Man Of Steel #6 - DC Comics

MAN OF STEEL No. 6, September 2018

Whilst Brian Michael Bendis may well have truly believed that his narrative for this mini-series’ “slow-burn mystery of what happened to Lois and Jon” was “very enticing… very exciting”, it is arguably problematic to envisage the majority of the weekly’s audience feeling the same way considering just how many questions the five-time Eisner Award-winner’s script for Issue Six of “Man Of Steel” disconcertingly conjures up. In fact, many readers surely must have felt that the American author’s plot to “Finale” was a far cry from the “really smoothly” paced storyline he felt he had assembled upon the printed page “when all the pieces come together like a beautiful Tetris…”

To begin with, having literally had his ‘clock cleaned’ by Rogol Zaar in this adventure’s previous instalments, Superman suddenly demonstrates a superior fighting mentality over his much stronger opponent and manages to goad the alien into a rash assault simply by informing him that the Kryptonian feels “sad for you.” This sudden ‘baiting’ immediately provides Clark Kent’s alter-ego with the opportunity to dispose of the formidably-scarred fiend’s planetary bomb and within the space of a few frames the Earth is saved and Supergirl has succinctly zapped the destroyer of Kandor into the Phantom Zone.

Just why the “timeless sensory deprivation tank” wasn’t used before by Kara Zor-El straight after “the big baddie” ‘trashed’ the Fortress of Solitude is only fleetingly touched upon by Bendis, yet worryingly would suggest that his incarnation of the titular character would rather risk the lives of every person on the planet than utilise so straightforward a solution to Rogol’s threat simply because “it doesn’t give us any answers” as to just who his assailant was? This self-centredness, which appears additionally misplaced when Superman subsequently chides his cousin for tossing the villain into the “inter-dimensional realm” (and resultantly saving the planet), surely must have grated upon the nerves of some bibliophiles, as it would seem to oppose the very core of Jerry Siegel’s co-creation and merely be used as a contrived excuse to extend the main protagonists’ battle; “I wasn’t considering the Phantom Zone because it’s only a band aid.”

Long-suffering fans must also have been just as disappointed with the Cleveland-born writer’s revelation as to “the fate of Lois and Jon”, with mother and child just deciding to spend some time with Kal-El's biological father, Jor-El. Admittedly, their tearful departure apparently provides artist Jason Fabok with the opportunity to pencil “an intentional homage to the last panel of Superman #423 during the Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” event by illustrating Kent grieving after his family. But it’s hardly the most disastrous of outcomes, especially when compared to some of this title’s previous catastrophes, like Kandor’s demise or the utterly bizarre accusation at this comic’s very end where a small child blames the Metropolis Marvel for starting the city’s recent spate of fires…

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Artist: Jason Fabok, and Colors: Alex Sinclair

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

Man Of Steel #4 - DC Comics

MAN OF STEEL No. 4, August 2018

It’s arguably hard not to feel that Brian Michael Bendis placed an awful lot of faith in this title’s 63,565 readers, in so far as believing they’d actually go and seek out all the additional information relating to Rogol Zaar's background which "DC Comics" was contemporaneously printing, simply to help them fill in the gaps which his penmanship creates throughout this mini-series’ narrative. For whilst the Cleveland-born author’s script for Issue Four of “Man Of Steel” predominantly focuses upon the titular character’s failed fist-fight against the “alien who claimed to have been responsible for destroying Krypton”, the twenty-two page periodical never touches upon the Phantom Zoner supposedly committing “a string of atrocities across the cosmos” prior to his arrival on Earth, nor clarifies what his vendetta with Jor-El's people is.

Admittedly, this lack of clarity surrounding the facially-disfigured, super-strong “religious zealot” does provide a significant element of intrigue to proceedings as to why he seemingly hates Clark Kent’s alter-ego so much and how he so nonchalantly managed to obliterate the entire hapless population of Kandor. But in only laying “down the bread crumbs leading to the writer’s first issues of Superman and Action Comics in July” the Metropolis Marvel’s lengthy battle with his new nemesis in this publication eventually becomes little more than a debatably stale confrontation which rather drags on, especially as Kal-El’s adversary “has not spoken. Not one word.”

