Man Of Steel #5 - DC Comics

MAN OF STEEL No. 5, August 2018

Considering that this penultimate instalment to the American author’s “Man Of Steel” mini-series both shows Superman to be almost nonchalantly bested by his new nemesis and then disconcertingly left alive on the Moon despite the “religious zealot” making it abundantly clear that he wants to eradicate all Kryptonians, it is difficult to imagine that many within this twenty-three page periodical’s 62,468 readership actually believed that Brian Michael Bendis genuinely felt “the legacy of the [titular] character” when he first ‘hopped on’ to deliver the comic’s narrative.

Indeed, the logic behind this publication in particular doesn’t debatably make much sense when compared to what the Cleveland-born writer has penned before, with Rogol Zaar’s decision to permit his hated foe to be revived by the Justice League simply being the tip of the literary ice-berg. For one, considering the sheer cataclysmic confrontation which tears up great divots into the Moon’s surface, how come it takes Supergirl so long to realise that that is where her cousin is battling for his life? True, scientifically-speaking “you cannot hear any sounds in near-empty regions of space”, but surely that would be a clue in itself to one with super-hearing that just such a location was a possibility, and judging by the huge billows of dust previously being raised by the duo’s bout of fisticuffs it surely wouldn’t have been impossible for Kara Zor-El to have spotted what was taking place with her super-vision..?

Similarly, having been battered to near-death by the Phantom Zoner (for a second time in as many issues) and buried alive beneath the Moon’s surface, Kal-El supposedly just needs a moments bed-rest before being able to drill through the Earth’s crust at such an incredible speed that he quickly reaches the planet’s core. This incredible feat of recovery admittedly provides this comic with an awesome-looking conclusion, as Superman faces the “anti-Kryptonian mass-murderer” for presumably a final face-off, yet surely if the Metropolis Marvel’s constitution worked so fast such classic crossover event storylines like his near-fatal fight with Doomsday would have had remarkably different resolutions..?

Quite possibly this magazine’s least frustrating element therefore, is its focus upon Jor-El’s visit to the modern-day Earth-based House of El, and his arrogant offer “to take Jon across the galaxy and show him a side of his heritage Jon's parents can't teach him” without even discussing such a trip with the boy’s stunned parents. This infuriating haughtiness, superbly pencilled by Jason Fabok, must genuinely have irked those parents within the comic’s audience which have encountered similar attitudes from their own children’s grandparents, and Clark Kent’s ability not to punch Mister Oz in the face for such a suggestion does him proud, especially when a brattish Jon impudently declares “I’m going.”

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, and Artists: Adam Hughes & Jason Fabok