Phillip Kennedy Johnson's Action Comics Epic: The Warworld Saga and Beyond (A New Era for Superman)

A New Era for Superman

Link to Reddit Post

Phillip Kennedy Johnson's Action Comics run and work on Superman in general has been absolutely phenomenal, with a deep understanding and respect for the character combined with ambitious storytelling and world building. 

This post is going to break down what he's done so far, from Future State to the epic Warworld Saga, and Return of Kal-El. I don't want to spoil everything but I will break down interesting details and recap the general events to get people to read them and also catch up for what comes next.

Speaking of, next will be speculation on what's to come in the new era he's leading with Joshua Williamson on Superman and Dan Jurgens and Leah Williams writing stories in AC as well. There is a new status quo for Clark Kent and his whole family, and Superman has a bright and exciting future ahead of him.

 

I. The Future of the Past

Before the Warworld Saga proper, PKJ started off with Future State Worlds of War with artist Mikael Janin and House of El with artist Scott Godlewski. I'll go over them briefly.

Now, the Future State timelines are branches of Hypertime, possible futures that may or may not happen. A lot of them definitely can no longer happen by now. But whether they can still or not, they did foreshadow what could come to the present.

House of El deals with Clark's descendants in the 30th century, allied with Brainiac 4 putting them just some time before the Legion, and working alongside ex-residents of Warworld or Warzoons as well as the United Planets. These descendants include:

• Ronan Kent (the current Superman)
• Rowan Kent (twin sister to Ronan and Blue Lantern)
• Brandon Kent (the previous Superman)
• Theandr Ban-El (daughter of Brandon and a Tamaranean hybrid)
• Alura Van-El (Leader of the Valkyries of the Warworld Engines)
• Khan-El (later revealed as a Phaelosian and husband to Alura)

The villain, the Red King of Apokolips, would be revealed as Pyrrhos, a child of Clark and Circe who had apparently tricked him in the past. Not unlike King Arthur and Morgan le Fay. Kal-El to his descendants other than Pyrrhos would be a legend, who would reveal himself to be alive here. An older patriarch to a dynasty of Supermen, similar to DC One Million/All-Star.

PKJ would return to this timeline briefly with AC Annual 2021, this time as a prequel to the wedding of Alura and Khan when Brandon was not yet retired and Kara is also with them in her Future State form. This time they end up in a future version of the Phantom Zone, revealed to be connected to an old god of the First World, Aethyr, and containing Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, still alive.

An important detail here is that this story is told in the past by a prisoner of Warworld named Byla-Esh, important for later. 

But back to Future State, Worlds of War this time is set in a closer time period. Clark is older with gray hair, and is battling for not only his own life but for the lives and freedoms of all of Warworld in its arena. The action takes place in contrast to a story in present day where we see different perspectives of ordinary people on who they think Superman could've been and who Clark Kent really was.

Now, I have already made a post on this, but Grant Morrison's final work on Superman, Superman & the Authority, in many ways seems like a prequel to these Future State stories with Mikael Janin also on the book. It also has an older Superman with weakening powers, planning to go to Warworld, this time forming and bringing with him a team of young heroes, old villains and anti-heroes to redeem and/or mentor (more on them later), ending with a tease of the new Lightray's connection to the Source. 

This book was originally written for the 5G reboot that did not come to be. In many ways this seems like it could fit as a Future State prequel or its own standalone possible future story, which it can be read in that way too actually. But it did get integrated into the present continuity. More on this later.

Before I get into the three Warworld arcs, it's also important to bring up The Golden Age and One Who Fell arcs as well, a two issue crossover with AC and Superman, and a final Superman arc for Clark (before Jon took over with SoKE) respectively.

Now all of these stories are already great on their own, but they also come together in one epic 3-part saga that's important to know the era to come for Superman next...

II. The Warworld Saga

PKJ's run proper starts with three Warworld arcs. Technically "Warworld Saga" refers to the next two but all three really are one big story that's connected to all those I just mentioned from before. Warworld Rising and the start of Arena has artist Daniel Sampere, who does some beautiful and epic work before moving to Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths.

The big bad of this saga is Mongul, or more specifically the new Mongul, the MDCCXCII (1792nd). PKJ has confirmed that this Mongul is officially Mongul III to us, as the previous one was in Pre-Flashpoint (of which much has been restored) the son of the original too. But he however did not first appear under this run, but Brian Michael Bendis'.

