Spoiler Saturday--How The Mediocre Have Fallen

A handy signifier of the state of the nu52:

The Royal Flush Gang...yes, the Royal Flush Gang...goes tooling around town in a pick-up, looking for people to beat up.

Not robbing banks or casinos. No grand schemes. No flying playing cards. Just driving around on looking for a fight. Sheesh, they can't even all fit on the inside...

And they recruit thuggish idiots to fill out their ranks. And acknowledge to themselves that their members are inadequate.

Have these guys ever even read a DC comic book?

Of course, this is also a universe where Superman broadcasts a video threatening to beat the crap out of people who mess with him:

Yup, that's Superman these days. "Truth," my ass.

Of course, this is the same universe where Clark Kent now looks younger than Dick Grayson.

Seriously, if you beamed here from 2010, you'd believe that was Conner Kent on that cover, right? You'd say, "Wait, they killed off Superboy, and then made Superman look just like Superboy used to?!?"

If you want to read a more detailed review of this week's Superman #44, and why it's not a particularly satisfying approach to Kal-El, you should go read Anj's piece.

You know, many (including myself) have given director Zack Snyder crap for saying several times that his movie Superman and Batman "transcend comics." But if you look at the state of Superman today, well, its hard to argue that the comics don't need transcending.