The Man of Steel

The New York Times had an article entitled ‘Can this man save Superman?”. This man being Brian Michael Bendis. The problem was that Peter J. Tomasi and Dan Jurgens were creating some of the best Superman stories since I started collecting in the 1970’s. I went decades without seriously collecting Superman comics because I found the stories so uninteresting but since Rebirth I was eagerly anticipating each Deluxe Edition of Superman and Action Comics and now DC was pulling the plug because of how highly regarded Bendis was in the industry. Bendis didn’t just take over one Superman comic. He’s writing Superman AND Action Comics so if you’re a Superman fan but not a Bendis fan you’re basically out of luck.The impression I get is that Bendis’ is trying to get back to Superman’s roots as a being of pure goodness. This seems to be quite popular with writers these days. The problem is that as someone who has read Superman stories going back to the 1930’s I can tell you that this Superman has never existed before. Not in the Golden Age, not in the Silver Age and not in the Bronze Age. This is a very recent Modern Age invention and the pure Superman is a very boring Superman. It reminds me of J. Michael Straczynski’s “Grounded” storyline where Superman walks across the United States to reconnect with everyday people. Interesting idea, boring as hell.I usually like when writers go bold and make characters their own but I really don’t like that Bendis removed Lois Lane and Jon from the comics. This seems like a terrible decision since a lot of readers were really enjoying the Superman family. Bendis is also cleary trying to turn Rogol Zaar into a top tier villain but he comes off as a forgettable throw away character. Zaar isn’t just a villain for the Man of Steel mini-series. Bendis is continuing to use him in the regular series. Zaar is just obsessed with killing all Kryptonians but the explanation for why is pretty weak. Besides Zaar, the other issue Superman is dealing with is an arsonist which is as dull as it sounds and doesn’t get resolved in this series. I can see that Bendis is a superior writer but some of the dialogue is just weird. At one point Superman says, ‘as my ma always said, “fire is fire.” Is that seriously something ma Kent always said? An empty tautological statement?I don’t hate what Bendis is doing and I’ve certainly seen worse Superman stories but DC must consider this a disappointment. Before Bendis, Superman and Action Comics were selling around 40 thousand issues which really isn’t great. When Grant Morrison took over Action Comics in 2011 it sold over 180k. With Bendis at the reigns of Superman and Action they’ve been selling more in the 60 to 70k range. Morrison’s issues dipped rapidly in sales but stayed well above what Bendis is doing. With the acclaim Bendis received I’m sure DC was hoping for far better but I’m assuming readers saw what Bendis did with The Man of Steel and didn’t have much interest in continuing. Even The Man of Steel sales were mediocre so I guess people just didn’t have tremendous interest in seeing Bendis write Superman.I wish Bendis success and for whatever reason I’ve continued collecting Superman and Action despite not really enjoying them and I buy very few other comics. Undoubtedly, a great story can be written with an introspective Superman but I just don’t see that happening here and I think the sales numbers reflect it. Besides writing all the Superman comics, Bendis is also writing a handful of other titles so I have to wonder if the workload is causing all his projects to suffer. DC seemed to be drawing some kind of parallel between the arrival of Bendis and the arrival of Jack Kirby in the 1970’s when Kirby took on a massive workload but times have changed and I don’t think the experiment is working very well thus far. I’m going to stick with it a little longer but my patience is wearing thin and I may give up on Superman comics for the time being,

I gave this book a chance because the price was right, but despite some great art, it's a pretty hollow reading experience. I've never been a Bendis fan-- his self-referential meta-dialogue, such as a pair of background characters fixating on Superman's newly returned red trunks in the middle of a catastrophic battle, has the effect of making epic moments seem pedestrian and unimpressive. There is also no closure to be found in this volume, as after six issues worth of story we still have no idea who the villain is or what his motives are. The passages with the most impact center on a scene of family drama which is stretched out across the entire volume in flashback scenes, but the substance of the scene could be distilled down to a handful of pages. His writing style only gives the reader enough to feel they're missing something and look for the next issue/volume, which itself doesn't provide a complete experience.

