SuperChat Goes from the Circus to the Space Age and to Warworld and Gammora

This week, we look at Superman through the ages! Gladiator Superman continues to fight for Warworld in Action Comics #1045 and #1046, written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, drawn by Will Conrad and Brent Peeples for #1045 and Fico Ossio for #1046, colored by Lee Loughridge and lettered by Dave Sharpe, with back-up stories written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, drawn by David Lapham, colored by Trish Mulvihill, and lettered by Dave Sharpe.

We also take a look at a world where Superman began his career in the 60s, in Superman: Space Age #1, written by Mark Russell, drawn by Mike Allred, colored by Laura Allred and lettered by Dave Sharpe. 

Going further back to 1892, Batman and Superman team up to rescue a time-lost Robin — but not before solving a circus murder mystery, in Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #6, written by Mark Waid, drawn by Travis Moore, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, and lettered by Aditya Bidikar. 

In the present, Jonathan Kent and friends go all in on an ultra mega team-up to finally take Bendix down — but the Gamorran tyrant has one last trick up his sleeve in Superman: Son of Kal-El #14, written by Tom Taylor, drawn by Cian Tormey, colored by Frederico Blee and lettered by Dave Sharpe.

Armaan Babu: Aside from Jonathan, our Supermen this week are in weird places. An alternate 60s, Warworld, and a circus in the past to solve a mystery that wrongfully frames a lion. How’ve you enjoyed this crop of strangenesses? 

Tony Thornley: This is a WILD month of releases and I like it!

Action Mini-Boss: Unlocked!

Armaan: We seem to be approaching the end of the Warworld Saga here — and things have never looked darker for Team Superman. OMAC, Lightray and Apollo, the team’s heaviest hitters, have all been corrupted by Mongul and are crushing the rebellion pretty handily. These were great opening pages. Destruction can be hypnotic, especially with the right coloring, and this opening definitely had me entranced — especially when we get to that opening title splash showing Lightray’s corrupted form, with her transformed teammates behind her. So much has been happening that I’ve lost what little emotional connection to these characters I may have had, but as a threat, they look formidable. 

Tony: Yeah, you’re exactly right about the impact of seeing them go dark. Lightray and OMAC were barely even characters before they fell. OMAC’s only distinguishing character trait is his devotion to Lightray, and Lightray is a complete cipher. But visually they’re scary and seeing them tear through a group of warriors has a great impact.

Armaan: Let’s talk about the villains a little more. While Apollo has become little more than a solar powered juggernaut of destruction, you get a real sense of loss from the others. That Darling no longer responds to Orphan got me especially hard, I think — their bond was strange, but clearly loving — and there’s a coldness to seeing it stripped away.

Tony: Apollo going dark is the one of the four that had the most impact. Seeing Midnighter struggle with the fact that his husband (are they still married? Continuity!) has been corrupted and is fighting against them, that works, even if there isn’t any time spent with it. Apollo is a really good character besides, so that was necessary.

Armaan: I think we’re meant to feel similarly for Lightray, but given how little time we’ve actually spent with her, that isn’t landing. What does land is the moments we get with Omac — the only turncoat who chose to be where she is. Omac’s got regrets. All she wanted was for Lightray returned to her, and from a certain point of view Mongul has done the exact opposite of that — not only has Lightray not been resurrected, but what little remains of her has become everything that Lightray is not: a dark destructive tool. It’s enough to make one want to give up entirely, but even here, where things seem at their darkest, the standard that Superman sets — and that we’re told Lightray inspires — demands hope for the impossible, even here.

Tony: Yeah, this is what I started to say a couple paragraphs ago before I realized I was getting ahead of myself. 🙂 These two characters are barely objects in the story, much less characters. We’re supposed to care, but I have trouble caring about them simply because we don’t know them. They’re intimidating threats, and that’s it.

Armaan: More and more, I’m wishing this was either a novel, a text-heavy CRPG or even some alt-universe digital series set to run for about seventy issues or so. We’re getting very dense comics here, and there are a lot of moments that effectively pluck at my heartstrings…but I wish were allowed to breathe.

