Comic Series Review #7: Superman: Red Son (2003)
What if Superman didn’t represent “truth, justice, and the American Way”? What if he had landed in Ukraine rather than Kansas? This renowned mini-series written by Mark Millar explores that hypothetical scenario, and gives readers a unique glance at how one of DC’s iconic characters would have turned out if events had unfolded just a little bit differently.
The Cold War was a scary-time for the world. Espionage existed everywhere, international relations were being strained, proxy wars were raging around the globe, and world leaders could get away with wearing stuff like this. Could you imagine humanity being obliterated, all because two world superpowers couldn’t agree with eachother’s political ideologies? There are several notable historical incidents where that outcome almost became reality. Luckily, that never came to fruition — and I pray that it never does.
After last year’s release of the Superman: Red Son animated film, I figured I’d read the series for myself — and I’ll tell you right now that I wasn’t dissappointed in the least. Superman: Red Son addresses the hypothetical scenario of what a Soviet Superman would be like, and how events within the DC Multiverse could have played out differently. There’s even the appearance of a Soviet Batman — in which DC missed out on the perfect opportunity to call him Blyat-man! (If you don’t get the joke, please click here).
The story begins in the early-1950’s, in a timeline designated as Earth-30. Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union unveils Superman to the world — an event that is heavily covered by the American media. Stalin, being heavily infatuated with the idea of Superman becoming a symbol of Soviet dominance, makes the Man of Steel a high-ranking official within the Communist Party. The United States, aiming to match the Soviets, attempts to create a superpowered being of their own and thus launching another arms race in the development of superhumans. A young, ginger-haired Lex Luthor (who, in this universe, is also the husband of Lois Lane) is hired by the United States’ government to develop an“anti-Superman deterrant”. Luthor, needing a strand of Superman’s DNA in order to accomplish the task, sabotages the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 2 satellite and diverts it’s collision course towards Metropolis — where Superman, in his usual fashion, prevents disaster by swooping in and redirecting the path of the plummeting satellite at the last second.
Luthor has government agents, as well as CIA operative Jimmy Olsen, recover the downed satellite in order to exract Superman’s genetic residue from it. Luthor uses this extract to create a deformed “Superman 2,” who turns out to just be this universe’s alternate version of Bizarro. Meanwhile, at a ball back in the Soviet Union, Superman meets Wonder Woman for the first time in this timeline — and she quickly develops feelings towards him because they share the same struggles of always being celebrated and honored. Stalin’s illegitimate son, Pyotr, becomes envious of Superman after Stalin proposes to make the Man of Steel head of state and head of the Communist Party — an offer that Superman initially rejects. Pyotr admits to Superman that he recently killed a couple in front of their own son for printing anti-Superman propoganda, and that he also arranged for Stalin to be poisoned. After his father’s death, Pyotr becomes disgruntled and guilty but refuses to admit it was his own doing.
With the Soviet government in disarray following Stalin’s death, Luthor and the United States government sends Bizarro to defeat Superman and establish American superiority. Their fight triggers the launch of a nuclear missile from a nearby American submarine that was escorting Bizarro, but the two continued to trade blows. Their battle takes them to London, where several hundred British civilians are killed in the ensuing destruction and Bizarro ultmately sacrifices himself to get rid of the nuke by diverting it into outer space— saving millions of lives. Following this, Luthor dedicates his life to defeating Superman at all costs and begins hatching new schemes to do so while Superman finally agrees to become Stalin’s successor as head-of-state after witnessing the USSR’s deteriorating social system.
Years later, in 1978, after yet another failed plan to defeat Superman (one that involved Luthor and Brainiac accidentally shrinking Stalingrad instead of Moscow), the Soviet Union holds global dominance economically and influentially — while the United States is on the brink of economic collapse. JFK is President of the United States, with Richard Nixon having been assassinated in 1963. It is revealed that Luthor has been plotting dozens of unsuccessful “attacks plans” over the years to put an end to Superman and his regime — 307, and counting, to be exact. Superman is now a Big Brother-esque entity, in which any opposition to him and the Communist Party is pretty much nonexistent due to the creation of “Superman robots” — people who’s minds are wired with devices that force them to be obedient to the regime by taking away their own free thought. In Moscow, the Superman Museum is decimated in a massive explosion caused by an ushanka-wearing Batman.
