Starkville’s House of El Podcast

Whether it’s through the movies, TV shows, cartoons, or even radio dramas, we all know plenty about Superman in the main stream media, but sometimes we forget or overlook the presence that Superman has in the comics universe.  One of the things that Derek and I talked about when he was nice enough to offer me a spot in changing things up here on the site was to address the current status quo of what’s going in the Superman Universe.  In this first column, we will cover an important storyline that has ties to the current story in the Superman family of books. NOTE: There are spoilers for the entire story arc contained within.

Last Son

Written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner

Art by Adam Kubert

Last Son, is an interesting arc to say the least. While the story itself is a pretty solid read, it took two years to finish.  Andy Kubert got sick during the run due to undisclosed health issues, and instead of wrapping up in 4 single issues like it was supposed to, the story look place over 3 issues (Action Comics #844-#846 during 2006), and then had to be finished in issue #851 (released in July of 2007) and Action Comics Annual #11 (July 2008).  The story was co-written by the Richard Donner  (the director of first Superman movie) and Geoff Johns (a name you all should have some familiarity with by this point).  The story focuses on the arrival pod from space to Earth containing a small child, (who Superman later figures out is kryptonian) and the ramifications that transpire afterwards.  Clark and Lois adopt the child and name him Chris Kent, but have little time to get to know their new adopted son as various forces (mainly Lex Luthor) all make their play to get their hands on and influence this new Kryptonian child.  To make matter worse, Ursa, Zod, and Non escape from the Phantom Zone in order to take back their son:  who we find out is none other than Chris or “Lor-Zod” as Ursa calls him.  At the same time, several more pods emerge from the sky including scientist Jax-Ur who sends Clark to the Phantom Zone.

While in the zone, Clark meets up with Mon-El, a Daxamite (who, under a Red Sun, has the same powers as Superman does) whom Clark sent to the Phantom Zone to save him from lead poisoning (Lead is Kryptonite to a Daxamite).  Mon-El helps Clark escape, but not before almost dying in the process in a battle against a Phantom Zone prisoner.  Clark uses a pod (the same that Zod, Ursa and Non used) to escape and return to Earth.

Clark returns to a Zod controlled Metropolis where he meets up with Lex Luthor and his Superman Revenge Squad (a team consisting of Bizzaro, Parasite, and Metallo).  Clark, Lex and this revenge squad team up to take out Zod and his troops.  As the “team” heads to the fortress where Zod is held up, Lex pulls a fast one, and activates the Phantom Zone portal in an attempt to trap not only Zod and Ursa, but Clark as well.  The portal opens; pulling Zod and Ursa back in, while Chris keeps it from sucking in Clark.  Chris then scarifies himself to save Clark, and heads into the Phantom Zone.

After the battle, Clark heads to the Fortress of Solitude and opens a communication portal with Mon-El who is searching for Chris in the Phantom Zone.  Mon-El hasn’t found Chris yet, but vows never to stop looking for him.  Mon-El then heads back into the zone, and Clark gives a simple “thank you” as he watches his friend fly into the chaos that is the Phantom Zone.

That’s the “Last Son” story arc.  While it was great to see Donner and Johns write something, the delays definitely hurt the book.  However, some of the characters used in this story have important roles to place in the current over-lapping story taking place in the Superman family of books.  Your best bet is to pick up the handy hardcover of the entire story, which is in stores now.

Next time: Brainiac like you’ve never seen him before!

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 1:52 pm and is filed under News. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.