Up to now-ish I’ve been having a pretty good time with Superman and have been like, “Why did they kill this guy off? Things are going great!”
Then I read Panic in the sky.
Panic in the Sky would be a really good, bonkers crossover with Brainiac taking over Warworld and trying to crash it into Earth, but the problem is that there is SO MUCH going on and SO LITTLE to care about.
I wish I would write to DC and be like:
1. Nobody thinks Guy Gardener is awesome. He has red hair fashioned by the same barber as Moe from the Three Stooges. His last name is Gardener instead of, I don’t know, BloodAxe. He’s dressed like Pat Benatar becoming a Green Lantern. He’s not badass just because he says sassy things.
2. Why would you try and make a love story between Supergirl (who is just some weird shapeshifter blob woman) and a monster man gladiator guy? Both of them are pretty much blank slates as characters, why make them in love? What does that gain anyone?
3. Can we please stop with Gangbuster, who is just a lesser Batman who raided the Spaceballs costume department?
This guy is so boring. And the graphic design of his logo, clearly a throwaway design from the company that made DARE t-shirts in the 90’s, is terrible.
4. With all the flashbacks going on here, why don’t you give us a single flashback to Lex Luthor’s brain being in a cloned body and then pretending to be his own son? You don’t think that’s important information, but every other panel is someone going, “Gosh, I remember how you helped me out during that whole mess with the mole people or whatever, see issue #585.” Not one nod to this developing, insane, soap opera plot where Lex Luthor is also apparently affecting an Australian accent to throw everyone off the scent?
I’m not totally on the “Only thing to do now is kill him” train, but I can see why Superman fans, and especially non-fans of comics, would be pretty bored with the boy in blue at this point.