Jon Kent Superboy Appreciation 2021

[kryptonian]

Bubble pops in a few days

[Blue22]

Ain't **** to pop. Everyone knows Jon probably isn't ever coming back. Doesn't mean people are gonna just stop talking about it. That said, I'm kinda curious about what caused your very sudden change of heart. You were the most unreasonably rabid kid Jon supporter/SoKE detractor here. To the point where you kept saying, with such certainty, that the book was gonna get cancelled after a year. Now you've gone all the way towards the other extreme, to the point where you're now openly antagonizing the same people you were agreeing with like...what? A week ago? Did Taylor win you over that hard or is this just a really elaborate trolling XD

[Quinlan58]

Nothing's going to be proven this Tuesday. Son of Kal-El #1 is going to be selling a lot, for reasons not related to how sustainable or not Jon as Superman is (it's a new #1, it's the debut of an in-continuity successot to the Superman mantle). It's the month after that where we may see if that interest holds or not.

[Superboy-Prime]

Everyone knows Jon probably isn't ever coming back.

Actually, Jon Kent comes back in Superman: Son of Kal-El #1 which releases July 27!

[Superlad93]

That’s kind of like saying Batman doesn’t have any purpose beyond issue #1, isn’t it? If DC never actually grew stories around Batman, we would never have gotten any of the Robins, many of the villains, the worldbuilding, any relationship with the JL, the iconic stories—basically the entire character of Batman and the Batverse and its place in the DCU as we know it today. Even minor spinoff characters can prove their value over the “parent” IP in time. King Shark is a 90s Superboy villain, and he’s even more famous than Conner now because of the Suicide Squad movie.

So you don’t *technically* need anything beyond a handful of obscure panels to adapt something. But then you’d miss out on all that space to dynamically grow lots of new ideas.

It’s why I’m pretty excited about Jon’s Superman series. I loved him as a kid, but back then I never expected him to occupy that large of a space in DC. He was just another satellite Super character. My notion of his success was him becoming a popular mid-tier hero on a team book or an animated movie. He was still very important, but not entirely essential.

I think we're all overlooking some pretty substantial context here: DC's wanted this to work for a while now. And I'm not talking about only as far back as 5G, no. Since the 1980s reboot functioned as the most successful and reinvigorating reboot of all time, DC has chased that high in small burst here and there. It was only with the New 52 that they decided to finally take the gloves off a get serious about it...buuuut by then it had been decades of fairly liner trajectory storytelling. What they didn't realize they did Post-Crisis was create a point A to B history that was now not just beloved by nerds, but EXPECTED by casuals. But even though the New 52 couldn't work with Clark, Bruce, and Diana in the main continuity because of the expectations DC themselves had built up and built in...it was still one of the single highest sales spikes in modern comics. It technically still worked.

So they had some retooling to do. How do you get to something that's Post-Crisis/New 52 like where it provides a young and fresh jumping on point for new readers while somehow keeping what you expect of the history. That's functionally impossible for Clark, Bruce, and Diana. So it became clear that they needed to make greater use of their legacy aspect. Thus you push SO far ahead of Clark, Bruce, and Diana that it may as well be a reboot, and so 5G was born.

Contrary to popular belief, I doubt 5G was killed by DiDio leaving (he likely got fired because the projections showed he wasn't going to be able to make it work) or a bunch of nerds crying about it. Nerd cried about the New 52, but it still happened just fine. As far as I can tell, the main thing that killed 5G was that they'd be making the same mistake as the New 52 in the sense that it would be chasing the high of the sweeping all-in-one-go change of what is basically a reboot, and that would lead to big ass sales spikes for a time, but it would level out and there would be books that get buried under the hype and canceled for just because there's SO much choice out there.

So how do you make a reboot/jumping on point work in piece meal? Seems impossible or too confusing to work. They had to make a very big cut: the new timeline. It was their pride and joy, and what was going to streamline the DCU and make legacy king, but you couldn't piece meal that. So thus we have the "slow rollout" Jim Lee talked about. The model allows for sort of a seasonal model to all the changes, and it gives each stack of books the time and room to be appreciated.

It’s possible for him to get his equivalent of an All-Star Superman, but it’ll be something entirely his own.

