A Double Dose of Superman in Superman #32 and Action Comics #1032

It’s twice the Supers, twice the back-ups, and twice the action (though only one Action Comics) on this week’s Superchat! First up, the conclusion to Clark and Jon Kent’s battle with the Shadowbreed in Superman #32, written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, drawn by Scott Godlewski, and colored by Gabe Eltaeb, with a back-up concluding the citizens of Metropolis’ dealings with with the Projectress, in a story written by Sean Lewis, drawn by Sami Basri, and colored by Ulises Arreola.

Over in Action Comics #1032, Superman and family deal with what appear to by Kryptonian refugees from Warworld, bringing ancient, deadly and portentous technology in their wake. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, drawn by Daniel Sampere, and colored by Adriano Lucas. Back-up story featuring Midnighter, written by Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad, drawn by Michael Avon Deming, and colored by Taki Soma.

Lettering for all four stories by Dave Sharpe.

Armaan Babu: It’s my first Superchat double feature! I’m a happy DC reader; Phillip Kennedy Johnson has been doing great work on both Action Comics and Superman, and having both books come out in the same week makes me appreciate some of the little things he seems to be adding to Super-stories. Did you enjoy this week’s double dose of Superman, Tony?

Tony Thornley: I did! I’m really curious what happened scheduling-wise for us to get three Superman books in a week (including Batman/Superman) but you know what, I didn’t mind it! It was kind of fun to get it all the same week, especially as the titular book transitions from Clark to Jon in this issue.

Armaan: Yeah, it feels a little like getting one big Superbook! Not quite an anthology, but a fun pairing for sure. 

A Matter of Legacy

Armaan: So, first up, we’re taking a look at Superman #32 and the conclusion of the Shadowbreed arc. We open with a flashback to Quarath o Bakkis’ life, and the hard, demanding childhood he had as the son of the legend Quarath o Daanim. As is pointed out later in the issue, Bakkis’ relationship with his father is directly comparable to Jon’s – both children have grown up with super heroic fathers. 

Fatherhood is such a big theme of Johnson’s run. We have a father shamed/disappointed by his son. Over in Action Comics, we have a generation of fathers (the Monguls) threatened by their son. But Clark – Clark’s a dad who’s inspired by his son.

Where Jon was nurtured encouraged, and loved by his father, Bakkis was humiliated by Daanim for not measuring up. It’s the disappointed rage of Daanim that caused the re-release of the Shadowbreed – but darkness calls to darkness, and the Shadowbreed recognized an ally in Bakkis, sparing him their possessive ways.

While this flashback feels a little crammed in, I can’t imagine where else in the story it could have fit in without the comic tipping its hand as to Bakkis’ betrayal. What’d you think of this intro?

Tony: So this intro I think is kind of emblematic of the issue as a whole. This is an interesting story about these characters, but we’ve never met them before this arc and may not see them again after. As much as I’ve liked this arc, it made me realize that they’re all plot devices, rather than fully formed characters with their own lives outside of this story.

Armaan: Y’know, now that you mention it, they definitely have the feel of NPCs whose story’s been held in stasis until the hero can get around to following their questline. 

Tony: Yeah, exactly. Now, if we had gotten some of this development and backstory earlier in the arc, I think it would have landed a bit better here.

I did like the way Johnson positioned Jon and Bakkis though. They grew up to be different young adults because of how their fathers raised them. Clark used compassion and love, while Daanim used fear and anger. That results in Jon confronting the Shadowbreed to save the day versus Bakkis betraying Clark and Jon to them.

I did enjoy what we got from here. For what’s on panel, it’s pretty standard action beats for a bit, Jon versus Shadows. Then Clark bursts through the mass of alien energy (okay, maybe that was a bit too easy), and we get the heart of the issue.

Armaan: I wanna take a moment to appreciate the panel layout here, once again. One thing I didn’t notice until this issue is that the background, the traditional whiteness of the gutters, is something that we see in the more traditional parts of the comic – the flashback, for instance – but is replaced by pure blackness when we come back to the present. It really strengthens the lonely feel of the darkness of space, and combining that with incredibly dynamic panel design really makes these action-heavy moments come alive for me.