Indeed, at the beginning of this run, PKJ not only respects but makes use of what his predecessor contributed such as the new Mongul, present day United Planets, older Jon etc. Of course, some of Bendis' creative choices were...controversial to say the least. And we'll cover this topic more later.

With a new Mongul comes new origins, lore and worldbuilding for him and all of Warworld, as well as Krypton. A new language, cultural traits such as the chains denoting strength and defeated opponents, the meaning of "Mongul", origins again connected to the First World through the evil old god Olgrun whose aspects were scattered throughout the Multiverse including the diamond on Mongul's chest cannon etc. but I'm getting ahead of myself.

First off, introduced in Rising is a new evolutionary cousin of modern Kryptonians known as Phaelosians are introduced, descendants of a Kryptonian science colony that left the planet for a new one. Similar to Daxamites, but instead of just being weak to lead it seems they have blue energy projection powers instead of heat vision, which considering how long the peoples have been separated makes more sense biologically. Phaelosia would be attacked by Warworld and its people enslaved. Some would buy into the Warworld culture but many learned about and looked up to Superman and his insignia. These include Thao-La who along with others who were sent to lure Superman to Warworld.

Regardless, Clark saw them as his people and was compelled to free them from their slavery like the Space Moses he is, with Jon staying behind as Earth's Superman for a while.

Sidenote: Speaking of, I did touch on that biblical parallels early on in a previous post on Rising. Clark was created by Jewish immigrants modelled after OT figures like Moses and Samson after all. Today, Superman is often compared to Jesus Christ, and as a Catholic I'd say him having Christ-like traits is good, and indeed there actually are a lot of similarities too. It helps that Jesus Himself is also supposed to be a new Moses and also parallels him in many ways, and there are some things He has in common with Clark outside that. But Clark definitely shouldn't be equated to Him. Superman's more like a saint or a prophet than literally God who is man, or a god in general. He's still just a man, but one who represents the best of us. A Superman.

Anyway, it's interesting to see Clark pulling a cosmic Exodus here, and indeed Byla himself references Moses/Jesus/Clark's stories in his talk about Source Myths. Really there's a strong connection to the Fourth World mythos, where the Source is in fact the Presence or Biblical God as well as the originator of DC lowercase gods (confirmed recently but hinted all this time all the way back to Jack Kirby's first use of it). But again I'm getting ahead of myself. One last thing to note of is the Genesis Fragment which had Source energy that powered the WW ships and seemed to empower but severely injure Thao-La when she overdosed on it.

Back to Superman & the Authority, while Clark is still relatively young (has to be at least 40 to have a son who's supposed to be ~11 born after Doomsday killed him IMO) his powers have already started to slightly fade due to space leviathans and radiation poisoning. No mentions of the "truth about Kryptonite" mentioned but PKJ has clarified he knew what it meant from Morrison. It's revealed here that the team was already formed and Bruce knew about it. Batman would team up with them in one-shot too. More on this and how the story fits later.

Before moving on to the Saga proper (Arena and Revolution), Action Comics Annual 2022 with co-writer Simon Spurrier and artist Dale Eaglesham, does an excellent job contrasting the childhoods of Superman and Mongul, with their mothers influences and lessons that they learned. Honestly my favorite single issue of the whole run before #1050, and that's saying a lot. Go read it.

Now, Warworld Arena (art continued by many great artists including Miguel Mendonca, Riccardo Ferderici and Will Conrad) , with the League busy, Superman brings in his new team to free Warworld once and for all. Unfortunately their initial attack ends up disastrous as the United Planets fails to aid them due to the traitorous King of Durla who would later be revealed to be partially responsible for the fall of Phaelosia at the hands of Warworld. They were defeated by Mongul preparing with a Kryptonite spear, the previous Space Leviathans, artificial red suns powering WW, and a his own team of the Unmade: Chaytil, Darling, Orphan, Mother and Teacher. Each later being covered on their origins and histories. Most interesting is Orphan and Darling's connection to the Source Wall and Teacher's use of an "Orphan Box" similar to the Fourth World Mother and Father Boxes used by New Gods.

But how does S&tA fit? Well now it's revealed that Superman's age and powers have been deteriorating for quite some time now but Enchantress had been treating it with magic while Manchester Black helped hide it. Still quite a few inconsistencies, and I do prefer to read S&tA itself as its own thing, but PKJ does manage to make a "canon" version happening off panel plausible in a pretty smart way. 

