I definitely wanted her to start like she did in the Golden Age where she's doing the sort of human interest or ladies journal-type pieces and then gets thrust into the biggest story of her generation: the Kennedy assassination. That's where she makes her name. But I also wanted that Kooks and Kranks article to become important to the story in that one of the Kooks and Kranks turns out to be the Pariah, who is not a Kook or Krank at all—he's telling Superman, in a very real fashion, what's going to happen to the world. I like using that for dual purposes. Superman comics were published in the 1960s, but they didn’t lean into contemporary events the way this story does. How did these events shape your version of the character?

Superman: Space Age (2022—2023) | DC Database | Fandom

The book begins with the Kennedy assassination and a near nuclear miss that follows immediately after, and I wanted that to be sort of the Rorschach print to which all the other main characters become responses to. Superman sees that happen and he says this world is in danger and it needs someone to save it. Lex Luthor sees it and he thinks this world is on its way out, so I need to make sure I grab as much as I can and bury myself underground as deep as I can before it all implodes. And Batman sees it and thinks this is the consequence of the elites thinking they're above everything and someone needs to be thinking about the people on the ground, and the space age is going to be what gets us all killed. I very much wanted the events of the ’60s, in particular the Cold War paranoia, to be what drives the character development of the other characters, including Lex Luthor, who is basically convinced that the world is coming to an end and that's a wonderful profit opportunity.It's definitely a Superman story, but I wanted it to be about how Superman is sort of the product of all the people around him, and about how as the symbol of hope, what you hope to accomplish is that other people will be drawn to it. Other people will follow or at the very least will try to also create hope where they can. That's really what this story is about, and that is where the rest of the Justice League and the DC Universe comes into play. It is implied that this story is set on a Pre-Crisis universe and the events in the present (1985) take place during the first Crisis. Bittersweet Ending: Superman dies, but his actions gave everyone on his Earth a new chance at life and gave an alternate Superman a whole Earth's worth of hope.

DC Announces Superman: Space Age From Mark Russell and

Superman: Space Age Book One shows that anyone can be a hero.This comic highlights the human heroes in Superman's life, from journalists like Lois Lane to activists like John Lewis. This issue also explores Clark's relationship with his work as a journalist. It's clear that he truly enjoys writing as much as he does flying through Metropolis. Superman and Lois' narration makes a lot of sense, but there is a lot of it to sift through, especially as other characters and teams are introduced. While this can be exciting for fans of said characters, Superman: Space Age could benefit from keeping the focus on Superman and his main connections instead of trying to deliver a broader look at the DC Universe. Epic Fail: Superman's first outing, spurred by President Kennedy's assassination and a resulting missile crisis, is a failure on all accounts as he flies into a bird, is shot down by pilots, and almost causes the very disaster he was trying to prevent. Pyrrhic Victory: Lex cements his victory over Batman, Wayne Enterprises, and the world the day the world ends. To add insult to injury, the fact that he refused Superman's DNA extraction means nothing of him remains on the new Earth. We wanted to show Superman as an evolving concept about how none of us come out fully formed as who we are. We're the source of influences, and the influences begin in our childhood. I wanted to show those influences and how characters like Jonathan and Martha Kent, and the holographic projection of Jor-El, as well as meeting Lois Lane for the first time, how these things helped make Superman into Superman. He didn't just come out fully formed from the head of Zeus.

This story contains examples of:

Death Equals Redemption: Bruce lets himself be killed fighting the Joker to both stop his plan and atone for his own mistakes. Superman's catchphrase historically has been truth, justice and the American way. But I feel in a lot of ways, the institution that has embodied that the most has been journalism. It's about telling the truth, standing up to power and using our historic freedoms of the press, as real or imagined as they have been in the past, to mean something. It's really in that way that Lois kind of becomes the biggest influence on Superman, because he sees the courage it takes to tell the truth to power and to go out and report on wars and events without being bulletproof. That sort of courage is what he, somebody who is impervious to danger, should at the very least aspire to. Adaptational Late Appearance: The Joker is normally one of Batman’s earliest enemies to show up, having debuted only a year after the Dark Knight, in the first issue of his ongoing series. In this series, the Joker doesn’t appear until the 1980s, two decades after Batman showed up on the scene. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Bruce retiring as CEO to focus on being Batman leads the unscrupulous Maxwell Lord to take over, directly leading to Gotham's gentrification and Bruce's own death years later. I would say it's about the need for hope in a world without it. I think if you're a Superman fan, you're going to get that. If you're not a Superman fan, you probably need to get that.

Superman: Space Age Series by Mark Russell - Goodreads

Meet Clark Kent, a young reporter who just learned that the world will soon come to an end ( Crisis on Infinite Earths) and there is nothing he can do to save it. Sounds like a job for his alter ego…Superman! Superman: Space Age from critically acclaimed writer Mark Russell ( One-Star Squadron and The Flintstones) and Eisner-winner artist Mike Allred ( Silver Surfer and Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams) will be available in comic shops on July 26, 2022.This comic also has an interesting role for Lex Luthor. How did you come up with this interpretation of him? Outliving One's Offspring: The origin of this continuity's Joker involves him wanting vendetta against Wayne Enterprises because of his daughter Tabitha dying in a fire that was caused under Maxwell Lord's ownership of the company.

Superman: Space Age by Mark Russell, Michael Allred Superman: Space Age by Mark Russell, Michael Allred

Against my will, yes it did. Especially in the end when there's the nuclear crisis. I am not going to say I'm a fan of Superman IV, but there are a lot of nods in this book to both the films and the past Superman comics. That might have been an unintentional Easter egg on my part. I love the contrast between Superman's relationship with both of his fathers. What was your take on that? Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Superman and Batman are never as close here as they are in the comics and most other adaptations. Notably, despite both being active for over 20 years, Superman never learns that Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne, even after Batman’s death. Uniting the critically acclaimed writer Mark Russell and Eisner-winner Mike Allred for the first time, this series promises fans an unforgettable journey through U.S. history and culture starring our beloved characters. Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Lex Luthor is ultimately more of a Batman enemy than a foe of Superman. He competes with Bruce Wayne at the beginning of the story, and is sent to prison before Superman becomes publicly known. When he's released 20 years later, he focuses his efforts on trying to absorb Wayne Enterprises, dismissing Otis' idea to use Kryptonite against Superman, and never directly confronts the Man of Steel once in this story.Starting in the early 1960's and continuing to 1985, the year of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the story is a Period Piece exploring Superman and Batman as they wrestle with the hardships of saving humanity, as well as what that means as the world both changes around them and stubbornly stays the same. Talented comic book creators Mark Russell and Mike Allred are teaming up for the first time in a brand new DC Comics prestige series, Superman: Space Age, which will explore the hero through the ages and see him confront humanity's march towards self-destruction. The publisher revealed the three-issue series this week, as it brings the Eisner Award-nominated talents together to tell an epic story about the Man of Steel and how he's evolved against numerous threats over the years. I love that Lois was writing the Kooks and Kranks column. It reminded me of her debut in Action Comics #1 where she was responsible for writing “sob stories.”