SuperChat Catches Up with Action, ’78, and Son of Kal-El

It’s catch-up week for SuperChat, as we see what the Supermen of three worlds are up to. On Warworld, Superman and his team find themselves vastly overpowered – but what does that mean for the rest of the galaxy? Action Comics #1037 written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, drawn by Miguel Mendonca, colored by Adriano Lucas and lettered by Dave Sharpe. 

On another Earth, Kal-El tries to adjust to life as a Kryptonian, trapped in the bottle city of Kandor. Superman needs saving…and it’s Lex Luthor who may be coming to the rescue! Superman ‘78 #4 written by Robert Venditti, drawn by Wilfredo Torres, colored by Jordie Bellaire and lettered by Dave Lanphear.

Speaking of Lex Luthor, it’s time for the Lex of Earth Prime to meet up with Earth’s newest Superman, where they begin to play a dangerous game of their own. Superman: Son of Kal-El 2021 Annual written by Tom Taylor, drawn by Steve Pugh and Clayton Henry, colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Steve Buccelato and lettered by Dave Sharpe.

Armaan Babu: I may be the last to the party but it’s somehow completely escaped me just how many of Superman’s villains are bald. Just this week (though, to be fair, this week is also playing catch up) we have two Lex Luthors, Brainiac, Mongul and even a mention of Jon’s current Big Bad, the bald Bendix. I’ve recently shaved my head as well, and now I’m beginning to wonder…am I now the bad guy?

Tony Thornley: Don’t worry, there are plenty of bald good guys! I mean, there’s John Henry Irons. There’s Luke Cage… There’s John Henry Irons.

Well crap.

Fitting In In a Bottled World

Armaan: So it’s been a while since I’ve seen any of the Christopher Reeves films, but the opening showing Brainiac standing before a dusty, desolate view of a devastated Colu feels like this comic’s first real deviation from the simple silly charms of the films. Not to say those movies didn’t have their own depth, but Jordie Bellaire’s browns and Brainiac’s broken expression are bringing in some pretty heavy feelings of tragedy for a book whose lightness I have been taking for granted. 

It’s not long, though, before we’re back to a more classic coloring scheme, watching Kal-El trying his best to adjust to Kryptonian life when he’s still a Kansas boy at heart. With all the white-robed solemnity Kryptonian society seems to bear, I’m glad this comic found the space for a little humor, especially with Kal-El’s polite but uncomfortable fish-out-of-water expressions. As a child of two cultures, I can relate to this feeling – I doubtless have a similar one at every event I’m at where more traditional, ethnic clothes are a must. What do you think of Superman’s predicament, and how he’s handling it here?

Tony: This is a transition issue, which every story has to go through. It’s the beginning of act two, and now the pieces are in place for the conclusion. What I really dig about that is how much character work Vendetti is determined to pack into this issue. This isn’t just a “move the pieces around the chessboard” issue. This is a story that’s meant to continue to cut to the core of Superman as a person, and what he’s really capable of. 

This is another issue, where I really wish we could get Vendetti on a core Superman title. I’ve enjoyed most of his DC work, but this is the series where he really gets it. If it didn’t have the ‘78 gimmick, it wouldn’t exist, but it’s otherwise a timeless Superman story. I absolutely adore that.

Torres and Bellaire just do fantastic things with the art, but nothing is better than the page turn to reveal Clark in costume, ready to face Brainiac. Good grief, I wish this title was ongoing.

Armaan: Me too. I’m just hoping it’s popular enough that we get several “seasons” of this series. Or would they be sequels? Superman ‘78 IV: The Quest For Better Titles. Bah, this is why I write about comics instead of writing for them.

Tony: You joke, but it’d be fun to see Parasite, Metallo and Mxy all in the style of ‘78.

Armaan: You’re right, though, that moment of Superman all suited up was fantastic – especially after seeing him for most of the issue in those strange, cold, white Kryptonian robes. I’m also loving this take on Superman’s parents. On Earth Prime, Jor-El’s come back and he’s been a pretty terrible character, responsible for Jon’s terrible and sped-up childhood. Here, though, he’s portrayed remarkably human. 

There’s a tendency to imagine Superman’s parents to be paragons of virtue, but here we see a take of a man who loves his son, but is also kind of absently obsessed with science and duty in a way that doesn’t let him see how unhappy Kal really is. And his mother – Martha Kent may have had time to get used to her son being a superhero, but Lara’s heartwarmingly protective of her son. 

The person who continues to be a surprising delight in this series is Lex Luthor – even off page, he’s responsible for the funniest moment of the series so far, as Superman begs his dad not to ever tell Lex how smart Jor-El thinks Lex really is. 

Tony: It’s great to see Jor-El depicted as fallible and mortal, and the same for Luthor. This is the element of the series that still skews closest to ‘78- Luthor is still so tied to Hackman’s depiction of him, but I think Hackman was a perfect Luthor anyways. Then to see this ego driven Luthor fail so badly that he causes the downfall of Earth? It’s the perfect Hackman-Lex plotline.

Armaan: But hey, he helped save Superman – and now it’s time for Clark to return the favor. I’m actually all in for a Lex-Superman team up – but maybe we take a closer look at that in Jon’s book.

The Fall of the Authority

Armaan: Gonna get this out of the way real quick: I miss Daniel Sampere. Miguel Mendonca does a pretty good job of not making the artist shift feel too jarring – helped along by Adriano Lucas’ consistently excellent colors, of course – but Medonca’s no Sampere, and it makes a difference, especially in the fight scenes – but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. 

Tony: I think Mendonca did a great job as a fill-in, but he’s almost painfully stereotypical DC House Style. He’s good, but put him against three other DC artists, and I’d bet you can’t tell them apart. Marvel has guys like that too, don’t get me wrong, but it’s obvious.

