Superman #43

[superfangirl1]

Lois promise Clark that she will protect his secrete. But then Hordr_Root highjacks Lois smartphone and bullying, blackmail Clark to meet him at a certain location. Or he will expose Clark secrete identity to the world. Lois drives Clark to the location. Since he is not at full power.

Comments

[philippos42]

Beef Bourguignon! :D

Why are Lois's eyes red in the first sequence?

[lieut_kettch]

But he didn't put ketchup on it!

[icon_uk]

Sorry, I'm tired and headachey, but I still don't understand this.

What was the deal with Hordr? It'd release his ID unless he did, what? Die?

Who is the fried looking person in the foreground of that shot with Lois?

I also find it hard to believe that Lois would release his ID because she thinks Superman isn't up to the job of defeating the bad guy.

Hodor Hodor Hodor

[espanolbot]

Hodor was apparently an online blackmailer who was attempting to get compliance over Superman by threatening to leak his secret identity, who Lois then effectively defanged by pre-emptively releasing Clark's personal information.

Still stupid, but unstandably so.

[deh_tommy]

If I remember correctly, Parasite stole Superman's powers after another Solar Flare, so he couldn't just fly to Hordr's secret lair and take the leader out.

[silverhammerman]

This is pretty much exactly how I expected this to go down. Have Superman outed against his will for angst, but keep Lois relatively blameless.

It's still kinda clunky and nonsensical though; Lois endangers a bunch of innocent people to elimatine Hordr's leverage and protect Superman from the immediate threat, but outing Superman still puts him, on top of a bunch of other people, danger, given that he can't hide out as Clark Kent anymore.

[donnblake]

Well, it potentially puts Clark's friends and family in danger, but given his friends, someone should be able to hook Superman with another secret identity easily enough (maybe with a false mustache and an eyepatch!)

[laughing_tree]

To be fair to Lois, she had a split-second to act (or at least she saw it that way), so her options were very limited. If she had actual time to plan and prepare something, that'd be one thing, but she didn't. She had to use what's available.

[silicondream]

It's always hilarious when someone like Hordr says it'll take Superman X amount of time to get to him "by my calculations." Really? What were those calculations, O lord of the Internet? Were they done for you by Lex Luthor? Or by a consortium of top exobiologists, psychologists and cybersecurity experts? Because otherwise, it's pretty much like me saying "Well, Wolverine's a lot tougher than I am, so by my calculations he can kick my ass in *rolls dice, flips coin* .28447 seconds."

[alschroeder3]

Quarmmers. Like the Sand-Superman, right?

I'd be really interested to know who orginally came up with this new direction. Who decided it would be a good idea to ruin everything that made Superman...Superman. (No costume. Minimal powers. No dual identity.) I don't think it was Yang, who's too talented a writer. Not sure about Romita. It's hard to believe some of the other Superman writers, like Pak, thought it was a good idea. This sounds like some sort of editorial fiat, by someone who was really, really didn't like Superman when growing up.

The only thing we're left is that he's an alien raised by humans...

Ending, in just a few issues, a character who survived 75 years of change and transmutation without marring the character's essential core. That takes REAL talent.

I know nothing is permanent in comics. Not death, not marraige, not revelations.

But it's odd, how I, who detest reboots with a passion, has to admit only the next multiversal reboot can fix THIS mess.

[philippos42]

It's DC. It's what they do.

I guess it's somewhere between, "I'm the biggest fan, because I hate it more than anyone!" and "This has always sucked, and they finally let me smash it!" Mostly the latter.

[lordultimus]

FINALLY ... we got an issue truly starring Lois. And Lois is presented wonderfully. So hooray for that. Truly.

But this is undone by the inane presentation of Clark who is willing to stick his head into the lion's maw, to do whatever the villain wants him to, to not listen to his friends, to not think through the problem.

[junipepper]

I'm lost. So, having the bad guy release Superman's ID would endanger the people he knows, but having Lois release it -- wouldn't have the same effect? OK, the secret itself can't be used for blackmail anymore, but any bad guy that wants to force Superman to do something, or just punish him, can now go after his friends. How is that less bad because it was released by one person rather than another?


I'm just not sold on, "I saved your life by ending your life as you know it." I don't know why Lois had to act? If Clark just didn't comply with the villain, the outcome would be the same. Did she really think he was going to do what Hordr wanted unless she stepped in? That really sounds like she doesn't think much of him.