Superman Vs. Zod

This volume collects some but not all of the appearances of General Zod. However, he's such a non-player in many of these stories, that DC really shouldn't list Zod on the title of this book. He's not even in the first story included here! Instead, the book should be called Superman: Adventures in the Phantom Zone. 

The first story is from a 1961 Superboy story. It introduces the concept of the phantom zone projector which will become a staple of many Superman family related tales. 

Zod appears in a couple of stories from the late 70s. But the star of that two-parter is a female Kryptonian named Faora-Ul. She's a precursor to Ursa, Zod's right hand man, er woman, from Superman II. I'm wondering why this character got a new name/identity in the movies? Copyright payments to the creating artist, maybe?

Zod and Faora return for another 2-parter set right around the end of the Pre-Crisis era. Zod's got a slightly bigger role. But really, this episode from DC Comics Presents is more about Jor-El and the creation of the phantom zone projector than about the evils of Zod's military attempted coup. 

We don't really see Zod in all his soldierly glory until the last story. It tells of the Science Council's cover-up of the impending destruction of Krypton. Plus it calls the Ursa character Ursa. And there's the tragic character of Non finally!

This all leads up to a big question: why were the leaders of Krypton so eager to deny that the planet was about to explode? Has the reasons for their conspiracy ever been explored? And if so, where can I read this tale?

This was a very good collection of Superman stories. But it offered more questions than answers. Plus, it really doesn't feature Zod enough to be a Zod book. I am wondering if this is why I was able to find a copy of this book at Ollie's for only $2!

Enjoyable but definitely nowhere near anything you'd expect from that dynamic cover pitting the last son's of Krypton in mortal combat.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

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Man of Steel: A Retro Review

I've been cleaning out my archives and discovered that I never posted this review of 2013's Man of Steel. Well, better late than never...

It’s been a few weeks since Man of Steel came out and from what I saw, it was fantastic. The film’s made over $530 million worldwide and yet it’s been panned by critics and viewers alike. I think the trouble was that this Superman isn’t just 'not your dad’s Superman', he’s not really the Man of Steel you remember growing up with.

The Henry Cavill Superman is essentially the New 52 Superman with tones of Superman: Earth One and New Krypton Superman thrown in.

This Superman isn’t quite so concerned about his secret identity. The world’s got more serious problems these days and trying to keep a pesky girl reporter from finding out who you are when the cape comes off is not one of those problems.

Now, does that mean this Superman wants to be found? Absolutely not! But since this Clark Kent is still trying to find his place in this world, he’s more free to run when his powers are reveal to the public then to try and fool the public with robot look-a-likes or blaming swamp gas bouncing off of Venus for what looks like a young man pulling a tractor off Old Man McGregor.

People gave Cavill a bad rap for not separating his Kent and Kal-El personas. But, at this point in Superman’s career he’s always been Clark Kent and only now finding out he’s from Krypton.

The casting is spot on for the most part. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are the perfect models for Ma and Pa Kent. Laurence Fishbourne is a fantastic Perry White, who does such a great job that you don’t hear people yelling at the screen “Perry’s a white guy in the comics!” With the actor, race doesn’t matter and he transcends the role. Russell Crowe’s Jor-El is quite good, but he’s even better as a ghost acting as the AI tutor to Clark as he discovers his Kryptonian heritage.

The biggest problem I had was with Amy Adams. She’s not bad as Lois Lane, but she’s not great either. I think some of that problem has to do with her acting chops. Fishbourne’s Perry White is black, yet he’s got the role of Daily Planet Editor down pat to which fans have correctly overlooked this. Adams’ Lane is gutsy but she’s just a little too aloof an actress to play Lois Lane as opposed to Margot Kidder or even Teri Hatcher. There’s just a little chemistry missing in that part.

And where the heck is Jimmy Olsen???

Lastly, let’s talk about the villain: General Zod. This Zod has been bred for war and to protect Krypton at all costs. He blames Jor-El for his planet’s demise and since Jor-El is dead, then naturally, the general sees that the sins of the father is past down to the son.

SPOILER- I’d heard how Man of Steel ends and I thought to myself, “Superman doesn’t kill.” But I was happy with the ending because Zod placed Superman in a Kobyashi Maru situation. He could either submit to Zod, thus dooming planet earth or allow Zod’s heat vision to turn a family of four into charcoal brickettes. Superman had to kill Zod, but you can tell he had no choice and thankfully, they show Superman in a moment of pain after everything transpires. They don’t have him shrug it off and fly out into the sunset.

In the end, I was very pleased with Zack Snyder’s efforts and I commend him. Good job. The only problem is now how do you follow up with s sequel. You can’t just focus on Lex Luthor, who thankfully was absent from a Superman film for the first time in history. To focus on a villain any lower than Brainiac or maybe a Luthor/ Brainiac team-up will just be an understatement.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Superman Family Adventures #10

   Superman Family Adventures by Art Baltazar and Franco is one of my favorite all-ages series. It's normally very well written, humorous, and extremely clever. I'm not sure what happened with this issue.

   Superman in an attempt to reunite his mother and father accidentally frees General Zod and family from the Phantom Zone. Zod's got revenge on his mind and he's decided to take it out on the Family of Steel by selling... hot dogs? When Zod uses a special salt to turn dogs 50 feet tall in an attempt to conqueror the earth, I literally slapped my head and tossed this book across the room. Meanwhile, a Brainiac drone visited Superman's space satellite and dressed up as a cowboy. What the---

    This issue was awful. It's the worst one of the entire series and I was so disappointed. I've read dozens of stories by Baltazar and Franco and I've never been disappointed. But sometimes even the Yankees lose a World Series or two...

    This issue does progress the story line of Superman's mother surviving the destruction of Krypton. And I thought having her and Zod's wife be like two doting housewives while the hubby's fight it out was very funny. But that was about the only thing about this issue that was any good.

   Not Worth Consuming

   Rating: 4 out of 10 stars.