Superman #8

While I still don't like the change in status quo for Jon, I still find the story of how it happened to be quite fascinating. I find that I am enjoying this story even though I am not sure that I want to. This puts me in the unique position of liking the story, yet hoping that it gets negated or retconned away. But for now, I'm content just to see where Bendis is taking Superman and his family. Read Full Review

Bendis is doing a stellar job at storytelling on this arc. I personally felt Clark's pain, you can tell Jon is happy to be home, Lois you can feel for her as a mother. I cannot wait for the next issue. This issue is a solid 10. This story proves that superheroes don't have to punch its way through an issue but shows every book can have a heart. Read Full Review

So to sum up:youreally should be reading this series. Read Full Review

Bendis is building the foundations of a cool "Jonathan Kent return to Earth" story. My guess is that this arc will be devoted to acclimating the reader to Jonathan as a teenager and showing the adjustments Clark and Lois have made to accept this huge change in their son. Read Full Review

The art by Ivan Reis is wonderful. He does an amazing job and never phones it in. He is grouped quite well with Peterson here and it makes for a quite an issue. Let's hope the twists and turns keep coming. I'm enjoying the ride thus far! Read Full Review

When all is read and done this issue was another piece of what is currently forming a great picture. If Bendis can continue to keep the story grounded in the emotion he has thus far built into his narrative, and if the illustrative team continues to capture these moments with the superb skill it has shown so far, I would say this could end up being a truly great story arc for Superman. Read Full Review

There are some punch-happy, space laser-filled action scenes that just sing in their detail and dynamism. Read Full Review

Reis and Peterson generate some dynamic and beautiful art that is punctuated by great inks and colors by Prado and Sinclair. All of the details in the panels look great. Read Full Review

If you have a strong connection to Superman (along with Lois and Jon), this issue will likely bring out a variety of emotions. The ending of the issue feels like we will be taking a fun, but unnecessary detour in the upcoming issues. I would have liked us to continue hearing Jon's emotional journey and less of the action portion. Of course, I'm speculating slightly in that regard. Read Full Review

This run still doesn't work quite as well as Bendis' other DC titles at the moment, but this is my favorite arc yet. Read Full Review

Jons storywill continue next issue, so if you want your Superman fix, you should probablycheck out the latest issue of ActionComics, while this series is (temporarily, maybe) retitled Superboy. But that may not be a badthing. Read Full Review

Bendis continues to humanize Earth's Greatest Hero, and it's something fans are sure to eat up with eagerness! Read Full Review

The foundation that the "Unity Saga: The House of El" arc was built on might have been a bit controversial, but this issue expands upon it in a pretty effective way. Read Full Review

Superman #8 easily steps above many of the issues in this run. Effortlessly blending two plots, Bendis, Reis, and Peterson deliver a very fun chapter of this Superman run. Read Full Review

While Jon's story is being told in flashback in abbreviated form when it really should be a longform series of its own to be told, it is interesting enough that I'm liking what we see and his view of the galaxy. Bendis gives us a lot to work with here as we see the parental worry and strain play out while also giving us a son who understands how confusing this all is to them and tries to mitigate it. At the same time, we see his struggles out in space and what he was facing as his grandfather began to feel more untethered from things, making for a real strain. It reads well, has some very fun moments, and looks great throughout, making for an engaging issue that has me eager for more. Read Full Review

SUPERMAN #8 offers readers a satisfying return for Superboy while holding enough information back to keep them wanting more. It's up to Bendis and team to keep the anticipation high as they reveal more secrets of Jon's travels in the issues to come. Read Full Review

SUPERMAN #8 brings much-needed strength to the series as it fleshes out various ambiguities associated with Jon's mysterious adventures, though it still struggles to establish a rewarding narrative. Read Full Review

While there are certainly some interesting things in this issue, especially a cliffhanger that gets me super excited if it makes sense next issue, there were a lot of things that seemed off here in how Jon Kent was presenting the story about what happened to him.  It just didn't ring true for what he was saying and maybe that's just me........ All in all though, I just want more than dribs and drabs when it comes to his story and that's pretty much what we get here.  Thankfully though, there was some fun to be had and some amazing art with it. Read Full Review

