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SUPERMAN:
RED SON
Written by Mark Millar; Pencils by Dave Johnson & Kilian Plunkett; Inks by Andrew Robinson & Walden Wong; Colors by Paul Mounts; Letters by Ken Lopez; Covers by Dave Johnson
I love Elseworld stories. It’s a great chance to read about a world you already know and see it turned completely on its head. Sometimes your favorite characters take place in a different time, sometimes they’re gender-bent, and sometimes Superman is a communist. As President of Russia and spreads his ideals of Soviet peace around the world, unless American capitalist-industrialist Lex Luthor can stop him.
Imagine if Superman’s fateful rocket ship sent from a doomed Krypton had launched just 12 Earth-hours later or earlier and had landed in Ukraine instead of Kansas. Luthor is still the smartest man on Earth, but he works for the U.S. government alongside Jimmy Olsen. Russia even has their own Batman, and I won’t give away too much more about him, except to say that he has some of his most badass moments in this book.
What I loved most about this story, and what makes most Elseworld stories work, is how Millar was able to change so much of the world we know but able to respect the characters and maintain personalities at the same time and have it still make sense. I haven’t read a lot of Millar, but, from what I have read, this is easily my favorite work of his. It’s also nice to see Dave Johnson doing the main artwork when he is mostly known for his covers. His pencil-work and his cover-work are very different styles from each other, but both fit the story perfectly. If you haven’t read this book yet, I highly recommend you do very soon.
I try my best not to give away spoilers in my reviews because I enjoy going into a story fresh, but (slight spoilers ahead!) I’d say that the ending will have you second guessing who really won this battle.
CONVERGENCE:
ACTION COMICS #1
Written by Justin Gray; Art by Claude St-Aubin; Colors by Lovern Kindzierski; Lettering by Steve Wands; Cover by Amanda Conner & Paul Mounts
Of all the Convergence titles, this was one I was looking forward to most. I will admit it wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but it wasn’t too bad either. I had a problem with every character being in Moscow at the time when the city was taken, but I did like the opportunity to see Superman and Kara in Metropolis without powers. All the characters being in one city at the same time seemed to happen all over Convergence, mostly in Metropolis or Gotham, so this one’s easy to understand, too. Overall, I am still looking forward to the next issue.
Superman of Moscow is also featured in Convergence: Detective Comics, and personally I felt his character depiction in that was closer to the original than in Action Comics. Check that out as well.
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