“Often said to be one of the best Superman stories ever, Red Son is the story of Superman reimagined in that he left Krypton just a little off schedule, and due to the Earth’s rotation his ship crash lands in Soviet Russia during the Stalin era instead of in the United States.
Other than that, the story is pretty light on origin, which I appreciate. Because the real fun with Superman comes in when he’s got his powers.
The strengths of the book come in the side characters. This book has a Lex Luthor who is sort of the good guy, hired by Uncle Sam to make sure the Soviet Superman can be thwarted if need be. There’s also a pretty great, insane Russian Batman. Batmonavich, if you will, who represents the anti-Superman faction in his neck of the woods.
The other good thing, they made Superman a Soviet who is fully in favor of communism and all that, but they didn’t make him a crazed asshole. Sometimes this happens in comics. For comic nerds, I’d point to the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline where all the problems could have been prevented if Cyclops would have stopped acting like an asshole for 4 seconds. I would have at least appreciated hearing Captain America say, “Cyclops! Will you please, PLEASE, stop being an asshole for like 4 seconds.” For people who aren’t comic nerds, the best comparison I could draw would be various Denzel Washington movie plots where one conversation would solve everything.
“Oh, your insurance doesn’t cover a hear transplant. But as doctors, let’s prioritize saving a life and worry about the bills later” (John Q.)
“Okay, I DID steal money to save my wife’s life. Let’s throw that wrench off to the side. But I did not kill her, and in fact, I think stealing half a million in evidence money to pay for her surgery would probably go a long way to proving that I was working really hard to keep her alive.” (Out of Time)
“So I prayed for help from God and he sent an angel. His name is Dudley. That’s only the beginning of the fuckups, but I have a feeling this will all work out in a comical, family-friendly manner if we can all just relax a bit. I mean, I know that sounds far-fetched, but you’re sitting in a church listening to a preacher. So either you believe in this shit or not.” (The Preacher’s Wife)
Avoiding the Superman plot that relies on avoiding a single conversation was a big plus for me.
Here’s the part I didn’t dig so much.
I’m afraid that Dark Knight Returns covered some of the best territory here almost 30 years previous.
Superman used as a tool of a totalitarian regime? Check.
Batman versus Superman in a big bad way? Check.
As much as I have problems with Frank Miller and Mark Millar at times, I still fucking love Dark Knight Returns. It’s a great book. Probably my favorite representation of Batman art-wise, and if I were to compile a list of top 10 badass Batman moments, no less than 3 would come from Dark Knight.
Red Son takes things further, and I still do give it credit for staying true to the Superman character in different circumstances. And the Lex Luthor stuff is really good. But the Dark Knight comparison is unavoidable, and there’s not a lot that’ll stand up to that one in my book.
All that said, I think that what sets this apart from other Superman stories is that it’s actually interesting. Superman actually does shit. He changes shit. He embraces his power a bit more and tries to do good. Okay, it turns a little evil. That’s what always happens when you go for more than your share. But at least I was fucking interested in what Superman would do next, and at least we were presented with a problem that he couldn’t solve with strength and speed.
I do also feel that I should add in that this is a good read for folks who aren’t always fans of comics. If you have a basic concept of Superman, that’s all you need moving through here. “