Necroziel

Hey G-Man and pals! I started reading Superman recently and I'm pretty confused. You couldn't tell me what was happening with Hector Hammond and Superman in issues #19 and #20 could you ? Because I really don't get it.

@joshmightbe: firstly I Massively overreact when I stub my toe, Hulk level rage. Seriously though I watched the film, I saw the reaction. I didn't see it the way you did that's personal interpretation.

You've got to admit though, it would have been far more interesting to see superman deal with those emotions, if as you say hes moved passed those feelings. I mean maybe he tells Lois he's taken a life and never again and blah blah sanctity of life or something like that. I mean give him some character development. Also you say times passed a month? That's a short time to get over something like that. And if he did get over why wouldn't you want to show the audience. It would given the character some depth.

I'm getting off topic really here though into the deeper flaws of the film. It was a fun flick, a bit of a let down for me. This list is really just me nitpicking for fun. I enjoy the discussion though.

P.s deaf god id hate a broody superman. I was worried he might have been with Nolans involvement.

@joshmightbe: I mention in the blog post and in my previous comment, that I understand why Zod had to die. I get that. My issue is with the way it's handled, he shows about as much anguish as I do when I stub my little toe. Sure I yell, but I soon get over it. That's exactly what supes does in this film. I don't want him to mourn Zod, I want him to be appalled at what Zod had him do. But nope instead he shouts at the sky then it's off to hilarious banter with lois in the daily planet! A city had been destroyed and a species, his species doomed to extinction. Do we get any emotion from him. Nope. That's bad writing. That's my issue with the whole Zod being killed thing.

Also has superman really killed dozens of times? As I say I'm not massively into supes so this is more a general question.

@joshmightbe: I'm not really a huge superman fan and don't consider myself a "true" fan at all

But as a casual readerI know that at the core of superman a character he doesn't kill. Sure people can name a handful of examples of when he has. but I garuntee that there are more stories where him not killing is brought up.

Secondly my issues not with killing Zod. It's far more his reaction to killing Zod that I disliked.

Also why do people keep bringing up superman 2? I never said that film was perfect or even that i liked it? Superman sleeps with Lois Lame and then erases her memory! That's far worse than what happens in this film.

@drgnx: sorry I didn't realise there was a man of steel forum. I just typed superman in the blog tag thingy.

But on the other hand at least it's provoked some debate and didcussion.

@bogey: I can assure you that i don't look like that I look more like the picture provided.

Second of all. I mention a few times that I actually think this movies ok, its just a let down. How about instead of stonewalling me, you enter into a bit of spirited debate. I've been chatting to a few people about the movie and some have even manage to convince me of things and make me think about the film in different ways. All you've done is join in with those people who seem to dislike criticism just because it's not their opinion.

1) Superman killed Zod. "He hasn't done that before"....well how else do you expect him to stop an invulnerable meta being who has promised to wipe out humanity? Its not like you can lock him up. This action was clearly shown as last resort, something that he didn't want to do, but he was putting mankind first. Oh and he killed Zod in Superman 2 if you remember.

Superman’s killed before, we know that. But you’ve got to admit that not killing is a fundamental part of the character. I’m sure that big time Superman fans could show you more examples where he refuses to kill over example of him killing. I thought it was clear in the film that he had no other choice but to kill Zod, and that’s fine. The problem was his reaction. He falls to his knees and cries for a few seconds before suddenly being fine. If in the sequel he deals with the fallout of killing, then brilliant but as we can only judge a film of what it’s shown so far… I was less than pleased. It left a sour taste in my mouth. Him killing Zod with a manic grin on his face in Superman 2 is hilarious by the way.

2) Superman showed a vindictive streak in trashing that truck. He hasn't done that before.... Really? And didn't superman go back and beat up that bully at the diner who had previously beaten up the powerless Clark in Superman 2?

I actually thought this film dealt really well with Clark’s attitude to bullies. He never really lashed out at them. Except that truck driver but as you say Supes is all about protecting the little man and that guy was a bully.

3) This is the weakest showing of Superman ever.... Really? What, even weaker than the superman who was knocked out for some minutes by the coach that was thrown by the Kryptonians in Superman 2. I don't think so.

He couldn't lift the oil rig structure.....Nope, the film was showing how he didn't manifest his full powers until after he met his father.

Are we talking weakest in terms of strength? I agree with you he was plenty powerful. Especially when you consider that he’s spent his life restraining himself amongst humans.

4) Superman doesn't care for the people any more.... What, did you miss the first half of the film where he saved a schoolbus full of kids, the oil rig workers, the lady who was being harassed in the saloon where he worked, etc.

Obviously they didn’t miss the first half of the film. My personal problem is more with the ridiculous amount of collateral damage that’s occurring in metropolis. I realise there’s nothing he could really do, but all the film needed was a scene of him looking appalled at the destruction or at least seeming to care and it would have been fine. Take for example Cap helping people in the bank in Avengers. A small scene like that would have given Supes some humanity.

5) The action scenes were too long and too manic. ....Look, this is superman, the whole idea is to see him do his stuff. He is a super powered being. If he fights someone of equal power, things get trashed!

The action in this movie was incredible. The way the characters moved was like a comic book come to life.

6) This isn't the boy scout, cat saving supes....Yep, they tried that in Superman Returns and it flopped.

In superman returns Clark is a dead beat dad who ran away from his kid. Not really a boy scout. I’d argue this Clark was more of a boy scout to be honest. He didn’t hit bullies. He didn’t smile when he killed Zod. He wasn’t horrible to Lois. This version of Supes seemed quite naïve to be honest and like a “boy scout”.

I went into the film with an open mind and was disappointed, I liked the film, but I wanted to love it. It had flashes of greatness; it wasn’t goofy or too dark, it handled Supes realistically, it created a fantastic world and set its self-up for a sequel. But It was a mess in terms of structure and editing. I didn’t notice the score at all and I didn’t really know anything about the characters except what I knew from the comics. The story was weak it wanted to be like batman begins and mix an origin with a contemporary story and that meant it watered itself down. These are my real issues with the film.

@symbiotic: See that's exactly it! A moment which should be awesome is ruined because we've seen Clark fly and therefore presumed that they could all do it.

p.s I really liked the way he ran up walls reminded me of Prototype.

I am yeah, I plan on writing one of these for every issue. I've got a lot to say about some of the later issues.

Hello G-man, I'm a big fan of the website and it was your podcasts that got me into comics. I started out with Dan Slotts "Big Time" and before I knew it I'd collected the entirety of Brand New Day up to issue 700 of ASM. Also I'm enjoying superior spider-man. The problem is that I'm now feeling a bit lost. I want to keep reading spider-man but I don't know where to start, I've got a few of the Amazing spidey marvel essentials and the first volume of J. Michael Straczynski's run, but I don't really know what to read. So my question is, in your opinion which spiderman story is essential reading for a spidey fan? P.s. thank you all for getting me to read Mat Fractions FF