The House of El stands on the brink of its greatest trial yet in Adventures of Superman: Book of El, a sweeping new maxiseries from Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Scott Godlewski that fuses mythic grandeur with intimate family drama. With only two days left for retailers to order the series (August 11), arriving September 3, I spoke to Johnson at Fan Expo Boston to dig deeper into the hot new series.
The maxiseries reunites Future State: Superman: House of El creators Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Scott Godlewski for a story that directly follows Johnson’s Action Comics run and builds toward the possible future glimpsed in Future State.
In the series, the Super-Family’s peace is shattered when a powerful ally-turned-enemy invades Earth with an unstoppable army and a god-aspect of Olgrun, the mad god of the First World. Even the combined might of the House of El can’t stop him, forcing Superman into a place he’s never been, where he’ll find allies he could never have expected.
Courtesy DC
Connecting the Threads
“When you tie together multiple storylines like this, I think it’s really important to reward the completionists without punishing those who only read a single story,” Johnson said. “I don’t ever want to leave a reader behind because they didn’t read some obscure thing that I wrote five years ago. But I do love rewarding the readers who DID, by giving them a lore point or bit of art that they recognize from elsewhere.”
Book of El, he explained, is an idea he has been playing with “basically since the original Future State stories.”
What started as an “Elseworlds” concept “became the truth, the inevitable future where Superman’s adventures would lead someday, and I hid little elements through my Superman run knowing where those plot points would eventually lead. Usually when I do worldbuilding like that it’s all strictly behind-the-scenes stuff that I never intend for the reader to see, but now readers get to see the entire story. I’m very, very excited about that.”
Olgrun: The Endgame Villain
Olgrun, the central antagonist, has been part of Johnson’s endgame from the start. He saw the character as a way to connect DC’s pantheon of heroes to Kirby’s Fourth World and to the older gods that came before.
“He’s truly mythical in scope, too big to punch, too strong to oppose, invincible, indomitable, unknowable, unfathomable,” Johnson explained. The House of El will discover why the gods once tore Olgrun apart and what’s at stake if he returns.
Courtesy DC
The Look of a Future Superman
“There’s no House of El without the beautiful design work Scott did on our Future State story,” Johnson said.
“Our priority for the updated character designs and settings is that they blow readers’ minds and capture the imagination in the same way that high fantasy settings do. This story takes place largely in a new timeline, so readers will see slightly different versions of these characters, but each one of them has fundamental traits that are consistent in every timeline, for reasons that will be revealed.”
Balancing Big Stakes and Small Moments
“There are touchstone elements that have to appear in every Superman story,” Johnson explained. “We must show Superman’s off-the-charts power in a dynamic, mind-blowing way, but ultimately those powers must only be on the page to illustrate how compassionate and incorruptible he is. Superman must say or express something really loving, moving or inspiring in a very quotable, memorable way, something readers can think back to for real-life guidance or encouragement. I must always hear John Williams’ music in Clark’s dialogue… if I don’t, it’s not ready.”
Speaking for his personal take on the character, Johnson added, “Superman must never call himself ‘Superman.’ The word itself means that he is MORE than other people, and that is not at all how he views himself. The big ‘macro’ threats and the ‘micro’ intimate character beats are both crucial parts to a Superman story.”
Courtesy DC
The Heart of the House of El
“I can’t wait for readers to learn more about the relationships between the members of the House of El—the ways in which the House has splintered over the centuries, and what Superman means to all of them,” Johnson said. “But above all I want to give readers more time with Superman and the Super Twins. I love those damn kids. I love how much they love each other, how fully Clark has embraced them as his own, the opportunity to show them alongside other Warworld Phaelosians… I love those kids and I love seeing Clark be their dad.”
For fans of Future State: House of El, he promised:
“MORE TIME with these characters! There are more complex character relationships, origins, histories, supporting characters, visually interesting settings, heroes and monsters of all kinds… we just have so much more time to develop these things now! We have excerpts from the actual BOOK OF EL in every issue, which I’m writing in real time right now! I’m absurdly excited to get to build so much Superman lore and fill this book with it.”
A Dream Addition to the Super-Family
“Ellie Stewart, John Stewart’s sort-of-recently-resurrected little sister,” Johnson answered when asked which non–Superman character he’d add to the adventure. “Ellie is the first sentient hard light construct, and I find her not only super interesting and complex, but also very important. I would love to write more Ellie, and ESPECIALLY see her in the setting we’re introducing in Book of El.”
Adventures of Superman: Book of El combines years of careful planning, mythic stakes, and deep emotional beats into a vision of Superman’s future that Johnson has been building toward since his earliest work on the character.
Final order cutoff for retailers is August 11. Issue #1 hits shelves September 3.
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