Superman #700 (therobotsvoice.com)
8. Walkabout
Okay, so we’re finally through the ten-page story from Superman #700. Now we’ve arrived at Superman #701. Our first train wreck moment comes on Page Three.
Here is where we actually get the premise of the story. Superman decides that he needs to stop flying around saving the world. Instead, he will just walk across America. This is what we here in the comic book critiquing community call “dumbâ€.
Let’s ignore the fact that saving the world is kinda what Superman does. More importantly, the inciting incident of the story was the idea that Superman wasn’t available enough, and committing to a slow stroll across the US makes him EVEN MORE UNAVAILABLE. Sure, he says that, if he’s needed for a galactic crisis, he will go deal with that and then pick up where he left off, but there is always a crisis. Every step Clark takes, someone somewhere is killed by a giant robot or a space monkey. Fact.
Yes, there are a bajillion other heroes in the DCU, but there are just as many villains, if not more. Superman needs to be out there saving people, because if he isn’t, someone needs to pick up the slack. And someone like Superman leaves one heck of a lot of slack.
