Superman #701 (dccomics.com)

1. Open Carry

Issue #704 is a fill-in written by G. Willow Wilson, so it is leaps and bounds better than anything else in the run. But #705 we should talk about.

The issue as a whole is a pretty heavy-handed PSA about child abuse. It’s bad, but not as bad as it could be. Except for one key scene.

As Superman walks through a park, a bunch of people tell him to leave, because he is posing a major danger to everyone there. One of the women compares Superman to a man walking into a park with a gun, saying that he is worse, because he “is a gun”. AND HERE WE HAVE THE OVERALL PROBLEM WITH GROUNDED. Superman’s best stories do not come from acting like a jerkwad and being an accidental threat to all of humanity. Superman is not an “other”.

People often refer to Superman as the ultimate outsider, but I think that’s patently ridiculous. Superman isn’t an outsider; he’s an immigrant. He came to this planet and made it his own, eager to defend and protect it. And stories about his supposed inhumanity miss that core nature of the character. And that’s the true reason why Grounded is the worst Superman comic of all time.

But hey, at least it’s better than Man of Steel.

KIDDING!

I’m kidding.

Mostly.