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A review by codyisreading
Superman: Red Son by Mark Millar
4.0
4.5/5
Everyone knows Superman landed in Smallville and was raised by good, honest Americans Ma and Pa Kent. *Eli Cash voice* What this comic presupposes is...maybe he didn't.
After his spaceship lands in the Ukraine, Mark Millar reimagines Superman as a Soviet hero instead of the champion of the American way. Other heroes get reimagined in red as well, with appearances by Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern.
I think what I loved about this Elseworld book is how much the question of nature vs. nurture was present over everything. Is Superman's moral code instilled in him by his Earth parents, or is it baked in deeper than that?
And it would've been easy enough for Millar to paint the Cold War as a simple black-and-white, us vs. them conflict. Yet Millar offers no easy answers, as Superman begins to question both ideologies and whether or not (as an alien) *he* can even offer any answers to humanity's problems.
Bonus points for the book's ending taking me completely by surprise. I'm not sure it totally works, but I definitely enjoyed how out of left field it is. I've never been a big Supes fan but this book was more than worth the read.
Everyone knows Superman landed in Smallville and was raised by good, honest Americans Ma and Pa Kent. *Eli Cash voice* What this comic presupposes is...maybe he didn't.
After his spaceship lands in the Ukraine, Mark Millar reimagines Superman as a Soviet hero instead of the champion of the American way. Other heroes get reimagined in red as well, with appearances by Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern.
I think what I loved about this Elseworld book is how much the question of nature vs. nurture was present over everything. Is Superman's moral code instilled in him by his Earth parents, or is it baked in deeper than that?
And it would've been easy enough for Millar to paint the Cold War as a simple black-and-white, us vs. them conflict. Yet Millar offers no easy answers, as Superman begins to question both ideologies and whether or not (as an alien) *he* can even offer any answers to humanity's problems.
Bonus points for the book's ending taking me completely by surprise. I'm not sure it totally works, but I definitely enjoyed how out of left field it is. I've never been a big Supes fan but this book was more than worth the read.