Warning! Spoilers ahead for Action Comics #1073!One of the most unsettling parts ofSuperman’slore has just become even more disturbing. After sensing a powerful disturbance in the Phantom Zone, the Man of Steel ventured inside only to discover the liminal prison has evolved thanks to a strangebeing known as Aethyr.
After discovering the Phantom Zone years ago and seeing how poorly treated its prisoners were treated, Aethyr made changes to the realm to give its inhabitants some sense of comfort. But Aethyr’s perspective on the prisoners changed after discovering how violent they were, hardening Aethyr and causing him totransform the Phantom Zoneinto the DC Universe’s most terrifying torture.
The Phantom Zone’s Darkest Pit Traps Prisoners in Time and Space
Aethyr’s Worst Torment is the ‘Eye of the Zone’
InAction Comics #1073by Mark Waid, Clayton Henry, Michael Shelfer, Matt Herms, and Dave Sharpe, Clark reflects on his father’s discovery of the Phantom Zone as he andhis old ally Mon-Elventure towards a rift in the Phantom Zone where Aethyr lurks. Unfortunately, Xa-Du, the Phantom King and Aethyr’s loyal servant, is waiting for them, and he emerges from the rift with a ship to attack his enemies. Despite his power battery running low,Superman leads the charge to destroy Xa-Du’s ship.
Superman is powerless in the Phantom Zone, but he revealed inAction Comics #1071that he’d been given special bracelets to keep his powers charged.
Xa-Du briefly gets the upper hand and even destroys a device Superman brought to pull him out of the Phantom Zone immediately. Thankfully, before the Phantom King can do anything, Mon-El comes in, wearing Clark’s other power battery to deliver a solid punch to their mutual enemy. Aethyr emerges from the rift,enraged that the Phantom King failed to deliver Supermanas Xa-Du promised he would. The Phantom King begs for his life, but Aethyr no longer has any use for Xa-Du.
…bottomless pit of history where time and space are intertwined in an infinite madness…
Aethyr reveals that Xa-Du’s punishment for his failure is consignment to the Eye of the Zone, a “bottomless pit of history where time and space are intertwined in an infinite madness”. Xa-Du is thrown into the Eye and the nearly-powerless Superman is as well. Superman falls through an endless limbo with only small pieces of land to grab onto.Superman sees the past as he travels backwards through timeand uses the last little bit of his powers to escape the endless hell that Aethyr has created.
Aethyr is Making The Harshest Part of Superman’s Mythos Even Worse
Superman’s Last Resort Has Become a True Hell
This arc has been interesting since it delves into Superman’s personal feelings about something he even admits he’s got complicated feelings about. The Phantom Zone is a last resort and usually only saved for villains that he has no other way of handling (namely other Kryptonian threats). It’s not something he likes, but it’s one of the few prisons that can hold him. But Clark has been having second thoughts about the Phantom Zoneever since Superman discovered what Aethyr was doing inside the otherworldly void.
the Eye he’s constructed presents a fate worse than death to the prisoners inhabiting the Phantom Zone.
While the prospect of being trapped in a liminal space has frankly been one of the more perturbing parts of the Man of Steel’s history, Aethyr has done the impossible and made the Phantom Zone more dire than it already was. Whilethe Phantom Zone wasn’t perfect, its inhabitants were at least safe from themselves and otherswithout corporeal forms or solid mass. But with the eye, Aethyr has made it possible for them to suffer more than they already were by sentencing them to outright annihilation.
Superman is coming to terms with the idea that the Phantom Zone wasn’t a great idea. And with Aethyr in charge of this realm, the Eye he’s constructed presents a fate worse than death to the prisoners inhabiting the Phantom Zone. Worse, Aethyr is shown to be able to transport other living things to the Zone, sohe could easily find Superman’s allies and condemn them to the same sufferinghe’s put Xa-Du and an unknown number of Kryptonian prisoners through.
Aethyr Must Be Stopped at All Costs
Thankfully, Superman made it out of the Eye alive, which gives him a chance at stopping Aethyr. But Clark is lost in time and Aethyr already has his eyes set on Earth. It’s imperative that Superman find a way back to the present before Aethyr puts any other souls, innocent or otherwise, through the Eye of the Zone’s torment. Clark has already had misgivings about using the Phantom Zone, but with Aethyr’s ultimate punishment lurking within,Supermanmust do everything he can to put an end to it.
Action Comics #1073is available now from DC Comics.
Superman
The icon who launched the entire world of superheroes, the last son of Krypton escaped his dying world to crash land on Earth and be raised as Clark Kent. The world knows him better as Superman, the Man of Steel, the leader of the Justice League, and the most well-known hero in the DC Comics Universe. Blessed with the powers of a demigod, Kal-El of Krypton fights enemies both small and cosmic in his endless pursuit of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.
