Doomed Planet. Desperate Scientists. Last Hope. Kindly Couple. NEW COLUMN!

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Super Chat. Spinning out from the pages of Bat Chat, Super Boys Justin Partridge and Tony Thornley commit themselves to a new never ending battle, diving into the mighty deeds of Superman. All starting here with Superman #29. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, penciled by Phil Hester, inked by Eric Gapstur, colored by Hi-Fi and lettered by Dave Sharpe Superman #29 finds us entering a new “Golden Age”, kicking off with a two-parter laid across this title and Action Comics. They are a good people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They lack only the light to show them the way. But now Super Chat will join them in the sun!

Justin Partridge: GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS, EARTH PEOPLE!

Welcome to the first edition of Super Chat! I am Superman’s Pal, Justin Partridge, and joining me on this wonderful endeavour is the feared leader of Intergang, Tony Thornley! 

Tony Thornley: Do I LOOK like Bruno “Ugly” Manheim to you Justin?! Rea- *glances at the mirror*- Oh. Carry on.

JP: Tony kids, of course; he’s incredibly handsome. BUT we are here today sharing in our love and appreciation for the Big Blue Boy Scout Superman, taking advantage of his post-Future State soft title reboots to launch a new column of Detective Comics Comics coverage here at CXF. After talking a bit with the BatChat bosses and among ourselves, Superman #29 seemed like the perfect place to start.

And I gotta say, it’s pretty solid stuff! We have a neatly grounded hook for the first two-parter, a pretty deft handling of both Clark and Jon as characters, and an organized introduction to the sorts of characters and angles we will be seeing in this new era of Superman and Action Comics! I don’t want to waste a second. UP…UP…AND AWAY!

TT: Indeed. Since “Rebirth,” the Superman titles have been centered in the family drama of the Lane-Kent family. It was only natural that the kick-off of this era is all about Jon and Clark. It’s a story that I really think needed to be told for the duo, since Jon’s past two years have been such a whirlwind.

Fathers & Sons

JP: Starting off here, for me, a real selling point to this opening issue of the “new” Superman is the focus on both Jon and Clark. We open during a probably typical day for the Kent boys, filtered through the blocky pop-art inspired look of Hester, Gapstur and Hi-Fi, all of whom providing the issue with consistently good, old-school visuals. 

TT: I think Hester on pencils was the very first thing we got excited about when you and I started talking about this book. I feel like he’s one of the most consistently great comics artists in the industry. I love that this Hester that we got here is recognizable as the same artist that did Green Arrow twenty years ago or Ant-Man a decade ago. His presence creates a sense of familiarity for the story, even with Gapstur on inks rather than the inker I’m most used to him working with, Ande Parks. Gapstur does go a little heavy with shading and thick lines in a few places, but generally speaking, wow this looks good.

So what are the Supermen dealing with right away?

JP: Large energy vortexes have been opening above the Earth at random intervals. So far, both Jon and Clark have been able to hold their ground against them, defending the nearby S.T.A.R. Labs orbital station from harm and beating back the craggy, bug-like creatures that have been attempting to spill out.

While the Gleason and Tomasi Superman gave us a fairly cloying version of the Jon and Clark dynamic, here under the pen of Phillip Kennedy Johnson, he gives us a pairing on a more even ground together, both intellectually and power wise. This allows Jon a nice, organic sounding narration about the infallibility of parents in a kid’s eyes and how even if your parent WASN’T a superhero, you would still look up to them in a certain light, simply because that’s all you really know. 

It might be a touch basic, but I think it at least allows new readers a nice semblance of Jon’s recent history (without the bald exposition) and characterization, positioning Jon as a steady foil for the opening. What did you think of it, Tony?

TT: I wasn’t a fan of Jon Kent’s aging up to begin with. I think there’s a lot more story to be told with a pre-teen character aging into his role, powers and responsibilities. To ship him off to the Legion of Super-Heroes immediately afterwards though made it doubly worse for me, because then we didn’t get to see Clark, Jon or Lois work through it together.

