Superman: Red Son

[Ferris]

Just ordered a copy of this - a friend was telling me about it and I've stopped reading about it until it arrives because it sounds so good and interesting and I don't want any bits of the story getting spoiled.

If you're not familiar with the story (as I wasn't until 24hrs ago) it's a reimagined superman universe with the big man crash-landing not in Kansas but in (Soviet) Ukraine.

Apparently the comics do some interesting world building and I'm really looking forward to giving it a go. Never massively cared about superman but this sounds like he's almost an incidental character to the universe of the story, which is great for me.

Have you read it? Was it great? What are some other reinventions of comic characters I should check out? Have you ever crash landed a spaceship into a Ukrainian field? All this and more should go in here.

[samadriel]

It's easily the best thing Mark Millar's ever done, which isn't saying much; I didn't really enjoy it anyway, I guess it was adequate. The main thing that appealed to me was the final few pages, which I'm told was an idea that Grant Morrison came up with.

[Mister Six]

Never read it because Mark Millar but now might because Grant Morrison.

[13 schoolyards]

The final few pages are the best thing about it story wise, but the art is pretty good throughout (even though there's a change of artist 2/3rds of the way through). The Soviet versions of trad DC characters seemed interesting at the time, but I imagine they're just generic Millar super-douchebags now.

There's been a few similar reinventions at DC - John Cleese co-wrote a "superman's rocket lands in the UK" comic (called The Brit I think), and Morrison did the "what if supes' rocket landed in Germany in 1938" (which Kim Newman had done earlier in a very good short story that's well worth tracking down) for his Multiversity project.

Millar also did a "what if the Nazis won" story in his Swamp Thing run that was very good, but considering the setting is almost identical to the one Morrison would later use (it's set in a future USA in a Nazi-run "perfect world" where the holocaust is a distant memory nobody wants to bring up and everything is rotten beneath the surface) I wonder if Morrison didn't have a hand in it as well.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

It's been so long since I read it that I can't really remember what happens in it now. I know I didn't like it very much though.

[Virgo76]

It was an interesting idea. Better than the crappy 'Superman lands in the UK' version, John Cleese was involved in.

[Small Man Big Horse]

It was an interesting idea. Better than the crappy 'Superman lands in the UK' version, John Cleese was involved in.

Yeah, that was hideous, full of bad jokes and tired observations - you can read it here: https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Superman-True-Brit/Full?id=85471#1 - it's now twenty years old but the majority of it feels like it could have been written in the 70s.

[madhair60]

there is absolutely no fucking way that Mark Millar wrote Red Son

Yeah, that was hideous, full of bad jokes and tired observations - you can read it here: https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Superman-True-Brit/Full?id=85471#1 - it's now twenty years old but the majority of it feels like it could have been written in the 70s.

read this instead: Batman: Knight and Squire

[stonkers]

To me "what if Superman was a commie aaaah" is exactly the sort of 15 year old boy thing Millar would consider really clever, but I can well believe there was a lot of Morrison input on it given how some of it turned out, particularly the ending as people have said.

It's alright. @Ferris, check out Morrisons Superman / JLA stuff, specifically All Star and DC 1 Million. I haven't read his Action Comics run from 2011 but I gather it's considered pretty good if not on the level of his other stuff.

[Ferris]

Nice one! I've tempered my expectations a bit, planning to start it this evening so let's see how it goes.

[bgmnts]

The Justice League but everyone suffers from erectile dysfunction.

Edit - also, I haven't read much Millar but I thought Civil War was a bit rubbish. However, the bit where Punisher shows up was genuinely brilliant to me as a moment.

[Small Man Big Horse]

read this instead: Batman: Knight and Squire

I do like Paul Cornell and the characters so I've added it to my wishlist, but right now I'm pretty broke so it might not be until next Christmas.

[Ferris]

I'm enjoying it so far - it's fine! Interesting and good in places and it can only really develop from here I reckon. Certainly no red* flags.

The art style might put people off? And maybe it goes nowhere but I think this is solid what I've read.

The ideas of innate goodness and how that operates/jives with a capitalist/autocratic communist regime is interesting anyway. To what extent do political systems use and abuse a "perfect" citizen? That's a thought provoking question.

_*chortle!!

[13 schoolyards]

The Justice League but everyone suffers from erectile dysfunction.

Edit - also, I haven't read much Millar but I thought Civil War was a bit rubbish. However, the bit where Punisher shows up was genuinely brilliant to me as a moment.

From what I remember it was a big development outside of the story too - it was the first time The Punisher had been in a mainstream Marvel book in a very long time, as the Ennis run had increasingly moved into its own universe

[Ferris]

Just finished this, I really enjoyed it. Bit clunky at times

Spoiler alert

especially the Luthor note that stopped the invasion of the US, and lots of convenient "aha I was doing [scheming] the whole time!!" which is very comic book logic

[close]

but it's a comic book so you have to expect stuff like that. I also liked the ending, though I suspect a lot of people didn't.

Overall thought it was a great book, solid artwork, and didn't outstay its welcome (think I got through the whole thing in a couple of hours. Recommended.

Some other thoughts, spoilered for people who want to read it for themselves:

Spoiler alert

Did we ever find out what happened to miniature Stalingrad?

And also why would anyone care that earth is destroyed billions of years in the future if humanity has expanded across the galaxy? It's not a species-ending disaster that requires you to send your infant back in time.

And a shame that more wasn't made of the red light weakness thing, and Luthor's defences spent half a chapter getting built up only to be destroyed entirely in 3 or 4 panels, or off-screen entirely.

Batman's hat on its own was worth the price of admission.

[close]