.

City Boy #5 - Cameron is really teetering on the edge of morality here, Pak is riding the question of which side of the moral divide he’ll ultimately fall on all the way to the ending it seems.

Incredible Hulk #5 - Foreman’s depiction of long haired Hulk is actually pretty good! Hulk’s fully in his DGAF mode and it adds some black comedy amidst the horror. Betty finally shows up, and in Red Harpy form to boot! Eldest likely has used that body manipulation power Betty mentions to force Betty to serve her, hope Bruce can see that and isn’t stupid enough to take the obvious honeypot.

Scarlet Witch #9 - What a shame that Orlando has to compress all these interesting adventures into one issue, because he doesn’t have the sales to tell them all in separate issues. Ah well, looking forward to the final issue and fight next month.

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week ?

Action Comics Annual 2023 - End of an era. Compression indicates that PKJ likely did not go into this arc knowing this would be the end. He tries his best to wrap things up here, and mostly succeeds I'd argue, but there are lingering plot threads left unanswered. Where did the Evil Batman, and the other members of his family who previously led the world go? PKJ teased he would be answering one of Morrison's Authority teasers, either the "true nature of Kryptonite" or the secret of Jon Kent that Superman had been hiding. Neither are a factor here. Genesis and the malevolent force behind it, Kryl-Ux and his plans for the United Planets/Mongul's corpse, the Aspects of Olgrun, a lot is left hanging here which will presumably be answered in whatever project (likely JL) that PKJ is working on next that involves Clark. What PKJ did well however is touching on all the major beats of his run here. You have Otho overcoming her Warzoon indoctrination and fear of Mongul, choosing to side with her adopted father. You have Glen giving a speech that calls back to Superman's aim to inspire the people of Metropolis to see themselves in their heroes - which is why he gathered the Superfamily together in the first place - and with Glen he succeeded. His love for Etrigan definitely shined through in how Etrigan is used here. Raynor does a great job on art and the colorist almost makes it line up with Sandoval (shame Sandoval couldn't draw this). PKJ Action remains one of my favorite Superman runs of all time, but the back half of his run post-Warworld is of lesser quality than the front half. It's a shame that he couldn't get a consistent art team, had to constantly juggle editorial mandates, and at the end is rushed out the door because DC wants to move him on to something else. Hopefully he can return to Superman in a solo capacity one day through Black Label, where he and his artist can get the time they need to craft something as good as the Warworld Saga.

Detective Comics #1080 - God I cannot wait to see what Hurt's angle in all this is.

The Flash #4 - Now we're really getting into the horror scene, it's a shame people are rejecting this run because it's not happy-go-lucky like the Adams run. If light Flash stories and dark Flash stories can't sell what's DC to do?

The Penguin #5 - I only know Black Spider from the YJ cartoon, cool to learn more about what his deal is.

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week ?

Action Comics #1059 - I knew it! I knew it was the Empire of Shadows! God I’m actually excited for Batman to show up in Action, I can’t believe it. Then again this is a very different kind of Batman, and it’s an evil Batman who is being used in service to (hopefully) make Superman look good. What a refreshing concept as opposed to the all too often reverse. Otho being the one Stone targets makes sense, like “Norah” points out, she’s a killer and the youngest daughter of the family. They have some things in common. God I love all the crazy tech that Steel has built over the run. It’s been great to have him be so involved and I’m going to be really disappointed if he gets dropped again with the “Superstars” next year. Shame Sandoval can’t finish this arc but I do enjoy Barrows. Nice little bit of Metropolis history with the street name, PKJ didn’t get to do as much of that as I was hoping for, but anything that plays up Metropolis as a “city of immigrants” suits me. Looks like Constantine and Etrigan will be showing up to help Superman delve into the Dark Multiverse to find Otho. Probably will learn the backstory of this Batman next issue, maybe even learn what happened to that Earth’s Superman too. Can’t wait! The Kenan story came to a satisfying conclusion as well, Yang did a good job within the limited pages he had. Justified why Kenan joined the Superfamily and why he isn’t interacting much with the JLC anymore. Last line paired with that panel shot was a gut punch. Yang set Kenan up for some great drama if anyone bothers to follow up on it which they probably won’t. Maybe I’ll get lucky and Yang will be the fourth writer for the Superstars next year after Aaron, Williamson, and Waid.

Steelworks #6 - Thought it was a solid freshman showing from Dorn. Ending was a bit rushed but there were some nice character moments across this whole mini, even if it’s definitely not an essential read for the line. Walker made for an entertaining bad guy by being so unrepentantly evil, it's nice to have a few of those guys around amidst all the sympathetic bad guys these days. When are we going to actually see JHI and Lana tie the knot? Maybe in Action? Would like to see that actually occur, it's been good for both characters imo.

