DC’s new era of Superman comics is getting off to an interesting start. First, we have the rolling back of Superman and Jon Kent’s secret identities being public knowledge. There’s also the growing Superman Family with the addition of the young Phaelosian twins Otho-Ra and Osul-Ra. The next step in the Man of Steel’s evolution comes in the relaunched Superman ongoing series from writer Joshua Williamson (Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths) and artist Jamal Campbell (Naomi). Just like with Clark Kent’s secret identity, the cause of Superman’s new status quo is courtesy of his longtime rival, Lex Luthor.
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WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Superman #1 by Joshua Williamson, Jamal Campbell, and Ariana Maher.
Recent events have Lex Luthor back in prison, but that isn’t stopping him from harassing Superman from behind bars. Lex takes advantage of Superman’s super-hearing to talk to him from prison, continuously repeating how Superman needs his help for a potential threat. Just as Clark Kent and Lois Lane start to put Lex at the back of their minds, nanobots start to transform LexCorp Tower, changing the signature L to the House of El symbol.
Mercy Graves, the new COO of LexCorp, presents a proposition to Superman: LexCorp is changing its name to SuperCorp and placing Superman in charge. For some reason, Lex thinks Superman is the only person he can entrust to run his company in his absence. For their part, the SuperCorp employees are enthusiastic to be working for the Man of Steel and doing good in the world for a change. Superman doesn’t outright accept SuperCorp, but more than likely he’ll have no choice but to take on this new responsibility.
Action Comics Creative Team Discusses Returning Superman’s Secret Identity
The Action Comics creative team previously discussed the return of Superman’s secret identity in an exclusive with ComicBook.com.
“The stories we’re about to tell in Action Comics, Superman, and Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent are a celebration of everything Superman is, from the Super Family to the Daily Planet to the most iconic love story in comics, Lois and Clark,” said Action Comics writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson. “Some elements of the Lois and Clark dynamic can only be there with the secret identity. And even just on a deep-down gut level, something about seeing Clark Kent in the tie and glasses again, ripping open his shirt to reveal the S-shield underneath, just feels AMAZING. It’s an image that puts John Williams’ music right in your ear, and you feel like you can fly. That’s how we want every Superman story to feel.”
“The truth is a very important thing for Clark Kent,” added incoming Superman writer Joshua Williamson. “For someone to steal that from him is a tragic moment and created a lot of interesting drama and story possibilities for the Superman line in 2023. We wanted to play with all the pieces of the great and iconic Superman mythology that we all love. When this challenge was presented to us, we wanted to make sure it was not just magically being put back in the box. There are dangerous repercussions to how this happens that lead to more story to explore. And you’ll see the start of that in Action Comics #1050!”
Make sure to let us know your thoughts on the new working relationship between Superman and Lex Luthor in the comments.
