Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent #1: A Red Tornado

Taylor has penned a solid start to this latest Superman saga, opening with an issue that perfectly balances several varieties of emotional heft with a heaping portion of action and the promise of plentiful multiversal shenanigans in the future. 

Jon Kent is the center of this story; the plot pivots entirely on him — or instead on the Apex of his trauma at the hands of the evil Ultraman — and Taylor isn’t disguising the fact that this story is going to be dealing with some heavy themes. It’s difficult, at the best of times, for adults to revisit their childhood traumas, but this is often necessary work (if only to ensure that they do not pass that trauma on). If a lesser artist were writing this story, I would be wary of it devolving into a work of schlocky exploitation. Since Taylor is at the helm, we can anticipate a careful, nuanced rendering — albeit one that is wrapped up in the bright, primary colors of a superhero’s cape. Jon will be dragged back to the darkest chapter of his life. The question is, will he be the same hero we know when he emerges on the other side? 

Themes of loss (of spouses, childhood, and the simple, happy innocence that life always promises and rarely delivers) are threaded through this story, but the counterweight of hope balances them. And (did I mention?) we’re being promised an adventure in a multiverse created by one of the minds responsible for the phenomenal Injustice series. This story is also going to be fun.

Clayton Henry’s art is, as ever, absolutely phenomenal. He packs a series’ worth of naked characters into the positioning of a hand, the shadow falling across the left half of a face, and a slight motion of an eyelid, and that’s without mentioning the incredible level of detail with which he renders backgrounds, action sequences, and plain, ordinary cosmic rubble. Jordie Bellaire’s colors alternate between depicting the simple clarity of everyday sunlight, the homey, golden light of a family kitchen, and the red terror of a planet set alight. 

This story is, in every sense, beautiful. It’s enticing, dark, and brimming with the twin enticements of threat and desire. I cannot wait to see what happens next.