01/07 Comic Reviews: A New Year, A New Hope…?

Absolute Superman #15 written by Jason Aaron with art by Juan Ferreyra

After an insane year and change, the newly christened Clark Kent of Kansas finally gets a breather issue if not a breather himself. For the first time since the destruction of his planet, Kal-El has found some stability. Now possessing a name, a home, and a purpose, he’s ready to make a life on Earth and to use his powers to benefit the innocent and downtrodden around him. This issue takes us through what his day-to-day life has become in the wake of the recent changes. Having grown up a farmer, he immediately takes to his life on the Kent farm and resolves to tend the land without powers the same way both his families would have. Over the course of the issue, we see that his actions defending Smallville have more than earned him a home in the eyes of his neighbors, who have clearly become invested in his good health and well-being with all of the care a family would have. The duality of the alter ego is a common theme for superhero storytelling and Superman is no stranger to stories that examine which, if either, of his two identities are more the real one. That makes it all the more interesting that Clark doesn’t appear to be hiding who he is. Kal-El, Clark Kent, and Superman are all identities he’s gained over his life and all of them are aspects of who he is. He wears each of those names proudly and does what he can to honor what each of them represents. Compared to the young man in the beginning of the book, lacking in purpose but making up for it in rage, he’s grown into a confident adult, willing to live according to his values and extend a hand to those in need regardless of whether he thinks they’ll accept it.

Most telling of his growth are his interactions with Ra’s al’Ghul throughout the issue. Imprisoned for his crimes and cut off from his resources, Ra’s is rapidly aging without access to the Lazarus Pit. Rather than leave his enemy to spend his remaining time in well-deserved suffering, Clark instead chooses to sit with him and read from a book of prayers and wishes written by the children who survived the destruction wrought by Ra’s army around the world. Despite Ra’s taunts and curses, Clark continues to visit him, refusing to deny him the chance to change before his last breath. It’s a quintessentially Superman moment that feels all the more impactful because of how hard-won it is. Clark would not have been able to extend a hand like this even two issues ago, but he has fought his way to becoming the good neighbor that his traditional incarnation has been for nearly a century. That isn’t to say he’s suddenly gone soft, however, as we see with the Absolute version of the Toyman, here a businessman who has spent decades profiteering off of cheap labor and dangerous working conditions. Superman makes it clear in no uncertain terms that the downtrodden are under his protection and that wealth is no longer a shield from consequences. In many ways, it feels like a return to the earliest depiction of the character as a champion of the poor and oppressed who fought against the powerful and corrupt more than he did supervillains and space aliens.

Compared to earlier in the book where Kal-El would keep his head down until his rage at the injustices around him boiled over, he’s now taking a more proactive and global approach to helping others. We see him saving people from disasters on one side of the world while feeding children in Sudan with the endless supply of casseroles his neighbors provide for him. At the same time, we see him struggle with how much he can hear from the world around him. He spends each day bouncing from one crisis to the next because regardless of where someone is in the world, if they are in need, he will hear them. It clearly wears on him over the course of the story and he knows he needs a break, but at the same time, to turn away from the noise would be to turn away from a person that needed help. But Earth has become his home and he is resolved to spend every moment he has helping it. Unfortunately, this is Darkseid’s Earth where the righteous are punished and hope is a crime against nature. For those who defy the justice of this world, there is vengeance to come on twisted steel wings, and it will remain to be seen how long Clark’s hard-won idealism can last against those who for whom hope is the most severe of offenses.

Juan Ferreyra takes over as the artist this month and his work brings a shift in tone that helps reinforce this as a new starting point for Clark. Ferreyra is a master of expressions which plays a vital role in tracking the shifts in Clark’s character following his recent experiences. Compared to early issues which always showed him keeping his head down and scowling at everyone around him, Clark is now more open with eye contact and less guarded in his emotions. From a look of surprise at an unexpected invitation to a date, to the gentle smile he gives a monster as he extends a hand, more of his thoughts and feelings are being conveyed by expression now which is especially helpful now that he no longer has Sol to talk with. Of course, there’s also the change in his costume to talk about. The black suit he’d been wearing being reframed as a way of mourning his lost family and world added a beautiful poignancy to it while also making the shift to the classic blue even more cathartic, as it symbolizes the fact that he is now looking to the future and trying to build something in his new home. The blue suit looks fantastic and really clinches the fact that it’s a new day for both Clark and this book, the first genuine ray of light piercing through the darkness.

Absolute Superman has continued to be one of the strongest books DC has been putting out each month and this issue makes it clear that no momentum will be lost with the end of the first arc. Not only does this issue walk us through the new status quo, it serves as an excellent standalone story and the perfect jumping on point to anyone who hasn’t picked the book up yet. This is top-notch comic book storytelling and if you haven’t started reading yet, this is the place to start!