Superman #14
The House of El battles Rogol Zaar in the ruins of Krypton in Superman #14, by writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist Ivan Reis, inkers Joe Prado and Oclair Albert, colorist Alex Sinclair, and letterer Wes Abbot. This book serves as a conclusion to The Unity Saga Bendis has been writing in this book since its beginning and does it in a bombastic fashion that literally sets up the future. That said, something feels disjointed about the whole thing.
Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, and Zod and his family are brought before the leaders of the galaxy's various species. To present them a new idea on how things like the conspiracy to destroy Krypton can be prevented. The day before, in the ruins of Krypton, Superman and Jor-El are attacked by Rogol Zaar and his forces. Zod freaks out and attacks Zaar, destroying the ship they're in. And exposing them all to Kryptonite radiation, which Jor-El tells Superman will kill them all, even Zaar, who is revealed to be Kryptonian. Superman takes a device made to keep them safe from exposure to the radiation and heads out to help Zod against Zaar. Supergirl, Superboy, and Krypto show up, and they work together in superspeed to take down Zaar. Before they can, the Thanagarian Black Guard shows up. Everyone is taken to Thanagar, where the Thanagarians ask Superman for help. As the galaxy has been thrown into chaos by his father and Zaar. The Khunds show up and attack, but can't get past the planetary shields. Superboy has an idea to stop it all, and that brings things back to the present. Where he tells the leaders of the galaxy about Earth's United Nations and posits making a United Planets to work together and stop these sort of wars from happening. At this point, a portal opens, revealing the 31st-century protectors of the United Planets, the Legion of Superheroes, who have an offer for Superboy.
Something feels very off about this issue. It's supposed to be the big ending to The Unity Saga, with everything revealed but that doesn't feel like what happened. In the last issue, it felt like Jor-El was taking Superman to Krypton to give him answers, but instead, it was bait as a trap for Zaar. Who seems just as surprised as everyone else on his ships that they've arrived at Krypton. Why would anyone on his side be surprised where they are? Do navigation computers just do all the work and there's no way to check where one is going? Now, it could very well mean that Bendis is going to wait to reveal more, but because of that, something feels missing in this one.
Why are all the galaxy's species suddenly at each other's throats? Readers got to see what Jor-El had been up to in other issues and witnessed a multi-pronged attack against him, but this whole plot point feels like it came out of nowhere. Is it Jor-El's fault? Is it Zaar's fault? Is it because of the group that had Zaar destroy Krypton falling apart? None of this is explained, and it feels like it needs to be.
That said, having Jon being the inspiration for the UP is a nice touch that plays into the old origin story of the LoSH, a group of aliens who were inspired by Superman to protect the galaxy. A lot has been made of aging Jon up. Fans were rather vocally against it, but Jon as a child might never have come up with this kind of plan for peace. Him being more mature makes this plot point possible, and it's a nice touch. That said, if relations between species is so bad that it threatens to spark a massive war, why would everyone agree that this is such a good idea? Again, something feels missing from this book.
However, the art is spectacular, and the battle against Zaar is wonderfully rendered. Ivan Reis, with the help of Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, and Alex Sinclair, presents a thrilling encounter in space that makes up for a lot of the book's deficiencies of story. The pages where Superman and company are addressing the aliens are also quite spectacular, with many races being ones Reis drew during his Green Lantern days. It feels like Bendis wrote a lot of these scenes so that Reis and company could show off and they don't disappoint.
Superman #14 is a disjointed affair. Critical elements to the plot just seem to happen out of nowhere, and it makes the whole thing suffer. Maybe Bendis is going to reveal things down the line, but not doing it here leaves so many questions that it almost ruins the entire thing. However, the art is fantastic, and the ending is a great feel-good moment for fans of the LoSH, bringing them back in grand fashion. The ups and downs of the quality of the writing hurt this issue, though.