Now, scattered, imprisoned, "dead" or on the run, the team is defeated. Clark however does not falter or want to retreat and treats the people of Warworld of equal value despite (most of) them not wanting to be freed (yet). He meets Kryl-Ux, who helps him learn more about the Phaelosians, Warworld, the Necropolis, how to fight as a Warzoon gladiator and to use the Genesis energies to partially repower himself. Byla later teaches him more about WW lore.

Important to note here, all previous iterations of Warworld are acknowledged as existing, from Pre-Crisis DC Presents, to Post-Crisis Exile and others, revealed as artificial replicas. This is Warworld Prime, the original with primordial cosmic origins. Fitting since previous versions always were meant to be artificial planets anyway.

Clark goes on to fight in the arena, without taking a single life. Initially mocked with but given respectfully the title of The Unblooded Sword. He instead frees others and break their chains, calling the people to break free from the lies that act as their mental chains too. He showed them Truth, Justice and Hope. This wins the hearts of many, inspiring two Phaelosian children who were previously brainwashed by WW culture Osul-Ra and Otho-Ra to follow him. These two kids about the same age Jon is supposed to be.

To keep this as short with minimal spoilers as I can:

Clark goes on to lead a Revolution which brings together the people of Warworld, rescues most of his team and defeats or turns most of the Unmade. Managing to communicate back home with the Superfamily members (who then face Conduit from Death of Clark Kent), Clark devises a plan to regain his powers while powering others with a White Genesis Sun, and take Olgrun's Flame. Byla is revealed to be a servant of the old gods in the trials leading up to the Flame. Unfortunately things don't go fully as planned, and another traitor reveals himself, but Superman chooses to save Osul-Ra with it instead while Mongul dies in Warworld Apocalypse.

With Warworld free, one traitor redeemed, all heroes of the Authority back on their feet, and Superman young again and stronger than ever, the Saga ends...

...and the stage is set for what comes next.

III. Return of Kal-El and Beyond

Clark returns to Earth, reuniting with Lois, Jon, Kara, Conner and the League, but there are some loose ends and even more new threats to come. He reunites with briefly brings Warworld to Earth's Solar System, brings tech with John Henry and Natasha Irons to Metropolis, and officially takes in the Phaelosian twins into his family. 

Orion, Kalibak, Desaad and Metron however confront Superman regarding Osul's connection to the Flame, which clearly will come back into play. For now however, Clark's new power allows him to beat back the New Gods and protect him while preventing Olgrun from taking over. I am tired of Orion constantly being portrayed as antagonistic in recent stories, but his actions here arguing that New Genesis would better take care of him make sense. Warworld leaves and Chaytil is imprisoned but Kryl-Ux, as the new Mongul, leads those who did not follow Superman.

However, that's not all...

After Dark Crisis, Darkseid is again in charge of Apokolips, and Lex Luthor decides to strike back. He upgrades Metallo, setting up another restoration or elevation of a classic Superman villain, and then uses Manchester Black to create Project Blackout.

Detour, I've discussed elsewhere before, Manchester Black's had an interesting arc across AC #775, Ending Battle, Black Dawn and S&TA. He started off as an anti-hero who looked down on Superman's "outdated" ideals and morals, he tried tricking him into killing him by making illusions of a dead Lois, messed with Jon's powers and more. Yet Superman remained true and proved himself to him every time. He was the first he chose to be part of his team, giving him a chance to be a hero for real, and he accepted.

Him taking it planning to betray him to Lex, but eventually did come to believe in Clark fighting on Warworld and going against the former in his last moments, that's a great move. Even better was Clark reactions to his death, treating him as a friend. 

Back to Luthor, what is Project Blackout?

Simply put, Lex erased the knowledge of Clark and Jon's identities throughout the world, restoring their secrets. On the details of how it works and who remembers, Batman covers that later in the issue, but the great part here is Lex's reason. He knows that the truth lets the world see the Supermen as human. He knows the world needs a Superman, but now he wanted to make him his own and that was in the way.

This was a pretty ingenious way to undo Bendis' version of Truth, without actually undoing it and respecting the good it did. Still, as Bruce discussed, it's ultimately for the best for Clark and his family. Inevitable or not. This does remind me of the Superman 2000 pitch by Grant Morrison, Mark Waid and Mark Millar, which had something similar happen. At this point many of those writers' Superman comics after incorporated many elements of the pitch so it's interesting to see another writer possibly take from it, and in main continuity as part of the new status quo no less.