Do you know what's so fascinating about this notion? Fundamentally it CAN'T be like Clark's All-Star Superman. It just can't. All-Star Superman is built on the idea of decades of history and age being distilled into its purest form, and having that dramatized as the last will and testament of a dying man. It's a story about a long life of unkept promises, outright failures, and an idiosyncratic fear of not moving on. It's a rather harsh assessment of Superman's life while it tells you everything great about him. And he ends the story not with world peace achieved or humanity on its way to the stars, but rather some personal dealings taken care of and a hope that the next guy after him will do better than he ever did.

The Jon-Superman equivalent of that (assuming we got it within the next 15 years) would have to focus on the idea of possiblity and new beginnings. Just as you can't convincingly tell young Clark stories without them feeling like back story rather than just story onto themselves anymore, you can't tell older man Jon stories without them feeling like imaginary stories or potential futures. Jon is effectively in the position the Silver age Superman now where the prime of his life is all anyone can convincingly see (and that's just where DC wants him). So how do you do you get to the meat of what Jon's Superman is and distil it in the same sort of dramatized format as All-Star without the aid of a somber look back at a life well lived?

Three words: quarter life crisis.

[Superlad93]

I love this.

The idea that Jon kind of has this Peter Parker "sleep? what's that?" quality to him in part because, as Taylor put it in issue #1's preview, he's got a lot to live up to, and also because what he's specifically deciding to do as Superman is actually far more complex and stressful than what Clark ever tried. Plus, he'll have to make it to class at some point.

There's a totally different feel than what Clark ever had as Superman. For him there was always kind of this feeling that had always had his life under control. He was never real at risk of getting fired, you knew he'd eventually beat the bad guy, and he didn't really have a modern day love life outside of Lois that had a risk of ending. Jon on the other hand has set some very lofty goals for himself, and it feel like he's going to come home to his dorm or his parents house sometimes feeling like **** because it feels like he isn't making any headway.

In a pretty smart way Taylor is making Superman the underdog...but he's going to be even more powerful than before. And he's doing it by doing what we all keep say: scale the threat to match him. But because he's the writer, and we're not, his go-to was "let me throw a real, real strong guy at him, and say it's in space." No, instead he said let me throw something real, close to home, complex, and seemingly insurmountable that he'll have no hope of punching no matter how godlike he is.

So, to sum up, yeah, looks like the kid's gonna have his work cut out for him, and I can't wait!

[Fergus]

“Well-adjusted kid” sounds like a boring and unambitious character template with a limited ceiling if you ask me. I’d rather slap that character template on some other superhero’s kid. To me, Superman is an epic story with larger-than-life characters, and the kid of Clark Kent and Lois Lane should embody larger-than-life tales that couldn’t be told with any other character. Jon is pretty much the prince of the superhero genre. I think that’s pretty unique. To discard that would be greater wasted potential.

Taylor sums it up for me in the simplest words:



Yeah, there couldn’t be a better approach.

And I like the Super Sons, but I dislike the idea that Jon HAS being the normal foil to Damian’s edgy character, since it also falls into the problem of his character being being boxed to fit some preconceived dynamic, with a Bat character no less. It’s why I’m pretty interested in seeing Damian written as Jon’s supporting character in SoKE, because the Super Sons dynamic will be different where Jon’s development comes primary instead.

Thinking that DC is treating Jon like a benchwarmer Superman is downplaying a lot of what’s going on right now. We know Morrison was brought in to consult on Jon. Taylor said he was looking to create a Superman for a new generation. Jon gets Clark’s book. He’s being crafted to support his own world. A lot of the status quo is getting upended. DC is legit calling Jon the 21st century Superman, effectively making Clark the nostalgia Superman (which basically caters to what broader audience wants I guess). I mean, they also called Jon the One True Superman which I have different feelings about, but the level of ambition is almost stupid. But I can appreciate ambition. The way I see it, DC is pushing Jon’s ceiling at higher point than it was previously.

And maybe I have a different love of the mythos, but being Superman is the most difficult and exciting thing anyone can imagine to be.

Are you serious? FFS!