As it turns out, this alternate version of the Dark Knight is none other than the boy who’s parents were murdered years earlier by Pyotr — who is now waging a one-man campaign to dismantle Superman’s regime. Back in America, Lois becomes editor-in-chief for the Daily Planet. Lex tells her about America having an alien incident of their own, with a UFO crasing near Roswell in 1947 — but with the whole incident being covered up by President Hoover after a certain object was recovered from the finger of the UFO’s lone occupant. You probably already know where this is going. Luthor and the CIA, claiming to have found Superman’s weakness and using Pyotr as a correspondant, make an offer to Batman to kill Superman. In exchange, Batman agrees to make Pyotr the new head-of-state and also promising to come after him as vengeance for the death of his parents.
Later on, at his own birthday celebration, it is revealed to Superman that Wonder Woman has been captured by Batman and bound by her own Lasso of Truth — thus making her obedient to Batman. Superman, in an attempt to rescue Wonder Woman, is lured into the trap and is immediately surrounded by massive, red solar lamps — created by Lex Luthor to drain Superman’s power by mirroring the environment created by Krypton’s dying red star. With his powers useless, Superman takes a beating from Batman and is tossed into a cell that was specifically designed for him. However, he is still able to barely speak to Wonder Woman — in which he instructs her to break free of her lasso and destroy the generators powering the solar lamps. Amazingly, she is able to escape and does as Superman says — allowing him to break free and confront Batman. With nowhere else left to run, Batman martyrs himself by detonating a bomb he had planted inside of him — but not before revealing to Superman that it was Pyotr who betrayed him. The shock of breaking free from the lasso ages Wonder Woman, leaving her gray-haired, frail and mute. Batman’s death sparks a resistance movement in the Soviet Union, and Pyotr becomes one of Superman’s mind-controlled “robots”.
Further on in the future, in 2001, Superman has reprogrammed Brainiac, who had previously been an ally of Lex, to be his aid in overseeing the daily acitivities of human life — monitoring everything from birth rates to average life expectancy, in which both have gone up. The Soviet Union is thriving, while the United States is decimated into a state of war and civil unrest. Brainiac suggests invading America and forcing them to give in to Soviet influence, but Superman rejects this as he still wishes to keep things bloodless and expects America to soon crumble. However, things take a turn quickly as a now fully bald Lex Luthor has become the new POTUS and drastically turned around the American economy and standard of living within a few months. Superman sees through the disguise however, as he knows that this is just another stepping stone in one of Luthor’s schemes to finally defeat him. Luthor reveals to Jimmy Olsen that he was finally able to crack the code on the mysterious object found on the Roswell alien’s finger — a Green Lantern Ring. Control of the ring is given to a Colonel Hal Jordan, who Luthor intends to use to take down Superman for good.
Jordan his “Green Lantern Marine Corps” begin preparing their assault. Luthor confronts Superman directly in his Winter Palace hideout, but is subdued by Brainiac before he could even make a move. Within the moment, Superman and Brainiac enact their plan to invade the United States from both coasts and assault the Green Lanterns head-on and make quick work of them. Wonder Woman and the Amazons, aligned with the United States, join the fray and are also taken out rather quickly. Things turn dire quickly for Luthor and the United States as Brainiac swiftly eliminated the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet, forcing them to release the the various supervillains that Luthor had created over the years — including Metallo and Parasite. They too are taken care of, and Superman confronts Lois to warn her to evacuate the White House (as him and Brainiac plan to blow it up). She refuses, and says that her and Lex have one last card to play — as she points to a letter sealed up and stuffed in her coat pocket. The letter, written by Lex, reads “Why don’t you just put the whole world in a bottle Superman?” — referencing Superman’s regret of not being able to resize Stalingrad after it had accidentally been shrunk by Brainiac many years prior.
