Reviews

It seems like it’s been forever since DC put out an Elseworlds story, which is a shame, since most of the ones I’ve read over the years have been enjoyable.  Now, before I go any further, I have to say that you can’t really read this issue by itself.  You need to read the whole series, which is not a huge commitment, since the series is only three issues long.

 

SPOILER WARNING  As the series title indicates, the premise of this Elseworlds story revolves around what might have happened if the whole El family escaped from Krypton.  Like most Elseworlds stories a lot of the well known story elements remain the same.  The El family settling in Metropolis, the Kents raising Kal-El in Smallville and Kal-El becoming Superman are among the familiar story elements that we still get in this series.  Needless, to say some things are very different from the Superman mythos we are accustomed to such as Kal-El having two younger siblings and Lara preventing the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne.  END SPOILER WARNING

 

 

All in all, writer Cary Bates succeeds in weaving a compelling and deeply personal story about Superman and the people around him.  At the same time, Bates strikes the perfect balance between changing Superman’s mythos enough to make this Elseworlds story different and interesting while, at the same time, keeping things familiar enough so that it doesn’t seem like we’re reading about an entirely different character.

 

Maybe I’m wrong but it seems to me that many comic fans today are only interested in stories set in current continuity.  Anything set in the past or an alternate reality or just anything that does not impact current storylines seems to be ignored.  I hope that does not happen to this series.  When all is said and done of course this series will not have any effect on the current DC universe but that’s no reason not to read it.  If you would like to read a quality self contained Superman story that is different from any you may have read before then this series is for you.

 

Keith Forney