What_Smart

I have this thought experiement I run sometimes, where I imagine being a teenager again, but with all my adult memories. This thought experiment mostly just depresses me. I've concluded that I would be forced to relive painful challenges I've already overcome while losing all of my years of hard work and potentially all of my dearest relationships. That one hits me really hard, especially where it concerns my husband, my person, my Jay. It's hit a point where I now imagine him also be transported back so we can find each other. I can't easily imagine living without him, and know with all my heart that we'd both do better surving anything together.

Maybe you can see where this is going.

Damian has it right that Jon being de-aged is depressing. That's because Jon being a child again forces him to lose his life again. Yes, he wouldn't have to be so responsible anymore, but he would still have the mind and heart of someone who does. And suddenly, he wouldn't have the powers or authority to back it up.

Jon aged in real time, but not in sync with his home universes time. It's not like Jon was suddenly aged up. He didn't go to sleep at 12 and wake up at 17. He was isolated and tortured for years before he escaped and made his own way before finding his way home. He grew up, just not with the people he loves most. At minimum, that would have to put a strain on relationships, as people expect him to be one way, a kid who's still figuring things out, but he's different now and an adult who's self-sufficient and has been for a while.

To go back to that younger age would mean straining those relationships again in new ways. Suddenly, his powers he could depend on wouldn't work right anymore (something which could easily be triggering, given those years in the Volcano were because his powers couldn't work), and he'd be legally a child. It's not easy to feel like someone is treating you like a kid when you aren't. Imagine how badly it would hurt to be an adult stuck in a kid's body. (There's a whole BTAS episode on that.)

And most importantly, Jon would have to give up his relationship with Jay if he remained a child. Jon even states that with everything that's happened, all those years he's fought through, that the one anything that's made it okay was Jay.

I didn't call my husband my Jay as a joke. When I can't trust in anything else, even myself, I can trust him. And vice versa. Jon calls Jay because he believes he can help and actually make it better, even if Jay can't find an immediate solution.

When Jon goes to Damian, it's less for help and more Jon wanting to try to play the way he did before, but Damian's older too and wisely chooses not to try to relive the past. When Jon goes to Jay, it's for his partner, his support, his person. And yes, Jay is able to look at the situation from the outside and see what Jon and the others can't. (Which is something I think Jay and Jon have both provided for each other in the past multiple times.) He fixes it, but I don't believe Jon called Jay simply because he thought Jay could fix it, instead because he needed his pillar, his focus in the storm, his person.

And I love at the end, the pair of them making a pillowfort and being silly, but also choosing to go forward with their lives.

Nostalgia has its place, but it can blind you to the future. There's a place for enjoying those things you loved as a child because those things are still part of you. But as an adult, there's a lot more years you'vd lived, and so there's a lot more that makes up who you are.

I was reminded of the Sailor Moon Super S movie, where the scouts have been turned into children at some point. They're talking about how nice being a child is, but Neptune says something to the effect of "but there are things adults can enjoy that children can't", which given the way Uranus blushes is definitely a sex joke. And yeah, obviously there's that, but there's something quite wonderful about being an adult. There's a beautiful complexity to being an adult and getting to decide what that means. And there's a different beauty to being an adult who is with another adult and both of you getting to decide together what types of adult people you're going to be.

Spoilers!!!!!!

As much as I would love to make an essay on this I don't think there's any way I could organize my thoughts enough for it to be good so I'm just gonna list out my thoughts on my favorite parts!

You can find my thoughts on the first 8 pages we got as previews here (page posting limit lol)

Nia understanding that while Jon often fights alone or for people, he desperately wants to fight alongside others or for them to fight for him.

This whole page is so great, I love the direct acknowledgement that Jon has been constantly fighting and all the times he had to fight alone. I will take the volcano and Ultraman where and whenever lol

Jon clearly has been suppressing his trauma and his constant fighting to make sure he doesn't lose anything like when he lost everything as a kid is clearly taking it's toll. Nia telling Jon he doesn't need to fight for everyone else constantly and it's okay to choose himself at times. This will come back in a conversation with Jay.

I am holding out having any feelings on this cause a large part of me refuses to believe DC would actually kill her, but if she is actually dead I'm gonna come back later and stare at this page in the saddest way possible.

He's so petty it kills me lmao

While it stresses me out to see them fight I love seeing them work through it, and it really shows the differences between them especially as this whole event has probably had a major impact on Jay in a negative way.

Jon realizing that he was trying to save the idea or memory of Nia over his Boyfriend after everything that's happened and deciding to prioritize what he wants, which is Jay. (more thoughts on this page at the end lol)

I think the Amazonians asking Jon for help was kind of a reminder to Jay of who Jon is at his core. Similarly to how Jon understood he probably can't dissuade Jay from hating Nia, I think Jay was reminded that Jon is just a forgiving and loving person, it is what drew Jay to Jon in the first place and that he shouldn't expect him to have the same reaction he has to Nia's death. I think Jay was going to say yes no matter what after this realization but I feel he normally would have thought about it more but decided to take that risk and give Jon a yes so he wouldn't be worried about it while in battle, you can see Jon flies away with a much more ready attitude.

