SUPERMAN 8 preview

[Last Son]

They need to think a little bigger, something more than what comes off as a one-time Superman TAS villain. To me, it seems like it's always the villains with the more complex motivations and the bigger, more grander ambitions that endure. That's why Lex, Brainiac, and Zod are the most popular villains.

[Rainzo]

I honestly do not understand how he took helspont down...help here please

[AJBopp]

Pretty weak issue, especially when compared to the strength of the first arc. The art was uninspired, with no real sense of movement or action, just looked like static posing in what were supposed to pass for action sequences. The new costume's deficiencies become really apparent in full-body, well-lit panels - and there were several of those here. There were a lot of pointless monologues in the middle that really didn't take the story anywhere. Then a lot of pointless fisticuffs that didn't really take the story anywhere. Come to think of it, there wasn't really any story. Superman got hit a lot, had some thought balloons about how tough the guy was, but there was no real suggestion that he was hurt or ever in any recognizable danger of anything. Conversely, Superman hits Helspont a lot and never seems to do any damage or put him in danger of defeat or capture. Until the end, when something apparently happens off-panel that is a game-changer, but we aren't sure what. We can only assume that Helspont just chose to abandon the fight for unknown reasons (he realized before Superman did that the fight was pointless because only the scenery was being hurt?)

First issue of either Superman or Action that I was genuinely disappointed with.

[Nayrman]

Very dull issue. Superman just beats up another "join the dark side! You're too powerful for these humans!" and so on. This is cliche in Superman alone, let alone other fiction. Helspont just reeks one note and one dimensional. Ultimately, I hope he doesn't appear again, mostly because Superman has enough super powered baddies to fight, and we don't need another one who doesn't really do anything new.

[Space_Butler]

That was by far the worst issue of the new run for me. Insufferable rambling in circles by Hellspont and a Superman who, quite frankly, had far too much patience for a guy who just blasted him then jammed a mind-squid in his head. Then it abruptly ends when Superman... what? Flew through the mountain and blew it up? I'm still not quite sure what happened, the scripting in that fight was extremely poor. In the end, a typical silver-age "Wha? He's gone! Not a trace! Oh well, he'll show up again somewhere so who cares?" line, and we're done with Helspont

What's most disappointing is this could have been a tremendous 2-part arc. As someone who has been following the other books featuring the Daemonites (Stormwatch, Grifter, etc), this was a LOT of buildup for a 2 issue monologue by a guy who, frankly, doesn't seem any more powerful than the average villain Superman fights. This should have been a showcase for how powerful Helspont (and, by association, the daemonites) are, and how Superman might be the only hero powerful enough to match him. Something that raises the stakes. Instead, we got a fight that could have been plotted for any other villain-of-the-month. Depressing and pathetic on editorial's part for jamming this down the writers throats, and a shame that Jurgens/Giffen weren't capable enough of making something even halfway-decent out of it.

[Last Son]

I honestly do not understand how he took helspont down...help here please

I think he caused a volcanic eruption.

[AJBopp]

I think he caused a volcanic eruption.

There are volcanoes in the Himalayas?

[Last Son]

I honestly don't know the location of every volcano, I just know I saw a mountain explode. If you think you have a better answer, let's hear it.

[AJBopp]

One of the chief problems with the issue is that there are no explanations.

[brik-el]

One of the chief problems with the issue is that there are no explanations.

Isn't that one of the problems people had with Perez's run?

[AJBopp]

Dunno, but it certainly wasn't a problem I had with it, as I was not left with any unanswered questions.

[adkal]

-The battle in the Himalayas was pretty badass. I was a bit lost as to what Supes did to finally take out Hellspont that caused the mountain to explode. I wouldn't think a straight up impact would create such an explosion with combustion, and such. But what do I know.

He smashed through the top of Helspont's fortress causing an explosion of the tech in there and then the collapsing of the top of the mountain.

[adkal]

-Glad to see that the sequence from the preview wasn't mind control, but a glimpse of a possible future according to Hellspont.

Nah, he was BS'ing him. He didn't think Kal would reject it so when it did happen he quickly lied and said 'it...acts as a...disciplinary control. I fully expected your biology to reject it once your mind rejected the scenario.'

Superman called him out on it, politely: 'I'll bet.'

[Mr. Holmes]

It was pretty disappointing compared to the last issue. Too many filler scenes and scenes with pointless dialogue. I thought Helspont was amusing, but that's it.

[Sacred Knight]

Yeah, I already posted this in the other thread, but put together you could really smell the editorial mandate here, which is shame because while I enjoyed the Perez arc just fine, there were plenty who didn't and were counting on this new team to inject a new spark into the title. So why editorial chose the absolute beginning of this new run to impose one of their classic mandates, I just don't understand. The blame doesn't fall entirely to them though; I still have great confidence in this creative team but they could have done a better job crafting an engaging tale here despite having it forced upon them.

On the plus side though I have to believe Giffen/Jurgens were at least able to get some of their side stories set up, like Lucy showing up and Jimmy rooming with Clark. That should all be fun stuff going forward. I just wish they'd been allowed to start their vision unfettered by mandate, and hope when Helspont shows up in the DCU again he receives a better showing. All this Wildstorm stuff is new to me so I'm a blank slate going in, and I feel I know just as much about the character now as I did before, which is nothing.