Superman: Heroes #1: Man of Tomorrow

Superman: Heroes #1 unites the current Superman Family writers (Bendis on Action Comics and Superman, Rucka on Lois Lane, and Fraction on Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen) to launch the new era for the character post-revelation of his dual identity to the public. This issue shares similarities to Batman: Pennyworth RIP #1 (also out today) in bringing the current writers together to sort through major recent events, but unlike Pennyworth, Heroes doesn’t feel quite as necessary.

Heroes is a technically proficient piece, anchored by art from DC legend Kevin Maguire and punctuated by yet another gorgeous Bryan Hitch and Alex Sinclair cover but the content felt superfluous to the content in the four core Superman books currently active. Quite a bit of the text echoed sentiments from Superman #18 and #19 in exploring Clark’s current state of mind. There are some moderately interesting character moments throughout, particularly with Jimmy and Plastic Man of all people but nothing that couldn’t have found its way into another book.

Of note, as we slowly continue to prepare for the DC 5G event (?), we see dialogue between Bruce and Diana that could further hint towards a changing of the guard in the Bat-verse. There is also the revelation of what was in the box Luthor gave to Lois [redacted for spoilers]. Beyond these fleeting moments, however important they may be, there just didn’t seem to be enough cohesiveness to warrant an oversized one-shot in this case. Perhaps the second issue, titled Superman: Villains #1, will round the story into form. For now, this issue is worth reading but hardly a must-buy for casual fans with tight budgets.