Armaan: I’m really enjoying seeing Superman not just as a hero of Earth, but as an important figure on a universal scale. When you think of his powerset, and his multiverse saving adventures, it’s honestly surprising the universe’s multitude of life hasn’t been keeping a closer eye on him until now. 

Then again…it’s not often Superman involves himself in the affairs of an autonomous alien world this blatantly. 

Tony: Clark Kent is not usually a character known for his hubris (look at Charles Xavier for that), but this issue? It’s absolutely about Superman’s hubris. Now, Clark is still the best intentioned character in the history of comics. He stormed Warworld with every intention of saving the day. But he walked in thinking this was the same Mongul he’s faced a dozen times (who to be fair has had a lot of his edges worn off since “For The Man Who Has Everything”), and thinking that his powers and his reputation would help solve this.

Superman is not often a character needs humbling, but it was a hell of a read to see it happening. Clearly this story isn’t going to be about Superman waltzing in and saving Warworld. It’s going to be about the Man of Steel brought low and battling his way back from that.

My hell, I can’t wait.

Armaan: So I had a minor problem with the action here – despite the number of combatants here, it didn’t feel like everything was happening at once. It felt a lot more like a D&D battle – one person makes their move, dialogue is exchanged, and everyone’s on standby until their initiative turn comes up. 

Tony: That’s definitely a good point. I think it’s hard to write these sorts of conflicts and make it feel like a well-rounded fight. It’s very much about this fight, then that one, then the next…

Armaan: The interesting bits about the fight to me are just how badly the team was beaten. Superman and Apollo are stabbed straight through the chest. Lightray seems to have been pummeled to death. Whenever the action in a comic gets too high stakes, I immediately start to wonder how it’s going to be undone. The thing is – Phillip Kennedy Johnson has been teasing time travel for a while, now. I’m calling it now – I don’t think this is the last time we see this fight, in this arena. I believe someone’s going to turn back the clock at some point, and I believe we’re going to see all of this happen again. 

Hopefully with less dire results. 

Then again, maybe I’m wrong, and Apollo and Superman only got the non-fatal stab wounds through the chest. It has happened.

Tony: I’m really not sure what to expect next. It could be the time travel that the House of El stories have hinted at. But it also could be next issue opens with Kal, Apollo and the other surviving members of the Authority wake up in a Warzoon camp, and have to fight their way back to the arena. Hell, it could be that Mongul and the Durlan ambassador faked the whole thing to scare the UP into backing off.

I have no idea how next issue will start, but the path this story is on is incredibly different from what anyone might guess.

Playing a Dangerous Game

Armaan: For anyone keeping up with Superchat, it should come as no surprise if I mention that I have mixed feelings about Tom Taylor’s stories. I loved Injustice: Year One and pretty much everything he wrote for that world. DCeased was a ball. His run on All-New Wolverine may be the most I’ve ever enjoyed a solo Wolverine title, and though I may have some misgivings, I’ve enjoyed his run on Nightwing more often than not. 

I say all this because, as I read through this Annual, a part of me is very aware that if I had ready only the annual, and nothing else, I would have been really excited about the idea of Tom Taylor on a Jonathan Kent Superman ongoing. And yet…that’s what we have, and I could not confidently say it’s a run I’d recommend to other people – or remember reading myself, once it’s done. 

This is a terrible way to say I enjoyed this annual, and that I wish the ongoing comic was more like it. What did you think of it?

Tony: I think we could add “Steve Pugh Superman miniseries when?” and be done with the review honestly. This is easily the best issue of the series to date, and really the only thing I didn’t like about it was the last couple panels. Though, Pugh really draws Jon’s hair weird. It’s big and poofy in the front and that threw me a few times.

But getting back to it, Taylor writes a hell of a Lex Luthor, and I adore the ego he gives him. The annual is mostly a character study of the different dynamics of Lex and Clark versus Lex and Jon. I think that really makes it more interesting than I expected.

Also, I loved how Jon beat Lex, but this is a set-up for another round of hubris, I think. Jon doesn’t have any experience with Lex, which means he might walk into the next situation thinking he can solve it like this one. He’s going to fail pretty miserably if that’s how it unfolds.

Armaan: Were it another writer, I might believe that hubris. I might look forward to Jon and Lex’s developing relationship, because it is a fascinating contrast to Lex’s and Clark’s. But I don’t know if hubris is the kind of flaw Taylor would let Jon have. If this chess match – and the past several issues of the series – are any indication, Jon can do no wrong. 

However, Jon’s a pretty important character, and Taylor’s not the only one who’s going to be writing him. It’s a good first meet for a new Superman-Luthor dynamic, and I am looking forward to good stories coming from this…somewhere eventually down the line. 

Tony: Let’s just hope that the conflict with Bendix doesn’t make this fall by the wayside. This was the best issue of Taylor’s Superman to date largely because of Lex and this new dynamic. To have this issue be a footnote in the overall run, rather than a pivot point, would be a damn shame.

Metropolis Musings

• Including a Martian Manhunter back-up in Action feels like a weird choice, since J’onn’s stories usually are a bit more mystery-tinged. But it was a welcome addition.
• Lex overshadowing the Daily Planet with his own building is incredibly petty, and is thus the perfect Luthor move.
• Can the new Waid/Mora World’s Finest include a Batman/Lois Lane issue? Please?
• The bigger question is, will we have to team up with Matt Lazorwitz and Will Nevin to cover it?
• Superman The Movie came out 43 years ago this week. It’s still an incredible film. Watch it this weekend.

Armaan Babu

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

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.