‘Superman: Space Age #1’ Review (DC Comics)
Written by Mark Russell | Art by Mike Allred | Published by DC Comics
A new Superman number one issue? Oh, go on then. One with a connection to the fabled Crisis on Infinite Earths? Definitely go on then. Mark Russell writing and Mike Allred drawing? You had me at Superman. This book genuinely intrigued me when I saw it announced. Nice to have something a little different, a little risky. Superman can be many things, the focus of many different kinds of stories, and this book promises to embrace that principle.
Let’s take a look.
1985, a momentous year in DC history. The year of the Crisis. Superman, a pre-Crisis Superman (THE pre-Crisis Superman?) returns to Lois and Jonathan as the world dies. We are, however, getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s travel back to 1963 Smallville, and a young Clark is growing up on the Kent Smallville farm, already a budding reporter for the local student paper. He’s itching to reveal his abilities to the world, to show what he can do, but Pa Kent knows once that happens things can never be the same again. President Kennedy’s assassination gives us an excuse to travel around this Earth. Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor are rival defense contract bidders with Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp, Perry White is the Editor-in-Chief of a great Metropolitan newspaper, Hal Jordan is a U.S Air Force pilot, and Lois Lane is about to become a great Metropolitan news reporter. Everything is familiar, yet different.
Kennedy’s assassination is, naturally enough, the event that makes Clark realise now is the time. His first few steps are faltering (he’s raw and, let’s be honest, pretty rubbish). Time to activate the Fortress of Solitude and the classic green-clad Jor-El hologram. Jor-El gives him his suit, certain he’s ready to take his place as Superman…only he’s not. Pa Kent was right. He’s not ready at all. Time for a compromise. Go and live in the big city as a reporter, learn about the world first, then be the hero it needs. Sounds like a plan. Clark does well, as you’d expect, and everything is going peachy-keen until he meets a certain Pariah.
Yep, THAT Pariah.
Pariah explains how he’s inadvertently responsible for the end of everything in just 20 years’ time. His anti-matter experiments resulted in the freeing of the Anti-Monitor, and his mission to destroy infinite worlds and infinite universes. This Clark is not sure if he should believe him or not. He seems crazy but…hmm. Russell then jumps from character to character as we see this Earth’s Bruce, Lex, Lois and Hal all do their thing. Although the exact details may change, it seems the fundamentals of these characters remain the same no matter what Earth we are on. Russell, this being the Sixties, gets in a few well-placed jabs as well at all the usual inequalities.
As we move into the mid to late Sixties patterns emerge. Bruce evolves from businessman to Batman. Hal finds Abin Sur and becomes a Green Lantern. Clark finally dons the blue and red after some more instruction from hologram dad, and Lex goes full-blown megalomaniac. All the pieces are falling in place you’ll notice, including a certain Princess Diana announcing herself to the United Nations. What we have here folks, as Book One wraps up, is a Justice League of America. A very raw one, but a JLA nonetheless. This world, at last, has its heroes.
I enjoyed this immensely. I’m obviously a bit of a nostalgia buff anyway, but this ticked so many boxes it was ridiculous. Classic imagery was everywhere, with Silver Age motifs and Eighties Pariah’s. These aren’t ‘our’ versions of these characters but, like ours, their fates will be decided by a great Crisis. The Crisis. Mark Russell does a great job with the writing, capturing the Silver Age magic in a way not done since Darwyn Cooke did it. The same goes for Mike Allred, who’s simple art style could not suit this book more. It’s gorgeous to look at, simple to follow, and completely in tune with the era it’s depicting.
This felt special, and in years to come will be looked back on as something special.
It’s a love letter to a time and place, to a group of characters, to a type of storytelling. It’s a love letter to our childhood.
