Superman 2023 Annual: What Did He SAAAAAAYYYYYY?????

Superman 2023 Annual takes a break from the ongoing Knight Terrors event, giving readers a look back into the main Superman ongoing series, highlighting the supporting cast and teasing what is coming in the future. Where as many annual issues are viewed as filler, this issue feels very essential in the grand scheme of things. The plot threads introduced here seem to hint at not only where the book is going, but it also serves to fill some of the gaps from the first five issues. To its detriment, this issue is being released the same week as Knight Terrors #3 and the plethora of tie-ins that come with it, meaning that it’s likely to be glossed over on the stands and missed by readers.

The main bonus of this annual issue is the freedom it has to explore the many facets of the current Superman mythos. The focus here starts on Lois, as she continues to run the Daily Planet. She is at a bit of crossroads with much of the staff, who have yet to see her as an authority figure. Many familiar faces at the Daily Planet such as  Steve Lombard and Cat Grant seem more focused on questioning Lois’s leadership style than actually looking for solid stories. This leads to the start of the multiple plots, with Lois sending everyone on specific assignments, including herself. The set up and pacing work very well here, allowing each member of the supporting cast to have a moment to act with some sort of agency without Superman stealing the spotlight. 

As with many annuals, Superman 2023 Annual features a smorgasbord of artists, all with their own unique styles. This historically has led to some disjointed stories, yet here it is done in a way that maintains the theme of the narrative. Essentially, each of these artists get a time to shine, drawing the different assignments that the Daily Planet reporters are on. This makes it so the transition in setting is married by the artist shift, genuinely creating more cohesion in the story. Since all of these artists have their own style, these different segments are able to be told in essentially their own genre, with no requirement for one to feel or look anything like another. 

Whereas much of the issue is used to develop the supporting cast, there is a narrative through line here which almost feels like an editorial response to fans who have been asking some logistical questions about some of the events that have occurred in the run so far. The main questions audiences have had are how no one knew of Lex Luther’s mysterious past in Metropolis, and why Graft and Doctor Pharm hate Lex so much. Well, it turns out that the person who has kept this all under raps thus far is actually Perry White, who has been absent since Superman #1, leading to Lois taking charge of the Daily Planet. This is the kind of reveal that makes this issue feel more essential than a traditional annual, with this setting up the next arc for the series once Knight Terrors raps up.

The other big reveal here is the tease for where this series is headed over the next year, with the return of Brainiac. Based on the little information given, this looks to be a more classic Brainiac story, which is going to excite fans who have been turned off by the varied attempts to modernize and revamp the character over the last several years. While this reveal/announcement is exciting, there is a sense of overshadowing here, with it almost superseding the reveal of Lex’s past only a few pages earlier. The way this is set up as well also seems to diminish the work and set up for Doctor Pharm and Graft, with them accidentally discovering what Brainiac was up to instead of there actually being an end goal to their plans. This makes them seem like a stepping stone to get to Brainiac rather than them just being the big bad of the series. It will be interesting to see where Williamson and company take this but hopefully they spend some more time paying off these newly established characters before Brainiac takes center stage.

Because this issue feels so essential, it’s bewildering that DC thought that it was the best idea to release it in the middle of an event that has notoriously paused all of the ongoing Dawn of DC titles for two months. Yes, much of this issue is used to build up a supporting cast, yet there are some big reveals here that people will not want to miss. Hopefully audiences that took a couple months off for Knight Terrors, or those who skip annuals will go and check this one out because it breaks all conventions of what we’ve grown accustomed to.