Superman: Son of Kal-El vol. 1 — The Truth
It was inevitable that Jon Kent was going to get his own solo title at some point. He’s the Son of Superman, after all. It’s a role that’s too high-profile not to have one. The real question was whether or not that series or miniseries was going to be any good. With a creative team consisting of writer Tom Taylor and artist John Timms, with Daniele Di Nicuolo pitching in for an issue, the odds of that being the case were pretty good here. I’m happy to report that this is the case, even if I don’t feel too bad about waiting to pick this up in softcover form.
The volume starts off with Superman fighting off an alien invasion before Green Lantern John Stewart and the Martian Manhunter show up to take care of it and tell him to go home. Which is where he finds Batman waiting for him and Wonder Woman inside, tending to Lois Lane. Who has just gone into labor. It’s the birth of Jon Kent, and the whole sequence is a cute illustration of many things ranging from Superman’s anxiety to how tight-knit a group the Justice League are. Taylor loves throwing in details like these and we’ll get plenty more over the course of the volume.
Flash forward to the present and Jon is feeling some anxiety of his own about his role in the world. He knows he has enough power to change things, but is he just serving the status quo? This is a discussion Jon has with Damian Wayne (while they fight ninjas) who points him to an underground news service called The Truth. It’s his way of telling his friend that maybe he should start fighting the causes of injustice rather than the symptoms.
That’s not a bad idea… for any character not living in a corporate-owned shared universe. Whenever superheroes try to change the world in the DC or Marvel Universes, it’s generally regarded as a fool’s errand. Either they fail and learn a lesson about the immutability of the status quo, or they change things for a bit but then things go back to how they’ve always been either sooner or later. I don’t begrudge Taylor for wanting to have Jon use his powers as a force for social justice. It’s just that it’s not immediately apparent how he’ll be able to do this without running into either of the problems I mentioned.
Thankfully the writer looks to have found a middle ground here. Jon isn’t going to change the DCU, just a small part of it that needs changing. Specifically, the island nation of Gamorra which is run by the devious Henry Bendis. I remember him from the days back when he used to run Stormwatch and eventually revealed himself to be ruthless enough to cross the line over to outright supervillainy (when Warren Ellis wrote him, to give you an idea of how long this guy has been around).
Gamorra is the series’ stand-in for the human-rights-abusing country of your choice and Bendix makes an appropriately slimy foil for Jon’s agenda. Particularly since he’s president of the country and therefore protected by the law. Just like Lex Luthor, he’s not a villain that can simply be punched away. Also like Luthor, he’s not above exploiting other superpowered individuals to get what he wants. As he uses them to get at Jon here.
Which the character takes in stride. It’s just one more thing that he’s going to have to deal with in being not just a superpowered individual, but also the son of one of the most powerful and recognizable superheroes on the planet. A lot of this volume is given over to showing how Jon tries to reconcile this and it’s engaging to see how he struggles. The character is able to score a lot of little victories by just being a stand-up guy, but he’s not always successful and sometimes he makes a bad call when he tries to do the right thing. It makes for a more interesting protagonist when they’re allowed to screw up and I like seeing that here.
Oh, and while this is very old news, I believe I’m supposed to offer some kind of take on Jay Nakamura here. You know, Jon’s boyfriend. It’s clear that Taylor was trying to show that the Son of Superman can be bisexual and it’s not going to change the fundamentals of who he is (or cause the world to end). I’m fine with that; though, I’m left wondering if that’s all the writer wanted to do here.
Jay has a somewhat spoiler-centric role in regards to Jon’s actions that will certainly be developed over subsequent volumes. That means at this point he’s more interesting to the story from a plot perspective rather than a romantic one. Before that kiss happened, I really wasn’t getting any romantic vibes between the two characters and Jay remains key to the plot, rather than Jon’s heart, by the end of the volume. What I’m saying is that it’s a nice sentiment that Taylor came up with this character to establish that Jon is bit. He’s going to have to work much harder from here on out to convince me that they’re actually a good romantic match.
At least he’s got help from his artist. I’ve seem Timms’ work on “Young Justice” and I seem to remember thinking that it was just fine. He looks to have stepped up his game since then as everything looks sharper and more detailed. The action scenes are strong and he’s even good with the low-key humor the writer likes to evoke in his superhero stories. Witness again Jon and Damian’s casual conversation as they fight ninjas.. It’s effective work overall and while I can’t remember if the artist sticks around for the rest of the series, it’ll be to its benefit if he does.
Or if they can just get someone as talented as guest artist Di Nicuolo to follow-up then that’d be pretty great too.
This first volume of “Son of Kal-El” makes a pretty good case for giving Jon his own solo title. He may have all of Superman’s powers, but he’s got a somewhat different idea of how to use them. Taylor even finds a nice way for him to go about that while working within the confines of the DCU and he’s got great artistic support from Timms and Di Nicuolo here. It may not be a transcendent superhero book, but it’s a fun one that entertains as it tries to find a new spin on things.