That, or I wish this was a Superman-only series, scrap the Authority. Aside from maybe Omac and Midnighter, I don’t feel like I’ve gotten to know anyone in the comic any better than I have since we met them in Superman & the Authority — but their inclusion warrants a certain amount of page space that I don’t know if this story can spare. I feel like I’m just seeing the highlights of a fantastic saga — and while that’s enjoyable in its own right, I want more. 

Tony: Yeah, it’s starting to feel rushed. Just like what I said with Lightray and OMAC- they all need fleshing out. Enchantress is barely an existing character, and Manchester, Midnighter and Steel are all relying on readers’ past knowledge of them. The back-ups could have been used to flesh them and their activities out instead of a Martian Manhunter story that I barely read (but not the current back-ups, I’m so glad for those!).

Armaan: Yeah, the current back-ups have been a ton of fun!

Over on the Superman side of the story, the revolution is being overwhelmed, and it’s time to start making some serious moves, and while splitting the party may be a terrible idea in an RPG, it’s perfect for a superhero comic with a large cast who need to attack a problem on multiple fronts. Team Midnighter is tasked with returning their lost and brainwashed allies back to the side of the angels — something that’s been pushed to a future issue — while Team Natasha has been charged with turning Warworld’s red solar energy into something fuelled by Genesis, and theoretically give the Phaelosians their power back. 

Superman himself, though, takes the children (we’re given just enough time for a touching scene with them) and the grizzled Exposition Ally, Kryl-Ux, and heads down to claim the weapon/god fragment that Warworld is supposedly wrapped around. 

Tony: Does this feel rushed to you? I mean, we get that dividing the party, then we only see focus on Kal and the Phaelosians. There seems like a lot of story being left on the cutting room floor.

Armaan: It does. To continue the video game comparison I’ve been making for this run, this feels a lot like when I know that after playing for about 30 hours, the finale is within reach, and I abandon all side quests just to finish the whole thing off. We’re very close to the end, here.

Still. I like the take on the reluctant hero we get here. Everything on Warworld is pushing Superman towards being a fantasy hero, to play out its myths. All Superman wants to do is save lives in the most expedient way possible. He’s ever the fireman — he just wants the fires put out, but everyone here just wants him to take his place in an ancient prophecy, a grand story that’s been told for millennia but needs him to complete. 

On that note, I love that the only way into the heart of the ever-shifting maze beneath Warworld is to understand the writing on the walls, and to follow the one story that stands out above the rest. If I saw this in a video game I’d be talking about it for days (although I’ve been replaying Torment: Tides of Numenera a lot recently and that definitely scratches that unique itch). Superman may not want to be dragged into these kind of stories, but he does recognize how important stories are. I like when a comic gives us things like this — a personal reason why Superman could solve the maze, but Mongul never could.

Tony: I love that if we get nothing else from this run, its turning Warworld into an actual place and not just, “Aren’t gladiators cool? How about gladiators IN SPACE?!” Warworld is now a wholly fleshed out space opera setting. That makes Mongul feel like a threat on the level of Despero or Starro now, which is something the DCU could always use. 

You and I have been getting increasingly frustrated with this storyline. It’s giving into some storytelling excesses, and I don’t like that. As much as I hate to say it, I’m kind of looking forward to it ending, which we know it will be soon [Ed Note: August 31st!], thanks to the announcement of the wrap-up one-shot and the “Superman returns to Earth” special that will follow.

Armaan: With Action Comics #1036, I’m really feeling that sense of urgency. A large part of that is the art change. It’s a dramatic shift, and it took me a couple of pages to get used to it, but once I did I really started to appreciate the sense of – heh – action that Fico Ossio brought to the page. It’s thrilling, it’s fast paced, it’s almost impatient, though that last bit could have just been me projecting.

I feel like there’s even more story left on the cutting room floor here — a single monster to fight, followed by a single riddle? On a basic storytelling level, it’s both a let down, but also a relief; I’m glad this wasn’t dragged out. Superman solving the riddle with the help of an old Kryptonian toy was an especially nice touch.

Not sure I like that the Flame of Olgrun being reduced to a stabby little dagger, but I suppose that we’re all the way down the fantasy rabbit hole now, and some cliches can’t be denied…which means we’re just about due a big twist. Tony, what’d you think of this last-minute betrayal?