In a major coup to Marvel, DC recently signed an exclusive deal with Brian M Bendis (the mastermind behind years' worth of Marvel events and big name comics like Ultimate Spider Man and New Avengers). As part of his new deal Bendis is taking over the Superman and Action Comics titles as the two creative teams that have been writing those books wind down. The Man of Steel is a mini series that basically acts as the prequel to the new run on those two books. Bendis is changing up a few elements of Superman's history and status quo: first, he is introducing a fun new villain Rogor Zaal (who claims to be the culprit behind the destruction of Krypton) and second, he is at least temporarily separating the Superman family. Zaal is the better of the two elements so far; he is a Doomsday level villain with a huge presence and a ton of power but he is also hyper intelligent and a master tactician. His hatred of Krypton and its inhabitants comes from a misplaced sense of protecting the universe from them and when he learns he didn't wipe out of the entire race he heads to Earth to finish the job. Zaal is going to be a major foe for Superman going forward and they have some fun back and forth scenes here aside from just a Doomsday-like thrown down. The Superman family drama isn't as solid so far, however, and has caused a bit of controversy around the new run. Lois and Jon both seem to be missing and Clark seems in mourning throughout the book, until it turns out that Jon has gone on a tour of space with his re-stabilizing grandfather Jor-El (revealed to be Mr. Oz in a recent mini event) and Lois goes with him. Bendis has sworn in statements online that he has no plans of breaking up the Kent family, but either he's going to put fans through their pacing for the sake of cheap drama or there's something else up his sleeves. All in all a great Superman comic with an engaging new villain, but it does lose some points for the needless sidelining of Jon and Lois (especially after Peter Tomasi's recent run has shown that being a father figure was the exact course correction Superman needed).

Wow, what did Superman do to upset Bendis. Ok I will admit I am not a Superman fan, but I got hooked by the hype of Michael Bendis writing Superman. Unfortunately this book just reinforced my opinion of Sups, but even I felt sorry for the "Man of Steel". Short of what the Joker did to him in Injustice this total dismemberment of every aspect of Superman's life is pretty much all he need for a villain turn.3 major event are happening devouring Metropolis and especially Superman. His life professional and personal is wrecked. There is a mysterious arsonist on the loose, and the main villain with a goal to destroy the whole Kryptonian race. This is another thing I did not like this guy had Superman at his mercy a number of times but just left him there. I also did not like the way the stories were drawn out all of this could have been done in half the number of issues.I don't think I will be back to see where this run goes. Very disappointing after all the hype.

The Man of Steel 6-issue limited series is collected here in a nice hardcover. It marked the beginning of Brian Michael Bendis taking over the Superman titles at DC. The long time Marvel exclusive creator wasted no time and brought an eminently assured and fun voice to the most famous of comicbook superheroes, and whilst it does take things in a different direction it maintains the postive momentum of the Superman titles that began with DC Rebirth. The plots begun here lead into the Superman and Action Comics monthly books and cover the introduction of a powerful new villain with a links to Jor-El and the destruction of Krypton, Jon Kent's destiny and a series of mysterious fires in Metropolis. It has a lot going on but is extremely well balanced with the plots each given enough space to feel compelling in their own right.The artwork is sensational with a who's who of artists putting in brilliant work to make this series worthy of the hype. Each issue is tackled by a separate artist with Jason Fabok weaving an important thread throughout. It does not feel disjointed because it is obvious that Bendis and everyone involved worked to make each issue play to the strengths of the particular artist. This results in not only a good story but a gorgeous book celebrating the versatile nature of the character and the DC universe.

Absolutely Amazing enjoyed it all way through hope there be part 2 this book see how superman gets out this one and beautiful art work all way through love hardcover books :) I definitely recommend this DC Book 100%

If you needed to see some of the worst writing in comics, you buy Bendis' work.The writer spares no expense in making turning the man of steel into a sobbing injured dad.He only gets saved by women and cries because "oh my son".The 2 stars above are only for the artists, who also kind of produced their normal work. Nothing to be much excited about.

John Byrne, Mark Waid & Geoff Johns escribieron en su momento el nuevo origen del hombre de acero... Man of Steel, Birthright & Secret Origin... Bendis nos vende humo con el título, si bien no cuenta "el nuevo origen" de Superman, agrega un elemento que supone una variante a la destrucción de Krypton y a raíz de aquí surge la historia, Rogol Zaar el villano en turno que no sólo quiere terminar con Superman sino con toda la raza Kryptoniana, Bendis juega con carta blanca y esta miniserie es el preámbulo a una historia más grande en los títulos de Superman y Action comics y es donde falla este tomo pero en la parte gráfica es donde mejor luce el tomó, simplemente brutal la pléyade de artistas que pasan a plasmar una parte de la vida de Superman, Garcia-López, Hughes, Maguire, Reis, Jim Lee, Sook entre muchos más junto a una edición hardcover sublime.