Monday, May 19, 2014

Superman: The Kansas Sighting #2


Superman The Kansas Sighting #2
After a lovely opening chapter, Book 2 of Superman: The Kansas Sighting quickly became a hot mess. After discovering his father on the alien ship that kidnapped him in the previous issue, Superman/ Clark Kent declares war on extraterrestrial life. See, it appears that Jor-El did abduct humans prior to sending his infant son to earth. Rather that listen to his 'father’s' explanation, The Man of Steel gets bitchy and starts a war with anything that looks like a little grey man.

Seriously, this just doesn’t seem like something Superman would do. But, he feels so betrayed at having honored his Kryptonian parents for so long that the mere shock at learning that his people kidnapped humans sends him into a rage. Here’s the kicker, we later learn that the humans kidnapped by Jor-El’s probe, were collected deceased. One of the characters in this book claims her son was alive when he was kidnapped by Jor-El, so how did he die? It’s never explained. In fact, if the mother did it, which I think happened just prior to the alien contact, instead of being brought to justice, she’s literally rewarded with a chance to spend the rest of her days with her boy.

The other issue with this book I have is that the probe used by Jor-El has somehow gotten stuck on autopilot after losing communication with its creator after the destruction of Krypton. Thus, looking for new instructions and a new master, the probe continues to abduct people- living people who when returned to earth report of being experimented on. I like the idea of the probe seeking out the last surviving Kryptonian as its pilot. But in executing this mission, the probe has contradicted itself. So, which is it- live humans or dead humans being kidnapped?


If this review seems confusing, that’s probably because of how much of a mess this closing chapter is. Kansas Sighting started out with promise and quickly fell into disrepair. I’m not even going to hype how this chapter takes much of its inspiration of the little lost probe from the train wreck (that I actually love a lot) that is Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

I just thank God that there wasn’t a third installment in this series. I don’t think I could’ve stomached it.


Not Worth Consuming!


Rating: 3 out of 10 stars.

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