Tony: It’s interesting, but again, it’s a character we barely care about, so it’s just down to being a plot moment. But it definitely makes for a great cliffhanger leading into the Warworld Apocalypse special. An all action issue is what Action Comics is made for, it was generally pretty fun, even if it felt a little video-gamey (mini boss, to mini boss/puzzle, to big boss, to final boss!).

I think I enjoyed the Lapham-illustrated back-up a little more again. I really hope that continues into the post-Warworld future of the title. Let’s see a sibling-like dynamic between Kara, Conner and Jon. Let’s see Kong Kenan more and more integrated with the House of El. Add Jimmy, Nat and John Henry and you’ve got a perfect group dynamic!

Bringing the Battle to Bendix

Armaan: I gotta say, I enjoyed this a lot more than the rest of the series so far. I know Action Comics is the other one, but damn if I wasn’t glad to see some of it here. It’s about time that Jon & Friends finally took the fight to Bendix. Fourteen issues is far too many comics to set up a villain whose most compelling hook is that he’s almost, but not quite, President Lex Luthor.

Tony: You know, when we pregamed our discussion, I was a lot cooler on this issue than you were, and you were a lot cooler on another issue we’re discussing this month than I am. This issue just fell flat for me. I’m not sure, but maybe it’s because I have no attachment to Taylor’s former Suicide Squad characters. 

Armaan: The Truth is out there, blasting their message for the world to hear, exposing Bendix’s kidnapping of metahumans, and his genetic manipulation and mind control of them for his own personal army-for-sale. It’s just enough of an indictment for Superman to be able to launch an attack on Gamorra without starting an international incident.

Cian Tormey and Frederico Blee get to have a lot of fun here — there are a lot of superheroes to play with. Besides Jon, Dreamer, and a drop-in from Robin, we also have the members of Tom Taylor’s pet team, the Revolutionaries, all standing around, looking cool, and knowing that only a third of their number will ever get to actually use their powers on page. I’ve read every issue they’ve ever appeared in, Tony, and I still for the life of me couldn’t tell you what Zebra Man does, and at this point I refuse to look it up. I hope he spends his entire on-page career never again using his powers, leaving us all in the dark about what it is he actually does.

We also get a new costume for Jon’s boyfriend, Jay! Made in the 31st Century, it’s quite literally ahead of its time — but it’s really not the most memorable costume for me. What do you think?

Tony: Yeah, it’s a very generic Legionnaire costume. It would have been a little cooler if it directly called back to Phantom Girl’s classic costumes instead. Hell, instead of Gossamer, why not use Phantom Kid or Apparition as his codename? If you’re going to give him a Legion costume and flight ring, advancing the connection to a call-back codename just makes sense.

Armaan: We get a little planning, a little hero interaction, and a little debate on whether or not killing is okay. Honestly, I’m a little tired of seeing this debate in comics — especially Superman comics. It’s a no-stakes debate. Superman is never going to budge on killing, and it’s honestly the lowest moral bar he can clear. It is the laziest way possible to emphasize he’s a Good Dude, and it just takes up space in what could instead be filled with cool superhero stuff.

Because I loved seeing the assault start. Jay phasing himself out of his boyfriend’s arms into a freefall, switching his powers on and off to use the Legion Flight ring and using momentum to phase through even more. I know Kate Pryde has the phasing-through-combat style locked down, but Jay gives her a decent run for her money here! 

Cian Tormey has a great sense of superhero action flair (watch the cape), so while not much happened story-wise here, I still had a great time.

Tony: As much as I enjoyed initial artist John Timms’ work, Tormey has been a better fit in general. He’s done great work on the title. From making Jon look like a blend of Clark and Lois to his extremely dynamic action, he was a great find. Looking back at what I said about a stable art team for Action, Tormey is a great example of it on Son of Kal-El.

World’s Finest’s Circus Mysteries

Armaan: After last issue’s resolution to the Devil Nehza problem, we look back into the past to where Robin’s been lost in the timestream. He seems to have, thankfully, landed on his feet! Then swung up into the air again, only to, yes, make yet another fantastic landing. This Flying Grayson has lucked his way into moving about 1892 with a traveling circus, one that’s more than happy to take him in, but isn’t quite so nice to its animals.