Tony: I have to agree here. Godlewski was the MVP of this entire arc. He did some really inventive action, great layouts, and some really stellar character work. We really need to see Godlewski come back to the Super-books soon. Eltaeb did some really cool work with the colors too, though it’s a bit too flat in a couple places.

Armaan: What I appreciate here is that even though Superman has burst free of the Shadowbreed’s influence, it’s not him who saves the day. Defeating this enemy requires him to use his powers in a way he never has before. I have no doubt that if Jon wasn’t there, Clark would have figured out a way to do this, but he immediately recognizes that in this case?

This looks like a job for the other Superman. 

Tony: This is exactly the sort of moment that makes me frustrated that the line is splitting Jon and Clark up. This arc really showed the whole potential of Superman and Son that we haven’t really seen since, well… 2016’s Superman & Son. 

It’s Clark raising Jon not to be just a good person but also a great hero. It’s taking the potential of the concept and elevating it to what it needs to be. No one that’s written the duo since that opening arc of the previous Superman volume has really fulfilled the promise and now when we’re seeing it executed perfectly, we know it’s on the way out.

But hey, that’s also beside the point because NEW SUPER POWER!

Armaan: I don’t know if you’ve been watching Superman & Lois but I was watching it the other day and I was marvelling at the fact that DC’s taken this long to realize that some of the best Superman stories of all time lie in seeing him as a father, so I feel your frustration in splitting this pair up.

BUT YES. NEW SUPER POWER. 

We saw expolodo-vision last issue, and now we’re getting special new kinds of heat vision as Jon lets out a blast of hyperviolet rays. I do not understand the science behind this, but look, Superman’s powers have gone from having super-ventriloquism to shooting tiny Supermen out of his fingertips. I’m always on board for new Superpowers. 

The approach to Jon’s powers seems to be unlocking Kyrptonian potential in a way that has never been done before, and when you think about it, that’s very much the whole point behind Johnson’s run, isn’t it? Jon taking his genetics, and his legacy, and furthering what it means to be a Superman.

Tony: This isn’t like Geoff Johns suddenly giving Clark a nonsensical power like the weird energy blast. This makes sense considering all the groundwork that’s been done since Jon’s introduction. We knew his half-Kryptonian, half-Terran heritage could give him incredible new powers. Now we get the proof and it RULES.

Also, the coloring of that blast is interesting, isn’t it? I wonder if we’re going to see that again this week. (Spoiler alert: Yes.)

And after they save the day, I love the narration. This goes back to the sweet “your heartbeat is my favorite sound” moment from last issue. Is there a little more cheese in this issue? Maybe a little. But it works.

Also… it just kinda ends though. There’s no hint of the transition from Clark to Jon. It’s a great arc ender, but doesn’t quite work as a final issue. What did you think?

Armaan: Like the crammed backstory we began with, this issue feels pretty unevenly paced. It’s a good story, with good writing, but the pacing’s definitely awkward.

The story as a whole lands for me, though. As a simple adventure in space that lets the relationship between Clark and Jon shine, I’m happy with it. It helps that, this week, we get to move on from this to the more plot-rich Action Comics #1032. Onwards!

Destiny

Tony: Good grief I liked this issue a lot. Maybe the reason I struggled with Superman in a few places is because this issue was so much stronger. We get more into the mystery of these new Kryptonians. We get a hint of Warworld. We get some HUGE movement on what the new DCU Authority might be. Hell, we even get hints at a new war between the surface and Atlantis. It was quite the issue.

Now, I liked where the issue started. Clark standing paralyzed, facing the refugee who just destroyed Kelex– Thao-La. This scene was really interesting because without one panel, you could look at this and think, “Oh wow, these lost Kryptonians- the Phaelosians- knew the House of El, and know their sigil means hope.”

But no. We get a single (and extremely lovely) panel of Thao-La as a young girl playing with a Superman doll. This mystery keeps getting more and more interesting, doesn’t it?

Armaan: There’s definitely a very exciting, rich story going on here, and we’re getting just enough of it being revealed at a time. I love the scope of the story that’s being teased here, we’re building up a very solid arc.

