Big things are happening in the DC Universe with Dark Crisis. Back in Justice League #75, the League faced Pariah, who teamed with the Great Darkness and various possessed villains. The League was then seemingly killed, and all across the DCU, heroes have been trying their best to stand up. This one-shot isn’t our first time dealing with the death of Superman, but some important questions are if the League is dead — and if not, where did they go? We look for clues in this tie-in special.
SPOILERS AHEAD for Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League #1: Superman ahead!
There are two parts to this issue – the bulk of it is dedicated to Superman, and the backup showcases Aquaman. Tom King, Chris Burnham, and Adriano Lucas come together to present “Out There.” Superman appears to be in a world where he got the chance to raise Jon Kent. From the cover, we can see a Superboy in a different costume reminiscent of Robin’s.
Getting to see this Elseworld of a young Jon Kent, I am very excited by Chris Burnham as the choice for the artist. Choosing him as the artist makes this a fun book to pair with Burnham’s previous work on stories featuring a younger Damian Wayne. Burnham perfectly captures the youngster’s angst, wonder, and rebellion while also pairing against a father’s guidance, hope, and worry. Tom King plays this new father/son dynamic perfectly, reminding us of what Clark Kent lost.
It plays like a modern update of “For the Man Who Has Everything“, with us seeing what Clark’s greatest wish is. Overall it is a bittersweet story as we see what things could have been like for Jon. Growing up and having the powers he has and Superman as a father is where Tom King gets to cut loose, and he tackles the father/son struggle but amps it up to Super levels. It shows us moments where Jon questions his father, asking why he doesn’t do more and what it would be like to give your car keys to a kid with the universe as his hometown to explore.
As a one-shot, Tom King, Chris Burnham, and the creative team do a great job giving us the broad strokes of Clark Kent’s absent fatherhood. They don’t reveal much of Pariah’s plan or how he uses the heroes, but when you read Clark’s words, you can understand how much this meant to him and how much of an emotional reaction he is having. This story makes me think of what we missed by Jon Kent growing up quickly; an excellent glimpse at the other side of things.
The “Aquaman Has Everything” backup story by Brandon Thomas, Fico Ossio, and company shows us a potential formal event for the Aqua family. The story does focus on Aquaman’s daughter Andy, but in truth, Andy gets outshined by Jess Chambers, a future Flash. Jess manages to steal the spotlight by saving the day and event. While this is a quick story, in the end, Brandon Thomas has a moment for Aquaman to break out of their trance. Here it looks like Aquaman understands that this “story” was too good to be true, while Superman seems more accepting of his “story.” This set of stories will be interesting to read as it plays out in the other one-shots.
Dark Crisis: Worlds Without A Justice League #1: Superman is a fun exploration of growing pains with a Super Father raising a Super Son. We see how Clark would’ve reacted to Jon’s years spent growing up. We see how much Clark missed by being robbed of that time with Jon.
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