There’s fun to be had in this issue, but it wasn’t for me. World’s Finest has had a lot of fun playing around with Silver Age shenanigans, and having Batman, Superman and Robin team-up to solve a low stakes mystery fits the bill…it’s just that after the wildness of all the Dan Mora art we got in the first arc, switching gears to a somewhat cozier mystery tale lost my interest. The art is appropriately somber, and the colors are still a wonder to behold, but World’s Finest has never had the most gripping story, so when the story becomes a bit more of a focus — I hate to say it, Tony, but I was bored.

Tony: I kind of loved this issue, but I get why it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Waid went from “I’m going to give Dan Mora every fun thing in the DCU to draw” to “I’m going to show that I can still write a mystery.” My favorite Waid series is still Crossgen’s Ruse and this felt like that. It was a weird place to end up after the first arc, without a doubt, and it kind of fell flat from the “OH NO ROBIN!” set-up the previous arc gave us. I am kind of glad that it didn’t drag it out though.

I haven’t read tons by Travis Moore though, and I really enjoyed the art side of the issue. He got it as far as dynamic characters, especially in showing how Dick Grayson should move, and his pacing was really solid. Not enough critics look at pacing in the art, and Moore gets how to do it for both dramatic impact, and for the curtain pulls of the mystery.

Armaan: You know, you’re kind of selling me on making a reread. I did get the sense of there being a cozy mystery here — but World’s Finest isn’t the book I would go to for that sort of thing. I do enjoy the friendly silliness of it though. I’m always happy to see Dick Grayson at the circus. There’s not much time to linger here, though — because we have the Space Age to get to!!

Space Age: The Not So New Frontier

Armaan: I left this for last, because it’s the one that’s the most different from the others – and I suspect we might have the most to say about it. As I told you on Slack, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it while at the same time being disappointed there’s a Book Two.

What we have here seems to be Mark Russel and Mike Allred’s take on DC: The New Frontier. The superheroes we know, if they had begun in a certain age (in this case the 60s, opposed to DC: The New Frontier’s 50s), if the major events and sentiments of that age affected our heroes’ origins.

The long and short of my feelings about this comic are this: I enjoyed everything that had to do with Clark himself. Everything to do with the new Justice League, with Lex Luthor, with setting the next book? I wish it had all been cut out, entirely.

Tony: I really liked the Luthor plotline, but otherwise, yes. This was almost a wonderful standalone graphic novel, but those serialized elements didn’t quite sit right. I mean, we didn’t need Hal Jordan, and Diana didn’t even show up until the last three or four pages… The Batman plot was fun though.

Armaan: We have a pretty dramatic opening, here. The world is ending, and Superman wasn’t able to stop it — but he can, at least, be with his family as everything falls to flame.

As far as the art goes, I think that the Allreds are a perfect fit for a Mark Russell story. Both Michael Allred and Mark Russell have a storytelling style that – for better and for worse – blurs the line between deeply memorable, poignant moments, and a silliness that’s almost surreal. There can be moments when, before you adjust to either style, you’re not quite sure which category you need to be landing on…but once the style settles in, it really gets to you.

I especially enjoy the smaller, human moments Allred draws. There are a lot of emotions packed into his faces, despite the strange cartoonish style. There’s an earnestness packed in there that feels perfect for a comic about Superman. There’s a sorrow in the silliness, like this panel, when the world appears to be ending in nuclear war, where our heroes look like sad little cartoons, hopeless and doomed in a world they don’t entirely understand.

Time and time again we see comics attempting more “grounded” approaches to superhero stories, and the stories seem to be ending up miserably more often than not. The repeating message seems to be that superheroes just don’t belong in the real world, and I say that there’s the same argument is being made here — but instead of that message pushing our heroes towards more gritty bend of badassery, this comic seems more interested in exploring the inherent tragedy of the superheroic optimism that Clark embodies.

Tony: I really liked this book. It felt a bit to me like what if the Chris Reeves Superman was made concurrent with Batman ‘66. It’s hopeful but realistic (outside of that opening). This is largely the Superman I love, but with a few twists. It does seem to be headed towards tragedy but I’m curious if Russell has a twist for us.

Armaan: Now, we have a lot of stories about a Clark who, even as a boy, had his morals soundly in place and found ways to do good in Smallville and make his parents proud. There are slightly fewer stories that show just how excited Clark is about going out into the world, and those excite me more. A recurring part of the Superman story is that Clark’s a small town boy who makes his life, and home in the big city. We know Superman goes around the world helping people out of a sense of duty…but I like the stories that show us that a large part of it is a sense of wonder, as well. 

