Big Changes in the Superman Family this July!

DC_Community · April 21, 2021, 7:24pm

DC ANNOUNCES BIG CHANGES FOR THE SUPERMAN FAMILY IN JULY

Superman: Son of Kal-El by Tom Taylor and John Timms Features Jonathan Kent Protecting the Earth as the new Man of Steel

Clark Kent Continues the Fight Against Warworld in Action Comics #1033 and Creates a New Team of Clandestine Heroes in Superman and The Authority Miniseries

Kara Zor-El Tracks a Murderous Alien Across the Cosmos in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow Limited Series

This July, DC has big changes in store for members of the Superman Family, as a new, yet familiar Man of Steel is entrusted to protect Earth, Supergirl pursues a murderous fugitive across the galaxy in a cosmic bus, and Clark Kent continues his fight to liberate Warworld, both on the front lines and with a new team of covert operatives.

Superman: Son of Kal-El

The action begins on July 13 as a new ongoing monthly series, Superman: Son of Kal-El replaces the current Superman monthly title. Written by Tom Taylor (Nightwing, DCeased, Suicide Squad) with art by John Timms (Young Justice, Harley Quinn), this series follows the new adventures of the son of Superman as he’s entrusted with the protection of Earth.

Jonathan Kent has experienced a lot in his young life. He’s fought evil with Robin (Damian Wayne), traveled across galaxies with his Kryptonian grandfather, and lived in the future with the Legion of Super-Heroes, who were intent on training him for the day his father could no longer be Superman. There is a hole in the Legion’s history that prevents Jon from knowing exactly when that will happen, but all signs point to it being very soon. It’s time for the son to wear the cape of his father and continue the never-ending battle as a symbol of hope for his home planet.

For more information on Superman: Son of Kal-El check out @Isaac.Lawrence’s full run-down here!

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

Arriving July 20, issue #2 of this eight-issue limited series by Tom King (Batman, Batman/Catwoman, Mister Miracle) and artist Bilquis Evely (The Dreaming, Wonder Woman) continues Kara Zor-El’s journey of self-discovery and emergence from the shadow of her famous cousin.

Supergirl, Krypto, and their new friend Ruthye find themselves stranded with no way to pursue Krem, the murderous kingsagent. Each moment this fugitive roams free, the more beings come dangerously close to dying by his hand. There is no time to lose, so our heroes must now travel across the universe the old-fashioned way…by cosmic bus! Little do they know their journey will be a dark one, filled with terrors that not even the Maid of Might is prepared to face!

Action Comics #1033

Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist Daniel Sampere keep Superman on the front lines in his battle to aid a group of Warwold refugees in Action Comics #1033, on sale Tuesday, July 27. This issue takes the action to Atlantis and the Fortress of Solitude, where Warworld refugees have taken possession of dangerous Warworld tech, bringing it to Aquaman’s undersea kingdom and risking an all-out war that even Superman may not be able to prevent. Meanwhile, some of the escaped Warworld prisoners have found the Fortress of Solitude…and along with it, Lois Lane!

And in this 40-page blockbuster’s second feature, Midnighter has gone deep into the Trojan compound and found a very unexpected guest whose path he crossed in Future State —none other than Shilo Norman, a.k.a. Mister Miracle!

Superman and the Authority

If Superman is to get to the bottom of what’s happening on Warworld, he’s going to need help, the kind of help that doesn’t scream “Justice League.” Fortunately, multi-Eisner Award-winning writer Grant Morrison (Wonder Woman: Earth One, The Green Lantern) and fan-favorite artist Mikel Janín (Batman, Future State: Superman: Worlds of War) have the solution in the form of a new four-issue limited series, Superman and The Authority.

Launching July 20, this new team will be led by Manchester Black, and combine original members Midnighter and Apollo with new members Enchantress and Natasha Irons, as well as new versions of Lightray and O.M.A.C. This new team will have to learn to work together, and fast, as the Ultra-Humanite has formed his own team of villains to take out the Man of Steel.

This new limited series will help launch an all-new status quo for Superman, setting up story elements that will impact both Action Comics and Superman: Son of Kal-El in the months to come.

Which Superman Family comics are you looking forward to the most this July? Let us know in the comments below!

moro · April 21, 2021, 8:04pm

I look forward to all of it, but the continuation of Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s Superman space saga most of all.

Not having a book simply titled “Superman” is bittersweet for me, and will take some getting used to.

