DC Just Brought a Major Superman Moment From the Screen to the Page

Superman is red hot right now, thanks to the success of Superman (that’s honestly a funny sentence to read out loud when you think about it). James Gunn’s first DCU movie has already beaten Man of Steel’s domestic gross in under a month, and even made more money than Fantastic Four: First Steps did in their respective first weekends. Fans and critics alike have given it a lot of praise; while everyone agrees that it’s not a perfect film, its faults aren’t all that much of a problem. It’s one of the best pure comic book movies of all time, and it’s driving interest for Superman comics — DC has even started putting comics in gas stations again and they’re actually selling. DC Comics is taking advantage of that, with the Superman comics giving readers the best Superman stories of the last few years.

Kal-El-Fornia Love #1 is a perfect example of this. It’s an anthology comic consisting of stories starring various members of the Superman family — Superman, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Supergirl, Power Girl, Steel, Natasha Irons, Superboy, and Jon Kent — and has some callbacks to the movie. Gunn’s Superman changed some things about Superman, but they’re not such drastic changes that it would make the character different, and Kal-El-Fornia Love #1 is perfect for fans who only know the movie. The book’s first story kicks off with a set piece that is very familiar to movie fans, as Superman has to deal with a massive kaiju attacking him and Lois while they’re on a California vacation. It’s a battle that is both similar and quite different from the one in the movie.

Superman: Monster Hunter

One of the best parts about Superman was that the movie was able to give viewers great action scenes that also showed how important saving lives is to Superman. Superman at his best is a sci-fi character, so putting a kaiju fight in the movie was a great idea. It gave the movie a high-octane action set piece, one with amazing visuals that allowed the movie to show what kind of hero Superman truly is. In the movie, the battle was yet another part of Lex Luthor’s plan to turn the public against Superman. He wanted Superman’s attention divided, so he had his henchmen release a tiny monster into Metropolis. As the monster ate things, it grew and grew, until it reached the size of skyscrapers. Superman sprang into action immediately, doing his best to keep the monster from damaging the city too much while also saving lives. He was helped in this by the Justice Gang — Mister Terrific, Guy Gardner, and Hawkgirl. While Superman was busy keeping the monster from destroying the city while trying to figure out how to beat the monster without hurting it, the Justice Gang was using their power and tech to fight the beast. This fight showed the compassion that Superman had for all things, even monsters. However, while Superman was down, the Justice Gang’s Mister Terrific used his T-spheres to destroy the monster’s internal organs, something that affected Superman greatly on a personal level, and the Man of Steel caught its body, giving it a gentle landing and keeping it from killing anyone on its way down.

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Kal-El-Fornia Love #1’s first story is called “See Spot Fly”, and while there are some differences between this fight and the one in movie, there are some similarities. In the comic, the kaiju isn’t a tool of Lex Luthor; instead it falls to Earth from outer space, striking Los Angeles instead of Metropolis. We don’t see the landing, instead only getting aftermath of the monster’s first attack, where we learn that it swallowed Lois and children she was trying to save while Superman was busy limiting the monster’s destruction. It escapes into the sea, forcing Superman to use his super senses to find the monster, tracking its by the fact that fish in its area would escape after it began eating them. Using an mighty clap, Superman parts the water, with his heat vision burning away more of the water. When he finally finds the monster, he tells it sorry before knocking into the air with a mighty punch. This causes it to vomit up Lois, the children, and some fish. Superman takes them back to the shore, then grabs the monster and flies it into space, where the story ends with Superman talking about helping it find its home.

Superman’s Compassion Knows No Bounds

Superman’s battle against the kaiju in both the movie and “See Spot Fly” have some major differences — the location, the events, and their ending. However, both of them focus on two of the same things — Superman going hard to save people in danger and Superman’s compassion even for the things he fights. In the movie, Superman wanted to let the kaiju live, but because of the beating he’d took, is unable to stop the monster before Terrific kills it. In the comic, Superman apologizes before hitting it, and then takes it off into space, trying to figure out a place he can take it to live its life.

Both of these show the compassion that Superman has everything, which is pretty much the most important part of Superman’s character. Superman hates very few beings in the universe (personally, I would say he doesn’t hate any of them, but there’s a chance he has strong feelings toward genocidal monsters like Darkseid and Mongul). Superman wants to save everyone, and both Superman and Kal-El-Fornia Love #1 do a great job of showing this important portion of who Superman is.

Kal-El-Fornia Love #1 is on sale now.