Originally published on Patreon
One of the conversations you see come up a lot in comic fandom is that around Superman, and if the character as he's been depicted for the vast majority of his existence is too goofy, if he's not cool enough still. These kinds of takes seem to have risen in number over the years as more and more 'dark and edgy' Superman stories are being produced. Injustice and the Zack Snyder version of the character doing that at DC, whilst things like Homelander in The Boys or the kid from Brightburn taking those ideas and running with them in other stories. People seem to think that Superman needs to be bad to be interesting; but he doesn't. And the people who tend to think that often end up being the kinds of people who've never actually read a Superman comic.
Superman issue one feels like a perfect response to all of those people who want the dark, brooding, and borderline evil Supeman; a Superman who's one bad day away from wiping us all out. This book delivers a Superman who's hopeful, kind, caring, and has a sense of fun about him that shows why he's still one of the greatest heroes around.
This new era begins with Superman having to take down Livewire, who's attacking Metropolis. Whilst he's fighting the villain he keeps hearing Lex Luthor, who's trying to give him instruction and battle advice from inside prison. But, this being Lex, his advice is pretty evil. After taking Livewire down Superman makes sure to go out of his way to tell the authorities to treat her with care, and even helps out a wedding that's been disrupted by officiating the ceremony, then sticking around to take photos with the wedding party and make sure that the day goes off well for them.
And this is peak Clark for me. He spends time to make sure his enemies are treated with empathy, and he acts like a lovable goof to give strangers the happiest day of their life. He didn't need to marry them, and he definitely didn't need to let the groom beat him at arm wrestling; he did it because its kind, and because he could. That's Superman.
From here we learn that Lois is filling in for Perry White at the Daily Planet (thanks to Clark almost killing him in Action Comics). This feels like a perfect next step for Lois, and it's great to see her stepping up into this new role. She's wonderfully fun throughout the issue, and I could easily read a mini-series of her just working at the paper.
Across Metropolis though, something happens to the Lex-Corp building. Nano-bots stamped with the Superman logo transform the building, giving it a huge S; rebranding it as SuperCorp. Superman then gets told that with Lex in prison the company has been legally signed over to Superman, with the express mission of helping him in his mission to save the world. The catch is, if he doesn't agree to it, everyone who works for Lex (a giant chunk of the city) loses their jobs. We don't get to see yet whether Clark agrees with this, but with so many lives riding on it it's likely that SuperCorp is going to be here for a while, and could introduce some exciting new things into the series.
The first issue also finds some time to introduce us to a new villain, as well as bringing Parasite into things with some new change. All of this, and it still feels like the issue is way too short. There's not a moment here that isn't fun, that doesn't work, or comes away as boring. The artwork throughout is spectacular, with some moments in the book that delight, and some that absolutely sell you on the scale and power of the things happening. The book could have been twice as long and it probably still would have felt too short.
This is the beginning of a new era for Superman, and this new book is a phenomenal start to it. I can't wait to see what's coming next, but if it's even half as good as this it's going to be one of the best Superman runs in years.
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