Detective Comics #1078 - I have not read the Knightfall trilogy so I’ve never been a huge Azrael guy, but damn I actually am becoming a fan. Seeing gleefully charge a werewolf head on does a lot to endear him to me.

The Flash #3 - Love what Deodato is doing with the panels, really helps to sell the disorientation that Wally and Max are going through. Cool revamp of the Folded Man, my Flash knowledge has a bunch of holes in it so I don’t know what his deal has historically been. Good use of him here that makes me want to learn more. Bit nervous about the implication that Speed Force users are screwing up reality every time they use their powers, it reminds me too much of that Venditti plot point from New 52 GL about the Emotional Spectrum “running out”. Obviously they’re not going to stop making Flash stories so either they have to “fix” that if it’s actually the issue, or it’s a misdirect.

City Boy #6 - Good ending. Pak’s got a nuanced character in Kim, he’s so human and fallible that he could easily have ended up a villain as a hero. Seeing him rise above that at the end is inspiring in the way superhero fiction aims to be but usually falls short of. I don’t know if he’ll avoid falling into Limbo, he’s not a natural fit for any team, but I’d like to see both City Boy and Pak get more play at DC.

The Penguin #4 - After this week’s issue of Tec I wasn’t sure how King’s heist story would stack up against V’s - good thing that was a feint! Penguin’s taking a lot of risks here, that whole stunt could easily have ended with him being dead, but at least King showed that Cobblepot was actually nervous and unsure of how things would play out. This could easily be a Penguingod book but it avoids that pitfall.

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week?

Action Comics #1053 - Finally found a Metallo design that I like! Way Sandoval has the remnants of his skin clinging to his metal frame makes him look like one of the Flayed Necrons from Warhammer 40k, and I love it! With Lex shifting towards trying to "help" Clark, it's good to have another villain who does terrible acts and holds Superman responsible for them. Metallo turns a bunch of Blue Earthers into cyborg zombies? It's all Superman's fault! And I am a fan of Corben's path to villainy starting when he first encounters a gun, and now he's become a gun himself. But the real intriguing point for me this issue was Kon, Kenan, and Otho. Kon and Kenan express reservations about saving one of Metallo's minions. Clark advocates compassion for all, but those two clearly have doubts. Then at the end we have Otho seemingly attacking the Blue Earthers. Three members of the Superfamily are already chafing under Clark's authority. I'm excited to see how Clark handles members of his Family not being totally aligned with his approach and outlook. If PKJ is building up to a revolt within the Family, I can't wait to see the fallout of that!

Stargirl #5 - Weakest issue of the run, too much exposition for me. It's a mini Johns, you don't need to treat every issue like it's someone's first and do a big info dump. Sue me though, I like Boom and I am interested in how she is going to fit into the JSA. Anyone want to place bets that Hourman is recruiting sidekicks for a crisis in the future that will also tie into the War of the Four Legions I expect Johns to announce on Friday at Megacon?

Unstoppable Doom Patrol #5 - Good start! Has enough of the DP patented weirdness to *feel* like the DP, while also being recognizable as something set in the mainline DCU. Never could buy the Way/Derington run as set on the same Earth as the mainline capes, but this I can. Beast Girl is cute and Degenerate might prove entertaining if Cliff is around to keep him in check. Degenerate's attempt to act tough bouncing right off of Cliff's blasé attitude was funny. And really even if the writing had been bad, the Burnham art alone is worth the price. Seems like we're finally going to see Malluh move on from Brain and do his own thing with Immortus.

Detective Comics #1070 - One of Ram's weaker issues. Enjoyed the analysis of the nature of Gotham and the Vigil poking their heads in, but at this point "what if YOU'RE the real villain Batman?" is not a hard hitting or particularly gripping question.

Gotham City: Year One #6 - Best "Batman without Batman comic" since Gotham Central ended. All the same I would prefer this stay out of continuity, not really a fan of how King all but says Slam is the true father of Thomas Wayne. I don't like when they try to make Bruce into someone with oppressed minority heritage. I like that it's the story of a WASP billionaire who beats the shit out of criminals. Trying to smooth out his edges so he can be Twitter and Tumblr's "unproblematic fave"? Nah fuck that, Batman's at his best when he's a character that makes you uncomfortable and unsure if he can overcome the unsettling parts of who he is.

