Originally Posted by
Superlad93
Wow, it's really here. I honestly still can't believe it's really here.
This issue was very, very solid. Heavy on the utility side, but I know that's not for me as a vet, so I took a step back on that end. And that's by design because in Taylor's interview he said that he wrote issue one after he'd already started his run thinking Jon would just take over the normal Superman book (incidentally, it's really nice to know that DC just flat out decided to put the weight of a #1 behind this after just continuing on was on the table).
I liked how Taylor casually seeds in what Jon can do in terms of powers, his social life (or lack there of), and where he's at mentally and emotionally. This issue functions as a thesis to the Jon Kent Superman, and it ends with a clear mission statement and the seeds to realize it. I realized it was actually a lot like the first issue of Superman back in the 30s in this way.
There's one choice in the book that could've come off as the weakest part of the while thing if left out of context: Diana's musings about what Jon can be. For one, had that come from ANY other character it wouldn't have worked, but Diana's way of speaking and how she'd be right at home speaking in such dramatic metaphor makes it. But even that wouldn't be enough on its own. It's really the fact that Taylor is writing this book for today's culture. And in doing that, *just* upping the scale of "able to change the course of mighty rivers" to something bigger wouldn't cut it. Today's readership appreciate and look for a something more on the spectrum of emotional metaphor when looking for a character to get behind. They look for an unquantifiable symbol that's there for you (see the popularity of All-Might), so making the choice to lay that as the bedrock of the issue and Jon's Superman makes sense as an update to the past.
And Jon Kent himself was near perfect. I won't lie to you, I was scared of Taylor taking over because when he did write older Jon before out of continuity it was largely unimpressive outside of some moments. But he's clearly found a real voice for him here. There's a casualness and earnestness to him that lays over a real nervousness. He knows what feels right, but he also knows what's expected of him as Superman, and the duality clear as day in this issue.
But Taylor takes the cake with how Jon handles the metahuman situation. It's all one simple but strong metaphor that gets let open like a Russian matryoshka doll. Jon sees a forest fire, and he could *just* battle the symptoms of it, but he knows there's an underlying spark. Jon sees a fire metahuman, and he could put the metahuman out-- battling the symptoms--but he knows there's more to the situation. In the end he sees the root of this problem as something more complex than something he can punch (in this case it's a country and its mistreatment of a person with an illness).
This simple yet effective metaphorical hat trick was the star of the show, and instead of it being about a really compelling villain, world, or status quo...it was about our hero-- our main character. I'm so glad that's the foot new readers/new-to-Superman readers are going to start of with. This is an inwardly focused book about the choices this young man makes that shapes the future of his world, and I'm here for it.
Not end-all-be-all of comics, but what it sets out to do, it does very proficiently-- if not exceptionally in some case.