Happy for Tom Taylor. He’s a good writer that’s wanted to write a “good” Superman for some time (as opposed to Injustice Supes). Of course it comes with a twist in typical Tom Taylor fashion: yeah it’s Superman, the new one though . Just don’t kill everyone off in the first story arc, Tom, please & thank you!

Green.Lantern · April 21, 2021, 8:24pm

I completely overlooked that it was Tom Taylor writing the new series. I’m much more excited for now that I’ve realized that.

ds090ddsl · April 21, 2021, 8:30pm

Just SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL for me.

And I love that cover.

It is so cool.

I’ve never read anything by Tom Taylor, so it’ll be a first.

Today was a good day.

KookieSuperApe · April 21, 2021, 9:04pm

This is honestly the most significant takeaway for me from this news. For the first time since 1939, DC will not regularly be publishing Superman.* That’s big.

I am very curious what the reaction to this news among casual fans/non-comic readers is. From a hypothetical outsider’s perspective, this might feel like this is merely a gimmick of some sort, or worse, that DC is replacing one of the most familiar and iconic characters in all of popular culture with some upstart kid. How familiar is Jonathan Kent to the general, non-comic-reading public? I genuinely can’t tell if this change will be welcomed or shunned.

I am also curious what led DC to make this decision. Are they expecting that a younger Superman will drive sales, or…? @Applejack, any chance we could maybe get a Q&A with Diego Lopez and/or Jamie S. Rich, the current Superman editors, maybe as we get closer to these titles launching? I’m very curious about the decision-making and creative choices, etc. here.

Finally, the cynic in me says that this change will last 12-to-18 months before Mark Waid or someone is brought in to write Superman: Rebirth and restore the status quo, returning Clark to his own title. Comics do generally tend to revert to the mean, after all. I guess we’ll just have to see how long this lasts.

*There were two previous publishing gaps: a three-month one in 1986 after Crisis before the Superman titles relaunched, and a one-month one between the 2016 and 2018 Superman series. But this is essentially a cancellation of the title.

AhlGodOfSuperheroes · April 21, 2021, 9:10pm

A perfect combination of classic Superman storytelling with modern sensibilities.

Super Excited! Pun Definitely Intended!

Although, I do miss young Jon Kent. #FamilyGoals

moro · April 21, 2021, 9:31pm

I don’t know. I’m not that cynical about it. What’s gonna matter the most to me is how Clark is dealt with. If Future State is any indication, looks like DC have a good handle on Superman Kal El going forward.

As for public perception. Eh, close to zero. The whole DC Multiverse gets rebooted with regularity, and the public doesn’t bat an eyelash to it, I doubt Superman’s son taking over for him will be more than a minor headline. I could of course be very wrong. Look at how fast they’re adapting Naomi for the CW. If they decide to make a live action Jon Kent Superman… then yeah, bets are off at that point.

ds090ddsl · April 21, 2021, 10:21pm

@KookieSuperApe

I am also curious what led DC to make this decision. Are they expecting that a younger Superman will drive sales, or…?

It’s always for sales.

And Superman doesn’t sell well unless you kill him or reboot him. The last almost 40 years of history has proven that – since the John Byrne reboot; which of course was the entire point of the John Byrne reboot.

Batman always does well… Superman not so much.

So the hope I imagine is that Jonathan Kent will increase interest in Superman and increase sales.

He has increased interest. The sales will probably follow.

And then the sales most likely drop down again at some point, and DC will have to do something else.

That’s Superman.

World famous… not a great seller when it comes to his comics though.

@moro

I doubt Superman’s son taking over for him will be more than a minor headline. I could of course be very wrong. Look at how fast they’re adapting Naomi for the CW. If they decide to make a live action Jon Kent Superman… then yeah, bets are off at that point.

As for a live-action Jonathan Kent Superman (I just can’t say “Jon” for some reason)… I wouldn’t be surprised.

There is a Multiverse that Warner Bros. are building after all.

So an HBO Max series or movie… ? I would not be surprised. And I would want both.

And a Jonathan Kent Superman to go along with Sasha Calle’s Supergirl. Or maybe Warner Bros. will do a Yara Flor Wonder Girl for HBO Max or a movie, or both.

I know I would love any combination of either of these.

As for the comics: this will probably last for a year, maybe two. Or maybe longer, maybe for the long haul. Who knows?

But that’s of course what happens when you marry Superman and Lois Lane. Because it would be weird to have them be childless forever. And then once they have a child, you’re never getting rid of him – because you can’t rid of the son of Superman.

