Superman: Son of Kal-el, Vol. 1 - The Truth
"It's only an attempted invasion" along with a review of "Superman: Son of Kal-el, Vol. 1: The Truth"
I would like to begin today’s review with an apology for my delayed post. It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted, so…obligatory excuses will now commence:
In the middle of my hiatus I helped my younger brother move, which was only about a day’s worth of work, but it did take a toll on me physically–more so than I thought it would. It did not help that his dog got scared during the move (rightfully so) and took off mid-move in an unknown neighborhood with heavy traffic only a few blocks away in either direction. I do not think I have run that quickly, since my college track days. The story has a happy ending, though. We got him back and we were able to finish the move with no further issues.
Secondly, I have a whole host of dogs and my little pack has come down with some sort of stomach flu that has drawn my focus away from writing to make sure that they are on the mend and the cleanliness of the house does not spin too far out of control. This has resulted in a lot of cleaning and monitoring of the pups the past week or so, and then to top it off, my wife and I are still in the throes of warring with a toddler with our joint battleground being the infamous potty-training. I am sure fellow parents out there know the feels here.
All-around it has been a productive and fulfilling period of time. It is hard to gripe about when so much has gotten done, plus I have complained more than enough about my stiff back and taking care of pets that I do love dearly–at the end of the day, “What can you do, but try to make a bad situation as ‘less bad’ as possible? Imma, right?”
Now onto the good stuff! I have been keeping-up on my comic book reading despite everything going on and as I write I have a stack of graphic novels on my desk and more arriving today for review. However, one of my earliest suggestions came at the start of this SubStack, from my aforementioned brother, in the way of “Superman: Son of Kal-el.” I have heard of this series prior to Crisis on Infinite Comics, but had not squirreled away the time to tackle it till recently. At that point I had only kept-up on DC and Marvel’s event books, so I was familiar with Jon Kent and his introduction into the DC Universe via the “Convergence: Superman” tie-in, but beyond that I knew little about his story so I was quite excited to jump into this one.
Credit: DC Comics / John Timms
“Superman: Son of Kal-el” starts out after DC decided to age up Jon Kent via his time with The Legion of Superheroes, the 31st Century of Superheroes (think Star Trek: Discovery jump, but with more campiness). Jon Kent is now back in the continuity proper and has donned his father’s mantle of Superman. I found the first issue to be particularly poignant and telling. It showcases the birth of Jon Kent and does a fantastic job of laying the foundation of the character as well as his royalty status amongst superheroes. Jon Kent as well as Damian Wayne are the sons of the most famous superheroes on Earth and there is a weightiness there, which is presented early on in the series.
The second issue clues the reader in on Jon’s mindset and what sets him apart from his father, Kal-el. Jon gives an alter ego a try and–unfortunately–it fails rather quickly, which leads to a great father-son talk on the moon, which seemed like an appropriate setting for the two. Jon is a little down in the dumps after his alter ego failed and his father is there for him. They have a heart-to-heart about their purpose in the universe. There is a good back-and-forth about their duties and responsibilities as well as their differing perspectives because of their generational differences and experiences.
From issue #3 till the end of issue #6, readers get the bulk of the first volume’s story–the rest of the supporting cast is introduced (including Jon Kent’s love interest, The Truth), the main villain, and a sequence of events that ‘up the game’ between the big baddy and Superman. These events test Jon’s convictions and how he wants to be Superman.
Credit: DC Comics / John Timms
He is not a carbon copy of his father, which is refreshing. However, they do share a morale center and confidence. Personality-wise, Jon actually conveys much more of his mother, Lois Lane, than he does his father. They are both stubborn, curious, headstrong, commanded by getting to the heart of a matter, and righting wrongs no matter how difficult it may seem to accomplish. I appreciated the writer, Tom Taylor’s take on Jon Kent. The easy path would have been to write a young version of Superman and call it day, but there is a nuisance to Jon. He is wholly his own, even if he does have the weight of family legacy upon his shoulders.
The main villain of the first volume of “Superman: Son of Kal-el” is the dictator of Gamorra, Henry Bendix. He reminds me of a Lex Luthor clone, but–so far–is light on the motivation and depth. He led a successful coup on the island nation of Gamorra and has been its ruler since. To the rest of the world, Gamorra is a technologically advanced utopia and all is well. Truthfully, Bendix rules with an iron fist and has been conducting experiments on his own citizens in order to manufacture superhumans to compete with the already existing superheroes, which is a page stolen right out of Lex Luthor’s book. Where there is differentiation and nuance between Jon and his father, Kal-el, there is little to none between Lex Luthor and Henry Bendix. Henry Bendix is tryhard written. Hopefully, he gets more fleshed-out as time goes on with the series, because his story is not concluded by the last pages of the volume.
Credit: DC Comics / John Timms
Jon and Henry get pitted against one another, because as Jon begins to save the day more as Superman, he inadvertently begins meddling in Henry’s schemes. To hammer the ties to one another as hero and villain more-concretely, a lot of the supporting cast, specifically Jon’s love interest are revealed to be from Gamorra. It provides Jon with even more motivation beyond just doing what is right. The last issue of “The Truth” story arc was the most disappointing. Readers would normally expect a conclusion to the story or a cliffhanger to dovetail into the next volume, but it comes across more like a filler issue. It furthers Jon and The Truth’s investigation into Henry and Gamorra, but with no startling revelation or conclusion. With the first two issues focusing on world-building and differentiating Jon Kent from his father, any of the remaining four issues should not have been wasted. It is a small complaint, but the pacing falls off at the end of the volume, especially when considering the layout of a graphic novel. Hopefully, the second volume finishes the story arc started here in the first, and maybe Henry Bendix will get a little more ‘oomph’ in his characterization with later issues.
I enjoyed the start of “Superman: Son of Kal-el.” Jon’s subtle differences to his father and Lois’ personality being more at the forefront of Jon’s own make it interesting right out the gate. Tom Taylor is firing on all cylinders when directly writing about Jon and how he interacts with others, which makes sense since Jon is the star of the book. My only minor complaint would be about the villain, Henry Bendix. He is just a poor man’s Lex Luthor and like they say, “Every hero needs a compelling villain” and Henry isn’t it. John Timms artwork and colorist, Gabe Eltaeb, sing here–the artwork for the main and supporting cast is spot on and the colors are vibrant and true to the tone that Tom Taylor has set.
If you are a fan of Superman I would recommend that you give “Superman: Son of Kal-El” a whirl. It might not be for everyone, but it is a perfectly serviceable tale of good and evil, and it is interesting to see Jon as he develops his own history, considering he is such a new character.
Check back here on Monday for another review! I will be tackling Kyle Higgins, “Radiant Black, Vol. 1: (Not So) Secret Origin.” I have been wanting to get into the Massive-Verse for a bit now, so I think this is a prime opportunity to do so. I’ll be covering a little bit of everything from the Massive-verse, so I hope everyone will give it a chance. Till next week!
Cheers,
Anthony R. Schultz