Ivan Reis and Brandon Peterson split the art duties on this issue, with Joe Prado and Alex Sinclair's respective inks and colors endeavouring to provide a uniform look to the full issue. Their effort is not entirely successful, if only because Reis has really stepped up his game while working on the series and really captures that tension of Clark's emotions. Read Full Review

Pacing problems make this issue a difficult recommendation. On the other hand, the stellar characterization and art makes it worthwhile. Read Full Review

Jon continues to explain to Lois and Clark what happened with Jor-El in space. Read Full Review

Bendis continues his trend of writing a fun spin on Superman in Action Comics while his writing on Superman remains uninspired. There's not a reason to be too optimistic for this arc. Hopefully, Bendis can figure out where he wants his Superman run to go before it completely loses all momentum. Read Full Review

I have just as hard a time believing in the second plot point. Lois would never leave her son alone with Jor-El.  As a result, all that happens from that is infuriating to me. Especially since it likely spoiled the Jon character, the bright, cheery young Superboy. Read Full Review

Superman #8 is a bit of disappointment, story-wise. So far, Bendis has kept the worst of his writing style over in Action Comics, introducing bad OCs, cramming it with unneeded dialogue and sacrificing action for that, and basically doing whatever he wants with continuity. This issue introduces most of that to Superman and it's a shame. The ending is cool but probably will never be explained, the art is great, but Bendis indulges his worst tendencies in this one and it brings the book down. It's not terrible, but it's definitely disappointing. Read Full Review

This hurts an already poor issue even further and doesn’t make me look forward to the future of the Superman series. Read Full Review

Optic_Smash

Feb 11, 2019

And the award for “Title with the Most Misleading Cover” goes to . . . Seriously, between last issue’s cover and this week’s menacing, deadly looking Jonathan Kent you’d think he’s going full blown Superboy-Prime. Bendis, Reis and Peterson tell the second part of the “Unity Saga: the House of El”. While getting a check up by Kelek in the new Fortress of Solitude Superboy tells the story of his lost years (months?) in space with his grandfather Jor El. Last issue ended with him telling his parents that grandad was crazy as hell and here we get a little taste of it. Midway, Superman needs a minute (he’s so fast that it might have actually been a minute) to clear his head in an emotional fashion. It’s finally setting in tha t he lost years watching his only son grow up. Superboy meets a space faring character or two that the reader may recognize but the trip goes awry when a black hole spits out face to face with a few characters from one of my all time favorite DC events. I can tell this is going to be a sweet arc. The retelling of an exciting story offers a golden situation for a talented team of writers and artists. Narration is easy because it’s just the monologue and occasional dialogue of the characters telling and listening to the story. And who has made a name for himself not being afraid to let prose explode (exprose?) on a page? The indomitable Brian Michael Bendis. The potential downside (although I’m such a fanboy of the style) is that you can get more panels of characters facing each other, talking and less action shots. Not here, though. Visuals from the described memory make the narration go down smooth, especially with artists as talented as Reis and Peterson. There are some punch-happy, space laser-filled action scenes that just sing in their detail and dynamism. The cherry on this sundae of a comic is that on the last page . . . I’m pretty sure we’re about to figure out where John got that scar more

rayonymous

Aug 24, 2019

Way to make this comic cooler, Enter Crime Syndicate. Many have an issue with Jon Kent having grown up due to space time relativity and what not. This one has plenty of stories to back it all up. Superman and Lois' frustration were on point while their son reveals what happened to him, Lois and Clark as parents are not an exception from making some mistakes.

Simon DelMonte

Feb 14, 2019

Aging up Jon is still not a great idea, but the execution of the idea has been really good.

ScorpioDarkArachnoid8

Feb 17, 2019

Peeking into Jon Kent's life without his father to overshadow is a treat. Clark and Lois craving interest in their kid's life is great. It shows that they too can be like a normal family. Jor-El though, could use some cheer up. The story seems pretty simple but it's picking up layers as you go.

