Your post about abs superman is so real because I get that people are more on board with the story now that the latest issues are out (which are good! And they're a good change of pace!), but they only work BECAUSE of issues 1-14. I've seen the complaints that abs! Supes is too moody for the first 14 issues and yeah of course he is, he watched his whole planet die and had to evade capture by Lazarus for how many years. The story wouldn't work if it was set up like absolute batman or wonder woman in the beginning because kal needed to develop in order to get to where we are now, and it feels rewarding to see him as superman after all the struggles he went through. And honestly it's a shame that some people dropped it because the story took it's time with it's set up, since I feel like it encapsulates the "hope as the underdog" message the most. It def has its problems of course but it feels so timely with what's happening rn, and it helps to see a superman so beat down and angry and yet he still keeps going .. ouuu kal I love you so much
So sorry for this word vomit op 🙂↔️
NONO ITS OKAY SPEAK YOUR TRUTH ANON!!!!! Its a completely different story structure yea and CERTAIN PEOPLE with their lack of media literacy maybe, think that ohh because its not like the others then it SUCKS,,,, I feel insane trying to talk about this because Absolute Superman is also a special interest of mine so like. I might be a bit biased but like. His growth IS the story, and the dudebros might crucify me for this but I wish the first 14 issues were slower. I’m sure he could fit another two or three issues in there, focusing on Sol and Kal’s relationship or Kal and Jimmy and Lois… yea.
The complaint that he’s too emo is like. Okay well you just don’t get it then. Its like… you skip over the part where he’s been on the run from space ICE for 6 years and his entire personality is going to the most corrupt places on Earth (as a teenager. He’s 13 when he crash lands here. He’s been here for six years. He’s 20 MAX) and helping people there he’s exposing himself to the worst parts of humanity and still choosing to do good even though he has the power to. Fix it through violence. He loses yet ANOTHER set of parents. And a wrinkly green freak starts getting obsessed with him and torture him for two weeks straight. By trying to turn him into the one thing he REFUSES to become. And he almost succeeds, because his best friend/s save him. And then his BEST BEST friend fucking DIES. And he has to wear his husk on his BACK. Of course he’s “emo” wouldn’t you be? (Hot? take, perhaps he still is, and his hopecore attitude will be challenged in the next major arc.)
But honestly. We can’t have shit because people don’t know what they want, oh, this new version of emo Superman is so unique he should have kept the black suit why did they change him to be more like mainline supes, but also oh, finally he’s ditched the emo attitude and embraced something similar to mainline supes I was getting tired of him being a little bitch-
As if the story isn’t more nuanced than that 🥱🥱 and I need to get off twitter bc I keep forgetting that a lot of people didn’t pay attention in school/use AI for their work… so they miss shit like the fact that while Kal did change his color palette he is nowhere near being Not Emo at all. Its just a new status quo to set up for the next arc which will expose the cracks in his attitude and try to break him AGAIN because that’s how the world works. I actually trust in Jason Aaron not to like. Bend to the fandom though. I’ll let him cook 😌😌😌
TIMELY. Uh, yeah. I love when people are like… COMICS AREN’T POLITICAL. Even though Supes’ new powers literally reflect how connected we are with social media, being exposed to so much information at a time thats usually terrible because terrible things generate more interactions, and we can’t really do anything about it except fight bots online but Kal DOES the power to change things. But he can’t save everyone. And the fact that we get an entire issue dedicated to exploring that (issue 15 my beloved) gasp… mental health in my mainstream soup man comic?? Heh. Yeah. I forgot where I said it/who I said it to but I give him 5 issues before he crashes out because that shit takes an incredibly physical and mental TOLL on you (as I’m sure a lot of people know, me included) and not even a Superman is immune to that. Isn’t that so FUN????
And I like. Ugh. Absolute Superman is like hopecore in the best way. He literally has no reason to keep trying to protect Earth, he’s seen the worst of it, everyone hates him, everyone is afraid of him, they dehumanize him, want to exploit him, maybe the world ISN’T worth saving. But he still does it anyway. And he’s still compassionate and caring and loving even when the world is burning and he has near unlimited power to rid the world of everything causing it pain but what would that make him and is that even his responsibility and FUCKKKKK
Sorry you got like an entire essay as a response, I didn’t mean for it to be this long. This is my special little comic and Kal’s just my special little guy