So to see Jon and Clark FINALLY get a chance to begin to reconcile what’s happened? That really shines in this issue. I like that Johnson makes a point that this is the same Jon but grown up, but he does it through his characterization. It’s a fantastic example of show, don’t tell.

Man & Superman

JP: But while the Kent boys have been standing their ground, Jon is noticing something about his dad; a fear that starts as fraternal concern that soon quickens into something far more deadly. You see, while Jon and Clark continue to fight the vortexes, the energy from the other side has been hurting Superman, breaking down his sun-soaked cells and allowing him a kind of mortality. A mortality that Jon recognizes and can track through the “history” of the 31st Century.

A history that further portends that these vortexes are the beginning of the end for the Man of Steel. A claim backed up by Kelex at the Fortress of Solitude, who has been running their own scans of the necrotic energy and its effects on Kryptonian cells.

TT: This was such a good touch. Jon blasting into the future needs to have consequences, and worrying about his dad when he sees the warning signs of the true death of Superman? That rules. It not only shows how much of a bad idea the Legion taking Jon with them to the future truly was, but it also adds stakes to Jon’s motivations. Does he act and potentially erase his friends in the future? Does he stand by and have to embrace his assumed destiny?

It pairs perfectly with what he said earlier in the issue about people calling him Superman. He’s not, nor will he ever be in his mind, because Superman is Clark Kent. It’s not a mantle or a title. It’s his dad, but not because of parental hero worship. He genuinely sees Superman and Clark as inseparable, which is how we all should.

JP: Again, the way Phillip Kennedy Johnson and the art team deliver this revelation is a bit arch, and highly soapy thanks to PKJ’s heightened voice for Jon flinted against the plaintively kind version of Clark he delivers here. But even with the archness of it, I was still really charmed and engaged by the hook. Sure, knocking Superman down a peg or two isn’t exactly the most novel of ideas, but I felt that as an opening, it’s a nice reacclimation for the title (and it’s readers). Doubly so after the promised bombast and importance of the BENDIS IS COMING Supes and Action. 

I think if ANYTHING, I am just excited both Superman and Action Comics seems to be aiming toward telling more focused, “ground level” stories, instead of trying to deliver “iconic epics” constantly (though I like Bendis’ Action okay enough when it shifted between these gears itself).

What about you, Tony? Is seeing the Man made less Super of any interest to you?

TT: I love the idea of Clark a little more human and a little less God-like. If this arc does nothing but drop his power levels a few notches for the length of Johnson’s run, it’s a success in my mind. Do I want him only able to leap tall buildings instead of fly? No. But able to fly at nearly the speed of light, like we saw at the end of the previous run? Also don’t want that.

Superman is the ultimate truly good person. He should be what we aspire and look up to. Do his powers mean he can do more than the average person? Yes, definitely. But he would do it without his powers as well.

It reminds me of The Death of Superman. As Clark went on in that story, he knew he wasn’t indestructible. He knew that he was injured and that his life was in danger. But he also knew that without him, many more would die. If Johnson is adding back that level of danger to his run, that humanizes Superman without grounding him too much. That’s good. 

JP: AND FUNNY YOU MENTION THAT, as PKJ only here today (Thursday evening, the 11th) revealed that the seminal Triangle Era and the Death/Return of Superman are the major inspirations for this run! You can absolutely see it on the page and like Tony so eloquently said, THAT’S GOOD.  

The Devil & Amanda Waller

JP: But someone else has also noticed the negative effects the portals are having on Superman: Amanda Waller.

TT: I forgot how cool Amanda Waller having her fingers in stuff is. She is a brilliant strategist, and making sure she knows what’s going on in case of Superman going bad? That’s just perfectly in character.

JP: I think this was the moment in which this book went from a Gentleman’s 6 to a full-blown “I would pull this book were we not in a pandemic” levels for me. I think the further reveal that Waller and S.T.A.R. Labs were originally responsible for the portals IS a bit on the nose, but seeing Waller again positioned as major antagonist of the title is really exciting.

