Superman #16

[lordultimus]

Comments

[zachbeacon]

This is surprisingly upbeat for Damian. I like it.

[chalicother]

Meh...I hope nobody copy's it. I really don't like the fact anytime Bendis rewrites a characters personality on his own whim.

[zachbeacon]

I mean, "hey, buy me beer" is a bit much but I liked how happy/surprised he seems that the world is still around in a thousand years. Between Bruce and the al Ghuls, that kid was bound to have a grim view of the future.

[chalicother]

My problem...is that if you were to say that this was Tim....I wouldn't disagree.

[lordultimus]

I think Damian smiled more in this issue than the last year Batman comics combined.

[mastermahan]

Okay, let's skip over Damian saying "Oh my God!" and asking Jon to buy him beer.* That's nothing compared to the real issue:

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO CATMAN?! How did Blake revert back to petty spandex loser?

*I do like the armful of cats.

[beyondthefringe]

I'm gonna go with imposter, cosplayer, or franchisee.
Because I won't accept anything less than sexy bisexual shirtless badass Catman.

[deepspaceartist]

I'm gonna go with imposter, cosplayer, or franchisee.

Or perhaps a... copycat?

[remial]

where is Kitty Pryde booing when you need her?

[zachbeacon]

Given all the crying... he and Deadshot broke up and he isn't taking it well?

[lordultimus]

Part of me wonders if Bendis just wrote something like "Damian and Jon capture villain. Don't care who as long as they look sufficiently ridiculous and crying."

[joetuss]

Well, he's not fighting pushovers here.

[janegray]

Yeah. I was really enjoying the scans, up to that point.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, given this is the old costume that Blake doesn't wear anymore, I'm gonna go with old henchman trying to take over the name.

[beeyo]

I'm not even looking at these scans after seeing the cover. Buying now

[leahandillyana]

That's really cute! I liked Supersons very much. Wish Jon stayed with Teen Titans, he is a good influence.

[john_wyatt]

Un-age Jon.
This cliched rapid aging seems so unnecessary to me, and I enjoyed the rebirth Super Sons so much that I just can't get behind another teen Superboy, even if it's only to provide the Legion with its standard-issue Superboy-type.

[icon_uk]

Pretty much agreed. Bendis treatment of Jon seems to be missing the point of Jon completely, especially when he's also just brought back Kon.

[thehood]

I get the feeling Bendis didn't want to write Jon.

[icon_uk]

"I can't believe you're taller than me"

For the love of mike! Ten year old Jon was already taller than thirteen year old Damian, it was one of Damian's many peeves.

[scorntx]

Damian lives in denial.

[janegray]

I will at least say that I appreciate that Damian has darker skin. They so rarely remember he is supposed to be Middle Eastern.

[lordultimus]

Well, light-skinned people of mixed descent are a thing. And Ra's and Talia aren't exactly exempt from that "lack of darker skin" thing.

With that said, I've seen Damian's skin so many shades I'm not sure he HAS a canon skin color.

[janegray]

That is very true, IRL there are plenty of ME people with very pale skin.

But the thing is, given mainstream media's strong tendency to whitewash, and given the attitude of certain subsets of Comics Fandom regarding issues of race, I think it's extra important to make it really visibly undeniably crystal clear that Damian is not white, without any plausible deniability.

Like, to compare it to issues of sexuality. IRL there are many very private people who don't enjoy talking about their personal life at all. But if you read a series with a gay character, and it's impossible to tell that they are gay because the story constantly overlooks that with the excuse that "very discreet people are a thing," and you have to look the character up on wikipedia to find out that they are gay... I think people would be justified in criticising it.

[kurenai_tenka]

Mte. Although that only seems to be the case on the last pages? Did they change colourist?

[lordultimus]

It's at night during those other pages, so the whole things in shadow.

[kurenai_tenka]

Ahh okay. I thought it might be something like that, but the difference seemed a bit extreme (and possibly inaccurate for the effect darkness would have?)

