blurred_view's Superman #705 - Grounded, Part Four: Visitation Rights review

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    You Know What This Issue Is.

    In a story arc that is already taking some criticism for being a waste of both Superman's and readers' time, this issue comes along to dump a whole barrel of fuel onto the fire. No one needs to read this issue. As anyone can plainly see from the cover, this is the abusive father/husband issue, and it plays out exactly you expect it to. There is nothing more going on here. There is no twist to the story. It is your textbook child abuse story that you have already read or seen dozens of time. 
     
    What little does exist as a B-story to this issue isn't anything special either. Superman takes some grief from civilians for being dangerous because of his presence and has some bad dream about being unable to save the world. Yes, there is a mysterious stranger involved to, but it doesn't amount to much. We still have Superman being plagued with artificial self-doubt. What is Superman's problem again? Was that ever established? I mean, we can't seriously be expected to believe that lady's rant about him not curing cancer prompted all this self-doubt or that it just suddenly dawned on him that he does attract an element of danger and can't save every single person. And isn't it supposed to be the dramatic irony of the character that despite being a powerful alien he is probably the most grounded, human guy you could meet? 
     
    But I want to get back to the abusive father story again. 
     
    Let's just all be honest here. We don't want this to be a Superman story. We want this to be a Green Arrow story or a Batman story. Or even a Green Lantern story. We don't want to read about Superman stepping into the situation and responsibly bringing it to the attention of the authorities to resolve. No, what we really want is for this story to star the kind of superhero who will beat the hell out of the man and then maybe bring the police into it. I know it's barbaric and not taking the high road morally. But like I said, be honest. Superman's way of handling this kind of situation is not satisfying. You would rather see Green Arrow beat that man with his bow until his arms got tired. And that is the real reason this feels like a pointless issue.
     
    Golden Age Superman would have whooped some ass.

    2 Comments

    Avatar image for the_angry_comic_book_critic
    The Angry Comic Book Critic

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    I'm Just going to say I've never been a big fan of superman I've had moments where I liked him like in Kingdom come or when he teams with Batman Beyond but most of the time he's just annoying to me. Your totally right this is a recycled story but I've always found these issues interesting but I was disappointed we didn't get to see that Child abusing prick get his ass handed to him by the Boy scout this would have been better like you said if it was a Green Arrow or Batman Story hell I'd even settle for Ravager but hell she'd probably kill the guy. Good work holding your ground with this one despite the people who would disagree with you I respect that.

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    Silver Knight75

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    Edited By Silver Knight75

    I read this issue the other day and I loved how simple and yet how serious the problem was. I don't usually see many superheroes confronting physical abuse among human (or normal?) families, but at the end Superman said it shouldn't require his help as anyone could of helped that woman and her child.

    Other reviews for Superman #705 - Grounded, Part Four: Visitation Rights

      Superman #705: The 'Luka' issue 0

       If you're not enjoying JMS' take on Superman, you're far from the minority. Grounded was redundant in that the man of steel who left his wife to be with his own race for a year would come back, only to walk the Earth like Cain from Kung-Fu. If you didn't know this was Superman, you'd think a super hero/husband was making a statement about his marriage.By the 4th chapter of this un-necessary arc, Superman walked his way to Chicago with a media entourage much like the scene in Forrest Gump w...

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