TT: You’re absolutely right. But I do like Johnson continuing Bendis’s recharacterization of S.T.A.R. Labs here. There’s not quite AIM levels of bad, but they’re immoral and that’s not good. However, having Waller as an antagonist creates a friction that Superman doesn’t run into. She’s not Luthor. She’s committed to doing the right thing, but she doesn’t have the same moral background as Clark. She will do the wrong thing for the right reasons, and she won’t look back.

JP: Not only that, but it feels like the natural progression of PKJ’s more “grounded” approach to the title, right? Like big portals opening in space spewing giant bugs is absolutely a “Superman problem,” but rooting it in the machinations of Waller (who seems to be back in the anti-Superman game, gathering scans on both Clark AND Jon for some surely shady shenanigans soonish) gives it a nicely human edge. Along with a nice place to grow from. At least for me!

I can’t speak for you, Tony, nor would I presume to, but did this sudden turn into Waller-Ville grab you at all?

TT: Like I said a second ago, I love Waller as an antagonist. Comics need more amoral spy masters, and she is just the best at her job.

Now, combining that scene with the fact that Waller has Conner Kent tied up in Belle Reve, as we saw in Suicide Squad last week, I’m really curious. Are Johnson and Squad writer Robbie Thompson working on a story together? Or is it a coincidence? What do you think, J?

JP: WELL, I have two theories about it. The first is that it might just be a happy happenstance, wherein two titles somewhat flint each other as they occupy the same “story space”. 

BUT MY SECOND, and possibly more likely, is this is that “bullpen energy” coming back to Detective Comics Comics. I’m not entirely sure if Suicide Squad is a title under the Superman Group editorial umbrella (but I would LOVE to find out as I don’t know how the titles are divided right now heading into the “Infinite Frontier” Era). 

I would really love it if this were true. Some of the best DC books and line output have come from a spirit of collaboration between all the creative teams. All further working from a pool of shared characters and casts, branching from the DC Trinity. Again, this could just be me projecting, but reading this REALLY got me excited and anxious for the incoming stories. 

It’s been a while, just personally, since I’ve been really TRULY excited about mainline DC books. Longer still since I’ve been excited about an incoming creative team on Superman and Action Comics. 

But after Superman #29, and even despite my well documented reservations, I’m back in the habit of hoping again. I gotta say, it feels pretty great. 

Daily Planet Headlines

• We also are treated here to the debut of the “Tales of Metropolis” from Superman of Metropolis scribe Sean Lewis alongside the art team of Sami Basri, Ulises Arreola and Dave Sharpe. It seems to be a “day in the life” kinda deal with Jimmy Olsen following around various Metropolis side-characters on random adventures. This time being Bibbo Bibowski, who runs afoul of Projectress and Deadstream, as they work for a new era of crime in Metropolis. I like the idea of it, but this one felt a little drab despite Lewis’ droll take on Jimmy.
• Also, Projectress’s implied alien background, and her name totally is pointing to a connection to longtime Legionnaire Princess Projectra.
• If we are bringing up more wishlist characters for appearances later, I would die to see Maggie Sawyer, Conner (once he busts outta Belle Reve), and John Henry Irons back in the mix
• Also, Lana Lang.
• We didn’t say it enough, but Phil Hester draws a wonderful Superman. 
• Also his Green Arrow is what Justin considers like “THE Green Arrow Artist”. Maybe even more than Grell? Do NOT @ him.

Justin Partridge

Justin Partridge has loved comics all his life. He hasn't quite gotten them to love him back just yet. But that hasn't stopped him from trying as he has been writing about them now for a little over a decade. With bylines at Newsarama, Shelfdust, PanelXPanel, and more, Justin has been doing the work and putting in the time! Comics have yet to return his calls. Usually he can be found on Twitter screaming about Doctor Who.

Tony Thornley

Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.