The Fight for Justice in Absolute Superman #1

However unintentional it may be, there are things to say about a new Superman that debuts the same day that Donald Trump wins his second Presidential term.  Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval, and Ulises Arreola’s Absolute Superman #1 show us a Superman born out of recognizable political climates, both on Krypton and on Earth.  There’s almost no difference between their Krypton and their Earth, two distinct planets governed by class and more than willing to use up their lower classes to make sure that the upper classes have the lives that they feel that they deserve.  These are both worlds of the rulers and the ruled and it feels like a world that we’re entering into in real life. 

While it’s not addressed directly in this book, the basic premise of this new Absolute line is to show us a DC Universe formed and influenced by Darkseid (as seen in the DC All In special last month.). This is a universe that is a reflection of its creator.  This comic is a reflection of this darkened view of the DC universe, much as Donald Trump has turned the United States into a reflection of himself.  Sure, we’ve gone through this before in 2017 through 2020 and been able to live the past few years in a more stable world influenced by President Joe Biden but we witnessed that stability overturned this week by a majority of Americans preferring the view of the future that Trump promised than what the Democrats wanted to deliver.  

It’s after that election that we see this new Krypton. Gone is the scientific but doomed utopia that we’ve seen before and in its place one ruled by oppression and the gods of business.  It’s a Krypton where Lara-El and Jor-El fall from grace by challenging their world’s complacency and disregard for the climate.  It’s a Krypton where you either live in the “sprawling centers of advanced science and ancient law” or the arid field where the farmers have to pay for the privilege of getting a rain shower for their crops.  Even though this was written long before the November 5th election, Jason Aaron knows exactly what he was doing by turning Krypton into a technocracy as we see Elon Trump and Peter Thiel buddy up to Trump, hoping to use him to jumpstart the world that they want.   

Earth becomes another reflection of Krypton, where a powerful corporation mines the Brazilian mountains for diamonds and their riches.  This is the kleptocracy that Lara-El and Jor-El’s son Kal-El finds himself fighting the thuggish security forces of the Lazarus Corp.  Even as asbestos is discovered in those mines, the wheels of business still need to grind away at the mine’s employees and their families.  This Kal-El is the son of his parents even if this isn’t his world.  (It’s not shown here but I think we all know what’s going to happen to this Krypton.) This is a Superman who is going to fight for the oppressed and the workers against the corporations and fat cats who get rich off of them.  

Between Nick Dragotta (Absolute Batman,) Hayden Sherman (Absolute Wonder Woman,) and Rafa Sandoval, Sandoval is the more grounded of the three initial artists on the Absolute line and that’s what this title needs as it jumps around between locations and characters.  The visual tone he sets isn’t so much about heightening the visual experience like Dragotta’s visual acrobatics or Sherman’s emotionally charged work.  Instead, Sandoval brings this interpretation of Superman to a level of realism that we know.  Krypton is an alien world but Sandoval’s interpretation of it makes it a place that we understand how it works.  We understand the interplay of the classes and recognize the differences in life between them.  When the story shifts to Brazil, we can practically feel the pressure of all of the bodies and shacks of the favela in this tight space.  The three Absolute books are coming to this line from different visual angles, each one of them revealing something a bit more about how these books are different and how we should be reacting to them.  

As this book is so much more about oppression, Aaron and Sandoval are turning Superman into a political figure.  This has been done before to reflect the times of some stories.  Look at Mark Millar’s Red Son or Grant Morrison’s Action Comics and you can see Superman being used as more than just a superhero but as a narrative that can be political and have something to say.  Even going back to his origin, there’s something to be said about two Jewish men creating a character that was about truth, justice, and the American way (yes, that saying wasn’t used until later but Siegel and Shuster’s original stories still embody those words.)  Aaron and Sandoval are following that same path, giving us a Superman for 2024 as it looks like we’re about to enter a dark age of what it means to be American or even a citizen of this world.  Absolute Superman #1 is very much a comic of late 2024, a warning about what could come but also potentially a path forward in this, part story, part guidebook on how to fight the battles that are in front of us.  

That’s an awful lot to put on one book and most of this is probably just trying to draw weak correlations between the release date of the book and the historical events that just happened to have occurred on that same date.  But it’s not too hard to see how both DC and Marvel through its new Ultimate line are telling stories about how to fight for justice in worlds molded by malevolent forces. And even if Trump hadn’t been elected this year, those same forces that are empowering him would still be trying to remake the world in their image. No election was going to destroy the desire of the rich and powerful to make the world in their image as if they were our gods.  These comics are about the heroes in these imperfect worlds.  And what better hero to show us how to fight for justice than Superman?