The note causes Superman to have a change of heart in realizing that he has no business getting involved in human affairs and trying to dominate a planet that was not his own. He calls off the attack, but Brainiac disobeys him and reveals to Superman that he had been in control all along and was just using Superman as a pawn to unite the world under one ideology — which would be his first step towards a galaxy-wide conquest. However, Brainiac’s central coontrol system is shut off, in unclimactic fashion, by no one other than Lex Luthor himself — who was being held prisoner on Brainiac’s ship after having been quickly subdued in their prior meeting. This sets off a timed detonation of the system powering Brainiac and his ship, which threatens to destroy the entire planet. Superman takes the ship and flies it as far away from Earth as possible, sacrificing his life to save the Earth — or so we think.
After Superman’s “death”, the world falls into disarray — but Luthor unites all nations as the “Global United States” under the ideology of “Luthorism”. Luthor goes on to single-handedly cure all diseases, lead humankind to colonize the Solar System, and lives to be 1000 year old. Superman, still alive and apparently immortal, returns to Earth to live his life and experience the world through human eyes. Luthor’s lineage over the following milleniums is full of intellectual’s who’s achievements rival his own. Millions of years later, Earth is in danger of being engulfed by the Sun as it becomes a red giant star. Jor-L, a descendant of Luthor, and his wife send their infant son, Kal-L, back in time to save him from Earth’s imminent destruction. Kal-L’s capsule heads back to 1938, crash landing on a Ukrainian Collective Farm — starting the cycle all over again.
The only complaint I have of this story is the usual predictability that comes with every other Superman story — Luthor being an intellectual genius who can do all things and Superman being a freak of nature who can do all things. However, isn’t that the cliche that makes Superman so enjoyable? Not only is it predictable, but it’s also simple — and sometimes that’s better than overthinking. That same formula has been working for DC for over 80 years, so why change it now?
What I really enjoyed is that the series also actively avoided other common tropes within Superman comics. Kryptonite wasn’t mentioned even once, and writer Mark Millar provided a few alternate methods to make Superman vulnerable — the red solar lights used by Batman and the note that was written by Lex near the end. Also, major applause to Millar for also not making the Russians the bad guy. Despite the Cold War setting, Millar’s writing does a great job humanizing both sides of the conflict in which we see the internal struggles of each faction. The reader might find themselves cheering on Superman simply because he’s Superman, but there’s no real reason to be against Luthor or even Batman.
Another one of the series strong points is it’s fresh take on several staple DC characters despite sharing some similarities with their Injustice counterparts. This can be seen in Superman’s character developent, where he starts off as the noble Man of Steel that we all know and love before becoming something of a hybrid. As the Soviet Union’s head-of-state, Red Son’s Superman shares the role of powerful world leader with a hunger for global dominance with his Injustice counterpart — albeit with more pure, less violent intentions. This gives readers the best of both worlds, and was the main driving factor for why I kept turning the page. The same thing can be said for this series’ iteration of Batman. He maintains his brusque nature, albeit with more selfish reasons that make him more of a terrorist rather than a rogue vigilante like his Injustice counterpart . The biggest difference though? This Batman won’t hesitate to kill, which is something that readers will seldomly find in other DC titles. Despite all the hate that Mark Millar gets, we have to give the man some credit for the legacy his work aside from Red Son carries — notably Old Man Logan, Civil War, and Swamp Thing. This series demonstrates how having a good story alongside well-done artwork is crucial to creating a memorable comic.
Speaking of the series artwork, can we take a moment to appreciate how amazing Dave Johnson’s cover artwork is? All three issues draw very clear inspiration from Soviet propoganda posters, and do a great job emulating it. The inside pages don’t disappoint either, with both Johnson and Kilian Plunkett sharing the responsibilites. Both make great use of shadows and facial detail to portray how each character ages, notably Superman, Wonder Woman and Lois Lane. Heck, both Johnson and Plunkett even do a great job recreating the stocky Lex Luthor that we saw in 80’s and 90’s Superman comics — as opposed to the slimmer and sometimes muscular variations of him seen in more contemporary comics.
To end an already too long review, Superman: Red Son provides a refreshing “what-if” scenario on the origins and lifetime of Superman. I know that everyone has their own opinions, but let this unknown nobody of a Medium writer tell you that this series should at least be on the “might read” list of every Superman fan and casual comic reader! Give it a try, at least. If not for me, and not for Superman, then atleast take a look at it for the ushanka-wearing Batman!
To read the previous entry into this review series, please click here!
