Scott Charles Strikes Through: Superman: Last Son of Krypton Intro

In anticipation for the release of the newest Superman film and because I'm not ready for the next CoMC installment, I, Scott Charles, will periodically go through some classic Superman stories and discuss how they may inspire or impact the upcoming film.

I'm starting with the recently released paperback Superman: the Last Son of Krypton written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner and drawn by Andy Kubert and Gary Frank. This post will lay out what exactly this trade contains, provide continuity context, and set the board for striking through the stories themselves.

So... Let's go!


Superman: Last Son of the Krypton, is a weird and interesting collection of comics. It contains Action Comics  #844-846, 851, 866-870, Action Comics Annual #11, and the first several pages of Superman: New Krypton Special #1. These issues compose the two storylines Superman: Last Son and Superman: Brainiac.

Geoff Johns, ever since Green Lantern: Rebirth in 2005, has basically been the head writer of Dc Comics. In 2006, he wrote the major DC crossover Infinite Crisis.  After Infinite Crisis, there was a slight relaunch. For Superman, this relaunch was began with a crossover between Superman and Action Comics in Superman: Up, Up, and Away before Geoff Johns' Action Comics run with Richard Donner, the director of Superman: the Movie and the good parts of Superman II, officially began. The very idea of the maker of what still counts as one of the best Superhero films and the head writer of DC comics working together was intriguing. But from the beginning, this run was beset by delays. To this day, we aren't sure how involved in the writing process Richard was. He only stuck around for two stories.
Overall, Geoff Johns work on Superman, starting in 2006, was published into the following graphic novels:

1. Superman: Up, Up, and Away
2. Superman: Last Son
3. Superman: Escape from Bizzaro World
4. Superman and the Legion of Superheroes
5. Superman: Brainiac
6. Superman: Secret Origins
7. Superman: New Krypton vol. 1-2

The point of all of this is to demonstrate how weird this collection is. It collects two stories that do not sequentially follow one another and since the New 52 DC reboot, neither story is still in continuity. It would make more sense to have a collection of all of the stories Donner assisted in. Or even have an omnibus of Geoff Johns' run. 

Despite only being credited for Last Son, Richard Donnor's influence can be felt throughout the volume. Yet, in his introduction to Superman: Secret Origins, Man of Steel screenwriter David Goyer wrote about how Geoff Johns' Action Comics run influenced the upcoming film. Therefore, this volume represents an odd middle ground between past and future Superman interpretations.

Despite how strangeness of this collection, it is worth a read due to its relative cheapness and because it represents one of the clearest takes on the Superman character in recent memory.  Aside from Superman and the Legion of Superheroes, it also collects Geoff Johns' best work on the character. The story is no Watchmen, but inside lies fun and exiting stories that moved the Superman mythos forward. They will be a joy to strike through.

Thank you for reading.
Scott-Charles