Generally, couldn't find a thread like this, even when I searched in the "Search" bar, obviously, so here it is. We can use this thread to basically discuss anything related to the Superman Unchained comic book series, scans are also allowed as well as spoilers.

So to start things of, having had issue 2 released earlier this week, how are you guys finding the current series and what are your criticisms/appraisals so far?

What are your views over the whole concept of the "Ascension" terrorist group as Superman's enemy, along with Lex Luthor (who from the looks of things is about to make an appearance shortly in the future) as well as the new villain, Wraith.

And feel free to discuss further anything you wish to talk about involving Superman Unchained.

Fire away viners!

Scotts doing a god job cant lie he is doing pretty well with Superman

There is entire " Prohblem with Suoerman unchained #2 SPOILERS!!!" thread already.

Jim Lee's art amazing, its too soon to talk about direction, in whitch Snyder lead series. There is some things I didn't like, but overall my expectations high.

True, but that's for Superman Unchained issue 2 only, this thread applies to the entire series.

What things didn't you like?

Hmmm This new Wraith guy...Wonder what he can do.

Well i don't think it is a breath-taking story so far but better than the rest superman stories out there.

For some reason i feel that Wraith won't fight superman in the next issue he just wanted to help him

@enigmalantern:

Didn't like the whole "can't find Bruce"-thing. If this costume nullified super sight, then what about super hearing and super smell? If costume nullified them as well, why it wasn’t said clear?

On other hand, its step up in comparison with Pre-52 universe, because then Bruce were invisible even without some techno-costumes. I find the whole concept “ninja training>kryptonian senses“ is one big PIS.

Disliked fact that human-made weapon can hurt Supes so much. He looked better after taking Omega-beams for Darkseid. Military created some “black hole bullets” – even in DC universe I don’t think that creating compact, self-sustaining black holes justified. It’s just too difficult. With stretch of imagination can think of big, experimental, untransportable black hole generator, but black hole bullets – simply no. In the end Snyder simply created new weakness for Supes (because now kryptonite became more rare substance then before).

Concerned that that Wrath is sun-based creature and apparently more powerful then Superman. I know that Superman not the most strongest creature in DC-universe, not even on Earth, but I liked fact that Supes – strongest sun-based on Earth. Now he probably isn’t.

Maybe in later issues everything became better, Snyder usually good author.

@sanohibiki:

• The Omega beams knocked him out and he was carried off by a parademon. This was hurting him in a different way. They are not comparable weapons imo.
• Why shouldn't ninja skills be better than krytonian sense? If Bruce isn't moving Clark can't hear him. Bruce can hold his breath and hide his heartbeat. Clark won't be able to see him because of how the suit works. Since when is super smell an established ability? I see no issue with Bruce hiding from Clark due to his skill and the suit.
• We need to wait to see the story behind Wraith before jumping to conclusions.

@muyjingo:

• I know that there are different weapons. Still…

Omega beam knocked Supes out, then he was tortured on Apocalypse. Then Bruce disconnects him from those torture devices. Superman stands up, little shaken, and then went back into battle with Darkseid like nothing happened to him at all.

There. One direct heat – and instant KO. Supes looks half dead, can’t stand, leek blood from nose and ears. My Superman’s fan mind doesn’t want to accept it as something from canon.

• Wow, I didn’t know that Bruce such bad-ass that he can stop beating of his heart at will. About ninja skills, in my mind it goes like that “ninja skills=at peak of humans capabilities<kryptonian senses=much beyond humans capabilities”. Supes’s sense of hearing was depicted as hearing how clouds move in the sky and how blood flows throw veins in body. In new 52-universe, in some Superman issue (12, I think) Lobdell gave Clark some sonar ability – what Clark hears, his brain translate in image without using his eyes. Sound can be described like air waves, or air distortions. When Bruce sneaks up on Clark from back, he moved, that means that he did made these air distortions. Why Clark didn’t hear it? ( If in comic were said that costume nullified sound too, I wouldn’t complain at all).

Action Comics 22. When this infinitium android enters the room, Clark identified him as anomaly by smell in "passive" mode, only then he uses active power - x-ray vision.

• Bruce said that Clark “pull in about one hundred and forty gigawatts of solar energy at any given moment. But this being (Wraith) is pulling in almost a hundred and sixty”. Pretty sure that means that Wraith stronger, plus plot nearly demands it. What use in superpowered villain if he is weaker than hero?

After all what were said, it’s just minor plotholes (or even what I consider as plotholes) that bothered me. I am looking forward to next issues.

