The Man of Steel 4: "It's a Cleansing"

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Man of Steel, Part 4

Creative Team

Brian Michael Bendis - Writer; Kevin Maguire & Jason Fabok (pp 12-13) - Artists; Alex Sinclair - Colors; Josh Reed - Letters; Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Sinclair - Cover; Jessica Chen - Associate Editor; Michael Cotton - Editor; Brian Cunningham - Group Editor; Superman Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster; Superboy Created by Jerry Siegel; Supergirl Based on the Characters Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster; By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family

DC Comics' Solicitation

Rogol Zaar has committed a string of atrocities across the cosmos that have led him to the Fortress of Solitude—and now Superman and Supergirl plan to crush his schemes! But are even two Kryptonians enough to stop his sinister machinations?

"It's a Cleansing"

We are officially over halfway done with this great mini-series!  In my opinion this issue suffers a bit from being the middle point, however we did learn two important things to propel us to the end of the story.  First, it is confirmed that Rogol Zaar's rampage is to finish his ethnic cleansing of Kryptonians.  Also, the mysterious being who beamed into Clark, Lois, and Jon's apartment is Jor-El.  He has come for Jon for a reason yet to be revealed.  I really like what is being set up in this series, with Clark and Superman each have different conflicts to deal with.

While the mystery of Jor-El's arrival is left for the last two issues, we learned a lot about the current mindset of Rogol Zaar.  Primarily, he somehow discovered that there are still Kryptonians, meaning his morbid crusade is not yet complete.  Most of the issue consists of Superman and Supergirl taking the fight to this being, however Rogol Zaar is an incredibly gifted warrior.  Between his skills and strength, he proves a handful for our heroes.  Even more importantly, he reveals to Superman exactly how personal his mission really is.  He is here to cleanse the universe from anyone with Kryptonian blood.

As we discussed in the post for The Man of Steel 1, Superman now needs to figure out how to defeat this creature that is so full of hate.  Rogol Zaar is fueled by prejudice, and Kal-El must act quickly not just to save himself and Kara, but to save the entire world.  Their fight was destroying the city so isolating him and fighting him one-on-one seems to be the best decision.  We get the feeling that to him, the people of earth would be collateral damage in Rogol Zaar's twisted threat.  Superman already lost Kandor, he cannot afford to lose his adopted home.

Whether it be Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan, the account of Pentecost, or the Great Commission, it is clear that that our God cares for all people.  As Superman shouldn't tolerate Rogol Zaar's execution of an entire race, nor should we tolerate hate towards others in our context.  God loves all people and wants them to be saved and to know Him.  We cannot save them, it is only through faith in Christ that they can have salvation.  What we can do is share God's Word with all people.  It is not up to us to pick and choose who gets to hear the good news, God's will won't be restricted by our sin and prejudice.  Praise be to God that our God's gift of salvation is available to all who believe in Him!

What did you think of this issue?  I would love to talk about it with you.  You can comment below, or find me @behindthecapes on Twitter, or by liking the Behind the Capes Facebook page.

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