Superman: son of Kal-El

[Superlad93]

That's so cool!! Yeah, BC was nice enough to reach out to me.

Can't tell you how genuinely shocked I am that Jon and Jenny were going to be a thing. Mainly because, in all honesty, my biggest bit of "evidence" was envisioning a scene that's a homage to Superman The Movie where Jon tells Jenny smoking's bad lol

Given the fact that Jon and Jenny seem to have been born in the same year in the 5G timeline (since she's a CB), is that more reason to suspect that the plan was to make Jon a Century Baby?

Given the fact that The Authority still made the jump post-5G and under a totally new writer, I don't actually see why Jon and Jenny as a couple couldn't or wouldn't? She'd be, what? 21? Jon's almost 18, and totally in college. That works fine. I honestly think she's leading The Truth. My guess is they'll go Sparks rather than Q, but they'll change up her race similar to how Ellis did in The Wild Storm. In fact, in The Wild Storm Jenny's powers functioned in a way were she described herself as "living in the internet", so that would work great for an underground rebel news stream.

Once again, Superman & The Authority isn't PKJ's idea, but he's rolling with it, and clearly Taylor is using Wildstorm characters in his run, so this may still be a go.

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This just leaves Jon's friend. Who is he? He seems to be drawn seemingly Asian from what we've seen of him, so maybe he's Jenny's twin? Back in Wildstorm Jenny Q had an evil twin sister that was also a Century Baby with her powers. Maybe this is the deal here, but with a twin brother?

But I'm leaning a bit more towards this guy being the new Doctor. Stormwatch wasn't just Jenny's first appearance, but also the Doctor's, and Taylor's brushing up on that run and clearly taking characters (Bendix), so he seems like fair game.

If the guy's major is pre med then we'll know hahaha

[sifighter]

Funny thing is every time people bring up Doctor here I think Doctor Who. I know it’s not the same but it’s funny to think about.

[Vordan]

Maybe it’s just Timms art but I’m not really seeing evidence the new guy is Asian? Is it because of his dyed hair lol?

I hope if Jenny shows up it’s Jenny Quantum simply because while I get Sparks was the more popular incarnation, I liked Jenny’s gimmick of her power being tied to whatever the most important invention of the century was, and I also like Sparks and Quantum as two separate characters especially since Quantum was a blank slate.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Funny thing is every time people bring up Doctor here I think Doctor Who. I know it’s not the same but it’s funny to think about.

I've done that before....

[Superlad93]

It's not much to go off, but I'm going off his very first appearance in issue #2

https://aiptcomics.com/2021/07/30/ex...n-of-kal-el-2/

And in the case of Sparks vs Quantum, I feel like Sparks has the edge ever since Ellis make the case for the sort of fusion of them in The Wild Storm book (out of continuity). In there Sparks was Asian (Jenny Mai Sparks), but she had Spark's powers. And Ellis updated them to where she was linked to the internet itself

If you're going to make her the leader of The Truth, then these powers fit better than Q's

[Vordan]

It's not much to go off, but I'm going off his very first appearance in issue #2

https://aiptcomics.com/2021/07/30/ex...n-of-kal-el-2/

And in the case of Sparks vs Quantum, I feel like Sparks has the edge ever since Ellis make the case for the sort of fusion of them in The Wild Storm book (out of continuity). In there Sparks was Asian (Jenny Mai Sparks), but she had Spark's powers. And Ellis updated them to where she was linked to the internet itself

If you're going to make her the leader of The Truth, then these powers fit better than Q's

Never read The Wild Storm, have to get on that. I knew Ellis basically merged Sparks and Quantum in there though. Was Sparks the 21st Century Baby in the reboot instead of the 20th?

[Superlad93]

Never read The Wild Storm, have to get on that. I knew Ellis basically merged Sparks and Quantum in there though. Was Sparks the 21st Century Baby in the reboot instead of the 20th?

That's a bit different. Ellis just flat out made her immortal-immortal. She was something called an "techne". This was described as "a spirit of the mechanical arts and crafts, empowered by the defining technology of her era - in her case, the Internet." And she was already over 100 years old by the time of the comic.

Since the internet is such a defining aspect of this run with The Truth, I feel like it makes more sense to go with electric powered Sparks than it does the quantum powered Q.