What I’m interested in is how this Mongul appears to have been using hope as a weapon. I don’t imagine Warworld has a booming action figure industry – the Phaelosians were told stories of Superman. They were given that hope. And then that hope was used to hurt them.

Tony: Exactly. And you’re right, they’re clearly weaponizing that hope. The flashback is also interesting in that Thao-La’s clothes are clean, but significantly worn and tattered. That almost seems to imply that she’s not from Warworld to me… but then she’s wearing her chains, which we see are almost like a safety blanket to her. 

Armaan: Trauma can be a difficult thing to let go of, and Thao-La’s clearly not ready. Superman, with the best intentions in the world, doesn’t recognize this and attempts to remove the chains from her, provoking a rather strong reaction from her. 

It’s here we get our first big indication that Thao-La’s actually Kryptonian after all, as she unleashes a burst of…well, not quite heat vision. Her eye blasts that knock Superman back are this kind of blueish-white – Johnson appears to be expanding on this idea of multi-spectrum heat vision that he introduced with Jon in Superman. 

What I love about what happens next is that Lois Lane sees someone unleash a massive, scary new power, knocking back her generally invincible husband – and her very first reaction is to run towards that danger. Her first instinct is compassion above everything else, recognizing what Superman failed to see. She provides Thao-La the comfort she desperately needs, and it’s a beautiful moment, beautifully expressed by Sampere’s art.

Tony: Yeah, I really think Lois Lane is one of the best characters in the DCU and when a writer gets her right, they just nail it. This is a great example of getting Lois right. She’s tough as nails, strong willed, and can stand up to some of the most frightening men on the planet. 

BUT.

Underneath that all, she’s also one of the most kind and loving characters in the universe.

Lois Lane rules.

Armaan: Where Superman was a quiet, relatively more isolated story, we’re getting something much bigger in Action Comics. A bigger cast, more of the Superfamily featured, and a much, much bigger threat. What do you make of this kaiju-creating, prophecy-bearing, magical city-hiding Genesis rock we get a better look at?

Tony: Oh that bit was very cool. That’s the other thing that seemed fishy to me about what’s going on with Warworld. The Genesis rock looks like ancient eldritch magic, not something that Mongul would keep kicking around on Warworld. In fact, you had a guess at what Genesis might be, didn’t you?

Armaan: It’s all the talk of the visions of a sleeping god. A city of the dead. Prophecies. I’m thinking, what’s the only thing that’s scarier than Warworlds and potential Kryptonian supervillains?

Kryptonian Chthulus. 

Something big is going on here, and though some things are being teased out here, it feels like we’re still far away from seeing the big picture here. Which is why it’s weird to me that we’re introducing another plot complication here – a possible war between Atlantis and the USA over jurisdiction over Genesis.

How are you feeling about where we’re headed?

Tony: Don’t forget about Clark trying to rally the League to head to Warworld. This is not usual Superman territory, and I really kinda dig it. I also am incredibly curious about those symbols Clark saw as the Genesis Monster was projecting illusions in his head.

Armaan: There’s some destiny being stirred into the mix. The ‘S’ symbol is being given more and more importance here. Something big is coming, and it’s all revolving around that symbol. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of this.

Tony: This isn’t the most EXCITING direction we’ve ever gone in with Superman, but it’s definitely one of the more interesting. I really wish Superman had pointed more towards this with the character side of things, because this is really cool plot-wise. Regardless, I’m excited for where this is pointing. I’m glad to see this is headed somewhere completely new.

A lot of fun, in the end. Let’s see if Johnson and Sampere stick the landing next month.

Daily Planet Headlines

• I love the Superman/Batman scene in Action Comics. How humiliating must it be to see a superhero hovering over your car chase not even needing to intervene or pause in his conversation?
• That’s twice we’ve seen heat vision used to light up the dark. It’s so much better than glowy red eyes being exclusively used to denote super-rage.
• The Kryptonian translates to some very basic medical sci-fi jargon. “Target unresponsive despite diagnostic sequence twelve, oh no!”
• The Superman ‘Tales of Metropolis’ back-up was a lot of fun, and we hope to see more of it soon. The Action Midnighter back-up was less so, but it might come around by the time the Authority heads to Warworld.