Action Comics #870 has been one of the big controversy issues this week, concluding with the death of someone close to Superman.
Even though it’s already been spoiled by certain news sources, it’s probably best to warn for spoilers anyway. So you are duly warned.
Anj of Supergirl Comic Box Commentary considers the move thusly:
So, a lot has been written about the need for Pa to die. Was it a necessary plot point to move the Superman character forward? I grew up in an era where both Ma and Pa were dead. Part of what motivated Superman was that despite his powers he couldn’t save either of his adoptive parents. For me, I do think that the loss of Pa’s life will further remind Superman that he cannot save everyone, that people die. It will increase his humanity through his growth from grief. I don’t know if I am saying that I am for Pa’s death … more that I don’t mind it. I only hope the fact that Superman was saving Kandor at the time does not weigh him down with guilt.
Blogger Diamondrock is less sanguine in his open letter to Geoff Johns:
Was that really necessary? Did it serve any purpose other than to continue the obsession people at DC seem to have with the decidedly mediocre Richard Donner Superman: The Movie?
I question the decision as it doesn’t really seem to bring anything but unneeded pathos to the character of Superman. I mean, that story has already been done. Probably a half dozen times, maybe more. The Braniac elements of this Action arc have been very inventive. Your little surprise was not.
While the Nerdy Bird finds the move of using daily news outlets to spoil the event more noteworthy:
The real shock to fans was not Jonathan Kent’s death, most read the signs and knew it was coming, but that DC used the Daily News as an outlet to “spoil” the event. This has many fans fuming mad. Read the comments on the Comic Book Resources and Newsarama articles and see for yourself. It’s clear DC is trying to gain new readers by exposing them to comics in the mainstream media but is it at the expense of die-hard fans?
I find it hard to take a side here. I’m a big avoider of spoilers and I’ve become awfully adept at it over the years. Unfortunately not everyone can do that nor can they live their lives wary of spoilers at every turn. That being said, if this tactic can get more people into their local comic shops and boost the industry as a whole, that’s a good thing.
So what do you think?
October 12th, 2008 at 12:06 am
What troubles me more is the fact that All-Star Superman dealt with Pa’s death in a more interesting and heart-rending way, yet no one cared because it’s not “in continuity.”
October 12th, 2008 at 1:28 am
I grew up with the John Byrne “Man of Steel” Superman mythos. My first real exposure to Johnathan and Martha was “Lois and Clark” and I really loved the idea that when he’s Superman, he’s the big hero, when he’s Clark Kent at the Daily Planet, he’s the timid bumbling reporter, but when he’s on the farm with Ma and Pa, he’s truly himself. (and okay, now that he’s married to Lois he can be himself around her too).
The death, to me, seems highly telegraphed, and really nothing more than trying to make the book more like the Richard Donner movie. Grant Morrison all ready did a great Pa Kent death scene in All Star, I don’t feel like one was really needed in Action.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:33 am
doesn’t really matter to me. I thought the pa kent dying thing was better in all star supes #6 though.
October 12th, 2008 at 7:19 am
I preferred Morrison’s version in All-Star
October 12th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Over on Comics Daily, Seb Patrick made a point I thought was worth repeating about the difference between this death and the previous ones:
“this is the first time we’ve seen Clark’s father die as a direct result of [Superman] being there. A heart attack seems to be the standard way of killing the character, and it works because it’s something that Clark just cannot prevent. Here, though, said attack is suffered after Jonathan has exerted himself saving Martha from an explosive device launched by Brainiac as a final act of revenge. In other words – if the Kents hadn’t adopted Clark, Jonathan would still be alive.”
October 12th, 2008 at 8:21 am
It happened with Civil War, and that still had a big bump sales-wise, so Diehard DCU fans will buy it anyway seeing as the context was only the last 2 pages not the entire issue.
October 12th, 2008 at 9:44 am
I thought it was a nice scene, not really any better or any worse than All Star Superman just a bit different. The emotion was about the same for both issues.
I don’t think it was “necessary” but I also don’t think it’s “unnecessary.”
I don’t mind it being “spoiled” since anyone reading it already knew it was coming. They’ve been foreshadowing this since Kurt Busiek was on Superman and before that Meltzer JLA and even the Countdown teaser kinda implied something. However, I wonder if anyone outside those already reading the titles would care. Haven’t most Superman fans already seen this in the Movie or in Smallville?
October 12th, 2008 at 10:33 am
I find it funny that people keep referring the death as if Donner was the guy that came up with the idea. Pa Kent has been dead/dying since forever. My one hope is that Johns and Robinson actually use his loss to further show how human Superman really is. Far too many people think that he’s a boring character that’s unstoppable, that he can’t be hurt. A character is only as boring as it’s writer
October 12th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I agree that was already done, and better, in All Star Supes, and I definitely agree with this Diamondrock that the original Donner Superman movie is indeed mediocre. Great in its time — and it’s all we had back in 1978 — but it hasn’t aged well. It comes off as nostalgic and quaint today. Why DC’s been trying to make the book more like it, and bring back the Silver Age across the board in its titles (Is Clark going to become a TV anchor again?), is beyond me.
