On November 9th the life of Jon Kent, the Superman of Earth and son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, takes a bold new direction.
“I’ve always said everyone needs heroes and everyone deserves to see themselves in their heroes and I’m very grateful DC and Warner Bros. share this idea,” said writer Tom Taylor. “Superman’s symbol has always stood for hope, for truth and for justice. Today, that symbol represents something more. Today, more people can see themselves in the most powerful superhero in comics.”
Just like his father before him, Jon Kent has fallen for a reporter. After initially striking up a friendship with reporter Jay Nakamura, he and Jon become romantically involved in the pages of SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL #5 from writer Tom Taylor (DARK KNIGHTS OF STEEL) and artist John Timms (HARLEY QUINN). Following a scene where Superman mentally and physically burns out from trying to save everyone that he can, Jay is there to care for the Man of Steel.
That’s cool. I need to catch up on this book, I think I remember seeing this new guy in the first issue and he was ok, if a little bland. Hopefully if this is Jon’s new boyfriend he develops a more interesting personality.
Also, does this mean that the Kents basically have a phisological thing for journalists?
Anyway, hope this goes well, though I get the feeling that this is going to get a LOT of hand-wringing and knashing of teeth from people who really don’t read the comics.
My views from the Tim Drake thread still stand. If it helps someone feel happy then it’s a good thing. If it makes people have constructive and respectful conversation then it’s a good thing. Disagreement is ok without hate.
My selfish view is only that I think this completely cements aged up Jon and I dislike that plot immensely. Give me an outside continuity Super Sons book and I’m satisfied.
I’ve enjoyed this series quite a bit, so far. It’s not my favorite Superman ongoing ATM (that’s Action Comics, and by a landslide), or my favorite Tom Taylor book (that’s Nightwing, also by a landslide) but seeing Jon step into the Big Time as it were, has been fun.
As a Wildstorm fan, one of my absolute favorite things about the series thus far has been Henry Bendix as Jon’s initial antagonist. He was always a jerk in his original Wildstorm environs (StormWatch, among other titles), but seeing him go up against a Superman is an altogether new angle for him, and also serves as a nice way to get a Wildstorm character in front of people who otherwise weren’t already familiar with him. Hopefully fans who are new to Bendix will research the guy and discover his past within the Wildstorm U.
As for issue 5, it sounds interesting. Jay’s an interesting character, so I look forward in seeing where things go between him and Jon (and the fact that they both have three letter names that start with “J” is a neat coincidence as well).
Yeah, that was a little unfortunate, since at least with Tim’s story you can at least find out and then almost immediately read the context of what happened. Now we’re going to have to wait – only a month, but still.
I will say that today is National Coming Out Day, so I think that’s partly why DC did it this way.
To be clear, with what I said about the “here it comes” thing, I’m not really trying to rag on anyone in this community. I’m saying that more that it’s going to happen in the general public.
I can already see Fox News or ONN or some other news sites taking this article, slapping the first google image of Superman they find, slapping an article that says “Superman turns gay” and basking in all the culture war clicks because the general audience is going to think they’re doing this to Clark Kent.
It’s funny, I’m kind of the exact opposite – I thought Jon was a boring mess, a bland Cousin Oliver type of character when he was first brought in, and only really started to care about him when he got aged up.
I feel a problem with Superman has been that he has had a problem to stand for something beyond punching monsters. It’s one of the golden calves, and to keep that status he has walked an uncontroversial path. Maybe this is the start of releasing that valve. Maybe not. But it’s a great sign and I’m all here for it.
Oh, ok. I guess I can see why they announced that today. But I still am really picky about spoilers and would have preferred to have not known until I read the issue.
But this doesn’t spoil my excitement for Jon. I am thrilled.
I’m sorry Oliver, but @Jay_Kay was right, you are a bland character. Married with Children’s Seven was a much more interesting “add another kid to bump up the ratings/shake things up” character.
This is my favorite meme from the whole announcement so far. I would really love for there to be a story where Clark just goes way too hard in showing his acceptance to the point where it’s just unreasonable and makes Jon chuckle.
Like, just a really well-meaning Dad trying his best. Total Clark move.
I think it’s one of those things where, like, his mom’s a journalist, his dad is always going on about what a noble profession it is, he’s naturally going to gravitate toward them.
Oh, that’s definitely going to happen. They started a whole culture war over non-binary Mr. Potato Head, who is not actually non-binary now. It’s just that the brand name has changed to reflect all the different Potato Heads. Mr. Potato Head himself is still male.
Honestly, as long as the story is good, then I have zero problem with this decision.
So far I’m enjoying the series, so it should be fine.
That being said, if the first story isn’t great then it could leave a bad after taste, if you get what I’m saying. It would be like when iceman came out. I have no problems with him being gay but, in my opinion, how he came out was just terrible.
. Still haven’t read the series yet but heard nice stuff. Will be when it’s here 
.