Waller vs. Wildstorm #1 - Not a Wildstorm guy so I have no clue who Battalion is or what's his deal beyond what the issue shares, but I love Lois here. We get to see rookie Lois who has doubts and fears, it's a different take on her from the norm which I enjoy. Also dig the Cold War setting, that period between the JSA going away and the new age of superheroes that Superman kicks off is prime setting for stories about civilians and non-cape metas.

Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #5 - Not really sure what the conflict with Horizon would even be at this point. They sent Beetles because they feared the Reach taking over Earth, Jaime has shown the other Beetles he's not a threat, unless the Horizon are bad guys after all, what's left to do?

Invincible Iron Man #4 - Good issue but... I don't buy this "rivalry" between Fei Long and Tony at all. Long comes across as a total poser and try hard that Tony takes apart with ease. The Mandarin or Justin Hammer this guy is not, even gets called out on how he's just rehashing old clichés. Doesn't come across as arch nemesis material, nor does he even really have a compelling reason to be feuding with Tony.

Sabretooth & The Exiles #5 - Didn't end anywhere near as strongly as it began, but I respect how it made no compromises about what a piece of shit Sabretooth is.

Planet Hulk: Worldbreaker #5 - Had high hopes for this mini but it sadly ended up being yet another example of why creators who have done seminal work before on a character shouldn't return.

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week?

Action Comics #1051 - Fantastic kick off to the Dawn of DC era for Superman. All of the Superfamily had a nice little character moment here, Kara welcoming the twins to the El family, Kon and Kenan have the makings of a great friendship/rivalry, Jon realizing his parents still have sex and feeling conflicted over the twins, the Irons' stepping up to change Metropolis with their genius, and unveilling a new tower bigger than Lexcorp's. Lois gets the article which sets the stage, and Clark of course remains the main character. His speech to the Superfamily in his apartment where he outlines his aim in bringing them together is classic Superman, and I'm usually not one for Superman giving speeches, but I loved that because it's him hyping his team to go out and kick some ass. Sandoval draws it all beautifully, the action scenes, the quiet moments, Lord let him stick around for a while and not get poached like Sampere and Federeci did. Nothing major with Metallo just yet, but his complaining about his skin grafts leaves me optimistic he won't be looking human for long.

Justice Society of America #2 - I'm becoming bored with this title quickly. Johns is seemingly only interested in Helena Wayne rather than the titular team itself, they mostly stand around getting killed off or gaping in astonishment as Helena infodumps. Giving it one more issue but then I'm out. Oh and "Justice Society Dark" is a stupid name, why not use the Sentinels of Magic Johns? You created that name!

Detective Comics #1068 - Ok Ram V you've finally hooked me. I love seeing Two-Face's inner war with himself, and I'm excited what comes next now that Two-Face knows Bruce is Batman.

One Bad Day: Catwoman - As a Catwoman story this was solid, but it failed to live up to brand name. If you're aiming to do a "Killing Joke" story for Selina, she should have been completely evil. For all it's failings, King's Riddler story understood the intent behind this brand, The Killing Joke completely redefined the relationship between Joker and Batman, while simultaneously pushing Joker beyond the pale in terms of what he was willing to do, and what his goals were. King's Riddler likewise showed Riddler tossing his old approach to being a villain, and doing so threw Batman off his game for once. This is just a bog standard Catwoman story. She wants to steal something, turns out she has a sympathetic motive for doing so, Batman says "don't", they flirt and kiss, and at the end Selina is... basically the same as ever. To really do a "Killing Joke" for her, this would need to be a story where Selina embraces being a villain, ruthlessly steals for selfish reasons, and steals in ways that are going to hurt innocents. Ending would be the BatCat romance dissolving for good, and Batman despairing that Gotham managed to finally drag her into the pit.

Human Target #11 - Turns out the femme fatale was the killer all along, who could have seen that coming. Great issue all the same, now we see if Chance actually dies next issue or if there's one last twist to come. He's the man who dies for other people as a living, can't decide whether it's more fitting for him to actually die or to pull one last con on death.

Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods -

Aquaman: Beautiful Manupal art, solid story. Could we maybe see Manupal write the next Aquaman ongoing?

Martian Manhunter: Odd plot but I enjoyed Watters voice for J'onn and I want to see a proper Martian Manhunter book from him.

Wonder Woman: Shocker I'm sure, but I liked the PKJ story. Didn't expect him to reference the clay origin, feels like some of the writers are trying to sneak it back into canon. If Gadot is finished as Wonder Woman perhaps DC might be considering restoring the old origin, since synergy wouldn't be holding them back anymore.

