Geoff Johns Killed a Man

The victim: Pa Kent, adopted father of Superman. The weapon: a heart attack. The location: Action Comics #870. Yes, the elder Kent kicked the bucket in current DC continuity last week, the last of the living Pa’s (John Schneider died a few seasons ago in Smallville, Pa Kent died in one of the Donner Superman movies, I refuse to look up which one, and the comics’ Pa actually died once before, and was brought back after Crisis on Infinite Earths). Some fans are happy to see a problem Superman can’t solve, while some fans are pissed that it’s just going to make Superman mopey. Most fans are pissed because the mainstream press got the news before the comic came out, thus spoiling the hell out of the issue (for instance, I got the news from the Baltimore Sun).

I’m willing to give Johns the benefit of the doubt here, frankly. I used to think Green Lantern was about the goofiest superhero concept on the market?there was a squirrel Green Lantern named Chip who was literally run over by a car, for fuck’s sake?but Johns’ whole color-spectrum of Lanterns sounds like a very neat concept that genuinely makes GL’s mythos cool and a bit of sense. Also, I once met Johns, got drunk, and began slurringly taking about the flaws of Hal and Tomar Re and Chip, and he was patient and gracious and did not tell me I was a raving jackass, which I was obviously being. So Johns is a good guy to boot. If he killed Pa Kent, I assume it’s in service of a good story on the way.