Please tell me you are joking. I don't want Damian anywhere near Jon. I get that Taylor's kid likes the Supersons and Taylor has never met a fan he didn't want to service but I was hoping this could be Jon's SON OF BATMAN.

This news bums me out. Williamson is hitting homerun after homerun with Robin. showing us a side of Damian we haven't seen and opening up his world by building new relationships. I want the same for Jon.

Hopefully their dynamic in SoKE will be more DCeased and less Supersons

[manwhohaseverything]

Why am i imagining spectacular spiderman with jon kent superman?

Damn!the song is stuck in my head.

Spectacular-spectacular-superman..tarararatarara..

[Blue22]

Are you serious? FFS!

Please tell me you are joking. I don't want Damian anywhere near Jon. I get that Taylor's kid likes the Supersons and Taylor has never met a fan he didn't want to service but I was hoping this could be Jon's SON OF BATMAN.

This news bums me out. Williamson is hitting homerun after homerun with Robin. showing us a side of Damian we haven't seen and opening up his world by building new relationships. I want the same for Jon.

Hopefully their dynamic in SoKE will be more DCeased and less Supersons

Is it really that surprising? One of the biggest things they've been trying to do since Johnson took over is trying to convince fans of Super Sons and Pre-Bendis Jon that he's still the same kid. Of course they're gonna keep using his friendship with Damian as another way to promote this book. Doesn't mean he won't have his own supporting cast or that Damian's gonna be showing up all the time. But it is what it is. I'm willing to bet a very sizable chunk of Jon's fans came from Super Sons so they're gonna take advantage of that to sell people on SoKE.

Though, if it's any consolation, I'm in the same boat as you. I don't want either of them anywhere near each other's books right now.

[Superlad93]

Are you serious? FFS!

Please tell me you are joking. I don't want Damian anywhere near Jon. I get that Taylor's kid likes the Supersons and Taylor has never met a fan he didn't want to service but I was hoping this could be Jon's SON OF BATMAN.

This news bums me out. Williamson is hitting homerun after homerun with Robin. showing us a side of Damian we haven't seen and opening up his world by building new relationships. I want the same for Jon.

Hopefully their dynamic in SoKE will be more DCeased and less Supersons

I really wouldn't worry too much about that.

Taylor was asked "In his relatively short history, Jonathan has had many notable allies and close connections—his Super-family, Damian Wayne, the Legion of Super-Heroes. What supporting cast are you utilizing in this series?"

He answered "With a lot of his supporting cast in the future, or in his childhood, we will be seeing a new cast in this book. There will be new allies and new villains."

And he also added "But, of course, we won’t be ignoring his relationship with Robin."

It sounds like his focus is primarily on the new cast, but he wants to make it clear that he's not forgetting Damian as an aspect of Jon's life. And I think that's a fair idea. I doubt very much that Damian will be a full on supporting character in Jon's book. If I had to guess, I'd say we'll like see Damian semi regularly to start, and then we'll see less and less of him as the book finds its footing with its supporting cast. I'm thinking of Damian as training wheels here.

[Jackalope89]

Actually, Jon Kent comes back in Superman: Son of Kal-El #1 which releases July 27!

No, he was talking about the real one, not this Earth 3 imposter.

[garazza]

tumblr_inline_pshf20XbJv1r6u77p_500.jpg

I had time to kill while at work.

[Quinlan58]

So, who wants to bet that the Lois & Clark era of his childhood gets retconned out of existence?

[kryptonian]

So, who wants to bet that the Lois & Clark era of his childhood gets retconned out of existence?

Unlikely

Likely retconned into a short retirement to protect their son from harvest

[Superlad93]

So, who wants to bet that the Lois & Clark era of his childhood gets retconned out of existence?

Yeah, pretty much. Doubt we'll ever see that black suit again in the context of the Kents hiding out.

Super Sons and miscellaneous shots of Clark and Jon flying together will likely be what Jon's childhood is made up of.

Taylor's brought up Earth-3 twice, but only to basically dunk on it and call it convoluted when coupled with marking out this new Superman, so I doubt that'll be brought back up in the near future if ever.

Taylor's aim seems to be facilitating the here and now, and I agree. Even though I'd personally love to see how Jon and Saturn Girl ended things, I get that Taylor needs to build something in the here and now above all else.