DC’s Bleakest Future Reveals Why Superman Is the Key to Everything

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Adventures of Superman: The Book of El #1 is great, building on some the dangling threads from “Warworld Saga”. “Warworld Saga” stands tall among the best modern Superman stories, and Adventures of Superman: The Book of El reintroduces us to Kryl-Ux, one of Superman’s allies in the battle against Mongul, and shows him trying to find a great power source. The next time we see him is the end of the issue, as he attacks the Earth with a powerful fleet, specifically targeting Superman, who is on the Kent farm during the attack. Superman jumps into action, but he is removed by a mysterious someone. The book ends years in the future. Superman’s absence doomed the Earth, which brought an interesting thought to my mind — Superman is basically the most important part of Earth’s defense.

The DC Superhero Community Loses Whenever Superman Isn’t Around

I’ve read a lot of DC events over the years, and one thing I’ve noticed is that the importance of Superman to these comics. While the last few years have seen Batman become DC’s most popular character, Superman is still the de facto leader of the superhero community. Everyone looks up to him for leadership and guidance, and that’s especially apparent during event comics. Usually, the beginning of most event books don’t really focus on Superman at all. The bad guys are often busy setting up their plans and they do their best to make sure that Superman doesn’t know anything about it or they find a way to get rid of Superman. Now, get rid of doesn’t just mean kill. For example, Infinite Crisis is all about Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime manipulating Earth-Two Superman into doing their bidding, but before that they made sure that Superman was divorced somewhat from the superhero community because of the actions of Maxwell Lord and Wonder Woman. Final Crisis sees Darkseid attack Lois Lane so that Superman will go on a quest to find a way to heal her. Crisis on Infinite Earths starts out with Earth-Two Superman helping out, but it’s not til later, when things get serious, that we see the Earth-One Superman getting involved. All of these are different, but all of them have one thing in common — Superman isn’t involved until later in the proceedings because no one wants to deal with him, his power, and his leadership.

As much as we like to joke around about Batman always winning and coming up with the plans that win the day, Superman brings something else to the table. It’s not just his power — although that is certainly a big part of it — but what Superman represents. Superman is basically the father of the DC superhero community. He’s the one who inspires them with his goodness. There have been multiple scenes in DC comics where characters talked about not wanting to let Superman down or how Superman inspired them. Look at all the big battles in DC events where Superman isn’t there; they’re usually losses. Superman doesn’t just bring power to the table; everyone fights harder when Superman is there. Even Wonder Woman and Batman fight harder when they’re alongside their friend Superman. It doesn’t matter how powerful the enemy is; any hero will fight a hundred percent harder with Superman there. There are plenty of powerful Kryptonians on Earth — Supergirl is even more powerful than Superman in some continuities — so it’s not the power missing when Superman isn’t there. It’s the leadership. The inspiration. The symbolism. Superman brings so much to the table, and without him, everything crumbles.

Superman Is the Ultimate DC Hero

Adventures of Superman: The Book of El #1 gives us a lot of scenes with Superman. Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson gets Superman, and we find that on every page of the book. We get to see on the Kent Farm, with his parents and family just being who he is. Later, when the farm is attacked by his former ally Kryl-Ux, he springs into action, and we see the other side of Superman — the great hero, the warrior for hope. He’s pulled out of the battle by a mysterious voice, and the next time we see the world, Kryl-Ux has already taken everything over. The lack of Superman made all the difference.

Adventures of Superman: The Book of El #1 does a fabulous job of talking about what Superman means and who he is without the story revolving around that. Superman does so much more for the metahuman community than just show up and use his amazing powers to win. He is the inspiration and without him, everything falls apart.

Adventures of Superman: The Book of El #1 is on sale now.

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