I do want to highlight Lex's inner thoughts towards Clark's identity. Since Geoff Johns and Gary Franks' Secret Origin is canon again, they once again grew up together on Smallville. Him mentioning his loneliness and Clark revealing himself possibly helping that also reminds me of an important moment in Birthright where Lex breaks down and cries after his new alien detecting device "malfunctioned" by detecting Clark, who quietly disposes of it. It also reminds me of Elliot S! Maggin's portrayal of them, in Bronze Age comics but also in his prose novels Last Son of Krypton and Miracle Monday, where their friendship was heavily explored. Clark's identity being revealed to the world then restored also happened to the latter. Maggin's work definitely has its influence on Superman 2000 and its writers.

I do find it ironically funny that PKJ himself said in an interview that he found Lex growing up with young Clark/Superboy dumb and prefers having them meet in Metropolis. He still incorporates it and does it excellently.

If the well written set-up and motivations and kinetic action from Metropolis to the moon by artist Clayton Henry weren't enough, we have another display of Clark's newfound power, far beyond Lex's new Warworld tech Warsuit and possibly reaching Pre-Crisis levels. Definitely going down in history as one of the iconic Superman vs Lex Luthor battles.

Yes Superman is now more powerful than ever thanks to Genesis or Source energy that was used to create a White Sun. With the Source's association with the Presence/God, Superman is now powered by cosmic divine energy. He'd previously interacted with the Spectre and God in the original Warworld story in DC Presents #27-29, as well as in Elliot S! Maggins aforementioned novels.

I look forward to see Clark use this power in stories to come.

And now...

To sum it up

• Superman is now more powerful than he was before the WWS
• Superman's identity as Clark Kent is a secret once more from the world
• Jon Kent finally has one now after failing his first attempt in SoKE
• The Superfamily (Clark, Kara, Jon, Conner, John Henry, Natasha, Kenan and the Phaelosians Twins) has been formed with a renewed effort to work together
• Metropolis is going to become a new City of Tomorrow again
• Lex Luthor is in prison again
• Warworld is ruled by Phaelosians

This leaves us with a new status quo that is both traditional but also new in many ways. 

From interviews, we'll get more epic long-form storytelling from PKJ as well as back-ups starring young Jon in the past and Power Girl with Dan Jurgens and Leah Williams in Action Comics. Personally I'm a fan of anthology books and in this case AC from the beginning was one so I'm excited for this for sure. 

Jon meanwhile is getting an Adventures of Superman limited series for Tom King to wrap up his Son of Kal-El story, making use of his new Electric Blue powers from Lazarus Planet as well as bringing in Val-Zod of Earth 2 and Ultraman of Earth 3 (who imprisoned Jon for years, responsible for his age-up) in a Multiversal story.

Meanwhile, fresh from Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, Joshua Williamson is writing with Jamal Campbell on art for the main Superman book, relaunching with Clark starring once more, focused on more traditional Superman/Clark Kent stories and making use of the Daily Planet supporting cast. I'm looking forward to see him use Lois, Jimmy and Perry. Bibbo was in AC recently as well, and could fit well here too.

Another contender for best ongoing series from the last year is Mark Waid and Dan Mora's Batman/Superman: World's Finest. Man is this a great book which deserves a whole post on its own, but to speak on recent news itt's just been revealed that the forgotten sidekick Boy Thunder, David Sikela, is actually Magog from Waid and Alex Ross' Kingdom Come. I do wonder if this is Earth 22 Magog as well, who did appear in Infinite Frontier as part of the Injustice League Incarnate. With Kara in Dick Grayson's generation once more, David definitely reminds me of Jason Todd with his place in the family and what happened between him in the Joker. May he be redeemed like him? 

Also, Batman vs Robin mentioned the Sword of Superman from a Pre-Crisis annual issue by Maggin, who emphasized his role as a hero of the universe both from a sci-fi and almost biblical/mystic perspective (he defeats a Vyndktvx like demon in Miracle Monday).Will we see this explored more in either Waid, PKJ, or Williamson's books, or is this just a fun Easter egg?

Guess we'll have to wait and see. So much to look forward to. 

The past year has been great for Superman comics fans but the coming ones may even be better. Here's to 2023!