Superman: son of Kal-El

[Digifiend]

A belt that allows him to time travel might not be a bad idea... it resolves the issue of him being cut off from the Legion of Super Heroes.

[oneveryfineday]

SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL #4

Writer: TOM TAYLOR
Artist: JOHN TIMMS
Cover: JOHN TIMMS
Variant Cover: INHYUK LEE
$3.99 US | 32 PGS | $4.99 US VARIANT (Card Stock)
ON SALE 10/12/21
Kal-El has left, and the weight of the world now rests on his son's shoulders. Powerful forces have been threatened by Jon Kent's first leaps in his father's boots. It's hard to hurt a man of steel, but his loved ones make a much easier target. Jon's world is about to come crashing down.

They’re really keeping their cards to to their chest, aren’t they? Still no idea on who supporting cast will be and the villain(s) have only been vaguely referred to “powerful forces”.

Seems like Jon will be the one facing the fallout of the identity reveal.

Considering that Clark specifically seems to be gone at this point, I have a theory: Jon will still be Superboy for the first few issues hence why he’s still wearing the old suit, and at the end of the issue 3 is when Clark leaves and Jon decides to take up the Superman name and get a new costume. This theory is somewhat disproved by the fact that earlier SoKE solicits already call Jon the “new Superman”, but so did the solicits for the Golden Age age despite him still being Superboy there. But we’ll see.

[Quinlan58]

So they're going after Jonathan and Martha Kent so soon after they've been brought back to life? Can't say they've made a difference in the books so far or that I wanted them brought back, but threatening their lives after they just returned feels cheap. Nevermind that we've seen the sort of defenses Clark put for the Daily Planet, so anything that's going after the Kents should be beyond even that. At least it's better than it being Lois (and Taylor most likely agrees with that).

Then again, this is designed to be new-reader-friendly, and new readers probably wouldn't be aware of the Kents having been dead until fairly recently or the defenses around the Daily Planet, so for the intended audience it works well enough.

This'll probably confirm Kon is not longer in the Kent farm, if the SS Annual doesn't do that first.

[sifighter]

You know this automatically reminds me of Taylor in Year one of Injustice where the President has Mirror Master kidnap the Kents as leverage against Clark...which didn’t go so well in that universe so interesting to see how well it goes against Jon.

[oneveryfineday]

You know this automatically reminds me of Taylor in Year one of Injustice where the President has Mirror Master kidnap the Kents as leverage against Clark...which didn’t go so well in that universe so interesting to see how well it goes against Jon.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the parallels were deliberate considering that Taylor said he’s writing this book as a response to his own Injustice series. This’ll likely have a better ending though.

[Blue22]

They’re really keeping their cards to to their chest, aren’t they? Still no idea on who supporting cast will be and the villain(s) have only been vaguely referred to “powerful forces”.

Seems like Jon will be the one facing the fallout of the identity reveal.

Considering that Clark specifically seems to be gone at this point, I have a theory: Jon will still be Superboy for the first few issues hence why he’s still wearing the old suit, and at the end of the issue 3 is when Clark leaves and Jon decides to take up the Superman name and get a new costume. This theory is somewhat disproved by the fact that earlier SoKE solicits already call Jon the “new Superman”, but so did the solicits for the Golden Age age despite him still being Superboy there. But we’ll see.

Thankfully, I'm pretty sure that last sentence is just your typical solicit teasing. Though there's always that little seed of doubt. Because the universe just loves throwing me curveballs like that. So watch this be one of the first times where they're not just baiting the readers.

Taylor, you're still my fav, even if you're writing the enemy. But please don't make this whole situation worse than it already is. We just got Jonathan and Martha back lol

[Yoda]

The Kent Farm being destroyed was mentioned in the Future State Worlds at War issues. So this seems to be some of that playing out.

WaW.jpg

[Vordan]

If Taylor actually kills off Ma and Pa Kent I may have to give him some credit. C’mon Taylor use your murderboner for my benefit for once!

[witchboy]

I wouldn’t be surprised if the parallels were deliberate considering that Taylor said he’s writing this book as a response to his own Injustice series. This’ll likely have a better ending though.

I already can hear the (imo fair) accusations that this is another way of showing how Jon is better than Clark.

[Vordan]

The Kent Farm being destroyed was mentioned in the Future State Worlds at War issues. So this seems to be some of that playing out.

WaW.jpg

God tell me it’s not Henshaw, that dude is too lame to get to kill the Kents. Him showing up recently in the Annual can’t be foreshadowing him here can it? I hope not, let Metallo kill the Kents!

[manwhohaseverything]

Yeah!always thought henshaw was lame..And they nuked the kent farm..Bye bye nostalgia.... Kents would probably be fine though..jon would most certainly save them..kents might actually start doing something else or something at all.

[Superlad93]

Was just a theory before, but now it's starting to seem clear that the identity reveal was in fact mainly for Jon's Superman. And as some people pointed out, this is intended to be new ready friendly, so Jon is effectively doing the reveal again in issue 2 when The Truth exposes him.

But I like how everything seems to be built off Jon's actions. This attack on his loved ones isn't because Clark revealed his identity, but rather because Jon made some very powerful people mad. And if that aspect of Future State does come to pass, and the farm is gone, then I wonder where Jon moves the family out to especially while he's still in college?

_____________

Hang on, didn't the leak that said Jon was going to shrink down the city (something Taylor is no longer doing) and Clark was going to lead the Authority also say that Jon would make Smallville his Fortress of Solitude? The leak said that it was so that the people there could "shield" him from the outside world because he would be such a controversial Superman, but Taylor could've potentially changed the reasoning by having it so Jon uses it as a literal fortress to protect his family and the people of Smallville?

The solicitation for one of the pervious issues did say that the Fortress was Jon's now, and that he'd get a bunch of new toys to go along with it. So suppose he just up and moves it to Smallville. It would honestly be a nice contrast to Clark and Jon's characters. Clark needed the Fortress and his secret identity as a means of escape, but Jon doesn't have a secret identity, and he's inherently more outgoing and social than his father, so he'd sacrifice that solitude for a sense of community and safety for those around him.

You know what this potentially reminds me of? In Aaron's run of Thor where Thor brings down his castle for the now homeless people of a town. Or how a bunch of the displaced creatures took up residence in an apartment complex on Earth. So if this is true, when Jon goes to the Fortress to work out a problem or something he'd also be visiting Ma and Pa, likely his mom, and potentially the people of Smallville.

[D.Z]

Not everything from Future State will carry over.

[kryptonian]

Not everything from Future State will carry over.

I agree

But a lot of elements that Taylor might find interesting will almost certainly carry over

[Superlad93]

Yeah, most certianly Future State isn't a 1-to-1 road map, but aspects of it are making their way in for sure.

For one, the fact that Jon deals with the climate crisis in his early years of Superman is directly from Superman/Wonder Woman issue 2. But on the flip side, PKJ has said that Taylor's Jon wouldn't put the city in a bottle, and it's very clear that Jon is far more powerful than his Superman of Metropolis counterpart (though, seems to be in line with his SM/WW version?).

Writers seem to get to pick what they like from Future State and 5G.