Well, once WB reboots Superman for the movies (and hopefully does a good job of it) maybe the books will pull away from the over-the-top Donner love too. Bryan Singer’s already proven it doesn’t make for good Superman in the 21st century.
October 12th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I guess they mean that the movie came up with the idea of Pa Kent dying solo, and the heart problem as the cause.
October 12th, 2008 at 11:53 am
We’ll have to see where it goes before judging whether it’s good or bad. I’m optimistic. It *does* bring pathos to the character, but I don’t think it’s unnecessary. It remains to be seen what Johns and other writers will do with it.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
“They killed Jonathan! Those bastards!”
But…
He might still be alive.
Or he might be a clone.
Or Superman might make a deal with the devil where he gets taken back to before he got married, still living in Smallville with Ma and Pa Kent.
October 12th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
jedidotflow, it’s not that nobody cared, it’s that it’s impossible to bring up its effect on other books since it’s its own thing and Morrison telling his Perfect Superman Story. This is the dad of The Main Superman who died, and that is, for some reason I can’t comprehend for the life of me, a Thing to the Media.
October 12th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
What about Ma?
She’s gonna be marginalized now. I hope they find a place for her in Supergirl.
As for Pa, I’m curious why no one’s compared it to his golden age or Smallville deaths.
PS – even Pa has died and come back before… So; written in stone this is not.
October 12th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
All Star S.M. did it so much better, so that when I came to the end of this issue, I was kinda like, “Oh…really? Hm.”
October 12th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
BUT…the one possible redeeming factor to this, is it will be interesting to see Superman get a new “extended family” in the form of Kandor, as he loses part of his Earth family, especially since, this will take a turn for the worse, as he also realizes he has much more in common with the ideals set by his Pa…I’d assume. It could be interesting, but honestly, I’m so tired of death in comics; I don’t mean there shouldn’t ever be the consequence of death, just…DC should lay off it for awhile, “..and pray for a resurrection,” an all that.
October 12th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
It’s pointless. The whole “angsty orphan” angle has been done to death by characters that wear it a lot better than Superman. I always thought one of the things that made him interesting was that he actually had a family life, which opens up whole new characterization and storytelling possibilities that moping over a headstone doesn’t.
Plus, having every superhero obsess over their parent(s) to such and extent that it’s one of their only defining character traits just reinforces the stereotype that the characters themselves are just adolescent proxies that allow underdeveloped kidults to remain chained to a childish perception of their own parents. Seriously, these characters think about mommy and daddy way too much. Think of something more interesting to do.
If that’s not enough reasons to vote thumbs-down, I honestly think DC has some sort of morbid death-fetish where they’re killing off characters because they can’t think of anything better to do with them and they just like doing it.
Plus, as everybody with a brainstem knows, Morrison did it better. Duh.
October 13th, 2008 at 12:13 am
“What troubles me more is the fact that All-Star Superman dealt with Pa’s death in a more interesting and heart-rending way, yet no one cared because it’s not “in continuity.””
I doubt that at this point there’s much overlap between the readerships of Morrison’s excellent take on Superman and the mediocre take currently on display in the main book. One of the many virtues of All-Star Superman is that it reminds the reader of mediocre Superman comics that it’s possible to make good ones.
October 13th, 2008 at 1:34 am
Why would Pa’s death leave Ma marginalized?
And really, so what if Morrison did it better? By that logic, no one should be telling ANY Superman stories since Alan Moore so ably closed the book on him; no one’s done it better since.
October 13th, 2008 at 7:32 am
@Rob S.
I just don’t see many writers spending their precious few 22 pages detailing the adventures of Ma Kent; widow.
Any gimmicky move to Metropolis turns it into ‘Everyone Loves Clark’ with his nagging mother living across the apartment hall.
The more I think about it the more I hope she finds a home in Supergirl.
October 13th, 2008 at 10:35 am
But they never spent 22 pages detailing the adventures of Ma & Pa Kent: Elderly Couple. Superman had conversations with them before; he’ll continue to have conversations with her now. If anything, her presence might be felt even more in the coming months, as Clark comes to grips with this.
I hope she doesn’t move to Metropolis, and I doubt she will. Given how Clark can visit her anytime he likes anyhow, there’s nothing to be gained by the move, and a vibrant setting to be lost.
October 13th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Am I the only one who thinks Geoff Johns’ parents have become the most unstoppable, powerful DC villains of all?
October 13th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Last spring’s meme was crying about how Dan DiDio should be fired.
This fall’s meme seems to be whining about how DC writes its characters.
If you aren’t enjoying what you are reading, then stop reading it. You’ll all be happier when you stop reading whatever it is that is making you all so damned cranky.
October 13th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
@Coil
What if it’s just a part of the experience, that lessens all of it?
That’s worth discussing at least.