Either way, I'm happy about it, even if it's not clear on all pages. :)

[beeyo]

That was one of the first things I noticed too

[zenfrodo]

Saw the cover and went "YAY!!!"...then saw the inside scans & went, "who's that guy with the S? JON?? No no no no no noooooooo."

The thing that made this series work for me was that Jon was younger and just so damn adorable. His optimism and family life were just so wonderfully normal (well, as normal as Superman/Lois could be), compared to Damian's messed-up background. The two were perfect foils & balanced each other out, without getting into glurge territory.

Jon's normal-ness and good family & sunny nature made it very plain just how messed up Damian was, and underscored how much a victim of *abuse* Damian truly is. Jon got me sympathizing with and liking a character that I'd been seeing as just another MartyStu sociopath in a supersuit.

(I haven't gotten the whole of the second SuperSons series yet -- I'm at the point where they've just escaped that weird planet with the alien Cain/Able of the Dreaming & the Sons' middle-aged selves. So I don't know where the story has gone.)

Now....the art is just ugly. Jon's college age?? Yet Damien's still 13ish??? How does that even work?? Since when does physical growth = mental/emotional growth & education??? Ok, yeah, I know, comic book physics (and there's probably some suitable krytonian time warp reason), but they've removed one of the cornerstone's that made this series so wonderful. However this happened, it needs to un-happen.

Now I'm not sure I want to get the rest of the second series, if the end result is Jon looking like *that*.

[beeyo]

The second volume of Supersons is set before Jon becomes older. It's also really good, so do yourself a favor and pick it up

[zenfrodo]

Good to know. Thanks! 😁

[shadowpsykie]

ok I love that damian is saving an armful of cats...

[icon_uk]

This summarises my thoughts better than I can

[chalicother]

I mean....Bendis....gonna Bendis. Someone just needs tell him no sometimes. I mean no one saw this before it got approved and didn't just say no?

Wouldn't DC want to keep the Super Son's book? Why not just tell Bendis no ? Also Jon is suppose to be College age...? So...seeing Superman as a father is such a bad idea...? I mean well Bendis is gonna Bendis...

[thehood]

Super Sons was so good.

Though it seems like Damian might follow Jon to the future.

[thenicochan]

Unsure of how to feel about this. Jon's aging is something I haven't been a fan of, and Damian seems a little... out of character here. Just, the way he speaks seems a little more casual than I'm used to. I do like the hug though. It's a nice hug.

[thehood]

The hug was cute, i'll say that.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Whatever issues this issue may have, I really feel Damien on being stoked that there is a future in 1,000 years.

And him rescuing cats.

Not necessarily in that order.

[wizardru]

As someone who was a big fan of the Dick/Damian team, I'm willing to turn a blind eye to the question stuff here. It's fun. It's optimistic. OOC? Probably. But I like it. I think Damian speaks for us all about the future, there. :)

[beeyo]

I really liked this issue and I'm officially putting Bendis on the List of People that Write Damian Well. I can see why others may have a problem or two with this issue but I think the positives outweigh the negatives.

Also this is, what, only the third time Damian has hugged someone? That's monumental

[thehood]

Except for the part where he had Damian eating a hotdog since Damian is a vegetarian.

[lordultimus]

That could have been a veggie dog.

[thehood]

That is possible.

[zenfrodo]

Considering how much filler is in some brands, do they even count as meat?

[minervasolo]

I do wonder if his vegetarianism has been reconfirmed since Rebirth, since this is far from the first time we've seen him eating what appears to be meat. I don't think it's a deliberate shift from DC - never ascribe malice where stupidity (or lack of good character bibles) suffices! - but I don't think they see it as core to his characterisation as fandom does.

[thehood]

You mean retcon? It doesn't seem like it.

[shakalooloo]

This reads a lot like it was meant to be a reunion between ANOTHER Robin and a different Superboy, and they switched out the names.

[chalicother]

That's my issue with it.