DC’s Absolute Superman #1: Meet the New Man of Steel

DC All In Special #1 concluded with Darkseid’s end — and the beginning of the Absolute Universe. If the prime DC Universe is “driven by life and hope,” the Dark Lord of Apokolips said, the new universe would be driven by challenge and turmoil. “A world where heroes are born facing greater odds. Where all their advantages are gone. Where they are the small chaos, rather than the system itself. A world where hope is the underdog. Where it is the villain, the opposing force. And where it will have to burn brighter than ever before to survive it all.”

The DC All In initiative introduced Absolute Batman (by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta) and Absolute Wonder Woman (by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman) — and now the Trinity of the Absolute Universe is complete with Absolute Superman #1 by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval. The issue, which hits stands on Nov. 6, begins with a Superman who is not fully formed and not yet the beacon of Truth and Justice embraced by humanity.

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“The most important thing was to get the heart of Superman right, the heart of who this character is, which goes back to [Jerry] Siegel and [Joe] Shuster in 1939 and everything that has made that character so enduring over the decades,” Aaron told ComicBook in an exclusive interview. “At the same time, not being precious about how we get there, and how this character gets shaped over the course of his journey.”

DC has teased that, unlike his DCU counterpart in the pages of Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora’s Superman, this Man of Steel has no family, no Fortress of Solitude, and no home. Will he still stand for truth and justice in this new universe? It’s a question that Aaron will answer as the Eisner Award-winning writer (Image’s Southern Bastards and Marvel’s Thor and Doctor Strange) puts a twist on Superman’s origin story over the first arc.

“I’ve gone in and changed a lot about Krypton, about his parents, about his life there, about how he came to Earth, about what happened once he got to Earth,” Aaron said. That includes his ties to Smallville, Kansas, and his relationship with the Kents, who are traditionally Kal-El’s adoptive parents when the Last Son of Krypton is rocketed to Earth as a baby.

“All that stuff is different, changed, tweaked, but in ways that all come together to tell one cohesive story,” Aaron added. “And really to drive home again the most important thing: which is what this character stands for, why he fights, what motivates him, what makes him special.”

“Don’t make assumptions about how fully formed he is. I would say he is absolutely not fully formed as Superman,” Aaron said, teasing an “ongoing process” that will unfold over the course of the new series. “There will be surprises there in terms of how he came to Earth and what it was like once he got here, and you’ll get those answers in the pages of Absolute Superman.”

While Superman is a father and married to Lois Lane in the main DCU, the new DCAU depicts a solo, more solar-powered Superman who is very much an alien.

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“One of the things that’s important, one of the things that differentiates the Absolute Universe from the main DC Universe, is that these characters that we usually associate with a big family don’t have that here,” Aaron explained. “There is no Superman family. Superman is very much the Last Son of Krypton, and he is alone. He is the only person who remembers his planet and his culture, and he’s got no allies.”

Within this world born of Darkseid energy, “We’re doing stories about these characters being a little more raw, a little more in danger in ways they can’t do over [in the DCU],” Aaron said. “So I think that helps give you two very different versions of the DC Universe.”

Absolute Superman #1 goes on sale Nov. 6 from DC Comics.