Jon's "new place" is in his dreams, I had a worry Jon was just offering to live together with Jay because he thought it's what Jay would want but the fact that this is here means he has been dreaming of living in San Francisco for a while now, and the fact that Jay not being there destroying the dream really hits it home that being with Jay is what he wants. This is not Jon trying to make sure everyone in his life is happy at the cost of his own, this is Jon listening to what Nia told him to do and is choosing himself by following his dreams.

Final thoughts

To @ultfreakme, @what0smart, @fae-morrigan and anyone who saw this post: I apologize.

In retrospect, I should have just said something like "Finally! They're addressing the kryptonite elephant in the room!" and left it at that. I harshed the mellow, I interrupted the flow, I put a damper on peoples' excitement for some actual Jon development by Mark Waid. And for that, I am sorry.

Do I give props to Mr. Kennedy Johnson for his run, as well as Mr. Williamson for the fantastic "Supercorps" arc? Absolutely. In fact I give a huge amount of credit to them trying to dig their way out of the mess that Bendis left in his wake. And he left a lot of damage:

The Bendisboot Legion of Superheroes? Canceled. Granted, it's tough to give every character in the Legion more than a line or two, but he really should have known what he was in for. And exactly what was the awesome thing that Gold Lantern would be known for?

The Invisible Mafia? Much like its boss, it's cut and run. And nobody is following up on that--not that I blame them.

The Red Cloud? Rogol Zaar? The Red Cloud wasn't very well developed as a character, IMO, and Rogol Zaar? Well, he was just Doomsday with an axe and more brains.

Zod's New Krypton and eventual mark on the Legion? Well, the Kneel Before Zod and Sinister Sons are certainly putting a kibosh on that.

The identity reveal? It's been put back in the bottle, so to speak.

If you call me a Jon Kent hater, well, I suggest that you take a look at these two works:

I don't hate Jon. I really don't. I just don't like what's been done to get him to this point.

My thoughts on a Jon Kent that Might Have Been if Bendis chose another path for him here and here:

A few rants here, here, and here:

And some commissions of the kid:

Have a nice day.

One thing that we can both agree on is nearly everything Bendis did with this character was awful, the age up was handled horribly, legion of superheroes was terribly written, and most of his writing about the Kents just fell super flat lol. But the vast majority of Jon Kent’s fans who like the current Jon just don’t like or even ignore his writing (me included). I enjoy nearly all his appearances and stories post Bendis, excluding Adventures of Superman Jon Kent and the supersons back up in Wonder Woman’s current mainline. While they have their problems I think his current stories are overall enjoyable and have some great moments like Dark Crisis for example, and they fix some problems I had with the original run of Supersons.

“You…seem very familiar to me. Have we met?”

Looks like this comic is gonna be all over the place as Jon goes through his memories but I’m excited for it, I can’t get over Damian’s outfit, based one what we’ve heard it sounds like he’ll make some more appearances throughout.

Also I wonder if Nia is actually dead, I don’t think she is but maybe she’s stuck in Jon’s head for the time being.

Jon being glued to his phone texting Jay is so cute I can’t wait to see them reunite. “They’re telling me to rest” implying he would have gone to pick up Jay if he could lol

Here’s some previews that came from the Nicole and Sina’s social medias!

It looks very silly in the initial previews but based on the descriptions we’ve gotten so far it’s sounds like it’s gonna get serious and dive into Jon’s trauma.

I really enjoy the writing how Amanda knew should would need a back up plan as the Amazo bots showed their flaws and the resistance was still a massive problem so her turning to other universes is really cool. It really fits how deep her planing goes always having multiple options or back up plans, she’s like batman in that way. Also love seeing how angry she’s getting over this, I adore it when extremely controlling or confident villains lose their cool, it’s so satisfying. She seemed genuinely offended by what Jon did so I wonder if that time messing with Brainiac Queen’s head also did make her think of her like a daughter, or if she’s just trying to sound caring to manipulate her. I’m leaning more towards she unintentionally got attached to Brainiac Queen since this event seems to have a focus on Amanda and what happened to her family.

As for the Jon content, oh my god I adore Dan Mora’s art style and how he draw Jon as the tech leaves his body was so good. Loved that Nightwing’s voice and the memories of his dad gave him the spirit he needed to fight back. I’m so glad that Nightwing has been acting like a guardian to Jon, it’s so cute and one of my favorite additions of Jon’s relationships with other characters. That panel of Jon hugging Clark is so pure I love it!

NOT TO MENTION HIS FIRST THOUGHT AFTER HE GAINING CONSCIOUSNESS IS JAY AND IF HE’S OKAY??? Would have loved to see Jon save Jay but I think the both of them have gone through enough to where I’m okay with seeing them reunite in a safe house. Also Jon probably won’t have scarring from this but it will be a forever headcanon of mine that he does have scarring across his body and chronic pain cause it looked incredibly painful how they had to remove it. I give Jay the same treatment cause him and Jon have so many similarities between, when Jon got all of the tech removed I kept thinking back to that panel of Jay on the table getting experimented on.