@sanohibiki: Omega beam vs the weapon we saw in unchained is like a bloody nose which causes tears and blood to go everywhere, vs just getting knocked out and waking up with a concussion. I see no problem with the different weapons. One doesn't make the other look weaker.

Bruce can't stop his heart beating but in a JLA comic he built a device that hid his heartbeat from Superman, so there is precedent. He actually does know many yoga/meditation techniques to slow his heartbeat to pretend to be dead although that isn't what he was doing here and it probably wouldn't fool superman.

I see your point about sound...but I think you just have to assume it was nullifying sound. Which isn't a problem since it was built to hide from Superman....it's a pretty reasonable assumption.

As far as smell....maybe the batcave stinks of bat droppings, and Bruce's smell is faint and overshadowed. Is that not reasonable?

I know what was said about Wraithe, but we need to see the rest of the story. It's that simple.

I just reread issue one of unchained and I'm extremely upset that after such a strong first issue this series has slowly deteriorated. Call me crazy but that first issue, reads like Snyder was setting up something that would run for more than just 9 issues. I hate DC comics...

Symbol of Wraith's ass about to get kicked by Supes, with Bats and Wonder Woman smiling:)

Priceless.

Bump

Snyder has tweeted a penciled and inked panel from Superman Unchained #8. It looks like Page 16 and it involves Superman punching Wraith in the face. Looks like we'll get a warm up before the main event in Unchained #9.

I hope they deliver on the awesome fight they have been telling us is going to happen.

Based on this preview image and the solicits for Unchained #9, I think we're gonna get more Superman vs Wraith action now than ever. The reason Lee is taking so long to finish rather than abide by a monthly schedule is to try and do the best rendition of Snyder's script that he can. And for the most part, Lee's renditions have been a sight to behold. His action scenes can be very well done too.

I dont care about Wraith(another in a long list of boring Superman wannabes),I wanna know what Luthor's planning.

Up until now I've been finding the characters more appealing than the stories themselves. Wraith for one is quite mysterious. He not only seems to know a lot about kriptonians but also what their potential is.

Wraith has been shown to hold some secret agenda of his own, the fact that he gave Gen. Lane all that tech, makes it more than clear that his main objective to having come to Earth was to give earthlings the way to destroy themselves. I cannot trust a being from a race with superior technology that allows himself to become a bomb and kill thousands of people in a war, or any situation. The mere fact that he allied himself with only one nation, makes his intentions quite clear. The main question to me is his relationship with Superman. He's shown has being more powerful than Superman but he's been trying more to convert him and make him see is point of view than actually trying to kill him. And when he says that one day the order may come for him to dispose of Superman, I don't believe that he was refering to Gen. Lane orders, but actually from his own race, that he claims to have no contact with.

Lex... Lex is back to his old tricks. And actually his masterplan, to me is gonna be more of the same, to me he most have super-saturated Jimmy's hands with microscopic green-K so that when he comes in direct contact with Superman, supes will get fatally poisoned, and maybe just maybe... Wraith of all characters will be the one to save Superman's life in the end.

Either way it's been interesting in some points but frustrating in others. I would have liked to have seen Superman handle this entire situation all by himself without involving Batman and Wonder Woman. He could have synthesized that radioactive material that affect Wraith by himself but he didn't, he had Batman do it, he could have analyzed the sattelite wreckage matterials by himself, but again he had Batman do it. And even the way Gen. Lane was able to break through the defenses of supes fortress, was way to easy, seeing that not long ago Superman himself said that he had created it so it could withstand any force on Earth, even himself if it had to. Then they show him wearing that badass cool armour only to have it shatter in a few strikes.

It's like Superman is being pulled into a corner, so he has no chance but to stop being the nice guy and unleash his powers completely and cause mass destruction.

@lvenger: this fight better be good.

I'm sure it will be, we've waited long enough for it anyway.

@lvenger: is this issue coming out today?

Afraid not, it's coming out on September 10th.

@lvenger: poopstick!

You'll be even more annoyed then that the final issue won't be out till October 29th.

Now that I didn't know until now...I have literally no words.

Yep but to be fair Jim would never have been able to get 2 issues out in 1 month. That's just beyond his limits as an artist :P

@lvenger: Superman Unchained has given me a lower opinion of Jim Lee in the form of time managment, he's art is great and has a great look and gives the story a great feel, but doesn't make up for the lack of time management.

EDIT: I don't expect him to release 2 issues in one month but then again I do expect him to do what almost every other creative team does - keep to the given schedule and release an issue per month (excluding event months like Villain's Month last September).

