Superman: Red Son 
 

Writer: Mark Millar

Pencillers: Dave Johnson & Killian Plunkett

Inkers: Andrew Robinson & Walden Wong

Colorist:  Paul Mounts

Letterer: Ken Lopez 
 

Reviewed for Raging Bullets: BulletPoints by Omri Spirman 
 
 

Red Son:  Finally an answer to the ultimate “What if?” question:  What would have happened had Kal-El’s spaceship landed twelve hours later, crashing into the USSR? 
 
 

      To distinguish this review from my previous two, I’ve decided to make this one with the least spoilers as possible. Though this results in a shorter and not so deep examination, we’ll see how it goes. 
 

      Red Son examines what would have happened had Superman’s “Truth, Justice and the American Way” really been “Stalin, Socialism and the International expansion of the Warsaw Pact.”  It is a tale of Superman growing up in rural USSR, and how different the world would have been for that.  A simple enough premise – come to think about it, yet no one tackled this idea before this story’s release in 2003.  Writers avoided this story for fear that their stories simply degenerate into communism vs. democracy plots, which is not the intended focus of this tale.  In Red Son, Millar gives us a politically inclined Superman who sticks to his ideals without defecting to the East, as was expected had this become a story of ideologies.  Despite the difference in political systems, all Superman wants is justice, equality and peace, so some things never change, growing- up environment non withstanding.  So to reiterate – this Elseworlds story is one of Superman growing up under a different environment, which just happens to be communism.  The story is not one of political supremacy nor is it one of lost causes.  It is simply a re-imagined universe, with many familiar elements seen under new lights, and a final realization that some things will never change. 
 

      The first chapter, Red Son Rising, is about Superman’s growing convictions about his place in the world and the USSR specifically, while at the other end of the globe, Luthor’s increasing hatred towards the new Russian superweapon.  We are introduced to a new Lois Lane, married to Luthor given Superman’s absent influence, a government agent Jimmy Olsen, Perry White and even an elder Martha Kent.  Though the characters seem familiar, this new universe’s circumstances have shaped them to be different people – except perhaps Luthor.  Easter eggs galore in this issue with tributes to the first Superman cover, an imaginary novel about Lois Luthor and Superman being lovers, and Stalin – the Man of Steel (fitting name if you ask me).  In the process of finding his identity, Superman forges an alliance with Princess Diana, steals Pyotr Roslov’s (Pete Ross’s) light (sound familiar?) and becomes Stalin’s confidant.  With the appearance of a young Batman, a battle with a Luthor- created Bizarro and a fateful meeting with childhood friend Lana Lazarenko (Lana Lang ring any bells?), the issue ends with Superman finally deciding what he should do about his future. 
 

      Red Son Ascent, the second issue, catches up with us several years later.  The globe is united under Superman’s soviet banner, and only the United States (whatever states are left and have not seceded) and Chile (my native country! Yay!) remain independent, capitalist, struggling economies.  Superman’s enemies are now stronger and more organized, spearheaded externally by Luthor’s constant attempts and internally by a terrorist Batman, the rivalry bearing a strong resemblance to Frank Miller’s DKR and DK2.  After several confrontations with both, Superman loses his allies, makes new enemies and discovers the bitter truth of xenophobia.  Hints towards his downfall and going over the edge begin to appear, and a fortress of solitude is built, showing his ever-growing distance from humanity. 
 

      Red Son Setting is, as its title suggests, the dusk of the child born under a red sun.  Superman has turned into a dictator, with no less than Braniac by his side.  But every dusk is a dawn for someone else, and Luthor’s presidency in the US begins to work miracles socially, scientifically and economically.  Feeling threatened and pushed to the decision by Braniac, general war breaks between the two nations in what becomes a war of DC legends, with Amazon squads, Green Lantern Corps, Superman, Braniac, Luthor’s supersoldiers (Parasite, Doomsday, Metallo, Livewire, Chemo) and more.  But just as the tide is turned and the battle is virtually won, one side comes to a realization, Braniac goes renegade becoming a third party in the battle, and Superman is faced with the ultimate decision his whole life had just summed up to.  Though this ending was a little too fast paced to my taste, the epilogue more than makes up for it.  I really don’t want to ruin the epilogue so all I’ll say is that it examines what happened ‘x’ time after this battle: ‘x’ first being days, then years, then decades and eventually a billion years into the future, setting the stage for yet a new beginning and a new dawn.