Action Comics #990

[superfangirl1]

Comments

[locuatico]

looking at the issue number, It began to sink we are only 5 months away from the historic moment of a comic reaching the issue #1000.

[elf]

That was what hit me most about the "new 52" fiasco... you're a few years away from Issue 1000, and you decide to scratch that and start over?

[locuatico]

The logic was that big numbers scare new readers. it's the same logic that lead to Marvel's obsession with re-launching books with a new #1 after less than 20 issues just a couple of years ago.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Marvel should have just scrapped the numbers entirely, then. Just sell story arcs, rather than ongoing series. That's basically what they wind up doing anyway, except their way carries this false hope of longevity with it.

I'd say DC should probably do the same, but I feel the same about the whole "reaching 1000" thing.

[locuatico]

but then you end with the same problem that constantly giving a new #1 had: what first issue is THE first issue?
Personally, I believe the big two need to re-think numbering on a fundamental level. They need a new numbering format that is both easy to follow and doesn't scare new readers away.

[janegray]

I dream of the day a writer will have the balls to address a problem without going "but both sides are bad!"

[nyadnar17]

Whu? But surely all problems can be solved with talking. Certainly all conflicts are the results of stupid misunderstanding or a lack of empathy. Its not like people could possibly have real unrecognizable differences or values.

[jlbarnett]

when you spend a few decades pushing that narrative can you really expect the switch back to happen immediately? How recent was it that people complained when villains were just stock characters with no backgrounds or depth

[jgeils]

Things like this make me dislike Superman comics even more. Why stick with one story until it reaches a conclusion when you can just abandon it in favor of yet another dumb multiversal crossover event-driven crapfest.

[lordultimus]

And then both sides start throwing rocks at each other.

[scorntx]

What about pointed sticks?

[beyondthefringe]

Maybe they could solve their problems by hitting the stones with sticks, while running around a field...

[riddler13]

Maybe a match of 43-Men Squamish? Superman would make a good Probate Judge.

[goattoucher]

SERGEANT!

:salutes: SAH!

Break out the fresh fruit!

[starwolf_oakley]

The Doctor Who story "Genesis of the Daleks" had something like that. The Kaleds and Thals were fighting so long they were using very crude weapons given their technology level.

I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones! ~ Albert Einstein .

[goattoucher]

"If you fight now, it will be with sticks and rocks."

:flies off:

Warlord: "Does he... does he understand that we can just buy more weapons?"

Profiteer: "... I honestly don't know."

[jlbarnett]

presumably he thinks they want to fight then

[thanekos]

At least he wasn't driven to the Spectre's solution.

[captainbellman]

Although this is actually pretty much cribbed off of a classic Superman comic - a "Golden Age" story where Clark Kent is sent to cover a European war from the front-lines, then Superman flies its two opposing generals into a room, tells them to fight each other, and when they realise there would be no point he reveals to them that the entire war was concocted by the armaments industry.

Which of course is slightly inspired by a passage from "All Quiet On The Western Front", &c.

[starwolf_oakley]

Some of this is getting close to "Wars just happen because that's what people do, using resources and borders as an excuse." Which is aggrivatingly cynical and NOT mature thinking.

"Humans be cray-cray" is not needed in a Superman story.

[reveen]

Good job leaving this country defenceless against foreign invasion and terroristic militias you dickbag.

Like, Jesus Christ he may as well have just pulled a regime change on them, it would be less harmful.

[zechs80]

I feel like there should be an extra panel after Clark says, "Now solve it." With Black Adam emerging from the flames and just smirking. ..... dammit I have a dark mind.

[alschroeder3]

Well, what was the alternative? Both of them were about to kill each other? Yeah, they still can, but without the weapons that make killing impersonal and easy. Presumably it would take a little while to buy more weapons at least in the same quantity, and maybe he was hoping in the interim they would think about what they were doing. It's a delaying tactic, which at least delayed wholesale slaughter. BTW, I'm still not convinced, but Jor-El has always been a tragic figure, and his being horrified at humanity's imperfections and tragedies makes some sense, and he DOES talk like Jor-El. But...
Jor-El wouldn't have left his son alone for years. Jor-El would have found ways to cure cancer, or make force fields to protect against nuclear war, or something. He certainly wouldn't encourage others to kill each other. And this "Bliss" place--this New Genesis without an Apokolips--he just happened to find it now?
Trap.
Trap.
Trap.
You almost had me buying it, DC, but...
Trap.

[locuatico]

Also, Superman is trying to solve a massive number of crises happening at the same time. it is the best he can do at the time.

[captainbellman]

Also, it probably doesn't need pointing out, but the last thing needed in a modern-day comic is an angry, yelling white man blundering into a war in another country and treating the people (of colour) that he meets like idiots/children.

[alschroeder3]

True.

[lieut_kettch]

Every gun and machete? Great, now how will they hunt and clear underbrush or cut sugarcane?