I really enjoy the writing how Amanda knew should would need a back up plan as the Amazo bots showed their flaws and the resistance was still a massive problem so her turning to other universes is really cool. It really fits how deep her planing goes always having multiple options or back up plans, she’s like batman in that way. Also love seeing how angry she’s getting over this, I adore it when extremely controlling or confident villains lose their cool, it’s so satisfying. She seemed genuinely offended by what Jon did so I wonder if that time messing with Brainiac Queen’s head also did make her think of her like a daughter, or if she’s just trying to sound caring to manipulate her. I’m leaning more towards she unintentionally got attached to Brainiac Queen since this event seems to have a focus on Amanda and what happened to her family.

As for the Jon content, oh my god I adore Dan Mora’s art style and how he draw Jon as the tech leaves his body was so good. Loved that Nightwing’s voice and the memories of his dad gave him the spirit he needed to fight back. I’m so glad that Nightwing has been acting like a guardian to Jon, it’s so cute and one of my favorite additions of Jon’s relationships with other characters. That panel of Jon hugging Clark is so pure I love it!

NOT TO MENTION HIS FIRST THOUGHT AFTER HE GAINING CONSCIOUSNESS IS JAY AND IF HE’S OKAY??? Would have loved to see Jon save Jay but I think the both of them have gone through enough to where I’m okay with seeing them reunite in a safe house. Also Jon probably won’t have scarring from this but it will be a forever headcanon of mine that he does have scarring across his body and chronic pain cause it looked incredibly painful how they had to remove it. I give Jay the same treatment cause him and Jon have so many similarities between, when Jon got all of the tech removed I kept thinking back to that panel of Jay on the table getting experimented on.

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Superfamily Week is Coming!

We would like to officially welcome you to Superfamily Week, a fandom event which aims to celebrate Superman and all members of his family. The week will run from Sunday, November 24 through Saturday, November 30.

I feel so bad for him, he’s just falling in and out of consciousness and seeing the destruction his body is causing. It reminds me of the metahumans from SOKE whenever Bendix would kill them and how they’d wake up right beforehand. I can’t wait to see Jay’s reaction since it’s probably gonna remind him of back then as well not to mention the angst of seeing his boyfriend like that, I can’t wait!

I really love the Cyborg design for Jon, a lot of the metal is just attached to him and as well as the wires it gives off the sort of infection vibe that I really enjoy. I wonder how much of this will be permanent, most of it is like armor but there’s also a lot of wiring that has been drilled into him like we saw at the end of Absolute Power #1.

Also I know for a fact Jon was gonna tell his dad to kill him before Brainiac Queen interrupted, he’s got a strong history of always being willing to sacrifice himself like in Dark Crisis. Clark being unable to force himself to fight Jon and just trying so hard to get through to him was so upsetting, he was definitely gonna lose if Wally hadn’t shown up.

Amanda Waller talking about Jon like he’s not a person has me fuming I swear I want her GONE!

Nice to see Nia turn on Amanda, I always had the thought that even if her parents survive there’s no way they would be happy with what it cost so I’m glad she got on the same page. I don’t think she’s dead though, she makes an appearance in superson and I don’t think it’ll be as a flashback. My current theory is she’s currently hiding out in Jon’s dreams since he’s unconscious, we’ll have to wait and see for next month though.

I feel so bad for him, he’s just falling in and out of consciousness and seeing the destruction his body is causing. It reminds me of the metahumans from SOKE whenever Bendix would kill them and how they’d wake up right beforehand. I can’t wait to see Jay’s reaction since it’s probably gonna remind him of back then as well not to mention the angst of seeing his boyfriend like that, I can’t wait!

I really love the Cyborg design for Jon, a lot of the metal is just attached to him and as well as the wires it gives off the sort of infection vibe that I really enjoy. I wonder how much of this will be permanent, most of it is like armor but there’s also a lot of wiring that has been drilled into him like we saw at the end of Absolute Power #1.

Also I know for a fact Jon was gonna tell his dad to kill him before Brainiac Queen interrupted, he’s got a strong history of always being willing to sacrifice himself like in Dark Crisis. Clark being unable to force himself to fight Jon and just trying so hard to get through to him was so upsetting, he was definitely gonna lose if Wally hadn’t shown up.

Amanda Waller talking about Jon like he’s not a person has me fuming I swear I want her GONE!

Nice to see Nia turn on Amanda, I always had the thought that even if her parents survive there’s no way they would be happy with what it cost so I’m glad she got on the same page. I don’t think she’s dead though, she makes an appearance in superson and I don’t think it’ll be as a flashback. My current theory is she’s currently hiding out in Jon’s dreams since he’s unconscious, we’ll have to wait and see for next month though.