So… I was okay with what Bendis was doing (still am for the most part), but in terms of the Kent marriage/family I’m not so sure anymore….
#spoilers
The gist of this book is that Clark and Lois finally reconnect after all the hoopla surrounding her bizarre return/behavior. In the midst of moonlight love making, Lois spills the beans to Clark that everything is great; Jon and Jor-El are having a grand time in space and the kid is really starting to grow, and Lois feels revitalised in life. Yeah… Lois is totally cool with Jon galavanting with Jor through space and she is totally fine with being low-key-avoiding-Clark, because she’s got a juicy book to work on.
Ok… Sure. I’ll give it a shot. Apparently Superman does, too, mostly because Lois keeps stressing that it’s a great thing that the Kent family be off doing their own things and it’s such a wonderful time.
…
I mean, really? After Tomasi’s run that was all about the growth this family underwent, we’re now gonna treat them like Jon’s grown up and Lois and Clark are divorced, but it’s all cool and they’re all still a family, AND it’s ok simply because Lois feels that their lives will never be normal?
No. No thanks. That’s not proper family etiquette, especially not after a solid fifty issue run of them coming together and discovering themselves as a unit. Bendis is just gonna chuck that out the window? I don’t buy it, man. I’m half convinced that this isn’t really Lois, which would be great, because something about all this just does not work for me. But that’s just me.
I still like the writing. I love Bendis’ way of threading dialogue, and I especially love the recurrent interjections of Superman stopping mid-conversation to fly across the world to save the day in two seconds. It feels grounded, fun, and fresh. Superman is going good with the Rogal Zarr stuff, and even the Red Cloud plot is intriguing here in Action Comics, I just don’t know how I feel about muddling with the Kent family after all the work Tomasi put into it.
I get that Bendis is sort of moulding Superman back into the standard Superman as most people know, but I feel like the way he’s taking is a little rushed. I don’t know. I’m enjoying it, but he’s dancing a fine line that we’ll see whether or not ends bad in the issues to come.
TL;DR Score: Lois calls Clark “baby” just a little too much… Is this Bendis’s new “tuchas?” Or is this really Lois at all?… I’m still unsure.
TL;DR Comics 