Putting A Name To The Face
Written By: Dan Jurgens
Art By: Viktor Bogdanovic, Jonathan Glapion, Jay Leisten, Mike Spicer, Rob Leigh
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: September 13, 2017
Release Date: September 13, 2017
*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*
It's time to get to the mystery that's been surrounding DC Comics since before Rebirth began and that's finding out who Mr. Oz actually is. He's been a weird character who seemed to know that Superman wasn't what he thought he was before Reborn went down, he had captured Mr. Mxyzptlk and still has Doomsday and Prophecy captured.......... and Tim Drake for some reason and he's been manipulating events throughout Rebirth as a way to get Superman ready for something that's coming down the line......... Maybe Doomsday Clock. Anyway, it's time for all to be revealed.......... well, at least his identity so let's jump into this issue and see what's up. Let's check it out.
Explain It!:
Our issue begins with seeing that after the Superman Revenge Squad arc that Metallo went and got himself captured by ARGUS, but apparently his suffering won't go on for much longer because out of nowhere, Mr. Oz shows up and rips Metallo's Kryptonite heart out and takes it back to where Mr. Oz calls home, where he begins monologuing about how shitty the world is and how it doesn't deserve Superman............ and it's weird too because Mr. Oz, while being kind of ambiguous in what he's up to this whole time just goes full on evil and plans on setting the people of the world against themselves all at once so that Superman is so overwhelmed that he's not able to stop it all.
So yeah, Oz' agents are out and about, which feels like it should have been setup more than just the previous issue and they're whispering in the ears of people who happen to be pieces of shit to go and do the wrong thing in a situation, whether it's drinking while Captaining an oil tanker, blaming immigrants for stealing their jobs, causing a prison riot or just shooting an endangered rhino just for its horn. So yeah, pretty much, wherever a piece of shit can be a piece of shit.......... they're being pieces of shit. This causes Superman to go out and react to the situation, which leads him to a African village, where he had recently left medicine for them, being attacked by guerrilla soldiers and then the military showing up and firing back at the guerrillas....... essentially, killing everyone around besides for our hero. Yeah, it's pretty fucked up to see Superman facing his worst fear in not being able to save everyone, but it's also very cool because it puts our hero in a situation that he's not used to being in either.
In the end, Mr. Oz makes himself known, takes credit for setting all of this into motion and teleports himself and Superman to the Fortress of Solitude, where he reveals that he's Superman's father Jor-El and that he made a grave mistake in sending his only son to this piece of shit planet.
That's it for this issue of Action Comics and while it's awesome to finally find out who Mr. Oz is, the story surrounding it isn't that great and everything kind of just comes at you at once and I'm left wondering how exactly we got to this point from everything we've seen of Mr. Oz in the past. While most of Oz' actions seemed to be all about helping Superman or preparing him for something coming down the line, out of nowhere here he just goes full bore evil and starts causing death and destruction around the world and while he has a point that people are pieces of shit and really don't deserve Superman, this change in his character just seems to come out of nowhere. I enjoyed the art and colors in this issue, but I just hope that we have an explanation about who or what these agents of Oz are and what games Mr. Oz has been playing since he first arrived in the New 52 because without these things and the complete character change, this issue just wasn't all that great up until the reveal........ Well, the overwhelmed and vulnerable Superman was pretty great, but besides that, there wasn't much to this issue at all that didn't feel off.
Bits and Pieces:
While Mr. Oz is revealed in this issue, which gives us a pretty cool cliffhanger, the rest of the issue just felt off because of the character's complete change of demeanor in everything we've seen up to this point. Yeah, the art was great and we saw a side of Superman, which we rarely get to see, but overall, this issue just felt forced to reveal Oz, whether it really makes sense to what we've seen or not.
6/10
I was able to avoid all Spoilers regarding this so the surprise at the end was a nice little treat. I think some of OZ's actions have been fatherly, namely keeping most of Superman's big foes off the chessboard, and helping Jon ... but I def. agree on the whole minions of Oz thing really being throw at us out of nowhere. I really liked the art here too and Superman's dad looks like a wreck of a burn victim -1 for Eric there alone .... would have went a tad higher myself maybe a 7.
ReplyDeleteTough but fair Mr Shea, tough but fair.
The problem I have with him taking the villains off the board is that all of a sudden he's just deciding to kill Metallo and Cyborg Superman in Supergirl this week. But he didn't kill Doomsday... Also Myxl doesn't really seem to fit in that same category, not to even mention that he took Tim Drake because he brought hope to the universe.
DeleteThis reads to me like Johns started writing Doomsday Clock and realized he wasn't going to be able to write Oz into it or he wouldn't get around to it anytime soon so he just said they can do whatever with it. Then this was just chosen out of nowhere because it doesn't fit at all with the older stuff we saw from Oz.
Ya I'm w you there's not much reasoning behind who he kills and just takes ... Maybe that's something coming still ... Lucy gots some splain to do
ReplyDeleteI had hopes for this being a big event for the ages. Mr Oz never grew to be more than a dude in green cloak acting irrational. If this is Jor-El, then why make him so 1-dimensional? Have him talk like a normal person with his brother. Have him talk to Kara who is still his family. Even the dialog with his son is terrible.
ReplyDeleteAlso I get that for the regular comics we pretend that there are no other heroes around, but during big events? Superman literally let those people die because the writer didn't want to involve the JLA or his cousin in the arc.
I expect the world to be coherent during an event like this. Acting like Superman is the only hero on earth is required for this arc to make any sense.
I could have maybe liked it in an Elseworld where Superman was alone (Mr Oz is still a pale villain though).
In the mainstream universe I think a 6 is more than it deserved.
why would he wait this long to reveal himself?
DeleteThis is everything I dislike about comics. I'm not a fan of the big event style comics. I despise the, this character is dead but now is alive again nonsense. Sometimes it works like Bucky/Winter Soldier, but usually it doesn't. Sorry but I prefer Barbara Gordon in a wheelchair. Jor-El is a character I'd prefer dead. He works best as inspiration and motivation for Kal. Not only did Jurgens resurrect Jor-El, he seems to fundamentally change the character to have an anti-human slant. Maybe there's more here that will be revealed to change my mind, but as is I didn't like this. If it wasn't for the art I'd give this a big fat goose egg. It's a 4 for me.
ReplyDelete