Shazam: Campbell did a good job as expected. What surprised me was that her Malik had a similar voice as Priest's, but minus some of the cringe that Priest gave him. Malik came across as a dweeb without being a cartoon, which makes him much more tolerable.

Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #3 - Not the Reach but an offshoot of the Reach called the Horizon are the ones planning to invade Earth? Or they've caught wind of the Reach planning another invasion attempt, and sent their own Beetles in an attempt to thwart them? Must admit to being confused on that point.

Sins of Sinister #1 - Good issue. Brings the focus back on Hickman's plots which has been missing for a while. The Moiras are in the hands of someone else, likely suspects are Destiny/Mystique, one of the other Sinisters, or the Sinisterized Quiet Council. But I'm leaning towards it being Moira XI, who is not shown to die alongside Nimrod. Moira XI using her clones to send knowledge of the future back to her past self - who then exposes the Sinisterized QC in the past and also uses the SoS timeline to get humanity afraid of mutants again - would be a way to make this timeline "matter" in terms of it having an impact on the "present".

Sabretooth & The Exiles #3 - Merely solid rather than transcendent the way the first two issues were. I am intrigued to see the payoff for that cliffhanger since I don't have a clue how that could happen.

[thevindicativevordan]

In your 2022 review, who's the Superman rogue you think PKJ will tackle after wrapping up his Metallo arc?

Going down the list of likely candidates, remembering that it's a "classic fan-favorite" he's teased he'll be revamping next:

Parasite - Nah Williamson is using him for his book's first arc, I think we'll have to wait until 2024 before PKJ would use him after that.

Silver Banshee - Possible, Williamson is only using her for one or two issues if memory serve me right, that feels short enough to justify PKJ picking her up afterwards.

Livewire - She feels too low scale for PKJ.

Mxy - Strongest candidate. Especially if that second post-Metallo arc is the Multiversal Supermen team up he's teased, Mxy is one of the few Rogues powerful enough to justify bringing every Superman together. He's also named Mxy as a villain he really likes in a recent interview.

Bizarro - Other foe he named as really liking. Bizarro will totally be involved in the Supermen team up but I don't think he'll be the main bad guy.

Doomsday - Nah.

Toyman - Ruling him out too. Until recently PKJ thought he was the worst Rogue in Superman's Gallery. Said he's reconsidered that opinion recently and has some ideas on how to make Toyman into a "Riddler" type foe for Supes, but it would be really dark and he thinks it would have to be a BL book.

Prankster - Has never mentioned him to my knowledge, no chance it's him.

Satanus & Blaze - Nope, with him reconsidering his opinion of Toyman he now thinks these two are the lamest ones and says he'd rather leave those for Shazam. Never been a huge fan of them myself so I'm fine with them migrating over to Shazam's Rogues.

Maxima - Someone asked him if he was interested in using her and Almerac and he was very enthusiastic about doing so, but it sounded like she wasn't in his immediate plans. If he lasts on the book long enough then I think he will get around to her.

Brainiac - Unlike Toyman he loves Brainiac, but like Toyman he seems to be leaning towards saving Brainiac for a BL book. Wants to do another Warworld Saga long Brainiac story, and I don't think he would do another one of those so soon after the WS wrapped up.

Zod - Getting mixed signals regarding him. PKJ seems to want to save him for the endgame of his run which I'm predicting will be a big war between the United Planets and a group of enemies including Kryl-Ux. Kaminski however indicated that Zod and his family would play a big role in 2023. Maybe Williamson is using him? I don't think PKJ will be just yet.

Cyborg Superman - *sigh* I guess he counts as "fan favorite" and "classic" doesn't he? Don't think it's him.

Conduit - Here's a Jurgens OC I wouldn't mind seeing again! He was in the Action backups where he was exposed to Genesis, and made contact with the god whose power Genesis is itself a conduit for. Good chance Conduit will pop up again.

Aethyr - Runner up after Mxy because he's kind of a Superman Rogue, like Mxy he would justify a Multiversal team up, and PKJ used him in the 2021 Action Comics Annual. A big arc focused on the Phantom Zone after Metropolis would give PKJ the freedom to do worldbuilding for another underserved area of Metropolis lore. Personal opinion is that Aethyr is the power behind the Genesis Fragments, so PKJ would have been building up to him for a while.

Another tidbit of information he shared in a recent interview - I believe it was with Comic Perch on Youtube - is that he will be bringing in villains from other Rogues Galleries. Big one I expect to show up at some point is Circe because of her being the mother of his child Pyrrhos in Future State. Given The Last God it's no surprise PKJ would want to use the most popular evil sorceress/goddess in the DCU.