And once he’s there, you gotta do something with him.

And so what’s the lesson that we’ve learned here: don’t marry Superman and Lois Lane.

But yep, the countdown clock for a live-action Jonathan Kent Superman starts today, methinks.

Over/under three years, maybe?

I hope so, I hope under three years.

Don-El · April 21, 2021, 10:26pm

I’m amused that this looks terribly like the Superman in The New 52 reboot where he was wearing blue jeans. I was a big fan of that by the way.

moro · April 21, 2021, 10:34pm

Sooo… Supes can’t have kids unless he’s married and specifically to Lois Lane?

ds090ddsl · April 21, 2021, 10:57pm

@moro

No, Superman shouldn’t have kids period.

And shouldn’t be married period – to Lois Lane or anyone else.

Married, when it comes to characters like Superman, is… “and they lived happily ever after. The End.”

It breaks the character.

Of course, you can do it, you can marry Superman and Lois Lane, but you shouldn’t.

And not to get off on a tangent… but who was the marriage for anyway? Who was the target audience? Certainly not kids, because what kid wants to read about their parents? No kid that I know of…

So who was it for, the adult readers of Superman? That’s who I assumed it was for.

If so, that’s fine and dandy. The only problem with that though, is that there’s not a whole lot of them that are interested in reading that. And so here we are. All kinds of messed up.

But… looks to me as though they’ve made the best of this messed up situation with Jonathan Kent.

Will some of the hardcore not like it? Yeah. But what, are you going to run your business on what some of the hardcore likes or doesn’t like?

Well, I guess that’s what the comic book industry is, so… So yeah, here we are.

A funny thought just came to me: suppose Warner Bros. made a Jonathan Kent Superman movie… and made him Black too.

moro · April 21, 2021, 11:27pm

Eh, why not?

More generally speaking though. I respectfully disagree with you about married Superman. I like seeing this larger than life figure deal with family and sometimes struggle with it like the rest of us do. Also makes a ton of sense given his upbringing.

ds090ddsl · April 22, 2021, 12:13am

@moro

Oh, just the whole Black Superman thing and some people’s hang up on that. That’s why it would be funny to me. And so a combination for some of not liking Jonathan Kent, and not liking a Black Superman. And put those two together for a double whammy would be funny to me.

But no, I personally wouldn’t want a Black Superman that was Jonathan Kent. No, Jonathan Kent as is is fine to me – is great to me.

And yeah, I can totally understand the appeal some would have for a married Superman. There is an audience for it, it’s just not that big – as evidenced by the comic sales. That’s the only problem with that.

But in all honesty, an unmarried Superman doesn’t really sell much better either. So it really doesn’t matter what DC does one way or the other.

So… boom, let’s give him a son… age him up in a kooky, comic book way… send him off to the 31st century… bring him back… and replace the old man. “Soap opera.”

And a “reboot” without really doing a reboot.

Because Superman needs to be rebooted every ten years or so. But of course DC doesn’t want to do that, because if you reboot Superman, then you gotta reboot everybody – because everything is connected.

And when you don’t reboot Superman, then you get into “soap opera” with him. And he gets married, and this and the other thing.

And “soap opera” is so beneath Superman, he’s not the right kind of character for that. But that’s what you gotta do, because it’s too much of a hassle to reboot everybody every 10 years.

I look at ACTION COMICS, and the first 50 or so issues they played it pretty straight. Then by the mid-60 issue mark (maybe a little earlier) it started to get silly because they ran out of stuff to do. Even the movies ran out of stuff to do and got into the silliness by the third one.

Anyway, but of course back then the same people didn’t read Superman comics for years and decades on end. And very few adults read Superman either way.

Now of course times are different. People do read Superman for years and decades on end. And most, if not all, of the readers are adults now.

And of course he’s married and with child now… and about 35,000 to 40,000 people read it.

The answer is to constantly reboot the character and refresh the audience. But that takes time and money. The two things that the comic book industry is always in short supply of.

And so Jonathan Kent. And married Superman.

Clonegeek18 · April 22, 2021, 12:13am

DC should just make a Supersons Cartoon.

discordia57 · April 22, 2021, 12:21am

It was for the viewers of “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” The comic marriage happened the same week that they married on the show. I remember back then not being too happy about it, though I still bought the comic and watched the episode. Now, meh I’ve gotten used to it all these years later.

I miss young Jon. I haven’t been too stoked about the older version. I miss the Superboy/Robin teem ups. I’m glad that Supes isn’t going to be killed off so that Jonathan can become Superman, and that Clark will still be around. I’m interested in the Superman and Authority story the most, primarily because of Morrison.

