Review: Super Sons #1

Quick Summary

Pros: Both Damian and Jon are wonderful characters. When put together, their interactions and differences provide readers with both insight and laughter. The story is also setting up a story for future issues.

Cons: Nothing worth mentioning. However different readers will like and dislike different things.

Overall: This is a book about two children teaming up and trying to find their place in a world dominated by superheroes. This initial issue is driven by how great these two characters are and how funny and entertaining their interactions tend to be. However, this is not the only draw, as this issue is beginning to lay the groundwork for some future conflict. Anyone should be able to read and enjoy this book as it is a fun romp with two delightful protagonists.

Story

When Peter J. Tomasi started his run on Superman he made sure to highlight Clark Kent’s son as a compelling character on his own. This came after his incredible run on Batman and Robin where he did the same thing to Damian Wayne. Now, after a brief tease in Superman, fans are finally able to see these two characters teaming up in an adventure all on their own.

This series is a fresh and modern take on the old World’s Finest and Superman/Batman series, a series featuring the two biggest characters in all of comics teaming up with each other. Here, their children team up in more grounded adventures with an additional dose of childlike charm. This means that instead of Batman and Superman having a series of tactical and strategic discussions, readers are treated with Robin and Superboy arguing over who would win in a fight. It evokes a wave of light brevity that is often lost in modern superhero comics. Overall, this series is starting strong and will hopefully only continue to get better.

(spoilers start here)

The best part of this first issue is the Super Sons themselves. Damian and Jon are charismatic, charming, and lovable, plus the dichotomy between them is fascinating to behold. A particularly enlightening pair of interactions occurs about halfway through the issue, when they talk with their parents about school. Damian is shown preparing to go out on patrol with Batman until he is sternly told he cannot because he blew off his homework. Meanwhile, Jon’s parents are shown playing games with him, praising him for his actions at school, and putting him to bed before 9:00. They are dramatically different in heroic style, parenting, upbringing, intelligence, humor, personality and much, much more, yet they are still drawn to each other as friends and partners. Something like this is really interesting to see and will be amazing to see develop.

On top of how interesting they are, they are also just fun to watch. Right from the beginning, they start having petty arguments, with the first one being whose name should come first in their billing. From here, each of their interactions produces more fun dialogue and quotable lines than the last. I particularly enjoyed their argument over who would have won in a hypothetical fight they could have had. The comedy here is smart, enjoyable, and even manages to add to the Sons’ character development.

There are more reasons to continue this series than the excellent cast of characters. At the issue’s beginning and conclusions, Tomasi gives hints as to where this story is going in the future. A cryptic prologue prefaces the actual story and shows a young boy who is hinted to be the arc’s villain. He seems to be able to exert some sort of influence over people. However, not much more is shown. Later, it is shown that the Super Sons will be facing off against a horde of robots and having a confrontation with Lex Luthor. All of these indicate the story could be going in some very interesting places and contribute to the plethora of reasons to keep reading.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Jorge Jimenez was an excellent pick for this series’ artist. He draws this book with a childlike and light quality to reflect the youthful nature of the story. Alejandro Sanchez then adds to this by using a multitude of brighter colors to continue this theme. Overall, this gives the work a visual quality akin to some better all-ages cartoons such as the original Teen Titans cartoon or Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Continuity

This series mostly flows out of a few other DC Rebirth series which feature Jon Kent and Damian Wayne. However, this series really has its origin in the “In the Name of the Father: World’s Smallest” story arc from the Superman Rebirth series. This arc is issues #10-11 from Superman and is collected in Superman Vol. 2: Trials of the Super Son.

• Jon is shown with his friend Kathy. They become friends in Superman Vol. 1: Son of Superman (Review).