Similarly as disconcerting is just how tough Zaar apparently appears to be, batting off the all-powerful punches of the Big Blue Boy Scout and his cousin, Supergirl, in one pulse-pounding panel, and then effortlessly laying a serious sense-shattering smackdown upon the pair in the next. Indeed, it’s hard to recall Kara Zor-El being treated in such a disrespectful fly-like manner as Bendis portrays her within this book, with the Kryptonian being repeatedly swatted away into the sky like an irksome insect by “the new big bad.” 

Perhaps this magazine’s biggest disappointment however, comes with Kevin Maguire’s artwork which seems better suited to a more humour-filled magazine, than one cataloguing Superman’s all-too sombre “cleansing” with an extra-terrestrial mass-murderer. Highly stylised, and supposedly “comedian… Seth Meyers… favourite comic book artist”, the American’s heavily outlined cartoony illustrations badly jar with such life-threatening circumstances and debatably make the likes of Hal Jordan’s appearance as “the Green Lantern of this Sector” look like something from a Late Sixties issue of “Not Brand Echh”.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, and Artists: Kevin Maguire & Jason Fabok

Man Of Steel #3 - DC Comics

MAN OF STEEL No. 3, August 2018

When the highlight of a “Superman” comic is arguably a nine-panel long cameo by Gotham City’s Caped Crusader, then something has potentially gone badly wrong with its penmanship, and unfortunately for Issue Three of “Man Of Steel” that is precisely what happens with Brian Michael Bendis’ narrative when the titular character turns to “someone who might help shine a little light on the investigation for us--” by introducing Deputy Fire Chief Moore to Batman.

Of course, this twenty-two page periodical’s plot contains a far more substantial central thread than a simple inspection into “a series of coordinated criminal attacks that are designed to scare the residents of this city”, such as the devastating destruction of Kandor and the Last Son of Krypton’s Fortress of Solitude. But debatably nowhere else within this publication does the Cleveland-born writer manage to so successfully mix humour with enthralling suspense, not even when he later teams up Kal-El with Supergirl in order to confront “the merciless killer and zealot calling himself Rogol Zaar”.

Indeed, despite such an incalculably deadly “threat from… [Superman’s] earliest origins” re-emerging and causing untold damage to Clark Kent’s highly valued heritage, this book’s audience are supposed to believe the Big Blue Boy Scout would squander valuable time tracking down his wrecked home’s assailant, by having a sedentary discussion with his cousin as to who might be responsible; “Who did this? Another Superman from another Earth? Ugh. Not Bizarro. Please not Bizarro. [Luthor]… has to know what you’d do to him for this.” Sadly however, this rather artificially worded, stilted conversation leads into an even more lack-lustre sequence as Joe Shuster’s co-creation ‘wastes’ four entire pages hunting Metropolis for a foe every reader knows the identity to, and resultantly, not even a few random explosions whose “impact tremors rattle the city” can help imbue the two adversaries’ ‘titanic’ meeting with any sense of sensationalism.

Quite possibly this publication’s biggest disappointment though is Ryan Sook’s strangely inert pencilling. The American artist certainly puts together some dynamic-looking storyboarding for Zaar’s battle against Kelex in the Artic, as well as Superman’s subsequent speedy search through the high-rise towers of his adopted homeland, yet it’s hard to see from such ‘run-of-the-mill illustrations just why “his style has been compared to that of Mike Mignola, Adam Hughes, and Kevin Nowlan.”

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, and Artists: Ryan Sook & Jason Fabok

Man Of Steel #2 - DC Comics

MAN OF STEEL No. 2, August 2018

Unsubtly suggesting during its cataclysmic prologue that Krypton’s destruction was the genocidal work of an enraged Rogol Zaar rather than an unassuming intergalactic tragedy, Brian Michael Bendis’ script for the rest of Issue Two of “Man Of Steel” sadly struggles to maintain any semblance of direction once Appa Ali Apsa has finished chiding Lord Gandelo for falsely accusing the Green Lantern Guardian of wilfully permitting Jor-El’s homeworld to be disintegrated. Indeed, considering that this twenty-four page periodical required the pencilling power of three different artists, including Evan "Doc" Shaner and Jay Fabok, it was arguably going to be difficult for any of this weekly title's readers to become immersed within an adventure whose choppy sub-plots proves to be as inconsistently crowbarred together as its contrastingly-styled illustration work grates upon the senses.