[Vordan]

That's a bit different. Ellis just flat out made her immortal-immortal. She was something called an "techne". This was described as "a spirit of the mechanical arts and crafts, empowered by the defining technology of her era - in her case, the Internet." And she was already over 100 years old by the time of the comic.

Since the internet is such a defining aspect of this run with The Truth, I feel like it makes more sense to go with electric powered Sparks than it does the quantum powered Q.

Fair enough. Part of my preference for Quantum over Sparks was that I like Sparks, and I don’t believe Taylor can capture her voice correctly. I thought Quantum was fine but she got so little focus in comparison that I wouldn’t mind Taylor doing whatever he wants with her.

Funny thing though: Taylor wrote the last Authority stories before the New 52 reboot. So he’s come full circle now.

[Vordan]

So if Taylor is acknowledging Superman & the Authority that means *a* Jenny Sparks existed, which means if Taylor does introduce a new Jenny for Jon, I’m betting it will be Quantum. Taylor even already wrote Quantum as part of his Authority work, so he’s not unfamiliar with her.

[D.Z]

Safe to say it's the Jenny.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I believe Manchester was referring to Jenny Sparks but in the past tense. By the time Jon starts as Superman II she would've already died.

It's more likely Taylor is using an older Jenny Quantum or a new century baby. Jenny Sparks wasn't the only one.

[Superlad93]

Between that page and the fact that DC apparently wanted to have Jon date a Jenny, I'm incline to believe that it is Jenny Q.

Which will be an interesting problem to solve because she's basically Franklin Richards in terms of powers.

I mean, talk about Power Couple, right? Jon's the most powerful Kryptonian in continuity and Jenny is a Franklin Richards. But if I recall, Jenny Q's powers were so unpredictable and vast because it was only just the turn of the century, and the era had not taken shape yet, so that leaves Taylor some room to define her a bit more.

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Also, read Ellis' run on Stormwatch, and there's more than a few parallels if not outright homages.

- The genetically engineered post-human foe they face to start with is a naked man with fire powers. He also quotes Nietzsche's superman the whole time.

- The way Bendix gets Jenny and Jack to join is by telling them he wants to finally go after the "causes and not the effects", and says that up till now it's been like putting a "band-aid applied to a cancer patient". This parallels how Jon and Damian talk about what Superman should be.

But it's Change Or Die that seems to have the most parallels (that's also the one Taylor specifically cited)

- It has an underground team lead by a Superman stand in (named John no less) that has set out to completely change the world

- The Superman stand in making all these big moves is making quite a few people nervous.

- Jenny and The High (the Superman stand in) had a mutual respect and a potential romance that never got the time to bloom.

- Jenny even says she would've joined him in his mission if he'd have came to her. There's a good chance Taylor is telling the version of that story Jenny wished had happened.


Honestly, if Taylor can somehow find a balance between Injustice, Change Or Die/classic Authority, and a classic Superman book we may have genuinely special and fresh on our hands.

[Falcon16]

Just got the first issue today. Liked how Jon helped the Person of Mass Destruction calm down. That's what I'm gonna do from now on.

[The Frog Bros]

Just got the first issue today. Liked how Jon helped the Person of Mass Destruction calm down. That's what I'm gonna do from now on.

Yeah I really liked the dialogue in that whole scene.

"Hi, I'm Jon," as he enters through the flames. Chill yet totally effective for the situation. Or the simple, "nope" when he stopped the missile.

Good stuff.

[Superlad93]

If anyone here read today's Nightwing then you'll that 1) Dick's connection to Krypton is back since it's confirmed that Clark gave him his name, and 2) Clark asks Dick to be a friend to Jon and give him someone to look up to while he's away. Taylor then more or less confirmed Dick will be showing up in Superman, and Jon may show up in Nightwing.

On top of that, I'm growing more confident in Taylor's more proactive direction with Jon because of what he's building with Duck in Nightwing. As Taylor himself said in an interview, Jon is trying to do what Dick is but on a much bigger scale. That's what I want.

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Also just now realizing that Injustice has yet another parallel to Son of Kal-El in the form of the Kents being attacked after Superman gets far more proactive on issues he should've been looking into from the start.

As I recall the Kents end up living at the Fortress from there on. My guess is still that Taylor will use a 5G holdover and have Jon set up his Fortress in Smallville to protect his family.