Superman: Lois and Clark, One of the Best Superman Stories of the Decade, Feels Very Current Right Now

In late 2015, with the Rebirth publishing initiative looming in the near future, DC launched Superman: Lois and Clark, a comic that, at the time, confused some people. The comic featured what was, at the time, an alternate version of Superman and Lois, living in wedded bliss on a remote farm while raising a ten-year-old son. Launching four years after the company’s New 52 line-wide publishing reboot, which had refreshed its heroes to younger versions with less backstory, the decision to restore the pre-New 52 Superman and Lois could have been seen as simply embracing the multiverse — something that writers and editors had repeatedly promised they would eventually get around to during the relaunch, but hadn’t yet.

Whatever the case, the series — written by legendary Superman writer and artist Dan Jurgens, and featuring art by Lee Weeks, Steven Segovia, Scott Hanna, and others — turned out to be one of the best Superman stories in years, and by the end, when it was announced that the pre-Flashpoint Superman would be taking over for his New 52 counterpart at the start of the Rebirth era, it all made some kind of sense.

This week has been a big one for Superman: Superman & Lois debuted on The CW, earning some of the best Tuesday night ratings on the network in years. The critically-acclaimed Krypton came to CW Seed, making it available for free to anyone who might want to watch it. And finally, today saw the announcement that writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and producer JJ Abrams were devloping a new Superman movie, potentially to star a Black actor in the title role.

Superman & Lois, which sees the married superhero and his famous wife move back to Smallville in order to raise teenagers who are reeling from the realization that their father is Superman, bears a particularly striking resemblance to Superman: Lois & Clark, but even if it didn’t, that series is worth revisiting. With a striking new costume design by Weeks, Superman secretly moves in the shadows, protecting the world from natural disasters and stopping the accidents that could create supervillains by using knowledge gleaned from a timeline that was significantly further along than the New 52 era was. Rarely lifting a finger against supervillains for years, the Man of Steel nonetheless saved countless lives without ever taking credit for it.

It also had the feeling of a stand-alone story, even while threading itself through the fabric of the DC Universe — a lesson that the next Superman movie could stand to take to heart, considering that the best-received DC movies in years have been things like Aquaman and Wonder Woman, which did just that.

For now, you can catch Superman & Lois Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, and get yourself a copy of Superman: Lois & Clark in collected edition at Amazon or your local bookstore. Digitally, the series is available free with your DC Universe Infinite subscription.