It’s storytime on Warworld, and its oppressed denizens are looking for hope wherever they can find it. Tales of Superman are always appreciated, but for today, instead of stories plucked from the past, our storyteller looks to the future – generations from now, when the House of El is in its Prime. A story of a crashed wedding party, the truth about the Phantom Zone and the reappearance of a certain cyborg people thought was gone forever. Action Comics Annual 2021 is written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, drawn by Siya Oum and Scott Godlewski, colored by Hi-Fi, and lettered by Dave Sharpe.
Armaan Babu: STORYTIME!
If the introduction didn’t make it obvious, one of my favorite framing devices of all time is when we open with a group of people being told a story by an older, wiser storyteller; bonus points if they’re all sitting on the floor gathered ‘round our narrator. This particular story is being told to a young Thao-La, tying in nicely to the current run of Action Comics, while also bringing back the family introduced to us in Future State. Did you enjoy Future State: House of El, Tony – and how much did you enjoy seeing them again this issue?
Tony Thornley: I think House of El was probably the best single story of Future State. It was a lot of fun and it showed so much promise. And now that we’re a few issues in Johnson’s run on Action Comics, we can see how much foundation these two stories have for what’s to come!
Wedding Els
Tony: As you said, the issue starts with an extremely interesting framing sequence- with the Phaelosians of Warworld. This is specifically a few years ago, when Thao-La (one of the refugees from Action Comics) was still a child. Now this framing is interesting, because this main story is full of references to the Superman titles of Future State, but this is clearly set in the past. So what’s going on there? What did you think?
Armaan: Actually, I get the sense that the House of El story is, in fact, set in the future – the end of the book seems to heavily imply that our enigmatic storyteller, Byla, is actually someone who’s from the future, someone who’s been a big part of the adventures of the House of El. I feel like Byla’s own story is one that’s yet to be told, and I’m going to be keeping an eye out for him in Action Comics yet to come!
Tony: Yeah, there’s a mystery here with Byla. I’m extremely interested in who he is.
So in the issue’s main story, we start a few years (?) before the events of the Future State one-shot, with the wedding of two of the characters we met in that story- Khan and Alura. However, we also saw a character we didn’t see in House of El, but we DID see in another Future State story- Kara Zor-El, aka Superwoman. This opening scene is just a blast, and it’s gorgeously illustrated by Oum and Hi-Fi. There’s a lot here to unpack, including a surprising reveal of Khan’s ancestry!
Armaan: The Phaelosians are a fascinating part of the new mythology Phillip Kennedy Johnson is building up, and Khan counting himself a citizen of Warworld Prime seems to imply a rather happy ending for the offshoot Kryptionians who’ve been previously enslaved there. Future glimpses like these imply a lot for present stories. I know I’m going to be looking out for any appearances of Circe in a Superman comic going forth.
Tony: This issue hints at SO MUCH mythology with the Phaelosians, both in the past and in the future. It all but confirms they are Kryptonian or at least a close cousin (like the Daxamites). I am fascinated by this retcon, because this issue just brims with story potential for them.
Armaan: Circe and Superman’s magical tyrannic son, Phyrros, quite literally crashes the wedding, and sends most of the House of El to the Phantom Zone, which has apparently gotten a lot more Hellish than usual. With no sun to replenish their powers, the Els are almost entirely overrun, but help comes from an unexpected quarter with the appearance of the Cyborg Superman tomorrow, Hank Henshaw himself. Before we get into Henshaw himself, what do you think about the revelations he has about the true nature of the Phantom Zone?
Tony: This might be the biggest Superman retcon since “Superman Reborn” a few years ago, and I like it. Transforming the Phantom Zone from a half Purgatory/half liminal space to this metaphysical realm, complete with its own elder god… I guess it’s something that the Zone has needed for a long time. It’s long past time for some actual information about such a huge part of Superman’s mythology. It’s a little bit silly when you think about it too hard, but Johnson, Godlewski and Oum make it work.
Come And Take A Ride Into The Phantom Zo-oone
Armaan: None of the Els trust Hank Henshaw…at least, at first. But when the chips are down, you take whatever allies you can get, and battling against overwhelming odds tends to bond people together. Here, Henshaw feels like more of a plot point than a fully fleshed out character to me. All you need to know about him is that he was one of Superman’s worst enemies and will embrace whatever amorality he needs to to survive.
I’m okay with that, though, because it gives us a lot more room to get to know the House of El again. Whether you’re meeting them for the first time, or meeting them again after Future State, this issue does a great job of letting us get to know these characters. As much as I loved the Future State comic, I felt a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of new people. I felt I got to know them a lot better here – and I sincerely hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of them.
Tony: Yeah, I really liked that too. Though Brandon Kent, Alura and Khan got the most development, we still got enough with the twins and Theand’r to give them some actual depth. By the way, though Theand’r didn’t quite get the spotlight I hoped to see, it was great to see her with a bit more depth and actually colored correctly! I forget who colored House of El, but really they just gave her red hair and a suntan. Hi-Fi actually colors her orange, like the Tamaranians we know and love. Sure she’s not quite as bright orange as Starfire, but that’s because she’s part Kryptonian. It works; not for nothing this might be one of the best coloring jobs I can remember from the Hi-Fi studio recently.
Armaan: Always great to see a character getting colored as they ought to!
Tony: Now, I kind of skipped over Hank Henshaw, but I do have to go back to him. I think Hank is one of my favorite Superman villains. He’s arrogant, angry, and powerful. He’s Clark’s dark mirror in a lot of different ways.
Making him an amoral ally to the House of El as they cross the Phantom Zone though? That’s great. It’s a great advancement of what the character can be, and doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s a bad guy. It’s just that now sometimes he does good things if they suit his needs. So there’s that.
Also Hank has been trapped in the Zone for years. Could this be a hint at an upcoming story from Johnson or maybe even incoming Superman writer Tom Taylor? I hope so!
Armaan: We’re getting hints of a lot of potential stories with these House of El visits – a lot of fun little bits of potential for other writers to pick up if they feel like it. Johnson is creating very fertile ground for future Superman writers, though whether or not they choose to develop those specific seeds is up to them.
Still, I can easily imagine this as its own ongoing, similar to the treatment that Future State: Gotham is getting, can’t you?
Tony: Oh I would LOVE to see House of El get an ongoing or even a solid miniseries!
Daily Planet Headlines
- The Superman figurine that Thao-La used to play with is shown as a completely colored and easily recognizable Superman in Action Comics, but in this issue is more a misshapen chunk of metal that could only be seen as Superman if you put just enough imagination into it – and I like that a lot more.
- RIP Mister Miracle. It’s never fun seeing an alternate timeline reminding us that the one thing he can’t escape is death.
- Brainiac 4 is a complete non-entity in this issue. Hopefully a follow-up gives him more depth.
Armaan is obsessed with the way stories are told. From video games to theater, TTRPGs to comics, he has written for, and about, them all. He will not stop, actually; believe us, we've tried.
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.
