Superman: son of Kal-El

[manofsteel1979]

I’ll always lament that the stars didn’t align for Jon to become Superman in 2020. It was only just one year off! (and a whole generation, but we can ignore that)

_______________

I find that upon re-reading Kalel Kent’s stories he and Jon Kent share a lot of similarities: Kalel Kent publicly debuted as a teenage Superman in the 2020s, he went to college, his inexperience sometimes gets the better of him, he uses multiple secret IDs for utilitarian purposes, and he’s concerned with global social issues like pollution and overpopulation. He’s even got that reckless Golden Age/New 52 personality that’s specifically contrasted against Clark’s.



Additionally, New Metropolis (an experimental floating city designed to alleviate problems with overpopulation) also opens at the same time Kalel debuts as the new Superman, and I have a theory that Jon will also be getting a “new” Metropolis if/when Metropolis becomes an eco city that’s designed to alleviate problems with climate change, like in Future State. Both ideas place a brand new Superman in a re-imagined, environmentally conscious Metropolis.

For all the Superman successor prototypes out there, I wonder if it’s a coincidence that the vision of Superman 2020 from a handful of backups in the 80s is fairly close to the actual 2020s Superman successor.

There are a lot of parallels for sure. I have little doubt the powers that be have taken inspiration from those old stories.

[Superlad93]

The possibility of Jay going bad makes me wonder if Jon will eventually end up discarding the identity Jay creates for him, the same way Jon ended up discarding (or blowing) the Finn Connors identity created by Batman and Oracle. Either way, Jay’s ominous words about being “smaller” and “lesser” makes me think the new ID is not meant to last nor be a representation of who Jon is.

I've been mulling it over in my head and I can't shake how in issue #2 a point was made to show how ineffective Jon's secret identity was even when technically it's more elaborate than Clark's. The wig was even called bad as if it was an obvious fake.

And with both Jay (and Taylor himself) saying that he could help Jon with that I'm wondering what's going to make Jay's take on the secret identity better than what Jon got from Bruce and Oracle?

I've arrived at two possibilities that may or may not be mutually excusive depending on who (and what) Jay ends up being.

1) Jay and his friends are going to Anne Hathaway in Princes Diaries Jon and give him a makeover that's more subtle and designed to let him blend in. Knowing Taylor it would be a way for him to more or less sing the praises of the simplicity of the Clark Kent disguise. But even then Jon's first disguise didn't strike me as all that loud or gaudy if that was Taylor's intention.

or (and this is a bit out of left field)

2) Jay might use magic to give Jon a new identity. Jay would have magic because he's the new Doctor. If you look at Taylor's Superman work you'll notice that he's very liberal with the magic vs Superman stuff, so I can see it coming into play here.

[Phantom Zone]

So after reading two issues, this all seems to be just a Superboy series trying to disguise itself as a Superman series.

[Blue22]

To me it feels more like an admittedly well written Superman series that keeps trying to tell itself that it's somehow different from past Superman series.

[TheKryptonMan]

To me it feels more like an admittedly well written Superman series that keeps trying to tell itself that it's somehow different from past Superman series.

I'm giving the book a chance. But I did like Jon better when he was a kid like Damian .

[manwhohaseverything]

So after reading two issues, this all seems to be just a Superboy series trying to disguise itself as a Superman series.

That's like saying spiderman should be called spiderboy..

To me it feels more like an admittedly well written Superman series that keeps trying to tell itself that it's somehow different from past Superman series.

It is a superman series.Superman as embedded in public conciousness doesn't do anything jon does.there is a serious lack of "aw!shucks Farmboy boyscout messiah dad" routine to be called a regular superman series.So the difference.As said,more like spiderman than anything.Heck!even the firebrand goldenage or new52 and this kid is different.Jon has confusions and questions.Clark was making statements.This doesn't even have the leanings of postcrisis superman.

[Vordan]

So after reading two issues, this all seems to be just a Superboy series trying to disguise itself as a Superman series.

Hm not sure what you mean. After all we certainly aren’t hurting for origin stories about Clark where he’s “finding” himself as he crafts his superhero identity which this is very much in the vein of so far.

[Superlad93]

I remembered what Taylor said-- sort of in passing-- about Jon coming from a lot of trauma, and the go-to was of course "oh, sure, Earth-3 stuff, I guess", but I'm having a lot of serious doubts about Earth-3 being relevant in such a major way for this run, and it's based off what we've read in the two issues and heard from interviews.

I think the trauma Jon is coming from has been in our collective faces since issue #1: Jon is Superman's son.

Clearly, that's not to say that Clark has intentionally damaged his child, but it's the fact that before Jon was even born Wonder Woman is already talking about how he could be the single greatest hero the world has ever seen, and Batman is talking about how he'll be more powerful than Clark. We even learn that in issue #2 Clark has privately hoped that Jon could do all of the things he couldn't for the world because he's born here. Jon himself even says "four of the greatest heroes in the world were there for my birth. It's a bit to live up to." Lois even calls Diana out a bit saying that they're pushing unfair expectations on him before he's even set foot in the world.

The idea that this has become more and more traumatic for Jon as he's gotten older seems to be reinforced by PKJ continuously saying that Jon's relationship with the Superman title is complex and a whole lot of pressure to constantly be under. And the fact that he was looking for ways to not be him for a bit seems to speak to that pressure being very real.

In short: similar to how I totally called Jon going to jail, I totally want him to have a legit panic attack and have to eventually go to therapy.

In fact, Lois mentions something about therapy while Jon is leaving for school. He may very well already be in it?

I really think there could be a pretty fantastic juxtaposition in Jon being the most powerful member of the Superman family yet also the most vulnerable in this way.

[oneveryfineday]

From Daniel Di Nicuolo’s Twitter

@TomTaylorMade and I had a little side-adventure this summer. Maybe you already know John, best known as #Superman

https://twitter.com/DiNicuolo_/statu...569625605?s=20

Love Jon’s expression here! Honestly makes me wish Di Nicuolo was the main artist for SoKE.

[Superlad93]

I freakin' knew it!

Can't wait to get my hands on the issue Di Nicuolo does

[oneveryfineday]

He also posted this which looks like the Flash logo


https://twitter.com/DiNicuolo_/statu...187787266?s=20

Taylor did tease a Dick/Wally/Jon team up the other day, so it could be that!

[Superlad93]

That actually makes a shocking amount of sense.

Think about it: Dick and Wally have both taken on the roles of their mentors in a similar fashion to what Jon now faces. These were also some of the first child heroes who grew up into the hero work, and had to find a way to find a balance for their very strange lives.

They're kind of the two perfect people to talk to Jon at this tender time in his career.

Good on Taylor for seeing the parallels.

[Vordan]

Cool to see Wally and Jon talk since Wally is still the most successful legacy character to replace their mentor.

[Frontier]

I'm down for Dick and Wally teaming-up...Dick and Wally interacting with Jon now feels kind of weird under the circumstances, but that can't really be helped.

[manwhohaseverything]

From Daniel Di Nicuolo’s Twitter




https://twitter.com/DiNicuolo_/statu...569625605?s=20

Love Jon’s expression here! Honestly makes me wish Di Nicuolo was the main artist for SoKE.

Is that the capeless version?pls be it...#nocapes4jon
I wonder if jon and wally are gonna have a race.I remember jon beating wallace in a race.