Saturday Evening Cartoons: Superman, Volume 1: Son of Superman

     No character suffered more from DC's 2011 New 52 reboot than Superman. The main title went through six different writers over a five year period and Action Comics went through four. Some of these writers included Grant Morrison, author of the beloved miniseries All-Star Superman; DC Comics' new Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns; Greg Pak, of Planet Hulk fame; and George Perez, who was responsible for now legendary runs on Teen Titans and Wonder Woman. Throughout these various runs Superman often came across like a bitter loner, particularly during Gene Luen Yang's Before Truth story-line. His romance with and marriage to Lois Lane was removed from continuity and Superman was given a relationship with Wonder Woman instead. The Convergence crossover event in 2015 was the beginning of a change for the character. In this story-line a large number of DC characters are forced to fight each other by Braniac. Among these characters is the original, pre-Flashpoint version of Superman, who is married to Lois and now has a son. This Superman survives the events of Convergence and comes to earth with his family, continuing to use his powers to help people in secret and keeping his eye on this earth's version of Superman. The New 52 ended with Superman's death, setting the stage for the original Superman to return in DC's 2016 Rebirth relaunch.

     Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, the same team who had handled The Final Days of Superman crossover, were assigned the Superman title for this relaunch. The first story arc in their run, entitled, Son of Superman, deals with the original Superman's struggles to establish himself and his family on this new earth after the death of its Superman. They settle in to their new home in Hamilton County and Superman is confronted by Batman and Wonder Woman, who are initially distrustful of this new Superman. Meanwhile, his son Jon must learn to control his developing superpowers.

     Tomasi and Gleason really get Superman. He is presented in this story as an assertive hero and a wise father. This is clearly a character who has been through a lot. He died at the hands of Doomsday only to come back to life, he married Lois Lane and had a son, and he survived the destruction of his entire world and must now make a new home for himself and his family. But through it all he retains that sense of optimism that is so essential to the appeal of the character. They also bring a much welcome family dynamic to the series that is just the breath of fresh air the character needed. Seeing Superman struggle to be a good husband and father really humanizes him in a way I haven't seen before. Gleason, along with inker Mick Gray really convey this grounded yet soaringly optimistic felling through their art. It's always really vibrant and graceful and Gleason handles the transition between action driven superheroics and intimate family drama with ease. The plotting is also spot on. Gleason and Tomasi really know the right time to deliver a stunning large panel or splash page and there are a lot of interesting layouts, yet its always clear where my eye is supposed to go next.

     There are some major problems with this arc. For one thing it's a little bogged down in continuity. This is most apparent in the first chapter (originally published as a one shot) where Superman and Lana Lang try to bring the New 52 Superman back to life. Superman believes that this version of himself will come back to life just as he himself once did, but finds that this is not the case. This opening to the arc exists to catch the reader up with the continuity changes brought about by Convergence and Rebirth. It does a decent enough job but, unfortunately, this also means that it takes a while for the story to really get going. Indeed it's not until the end of chapter 3 that the main villain of the arc, Eradicator, is introduced. Eradicator is a good villain for this story as it forces Jon to come to terms with his duel heritage and also allows Kal El to come face to face with his ancestry. The remaining four chapters are basically an extended fight between Superman and Eradicator which its stretched a little thin at times.

     My other problem with this arc is the inconsistent artwork. While Gleason and Gray's art is, as I mentioned, fantastic, nearly half of the book features art by other people, including Phil Jimenez and Doug Mahnke. While there art is fine on its own it doesn't mesh well with Gleason's style. The color pallet is much more subdued and the facial work generally more realistic and less expressionistic.

     Despite some of these challenges (which are really quite common to the Rebirth relaunch as a whole) Son of Superman is a strong start to Tomasi and Gleason's run. If they can work out some of the kinks moving forward, I think we're in for something really special.

Score: 8/10