Superman #15 Review

Crime and Punishment

Written By: Brian Michael Bendis

Art By: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, Brandon Peterson, Doc Shaner, Alex Sinclair, Dave Sharpe

Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 18, 2019

The Legion of Super-Heroes is here and they want to take Jon Kent to the 31st Century now that he's blurted out the words "United Nations" and that somehow created peace in the cosmos...... even though its turmoil seemed to come out of nowhere just to suit this story.  Bitching aside though, we'll jump into this issue and see what the House of El is going to do now that Rogol Zaar and Jor-El are under arrest and if Superboy will take the Legion's offer.  Let's check it out.

I haven't been a fan of what Bendis has done to this title or to Action comics for awhile now and while I would love just to tell you that everything in this issue is crap, I have to say that there are a few moments in here, when they aren't hampered by comedy by the Legion members that actually have the ability to give you the feels in what this Unity Day means and later when Jor-El is facing the punishment for his "crimes", but it's too bad that the majority of this issue feels like everything that just came out of nowhere over the last couple of issues is swept away so that we can just move on to the next thing.  There's no weight to anything here, especially the parts with Jor-El because beyond one key aspect to why the Universe hates him, which comes out of nowhere, it seems like the years of build up of Mr. Oz and the mystery of how he got there and had his out of time and space prison, to his reveal of being Jor-El is just thrown away and while we might end up dealing with that later on....... it really doesn't feel like that from what we get here.

Like I said though, there's at least two moments of feels in this issue, but for the subject matter of Superman dealing with the idea that his father who's come back from the dead essentially is being taken away again before he ever really had a chance to know him comes off like he just says "Well, that's the end of that chapter" and immediately moves on.  While also, we have Zod talking about making a New Krypton outpost now that we have the United Nations in space, but we've already had one for awhile now.  There's more than a couple parts of this that continue to tell me that Brian Michael Bendis has no idea what's been going on in the DCU and while I could just shrug this off, it feels like he doesn't take his own continuity seriously either and I'm just left feeling underwhelmed after each issue.

All in all, the art continues to be phenomenal in this book, but the subject matter always seems to be in a rush to move on without giving us any answers, while also feeling like the situations in question lack the weight they're trying to achieve.  There are moments here that can definitely grab some people and make them think that this was well worth the money, but overall I'm just wondering when anything of substance is going to happen in this book that actually feels big or has the characters involved act accordingly to the big moments.  Maybe there's some seeds here that can lead to some interesting stories and reveals down the line, but I can't count on Brian Michael Bendis to go that route or reveal anything that he's setup.

Bits and Pieces:

While there are a few moments here that can give you the feels, while being given some excellent art throughout, the overall feel of this book doesn't come off as big as it should and quickly moves on from important details about all the characters involved.  I'm always looking for more out of this title and by this point I don't ever think I'm going to get it.

5.5/10