Action Comics #1000

[history79]

Comments

[tripodeca113]

The new version of Black Zero.
There's something else strangely familiar about this. Doomsday can you help me figure it out?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Familiar, you say? Bizarro how that is

[matrix_dragon]

How does he monologue with no lips?

[miss_abnormal]

Comics!

[scorntx]

He Has No Lips, And He Must Monologue.

[leoboiko]

Eyah 'lahdline 'ust end. Ance and 'uh-all. 'ut this is it… The kry'ohnian sickness 'inally ends tuhday!

[kamino_neko]

The same way as Two Face, the Red Skull, Skeletor, the Marvel Zombies zombies...

[locuatico]

Can someone please edit all the previous times we saw Krypton blow up to insert that guy in there?

[tsunamiwombat]

This is MGSV tier retcons, yeah.

[informationgeek]

I like this one person's description of the #1,000 issue:

Other writers: let's celebrate this milestone with a series of charming little stories that showcase Superman's innate optimism.
BENDIS: HERE'S MY NEW VILLAIN KICKINK THE SHIT OUT OF SUPERGIRL THEN SUPERMAN ALSO RED TRUNKS LMFAO

[locuatico]

Okay. I am going to be fair and point out, his story was the last one and was clearly meant to be a preview of what is to come, while everything else was about what came before.

[bj_l]

Hey, now, that doesn't fit the "Bendis is an ignorant hack" narrative certain places love to spin.

[locuatico]

Oh. he can be. This one instance in particular I think is more than a little unfair.

[oakie620]

I beg to differ. Closing off a historic celebration of Superman with him being gutted like a fish for cheap shock value is completely antithetical and shouldn't have been allowed by editorial. I will always respect Bendis for his work on Ultimate Spider-Man, but the way he went about teasing his upcoming run on Superman not only falls flat to me, but I actually find it insulting.

It's really not the kind of scene that belongs next to stories such as "Of Tomorrow":

https://twitter.com/TomKingTK/status/971479055462694912

[locuatico]

I have read the damn 80 pages book. you don't have to show me Tom King's story. I know it already.
There is nothing in Bendis story that detracts from the rest of the book. On top of that, in case you have not noticed, this is consistent with how DC has been promoting their new series. with a preview at the end of the book. they have done so with immortal men and all other new books they are releasing. and this is no different from that.

[oakie620]

First off, don't patronize me. It's uncalled for and doesn't make your argument more persuasive. You can make your case without being a prick about it.

Second, whether DC's method is consistent or not is irrelevant. I never said there was a problem with teasing future stories. My point was that this tease in particular is unfitting for the book and for the character, for reasons I already explained in my previous post. You're free to disagree, but looking at the other comments, it seems I'm not alone in that regard.

[bruinsfan]

I tweeted the following to him about this:

Remember that big villain The Marquis of Death that Mark Millar introduced in Fantastic Four and retconned into a longstanding character's background to make him seem important? Yeah, no one else does either because he was never mentioned again after his run ended.

[zachbeacon]

Considering this was being hyped as an "everything you think you know is wrong" story, it sure seems derivative.

I'm not familiar with every version of Superman's origin but I know I've seen "Krypton was destroyed by malicious forces" at least once before in Superman the Animated series. Pretty sure more people watched that show than are currently reading the comics so that's the default origin for a lot of people.

[locuatico]

Actually. the animated series had it be natural causes. Brainiac simply sabotaged Jor-El so noone would believe him. I can't recall his motivation for doing so, though.

[zachbeacon]

I stand corrected. I guess I was confusing that with cartoon Brainiac's later tendency to learn about and destroy worlds. Thanks.

[scorntx]

Pretty sure Brainy's motivation was he was planning to save himself, and being asked to save Krypton would risk that.

[strejdaking]

Earth One and Smallville did it too. So did Dragon Ball. And Avatar. And freaking Kung Fu Panda. And every fantasy story ever.

I really hope Bendis doesn't think he's like ,the first guy has thought of it or was brave enough to do it, rather it not happening because it would cliched and obvious.

[zachbeacon]

Now I'm just wishing this guy looked more like Frieza because his design is terrible.

Granted, maybe this is not his final form.

[tripodeca113]

There was a Silver Age story "The Man Who Destroyed Krypton!" where it was revealed that Krypton was destroyed by a villain named Black Zero. Apparently he was hired by someone to destroy Krypton, and he built up the pressure in the planet's core hastening the planets destruction.

[locuatico]

Maybe "rogol Zaar" means "black Zero" in Alien Language?

[zachbeacon]

This is the Silver Age? Wow, "Black Zero" sounds like a forgettable 90s villain.

[sisterofbloomerjunior]

Or a diet soda variant.

[thanekos]

The least derivative thing in Rogol Zaar's design is his hair.

[broblawsky]

It's Wolverine's hair, but with a shaved pate.

[thatnickguy]

So Bendis' big hook is a retcon with the new bad guy being responsible for Krypton's destruction?

YAWN. I thought he'd bring something new to the table. Instead, it's a generic evil bad guy who looks like a 90s Image Comics reject with a dumb, forgettable name.

Maybe I'll buy #1000 and tear out these pages.

[strejdaking]

Seriously? This is meant to excite people about the new mini and the upcoming run? In every way generic seeming villain apparently being responsible for the destruction of Krypton? Okay, there HAS TO be some kind of twist, like this guy is only a brainwashed mook of the real villain, or a deformed kryptonian insane with grief or anything, because man, I may be critical of Bendis, but he couldn't possibly start off with something this obvious and lame.

Zaar is a dead-ringer for Anton Arcane in the second page.

[coldfury]

I'm very excited to see how *badly* Bendis will botch Superman. He's just *really* bad at high concept heroes, and it doesn't get any higher concept than Superman.

[roxas832]

I see Dc is taking a page from Dragon Ball and Frieza.

[roxas832]

Calling it now, DC's going to have Rogol Zar be related to Doomsday.

[adriantullberg]

"Dad? What happened?"

"Just another 'all powerful' bad guy claiming to have destroyed Krypton. They reckon that with the absence of witnesses allows them the bragging rights of genociding without the work or risk."

"And that's when you kick them in the groin for three hours straight?"

"Only on general principle. Now, I'm going to show you the best way to remove suspect stains from your right shoe."

[lascoden]

I'm sorry, I don't think I can take this guy serious with that face. He looks like freaking Wolverine crossed with an angler fish, wearing a monocle. That face on the last page is killing me.

[thatnickguy]

His face on the last page would be more appropriate in a Ren & Stimpy cartoon.

[zylly]

Having someone be responsible for the destruction of Krypton misses the entire freaking point. Whether that’s a Silver Age utopia thst can’t conceive its own end or a post-Crisis dystopia that’s fallen so far from humanity that it can’t bring itself to care.