The infant Sunstar will grow up to fulfill his destiny as Earth’s most powerful superhero and roommate to Jesus Christ — but first, he and his parents must endure the mundane and the tedious on the last night of the doomed planet Zirconia. Seek a friend for the end of the world in AHOY Comics’ Second Coming: Only Begotten Son #1 by Mark Russell, Richard Pace, Leonard Kirk, Andy Troy and Rob Steen.
Dan Grote: Jesus Christ! … is barely in this comic. Where the first volume of Second Coming focused more on the son of God’s return to Earth and his adjusting to modern society, the first issue of this new volume — this second Second Coming, if you will — appears to be more about Sunstar, Jesus’ superhero pal, and his origin, which, in true AHOY fashion, feels very familiar. Will, overall thoughts before we dive in?
Will Nevin: First, I want to say that we’ve been working together for 18 years (maybe less, but it’s a pandemic, time is elusive to me now), and this is the first time we’ve shared a byline and I am goddamned pleased as punch. As to the actual substance, you’re right on all counts: Jesus (the absolute star of the first volume) is unfortunately absent in this first issue, which is totally not a riff on any other planet in comics that could have avoided a cataclysmic boner if it had listened to a scientist or two. So far, it’s the same, but different — which I think is a spooky proposition when you’re tinkering with something as good as Second Coming.
But, Dan, I have faith.
It’s the End of the World as We Know It
DG: We open on the planet Zirconia, Sunstar’s home world, on its last day. Rather than some futuristic civilization, it seems to be rooted in the architecture and fashion of late 1950s-early 1960s America suburbia. Except everything’s made of crystal, so it’s got the flair of a 1980s interior decorator on coke. What did you think of the design, Will? Would you live in a house made of crystal?
WN: You know, I did a community theatre production of Noises Off about 10 years ago — our set design was basically 1980s sun-faded earth tones and brass, and my character would have definitely done a line or two. So hell yes I’d live in a house of crystal…assuming I could work off all the sharp points.
DG: Hmm? What’s that? Sorry, I was scrolling through the photo gallery with that last link. I had no idea you were an actor! Truly, you contain multitudes.
WN: What do teaching, acting and writing all have in common?
Insatiable ego.
Aliens, They’re Just Like Us
DG: For two residents of a planet facing the end of all that is, Voldor and Zoldana have very mundane, earthly problems. Which is to say they have to entertain boorish dinner guests, overspend on crackers and think it would be fun to learn how to make their own soup (a dish that, according to this book, is considered an Earth delicacy). What is it about soup that lends itself to comedy?
WN: You ever try eating the last bite of soup in a dignified way? Or all of the other bites without making some insufferable noise? It’s impossible. Comedy of manners sort of thing without all of the Brit lit pretension.
DG: OK, that’s not my real question. It’s really more whether Russell’s message is “Sentient beings everywhere are myopic trash”?
WN: This is the part where we get serious, I guess. Krypton’s story — at least on the big screen — has always felt a little flat, largely because Marlon Brando couldn’t be bothered to give half a shit in 1977. But also because it never made much sense to me: A rational government, when confronted with scientific evidence that said imminent doom was about to befall its people, would do something, right? And yet no one would listen to Jor-El, and so he’s only able to save one kid on a planet of millions. What people would be that stupid, that willing, that eager to plunge into the abyss of extinction? It always seemed off for me — and then I lived through the last nine months of claims the pandemic was a hoax or some nefarious conspiracy, that masks were somehow an infringement of personal liberty and that common sense health measures represented the tyranny of the majority attacking religious freedoms.
For some of the people in this country, “myopic trash” is a compliment. An aspiration.
DG: PREACH, Brother William!
WN: In that context, the story of Zirconia — which I think we can properly read as both a parody of Krypton and a satire of our current information- and science-deficient times, and that’s a hell of a trick to pull off — resonated for me. And while I think we can talk about how this chapter fits into the overall Second Coming story, I can’t quibble with the message here.
Kaboom!
DG: The issue ends a bit abruptly, with a quick scene in the nursery of Sunstar and Sheila’s future baby that leaves Sunstar pondering his origin and his abilities as a soon-to-be parent. The whole thing reads like a prologue without setting up the conflict of the series. One wonders whether, just this once, AHOY’s trademark comic mag would be better served by adding comic and sacrificing mag, to make sure it ends in the right place. Or maybe it just should have been paced better. What do you think, chum?
WN: A wee bit sudden, wasn’t it? If we sat down and thought about how to put together the issue, I wonder if we might tinker with some other solutions, like taking those last couple of pages and making them first, thereby setting up the bulk of the story as almost a dream sequence. But upon reflection, that seems pretty hackneyed, and maybe that’s why we’re not comic book writers and/or editors. I like AHOY’s commitment to being different and more literary, and I wouldn’t ask them to change (especially since they published our good bro Chris Eddleman’s piece in Ash & Thorn #2). However, you’re right — this could have used a few more story pages to smooth out the narrative bumps and more squarely lay out where we’re going from here.
DG: Such an agreeable fellow you are, William. Finally, because AHOY now has two Superman analogs, I can’t help but ask this classic comic shop question: Who would win in a fight — Sunstar or Penultiman?
WN: Better question: Which guy’s anxiety and depression is stronger?
DG: Advantage, Penultiman, I guess.
WN: *sad face* *sad trombone sound*
Apocrypha
- Y’know it JUST occurred to me that Sunstar, as a name, is redundant. Like when tourism marketing people refer to “the summer season”? Fucking hate that.
- Is Sunstar ever not Sunstar? That’s probably a mirror to Jesus never not being Jesus.
- Also Sunstar’s worn the same onesie all his life?
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts WMQ&A: The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.