Yeah same here, I still love his art but my God, his art takes too long to finish. His delay has hampered the pacing of Superman Unchained despite the large scale story Snyder is doing. I agree that he should have stuck to his original schedule and only made a few exceptions in extreme circumstances but Jim Lee has become known for his delays in the comic book industry. This isn't the first time he's done this.

@enigmalantern: @allstarsuperman: BTW Snyder has just tweeted that there'll be a massive fight in Superman Unchained #8 so at least there'll be action to make up for the delays.

@squalleon: But there's been no preview for it whatsoever. If you look at DC's Roundup of previews on their site, you'll only find Future's End Previews. There's nothing on Superman Unchained #8 whatsoever.

Indeed. I was worried for a sec but Snyder has confirmed that it comes out tomorrow. Maybe they don't want to spoil anything. Who knows?

@lvenger said:

@enigmalantern: @allstarsuperman: BTW Snyder has just tweeted that there'll be a massive fight in Superman Unchained #8 so at least there'll be action to make up for the delays.

That sounds really nice. Long waiting as always but at least they will be paying off.

I thought it was only issue 9 that was going to be oversized? So alongside the delays I'll have to pay an extra dollar, fair play DC.

@lvenger: After all this damn wait I hope Superman breaks Wraith's neck at the end of this series.

:P

Two questions, is Issue 8 out tomorrow?

To guys like @lvenger and @squalleon

Do you guys prefer Unchained, or Superman (Geoff johns) from Issue 32 onwards?

Hopefully your suggestion will be right. It's definitely coming out tomorrow though, Snyder's tweeted about it twice in a row and various sources say it's coming out tomorrow so I doubt DC would pull a fast one and cancel the issue orders.

Issue 8 will come out tomorrow Snyder said in his twitter.

Tough question. I think I enjoy Superman more just because it comes in a monthly basis. I would lie if I didn't admit that the delays have killed much of the excitement I had for Unchained. Also Superman has only being going for 3 months so I don't have a complete picture for it especially since the story is slow paced. I think Johns portrays Superman very well he managed to find the silver lining pleasing both the new 52 and the pre-52 crowd. I love the character interactions and the return of the classic cast but I don't like the very slow pace the story has. It all comes down in what you prefer, Superman gives rich character interactions, character driven stories and a blend of old and new both in concept and in portrayal, Unchained gives rich plot, action and a story driven experience.

@bezza: Well it's hard to compare Snyder's Unchained and Johns' Superman for me for 2 different reasons. One because they're both different stories and two because both are at different points in their respective stories.

For one, Snyder's Unchained is a big, sprawling epic story that tests Superman's place in the world and what he stands for and whether his actions really are the right thing. And Snyder's Superman counterpart of Wraith is more about contrasting Superman's activity in the world. In contrast, Johns' tale is a much slower, character driven world building arc that looks at Superman's world and cast over time, building up to its ultimate crescendo piece by piece. And where Wraith poses a psychological challenge to Superman, Ulysses is meant to be a human mirror to Superman. A human who was raised an alien compared to Superman who was an alien raised as a human.

But you don't want me pussy footing round your question I bet. So my final answer is for now, I do prefer Unchained for its philosophical, thought provoking study of Superman and his place in the world as Johns' Superman run hasn't gotten off the runway yet. But in time, I think I will come to prefer Johns' Superman as he's writing the character in a classical characterisation and bringing back a lot of classic tenants of the Superman mythos.

@squalleon@lvenger

Thanks and it is a tough call isn't it! I've gotta say that this year Snyder has stepped up in my estimation to become one of my very favourite writers due to me buying Black Mirror and Court of Owls and enjoying the Zero Year Batman stuff I've read. Johns was already my favourite DC writer of all, so great that they're both writing Superman at the moment!

Part of me wishes I hadn't cancelled Unchained after issue 5, but man, those delays got too much for an impatient old git like me!!

@bezza: Well then you might be even more disappointed given the preview for Superman Unchained #8 looks. There's all out action right from the beginning. And according to this quote from user TDK1997,

Guys, I want to say that I saw the preview like 15 minutes ago and I just wanted to see it but I also had the issue in my hands as well. I just finished reading it and I want to share with you that it may be the second best issue so far, the big fight between Superman and Wraith continued around 20 pages without stopping and the dialogue around it was beyond great. After the fight had ended(it ended in a really entertaining and cool way) the final pages revealed something that I didn't expect and we really have to hope to see the next issue faster because it is going to be one great last issue!

It does indeed go drom deep space to almost the core of the Earth. THe battle was all around the world and in different places and every attack from both of them was unique and not overused. Also we managed to see Superman show some fighting skills against Wraith.