Jonathan Kent, though, has a pretty harsh cautionary tale about being too thrilled about the outside world, telling Clark about his time as a soldier in World War II, the horrors he witnessed and was a part of — and the hope that Clark’s arrival meant to Jonathan, the hope for a better world.

This sort of thing comes up several times in the comic. Here with Jonathan, later with Jor-El, and even later with, of all people, the Pariah; tales of horror and destruction, and the question of whether or not Clark can make a better world in the face of that.

Tony: Also with Sam Lane. War is hell is a major part of the book, both with the father figures of the characters in question, and with the characters themselves. Bruce Wayne developed the Batman gear to protect soldiers in Viet Nam, while Luthor is just prepping for the Cold War to end in nuclear armageddon. Showing that Superman not only is keeping the world from descending into nuclear winter but also that he might be able to inspire humanity to not head further down this path, that’s a good Superman story.

Maybe I’m reading too much into it. I don’t know.

Armaan: The other part of this story I really enjoyed was the growing Lois Lane and Clark Kent romance — and the charm of it being set in the 60s when, I hate to say it, print media mattered more. Lois Lane here isn’t just a reporter — she’s an adventurer, who has finally gotten her big break, mentoring Clark in the moments between chasing her next big story. Clark falls in love with her so quickly, so easily, and though they haven’t gotten together yet, there’s a simple inevitability to it that warms my heart.

Tony: If this had just been a 60’s set Lois & Clark love story, with just a little superheroing thrown in, I would have adored this even more. Allred sells us on them- I don’t think there’s any pro out there as good at character as Mike Allred. They’re not twitterpated or googly eyed. They’re two rivals, then friends, then suddenly, they’re in love. Russell moved through it quickly, but Allred made sure we saw it in how they acted around each other.

Armaan: There’s a third important part of this book, which unfortunately seems like it’s going to be a bigger focus as we move ahead: the formation of the Justice League. I was left cold by this. It was fun, in the way that all Elseworlds stories are fun: seeing variations on familiar themes, new pathways to familiar endings, origin stories remixed. None of it quite has the same heart as Clark’s stories, which is fair, given that he’s the focus of his book, but less fair when it’s taking up page space that could have just instead been filled with more excellent Lois & Clark conversations.

In addition, Mark Russell cannot be trusted with writing Lex Luthor into a more serious story. Russell’s comfort zone is capitalist satire, and with Lex in the picture, he leans into humor in a way that’s tonally inconsistent with what the rest of the book is doing.

I will, however, give the book this: I am highly amused and slightly touched by the twist that Hal Jordan wasn’t chosen because of his great willpower or bravery…he was simply the one who showed up to help.

Still, overall, I hope that the book focuses more on Clark than it does the Justice League as a whole, going forward. There’s a lot of pain here, and dread, that the human moments here balance wonderfully with charm, and hope. That’s what I want to see more of from this book going forward, because that’s where this book is at its best.

Tony: Yeah, honestly, I don’t know that I’m really interested in picking up this book again until the trade. I enjoyed it, the art is just STUNNING, and the script is great, but I’m not that bought in on the plot. If the League is the focus of what comes next… well that’s not what I’m buying this book for. I’m buying it for Mike Allred Superman.

Daily Planet Headlines

• It’s a botheration that the puzzle symbol that looks like an hourglass represents Life, and not Time.
• Jay’s new Legion-of-Superheroes-Inspired costume is fun, but forgettable. Then again, if your superpower is phasing through things, maybe you don’t want to stand out too much.
• I (Armaan) am going to get a headache if I don’t say this: Cesar was trying to pin the murders on poor Simba, but he was clearly lion’. 
• Robin’s message to “come find him” offered NO helpful information at all about how to do that, and considering he’s a Batman protege, that’s extremely disappointing.
• Clark constantly being surprised as Jor-El lists the powers he should have by now is a hilarious gag.
• Space Age Jor-El is kind of a dick.
• I miss Jimmy Olsen. Johnson says he has plans, and I hope they include Jimmy.
• Generally a win for art- linework and colors- all the way through this month. Fantastic showing.