Superman: Red Son
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- ISBN13: 9781401224257
- Condition: New
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Product Description
Weird visitor from another world who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands… and who, as the champion of the common worker, fights a never-ending battle for Stalin, Socialism and the international expansion of the Warsaw Pact.
In this startling twist of a familiar tale, a certain Kryptonian rocketship crash-lands on Planet carrying an infant who will one day become the most powerful being on the planet. But his ship doesn’t land in America. He is not raised in Smallville, Kansas. As a replacement for, he makes his new home on a collective in the Soviet Union!
From the mind of Mark Millar, the best-selling writer of THE AUTHORITY and Wanted, comes this strangely different take on the Superman mythos. Featuring art by Dave Johnson, Kilian Plunkett, Andrew Robinson, and Walden Wong, with an introduction by film producer Tom DeSanto (X-Men, X2: X-Men United, Transformers), this Deluxe Edition also features an wide sketch gallery by Johnson, Plunkett and Alex Ross.
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“Superman: Red Son” features the most brilliant premise I’ve seen in the Elseworlds series: the boy of Krypton lands not on a rural American farm, but as a replacement for on a rural Soviet collective during the same time. Naturally as he grows up he acculturates into the Soviet Union and finds its values natural and right.
What a wonderful opportunity to explore the origins of right and incorrect, of our conceptions of justice, and how our thoughts about morality are largely products of a place and time we were born into lacking being consulted about the matter.
At least, this is what I thought this graphic novel was going to be as I keenly awaited it in the mail. (It seems to be in the process of going out of print.)
Alas! When it arrived, it was a comprehensive disappointment. Sure, I didn’t have the setup incorrect, but what could have been an immortal exploration of the tyranny of culture and the genealogy of morals got quickly bogged down in explaining how the new milieu dovetailed with the doings of the additional DC heroes, and what was going on back stateside. The remainder of the book involved a hackneyed plot to wreak destruction by — you guessed it — Lex Luthor.
What a lost opportunity. Needs to be redone.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Normally, when I get my hands on one of these babies and I just cannot place it down. Not the case with this one. An Elseworlds tale on what if Superman landed in the USSR as a replacement for? Certainly, this would make an intriguing tale. Some of the differences include a new costume, Batman as a vigilante in USSR, Jimmy as a government spy, and Lois as wife of Lex Luthor. Some of these differences are self-explanatory, but others such as Batman being in USSR and Jimmy effective for CIA is not really clarified. Add to also, really dull writing (took me several sittings to end it) and not too appealing storylines and you get three snoozefest tales.
The first tale on Luthor making Bizarro to battle Superman is very uninteresting. Luthor is hired by US Govt to neutralize the Superman threat and is considered a hero in this book.
The second tale is to some extent more appealing as Batman teams up with Luthor in bringing down the man of steel. I really delight in how they do this and Batman’s costume is pretty nice, but again, there is no explanation to why he is here in this country.
Third tale is suppose to be epic as the last and final assault launched by the US to ruin Superman. Green Hurricane lantern, Marvel Woman, and Lex, attack at the same time. But, the final climatic moment is very weak and reasonably confusing. And the epilogue is not really as brilliant as one would reflect, probably tiresome as this book is too long and dull.
The only saving grace is the artwork which resembles propaganda-ish cartoon art which is very well loved in communist countries. The Marvel Woman in this book is one of the best and most accurate I ever seen.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
In the preface, the hyperbolic Tom DeSanto wildly trumpets “Red Son” as a devastating critique of American foreign policy, not the cookie-cutter “feel-excellent propaganda” that might have been expected. As a replacement for, he hints darkly at surrendering freedom in favor of security.
Oh please. The Soviet Union that Superman serves here is the sort of cookie-cutter comic book dictatorship one might have expected in a 1950s comic and bears no resemblance to the murderous regime that truly was an “evil empire.” At one point, Stalin understands why Superman must rush off to save thousands in Vladivostok. This is the dictator who killed, yes slaughtered, tens of millions of his own people.
It’s this sort of superficial investigation that dooms “Red Son” to superficial stabs at political comment, and third-rate reimaginings of history that are, frankly, tiresome.
Though the tale is redeemed in the end by a circular ending which seems to say we are permanently doomed to repeat the same mistakes, this “devastating critique” is not really all that original, exciting, or particularly entertaining. Nor does it comment on anything except the overexcited imaginations of a bunch of leftists who obviously learned their politics from comic books. Grow up, guys.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
I waited a long time for this book. I was tickled to get it via Amazon. I was *very* disappointed by it, and for many reasons.
The first reason is that the premise is too narrow for such a long tale to hold one’s interest. A fantastic comic is read breathlessly, and only upon a second or third reading does one clearly identify the dull bits. Here they are evident from the beginning and only become more so upon re-reading. A long Elseworld book like “Golden Age” will warrant a fourth or fifth re-reading. Not the case with Red Son.
The second reason is that it is inconsistent. Lex and Lois Luthor appear to be in their 20s in 1953 (the year of Stalin’s death, at the beginning of the book). That would make them about 65 when Lex is elected President. At the time there is no indication that they have any children, and yet a perfect lineage of Luthors is made in the final chapter, and a son is shown when there is no intimation that he should exist, or when he came to be. Also, there is no reason why Richard Nixon should have been elected in 1960, and murdered in 1963, or why John F. Kennedy would be elected President in 1968 and hang around for about 20 years. His marrying a stout, slutty Marilyn Monroe is fun but farcical. That is clearly a take on Nixon in “The Watchmen”, where he is still President in 1985. There is no reason either why a pseudo-Batman should exist in the USSR, as the child of murdered dissidents, since Kal El’s arrival in The Ukhraine in the 1930s should have no impact on NKVD activities prior to his adulthood.
Finally, the book shows a profound ignorance about Communism. Stalin is open as a honestly malevolent ancient goat, but showing Stalin’s son as the head of KGB is ridiculous, agreed that Stalin never gave a hoot about his own children and really drove one of them to suicide in a German KZ. And the drawings aren’t so hot, except for the simulated “Socialist” posters. A sort of “Social Realism”, a la “Batman Year 1″ would probably have been more suitable. As it is, it looks cartoony in a cheap sort of way.
One doesn’t expect deep social criticism from a comic book (although they can provide it on occasion), but “Red Son”, so long in the building, was theme to high expectations, which it hasn’t discharged.
All in all, an opportunity lost. A pity.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
Probably one of the best “what if” tales i have ever read. It has all the fundamentals of a fantastic grophic novel. Excellent tale telling, excellent art, and exelent dialogue.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5