Comic Review: Superman Heroes (2020-) #1

Superman Heroes (2020-) #1

DC Comics

Writers: Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Greg Rucka

Artists: Kevin Maguire, Mike Perkins, Steve Lieber, Mike Norton, Scott Godlewski

In case you didn’t know, Superman is Clark Kent. That’s right! Mild-mannered (whatever that means) reporter for The Daily Planet is a world-famous superhero, Superman! But that was back in the yesteryear of December 2019. Now we’re in the roaring 2020s and are seeing how Superman revealing his secret identity affects those close to him.

Superman Heroes #1 is a bit of a mixed bag. There’s for sure stuff happening, and it’s interesting to see how Bruce Wayne, Jimmy Olsen, and others are reacting. But at the same time, it feels like most of it doesn’t really matter outside of this issue. Remember when Lex Luthor gave out gifts to people as part of the Year of Villain event and gave one to Lois Lane? Well, we learn what is inside that box.

That’s really the only thing I think we’ll see going forward from this issue. Don’t get me wrong, though, this is a good comic, and I enjoyed reading it. It’s got some of the best working writers in comics today, giving us the characters reacting how they would in their respective series. Jimmy Olsen’s part is from Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber and could fit right in in the current Jimmy Olsen series. Same for Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins’ Lois Lane part. Batman’s reaction to it all is a bit surprising. He’s jealous of Clark Kent is able to reveal this truth and live in that world. The jealousy is a surprise, but it honestly fits in with what we’ve seen from Batman since the Rebirth era of DC comics started. 

This issue is full of artists, all to a varying degree. Again, it’s something that I don’t think is bad, far from it. There’s just a lot of styles going on here, and with something like that, it’s hard not to say one is better than the other. You can go to an ice cream store and try all the flavors, but after tasting 10 you’ll have some favorites. In particular, I will say that I enjoy the Jimmy Olsen part from Steve Lieber a lot. It works well with Nathan Fairbairn’s coloring and Matt Fraction’s storytelling.

Superman revealing his identity is an incredibly big deal. But I don’t think the Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen series could stop and spend an entire issue dealing with the fallout of it. Instead of that, we get this issue to fill that void. I like this issue, it’s kind of hard not to like it. We get the current writers of the characters, so no one is acting out of character to their current books. We even get the artists of the comics, so it all feels like a chunk of pages transplanting from other comics to make this one. If you’re a fan of Superman or his family of characters, this is an issue worth reading.