A glimpse into the future as the Man of Steel’s battle with Rogol Zaar finally comes to an end.
Superman 14
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils by Ivan Reis
Inks by Oclair Albert and Joe Prado
Colors by Alex Sinclair
When writer Brian Michael Bendis came on board the Super-books with his new MAN OF STEEL miniseries, he set a lot of things in motion. His biggest act was to send Clark Kent and Lois Lane’s son, Jon Kent, away on a space mission with the basically insane Jor-El. When Jon finally returned, he had aged into his late teens, having been displaced in time during a war that basically engulfed every civilization in the universe.
Bendis swore up and down that we wasn’t killing Jon Kent, that he would be important to the Super-family going forward. But I think he might have misunderstood the importance of the character. There is so much potential in Superman being a father, raising a child in the DC Universe. If it made sense to give anyone a child to raise, it would be the man who basically helped shepherd the universe into existence.
There was a new feel to the Superman books with Rebirth, it was reinvigorated with the addition of Jon Kent and writers Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason were able to create some new story paths for the Kent family.
And then came Brian Bendis.
With the latest issue, Superman and his family finally put the threat of Rogol Zaar – the man who claimed to have destroyed Krypton – to rest, but a larger shift to the DC Universe is the bigger story with this issue. With Zaar defeated, and galactic war averted, Superman moves to create the United Planets. And with that, the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES appear from the future and offer a place among their ranks to Jon Kent.
I’ve enjoyed his work on Superman and on ACTION COMICS, but it is a little upsetting that he has spent the last 15 months basically moving towards returning the status quo to Superman. But this was, I’m assuming, Bendis’ end game when it came to Jon Kent, ensuring that when the Legion reboots in the next few months, there’s someone wearing an S-Shield on the team. It makes sense from a branding standpoint, maybe even from the vantage of story. But it leaves so much on the table in terms of stories I was looking forward to reading.
Hopefully, Bendis’ gambit pays off.