Admittedly, the five-time Eisner Award-winner’s inclusion of the Toyman as the comic’s ‘central’ villain makes for a straightforwardly fun bout of fisticuffs between the titular character and the portly genius’ Transformer-tall giant robot; especially when the criminal’s all-too easy incarceration by "the Metropolis Marvel" leads to a brief cameo appearance by Hal Jordan. Yet such an absurdly amusing sequence, which includes the defiant bespectacled eccentric being surrounded by a power ring’s “sound-proof bubble” hard-light construct so as to stop Superman from having to listen to the rogue’s relentlessly unjust tirade against him, badly jars when following straight on from this book’s highly theatrical opening, or subsequently leads into an equally intense sense-shattering sequence depicting Clark Kent’s frightened family suddenly facing a fearsome-looking mechanical menace; “Dad, what is that? Dad, what is that? Dad? Dad, what is that?”

Similarly as stupefying is this publication’s bizarre inclusion of a cantina scene seemingly lifted straight from a discarded Seventies screenplay drafted by George Lucas for a certain “American epic space opera media franchise.” Fizzing with all manner of extra-terrestrial heavy-drinkers and bizarre-looking beverages, as well as the utterly mystifying presence of a Rubik’s cube, the celebratory exchange between a barmaid and Zaar is supposedly meant to portray the “alien who claimed to have been responsible for destroying Krypton” dramatically discovering that one of his hated foes, “zuppermen”, fortuitously escaped his murderous plan “as a baby.” Instead however, partially due to Steve Rude’s cartoonesque storyboards and Alex Sinclair’s gaudy colour choices, this pivotal plot point disappointingly somewhat smacks of simply being a silly, tongue-in-cheek inclusion, which rather than heighten any tension caused by the appearance of this mini-series’ main adversary, utterly dilutes the comic’s already ever-evaporating atmosphere.

Script: Brian Michael Bendis, Pencils: Doc Shaner, Steve Rude & Jay Fabok

Man Of Steel #1 - DC Comics

MAN OF STEEL No. 1, July 2018

It is pretty apparent right from the very start of this twenty-two page periodical, as Ivan Reis pencils a breath-taking vista of the titular character’s home planet from “many years ago”, that “a new era” is undoubtedly beginning for Superman and that this comic’s author, Brian Michael Bendis, a man apparently already steeped in the Last Son of Krypton’s lore, is probably just the man to do it. In fact, it's actually hard to recall seeing an author pen Kal-El so evidently enjoying his role as metropolis’ guardian whilst the iconically-costumed super-hero is simultaneously being troubled by “just too many fires in this part of the city” and “with what has happened to his wife and son”.

Foremost of these innovative changes is the Cleveland native’s introduction of a new villain, Rogol Zaar, whose venomous loathing for all things Krypton and desire to see its supposed plague-like people wiped out from existence before “everything we have sacrificed and fought for is warped and disregarded” quickly brings the savage extra-terrestrial to the attention of both The Circle, as well as The Guardians of the Universe. Holidaying on an inhospitable, monster-infested planet in between wars purely to “keep me trained, body and mind”, the formidably barbaric-looking warrior appears every bit the ferocious foe Dan Jurgen’s co-creation, Doomsday, has previously been for Jor-El’s son, and his disillusionment at his request to have the “fantastically advanced civilization” eradicated declined does not bode well for the Man of Steel; “Is it monetary? Have they gotten to you through their --”

Likewise, the Eisner Award-winner’s handling of Superman besting Firefly and Killer Moth, as the pair of Gotham City criminals unwisely argue about stolen money and haplessly pull “all his triggers”, provides this “DC Comics” publication with a dose of humour arguably seldom seen within the pages of an ever-serious Big Blue title. Indeed, such is the good-natured feeling of this scene, especially when Clark Kent’s alter-ego tells his petrified captives that he finds it funny when Batman drops his opponents from a great height, that one can’t help inwardly smiling throughout the rest of the action-packed sequence, even as ‘Smallville’ races to “another electrical fire” and saves the lives of a tower block’s remaining inhabitants.

Of course, such joviality soon comes to an understandable end when Supes discusses with new Deputy Fire Chief Melody Moore their combined concerns that Metropolis is suffering a spate of arson attacks due to someone being willing to light “a building full of people on fire for money”. But even then, once the serious subject has been broached and enthrallingly explored by the cast, Bendis appears keen to have the colourfully-caped Kryptonian subsequently enjoy a joke with his long-suffering newspaper editor, Perry White, over whether such pyromania is as readable as a “bloodcurdling citywide conspiracy.”

Script: Brian Michael Bendis, Pencils: Ivan Reis, and Inks: Joe Prado