Br'er Lapin AKA 20-Ish Ceiln

Feb 22, 2019

Sloppy and joyless, and not joyless in a "dark stories are bad!" kind of way. This story just has very little joy compared to Tomasi's superior take on the characters. Not terrible, it is still readable.

egonnn244

Feb 13, 2019

"You find something to hit" Superman continues the story about Jon's space voyages and how Jor-El got more and more unhinged. And although I'm getting used to the "grown-up" Superboy, I don't think I'll ever be really on board with that, the story itself is very "meh". Kent family talks, Superboy explains the story and we see a bunch of images of some space battles and some familiar alien faces, but they all feel a bit random. On top of that, something that didn't bother me before, some of the dialogue is a bit hard to digest. I'm not calling it bad, that's reserved for someone else, but I'm used to a better one in this book and especially in Action Comics. Yet the conversation Jon had with his grandpa at the beginning of the issue was pretty good. The kid is afraid he won't be able to live up to who his father is. Considering his father is Superman I understand his doubts. So yeah, so far the story isn't very gripping, but the last page suggests that this may change with the next issue. We'll see. more

Soul Assassin

Feb 20, 2019

Cool ending, doesn’t justify nothing else happening for the rest of the book

waltgator93

Feb 13, 2019

We are two issues down and still no signs of Jor-el going crazy. The point when Jon feels like he is going crazy, is a far fetch scene. The art is great but the dialogue was off especially towards the end. The cliffhanger definitely has me interested in next issue however, Bendis has a way recently of making my hopes go back down by the end of next issue.

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RBL - Feb 13, 2019

He was already off-kilter enough from his appearance in Man of Steel to make the Kent’s decision to allow their child to go with them be beyond idiotic. His appareance before that had him as a psychopath trying to prove to Superman that humanity was hopeless and unworthy of him. He doesn’t have to go “berserk” to make him questionable when he has yet to prove he’s “sane”.

RBL - Feb 13, 2019

*to go with him

DGalek12 - Feb 15, 2019

I agree. If Jor El has gone insane, it was not revealed in this issue. We are told from Jon's perspective that grandad has gone mad, but he did a poor job doing explaining it. I also agree that the cliffhanger got me interested for the next issue.

StoryFox

Feb 14, 2019

It’s marginally better than the last issue, but the previous issue was a train wreck, so that doesn’t say much. There’s some good moments here, like the first pages with Jon and Jon-El talking about their places in the universe. It’s interesting and explores their characters. However, things quickly went downhill from there. Narrative is inconsistent at best (Superman randomly hitting asteroids when he gets mad doesn’t look good, and Mongul randomly attacking his old Fortress for some reason doesn’t make sense), and characterisations remain wack (what the hell Lois, also, what’s with Kilowog and Arisia? They’re known Green Lanterns! They wouldn’t have left a kid who’s asking for a way home alone with a shady dude!). It’s just...pretty bad. Ugh, when will Bendis get off this book? more

Psycamorean

Feb 16, 2019

I'm never going to be able to get around how, in order for this story to work, characters have to act completely out of character. If I had to give this anything, it's that the scene between Jon and Jor-El at the beginning had some good moments. And the cliffhanger was cool, as a spectacle. I don't know why it's happening, but hey, it's the Crime Syndicate!

SnakeWilson

Feb 13, 2019

the first pages with jon talking about how he feels were pretty good but the rest of the comic was just some of the worst dialogue i ever seen, like, THE ROOM levels of bad dialogue

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MyNameIsNotJohn - Feb 13, 2019

Everybody betray me, I’m fed up with this comic!

SnakeWilson - Feb 13, 2019

I wish Bendis had left those stupid dialogues in his pocket

Spacey Medicine

Feb 22, 2019

This is just so aimless and I really do not like anything about it, it’s a waste of my time and a waste of the characters. Love that we’re going to be wasting the Crime Syndicate now too.

RBL

Feb 13, 2019

Everyone is apparently dumb as rocks in this issue, and this next Shyamalan-esque twist just allow the writer to crap on an entire other universe. I can’t but imagine Earth-3 will end up worse this time around that in its last appearance, in which it was destroyed. More detailed review to follow later today.

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PeteRick - Feb 15, 2019

I don't think bendis will undo the aging thing regarding jon

RBL - Feb 15, 2019

He said he’s committed to the change so that’s feasible. He has not delivered on anything he promised fans, beginning with a good story, so why would he start now?

PeteRick

Feb 13, 2019

Can we switch doomsday clock characters and put bendis there, cause i think he has far more chances to destroy the dc universe than dr.Manhattan; and i would love to see the character that he's writing kick his ass!!!