After the Absolute Universe was ushered into existence courtesy of DC’s All In Special #1, it truly kicked into high gear with this week’s release of Absolute Batman. The rest of DC’s Trinity won’t be far behind though, with Absolute Wonder Woman and Absolute Superman hitting over the next few weeks, and writer Jason Aaron, artist Rafa Sandoval, and colorist Ulises Arreloa are looking to shake things up in a big way. ComicBook had the chance to speak with Aaron all about the anticipated new series, and throughout the conversation, Aaron teased what fans can expect from this very different take on Superman, discussed the challenges of making big changes and retaining the heart of the character, and even cleared up some of the misinterpretations of that scene in the All In Special.
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The Heart of a Hero
While there will be a host of changes to the origin story fans have known for so long, Aaron was intent on keeping the heart of who Superman is and always has been intact. “I think to me, the most important thing was to get the heart of Superman right, like the heart of who this character is, which goes back to, you know, Siegel and Shuster in 1939 and everything that has made that character so enduring over the decades,” Aaron said. “At the same time, not being precious about how we get there, right, and how this character gets shaped over the course of his journey.”
That’s led to quite a few changes, including how Superman first arrived on Earth, Earth’s response to that arrival, and the people he’s encountered during his time on Earth, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. “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, his relationship to Smallville and the Kents, and where he is when we first meet him and everyone else from his supporting cast, both allies and villains, their relationship to Superman, and where they are when we meet him,” Aaron said. “All that stuff is different, changed, tweaked, but in ways that all come together to tell one cohesive story and really to drive home again, the most important thing, which is what this character stands for, why he fights, and what motivates him, what makes him special.”
Not What You Might Think
One thing that Aaron wanted to clear up a bit was the scene shown in DC’s All In Special #1. Some, including this guy right here, interpreted that scene to be Superman’s first arrival on Earth, and since he was older in the image, it was thought he was arriving on Earth as an adult compared to arriving as an infant in the original story. Aaron revealed that the scene in question isn’t his arrival on Earth, though that will be addressed in the series.
“I mean, one thing I would point out is that what we see in the All In Special is not him landing on Earth for the first time. I’ve seen people interpreting it that way. That is, that’s not what that scene is. “I mean, we’ll see when he lands on Earth for the first time in issue five or six of Absolute Superman, so don’t make assumptions about how fully formed he is. I would say he is absolutely not fully formed as Superman,” Aaron said.
“When you pick up Absolute Superman, he’s not fully formed. By the time we get to issue five or six or even, you know, ten or eleven, like, it is an ongoing process. So, yeah, there will be surprises there in terms of how he came to Earth and what it was like once he got here and all that sort of stuff, and you’ll get those answers in the pages of Absolute Superman,” Aaron said.
The True Last Son of Krypton
The main universe has made a concerted effort to not just feature Superman’s supporting cast but to also develop and evolve them as individuals, making the extended Superman family stronger than ever. Aaron agrees and confirms that Superman’s supporting cast will play key roles in this story as well, though in many cases, they are not at all where you expect them to be, and that will change how they are used in the story.
“Yeah, Superman absolutely has built up an incredible supporting cast over the years. I mean, there are not too many other characters, even Batman, where you’ve got supporting characters like Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, who had their own books for so long, right? Who stood on their own two feet for so many years. So we will absolutely see characters from the traditional Superman supporting cast in this book, but none of them are where they are supposed to be,” Aaron said.
“I mean, that’s kind of one of, for me, one of the driving things with this Absolute Universe, in general, is nothing and no one is where we assume they’re going to be or where they’re, quote-unquote, kind of meant to be. Everything is kind of off and wrong in this universe. And that includes Superman and the journey he’s been through,” Aaron said. “And to me, 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. 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.”
Superman’s relationship with Earth is also still very much forming, but Aaron teases that it’s not off to the best start. “When we first meet him, he is on a planet that doesn’t seem to want him or he doesn’t seem to be welcome. There’s no place where he fits or belongs, nobody he’s connected to, no family, no nothing. So he is more isolated and in danger than we’re used to seeing this character in the same way that Wonder Woman and Batman are very much the same. They don’t usually have the same upbringing or the same sort of resources that they have in the other universe,” Aaron said.
“Meanwhile, over in the main DC universe, you get Mark Waid doing that awesome new Justice League Unlimited book where you’ve got every character imaginable can be a part of the Justice League, and you’ve got the Batman family of titles and Superman family,” Aaron said. “Those are the stories they can do over there that we can’t do. Meanwhile, we’re doing stories about these characters being a little more raw, a little more in danger in ways they can’t do over there. So I think that helps give you two very different versions of the DC Universe.”
Absolute Superman #1 soars into comic stores on November 6th, and you can check out even more from the Absolute Universe right here.
Have you been enjoying DC’s Absolute Universe so far? You can talk all things DC and comics with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!
