Everything You Need To Know About DC’s ‘Superman’ SDCC Announcements

DC Comics revealed what is set to come for Superman and his family during their ‘Metropolis & Beyond’ panel at San Diego Comic Con last month! DC took the opportunity to bring their all-star current comic book creators to the stage and let them loose on what’s coming up in the current Superman titles.

First up was the ‘Superman‘ title, where we learned that The Legion features in the latest issue (Superman #28) were from the Absolute Universe. This was a great way to really connect the universes that DC are currently expanding and that detail alone has me excited for what’s to come in all titles. As well as that, Joshua Williamson also discussed the reason for bringing Superboy Prime back as seen in the final panel of the latest issue. He is here to prove a point that he’s good, a bit of redemption and Williamson also teased that this was one of the most import parts of the book and that readers can expect to see more Mercy Graves and Lex Luthor romance. Williamson also teased that Darkseid himself had several connections to Krypton’s past and history and that Lara Lor-Van herself will be a big part of this story, making a refreshing change to Jor-El being the fundamental character to tell Krypton’s story.

In ‘Superman: Unlimited‘ readers can expect a whole tonne of fun, including the introduction of power generators which allow anyone the ability to get super-powers. As we have seen with the current story arc in that title, Kryptonite is much easier to get a hold of now, and we are going to be seeing it everywhere, which allows us and Superman a new problem that he hasn’t faced before and we are of course going to see much more of Superman’s conflict with Kryptonite King. Another thing that writer Dan Slott, teased for the series is the supporting cast and where they are going to be during this conflict… Jimmy Olsen will find himself running the Gotham edition of the Daily Planet in which will see him own his very own ‘Bat-Signal Watch’ and Steve Lombard is set to find himself in a city. Dan Slott was reluctant to spoil where that may be, but attendees of the panel suggested it may be fun to place him in Themyscira.

Mark Waid then took to the stage to talk about ‘Action Comics‘, in the last issue we saw a mysterious teacher call in on Clark at the Kent Farm demanding to see Superboy and during the panel Waid confirmed that it was Captain Comet. Captain Comet is an older superhero who is established in his field and for some reason, he doesn’t quite trust the notion of Superboy. Mark Waid also suggested that a big part of his story of Clark Kent as Superboy is him needing and finding friends and companionship. You can watch my interview with Mark Waid here, to find out more about what’s to come in ‘Action Comics’ and his other titles, including ‘Justice League Unlimited’ and ‘Batman/Superman: World’s Finest’

Phillip Kennedy Johnson was also on hand to talk about his upcoming series ‘Adventures Of Superman: Book Of El‘. During his announcement he suggested that the series is Action Comics meets Samurai Jack and that the Super-Twins – Osul and Otho Ra is set to play a big part in the entire legend of Superman. After a prompt from Morgan Hampton, he also teased that Ellie from ‘Green Lantern War Journal’ would also appear in the series, but wouldn’t give away the how or the why. You can also watch my interview with Phillip Kennedy Johnson here, where we talked about this series in more depth. Here’s a look at some of the art that was featured during the panel:

The entire panel also then teased that whilst these titles are connected in many ways, next year will see them all lead into one new story arc that crosses them all over. Joshua Williamson also ended the panel by teasing that Zod is coming as we have seen from the teasers in the series so far and that he might already be there. Dan Slott then ended the Superman discussion announcing that Jon Kent was making a comeback and that he will be writing that and he also suggested that he has listened to what fans what in that respect, hinting towards a de-aged Jon Kent. It was unclear as to whether this would feature in ‘Superman Unlimited’ or a new or existing title, though that was just a subtle hint.

As a Superman fan and an avid comic book reader, it’s safe to say that there is a lot to be excited for in the coming months!