Action Comics 847 - Why Supes Is So Great

An excellent pause in the action, to focus mainly on a flashback to a little adventure Jonathan Kent shared with his Kryptonian son. As we saw last issue, General Zod not only freed several Kryptonian criminals from the Phantom Zone to be loosed upon the Earth, he has trapped Superman in that same Phantom Zone. Martha Kent is understandably distressed by the presence of several freed Kryptonian criminals, as she notes being just as powerful as Superman himself, but she is currently unaware of Kal's fate. To soothe her nerves some, Jonathan tells her a secret he shared with Kal, about a trip to the Fortress of Solitude which leads to a trip into space in a spaceship comprised of Kryptonian technology. During their trip through space in this fantastic ship, their father-son talk is interrupted by a crisis they hear about through the ship's translator from several light years away. Of course, Superman speeds off to save the trillions of people threatened by a sun eater with instructions for the ship to return Jonathan to Earth in three hours if Supes doesn't return by then. The story leads to Superman enduring intense pain and facing certain death to save a race of people he never met. Fortunately, Jonathan took it upon himself to fly the ship to Superman's location and ultimately save his son's skin with the ship. The recollection finishes, and Martha is comforted by the main lesson behind it: as long as Superman is in the fight, he will do everything in his power to defeat these renegade Kryptonians. Of course, the final panel reminds us of a painful truth: Superman is trapped in the Phantom Zone, very clearly out of the fight. Very nice recollection by Jonathan Kent, emphasising yet again just how good Superman is. I wonder if this is more than a simple story, and not possibly foreshadowing a use of that special space craft to ultimately free Kal and/or defeat Zod and his army? If we thought Supes (and Earth) was in trouble in Superman II, that was nothing compared to this prediciment. Speaking of which, loved the movie Fortress of Solitude and Phantom Zone shards used here. Very, very nicely done.