I’ll pick up the first issues of both Jon’s title and Action, just to see. I have a feeling, that I won’t be subscribing to “Son of Kal-El,” but you never know. Most likely, I’ll end up reading that on the service.

It’s not cynicism my friend, mere fact. It’s what both major publishers do, can’t sell “Classic Superman” lunch boxes, sheets, etc. without the big guy in the books. So you pull a publicity stunt every so often, boost sales, then revert back.

ds090ddsl · April 22, 2021, 1:01am

@discordia57

Yeah, I was largely being rhetorical. I knew it wasn’t for kids. And I remember it well too.

And the 90s and Superman for me were not good. They killed him. Gave him a mullet. Married him. “Red and blued” him. Good lord.

The John Byrne reboot was the cool thing to me back then – the 80s. I remember reading the Comics Journal back then, that’s how 16 year-old me learned about Dave Sim’s CEREBUS and all kinds of other things.

But the John Byrne Superman reboot… boy oh boy. That was so exciting. And The Comics Journal is where I first learned about it months before it happened – because there was of course no internet. And none of my friends knew about it, because they didn’t read The Comics Journal.

And they didn’t believe me. I was like, “They’re doing it. DC is rebooting Superman. And John Byrne is writing and drawing it.”

Good times. Fun times.

And fun times now too.

Jonathan Kent. The 21st Century Boy – well, not the manga, but whatever.

Clonegeek18 · April 22, 2021, 1:38am

The whole reason why Death of Superman happened was because the marriage arc in the comics was delayed. In order to time up with Lois and Clark.

discordia57 · April 22, 2021, 2:43am

Yes, the good old “Comics Journal” and the “Comics Buyer’s Guide,” it’s fun to think back to the days before there was an internet, My God, how did we survive?
I was just a little @discordia57 back then, but those fanzines were a big part of my education in comics.

Love your reference to “Cerebus the Aardvark” also, I don’t remember exactly how I discovered that series, could have been off the shelf, loving the art and character design. That’s a seldom mentioned book these days. I guess, Dave Sim did his best to piss off the world with political incorrectness.

I’m still a huge fan, even if I don’t agree with everything he believes, “Church and State,” “High Society,” Et Al… are amazing arcs. The art/writing is phenomenal. And, until “Spawn 301,” which McFarlane was working towards, partly because of Sim, it was the longest running creator owned book! An under appreciated comic, in my opinion.

ds090ddsl · April 22, 2021, 12:02pm

@discordia57

Yeah, CEREBUS was so cool.

“Jaka’s Story” I still love to this day. That came at just the right time in my life. Just a chill, quiet, aftermath of a story.

And “Reads.” And “Later Days.” And “Going Home.”

And yeah, “High Society” and “Church and State.” Such good stuff. And Dave Sim, and then Gerhard doing the backgrounds.

And none of it is really on comiXology. I guess that’s how Dave Sim wants it.

And it is funny, how did we survive before the internet? I guess we read stuff printed on paper.

I do remember it was in a 1984 article/interview in The Comics Journal that I learned about Dave Sim and CEREBUS and everything.

And that was around the time I was getting “serious” about comics – around 13 or 14 years-old.

I bought my first Overstreet price guide in 1983, and that was like the “bible” every year.

And I was “sophisticated,” I didn’t bag and board my comics and just put them in boxes. No, I had huge three-ring binders, and I put my comics in the three-ring plastic sleeves that you could put in the binders, and then put them on a shelf. I was “serious.”

And that lasted until about the end of high school, when it was like, “Yeah, these aren’t going to be worth anything.”

But yeah, comic magazines was where the news was. And it was about '83 or '84 when the news of comics was as interesting to me as the comic themselves – and often times even more.

Good times.

And better times now because of the internet. We can know nearly everything now.

BatAdjacent · April 22, 2021, 12:57pm

I am really excited about this new direction! I love Jonathan Kent Superman and not that I don’t love Clark Kent but maybe it is time to take a step forward.

The characters that we love can get stale. This is a fun way to shake it up for a little while. We all know Clark Kent Superman is going to come back and everything will be rebooted back eventually. I am enjoying the ride right now.

Fun stories can come out these types of directions. Look at Black Mirror, it is one of my favorite Batman stories and it is a Dick Grayson Batman story. Who knows if it would have been as impactful if it was Bruce Wayne Batman.