Superman #44

"Lies" would be the perfect title to reveal that all the Superman stories since The New 52 began were just Lex Luthor Fanfiction.

Superman has lost his powers and is now mad at Lois Lane for stupid CW Arrow reasons. And since this story takes place before the stories in the other Superman comic books, things are just going to get worse for Superman as well as any readers who decided to hold off reading the other comics until "Before Truth" was over.

For now, Clark is just discovering how much everybody in the DC Youniverse hates his Kryptonian guts, or whatever it is those gross aliens have in their indestructible bellies. Probably just organs for stealing jobs and seducing Earth women.

The first people to make Clark feel unwelcome are the Royal Flush Gang. The second people are the police who try to arrest him for comic book reasons. Those reasons go something like this: Superman is cool as long as he's just Superman. But if Superman is sometimes somebody else, he's not cool but dangerous instead. Um, that's it. That's the whole argument. It probably makes sense to people smarter than me.

The third person to make Clark feel like an ass is Livewire. For some reason, she's taken some people at the Daily Planet hostage. I guess she wants Superman to get angry and kick her ass. Why else would she be threatening the people at his place of work? If I were a super villain and I discovered that Superman worked at McDonald's, I would stop going to McDonald's. I would not do any crime near McDonald's. I would not commit any crime in the city in which that McDonald's is located. What I would not do is instantly go cause trouble at that McDonald's. Livewire is an idiot.

Livewire's friends are also idiots.

I'm not sure what Killer Croc is doing out of Gotham and away from the displaced people he protects. I'm sure he has a logical reason for pissing off Superman that isn't simply that he's recognizable enough to throw on the cover. He might also still be possessed by Xa-Du. They're all probably possessed by Xa-Du!

Perry gets wounded as Superman subdues the bad guys which is probably why Perry is so pissed at him later. Either that or everybody just forgot that he isn't J. Jonah Jameson.

Grandmaster Comic Book Reader!

After Superman realizes everybody in the world is a complete douchebag, he puts out a video threatening everybody if they do anybody he loves any harm. You know, instead of releasing a compassionate, thoughtful video discussing how he grew up as Clark Kent and how Clark Kent is not a lie. Instead of reaching out to garner people's sympathy, he simply stokes their fear. Good job, asshole. You're no Superman! You haven't been Superman since The New 52 began!

Superman #44 Rating: -2 Ranking. I guess angry Superman hated by everybody on Earth is the Superman the fans of DC Comics deserve. I don't know what we did to deserve this version of Superman but since it's the one DC Comics is giving us, we must deserve it, right?! Where do I go to repent whatever sins caused this so that I can get a Superman who cares about people, who's compassionate, who has a never ending supply of patience, and who manages to retain the powers that should allow him to be the most non-violent superhero in comics? At least if he has to have problems, can y'all make them believable? Because I'm just not buying this whole thing where everybody hates Superman now that they know he has a secret identity. The population of DC's Earth aren't only xenophobic assholes, they're idiots to boot.