Summer of Superman Special #1 (One Shot)
Scheduled to arrive in stores: April 16, 2025
Cover date: June 2025
“The Past, The Present, The Future”
Writer: Mark Waid, Dan Slott, Joshua Williamson
Artist: Jorge Jiménez
Art Finishes: Belen Ortega
Epilogue Artist: Dan Mora
Cover: Jorge Jiménez and Tomeu Morey
Variant Covers: Mahmud Asrar and Matheus Lopes; John Giang; Alexander Lozano; Chrissie Zillow-Uminga; Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund and Hi-Fi
Reviewed by: Adam Dechanel
Part I:
It is the past, Lana and Clark are sixteen and have been friends for years. Clark feels today is the day to confess his love and to reveal his secret. However love’s young dream was not to last and a familiar villain from the 30th Century appears. Validus, a hulking behemoth with the mind of an infant and the body of a titan is laying waste to the streets of Smallville.
Racing into action as Superboy, Clark draws Validus to the wheat fields, and almost as suddenly as he appears Validus disappears into the time stream, taking Superboy with him! Superboy muses that the Legion placed a mental block on him to forget his future, but despite that Clark’s world implodes when he sees he will never be with Lana.
The mystery remains as Validus vanishes once more and Clark returns to his present, and even as the memories of the timeline fade away, so too did his romantic feelings for Lana though he didn’t understand why… until years later he met his true love, investigative journalist, Lois Lane.
Today, it’s Lana Lang’s wedding day and her turn to marry her true love, John Henry Irons, in the biggest event Smallville has had in some time.
Part II:
As the citizens of Smallville set up for the wedding ceremony, somehow, out of the blue, Validus returns in the exact spot he did years ago but this time the rupture in the time stream has brought with it a devastating storm with three tornadoes tearing up Kansas. As Superman leads Validus away from the people, the Superwomen and the Irons save the people and livestock from the storm. Superman punches Validus so hard the villain appears to vanish back into the time stream. The heroes look around at the devastation and John and Lana make a decision that surprises everyone…
Part III:
They get married and decide to relocate to Smallville full time, committing to rebuilding the town with a focus on solar power, wind energy and renewables. Their decision ensures the people of the town have career opportunities and a promising future.
As the happy couple head off on their honeymoon, Superman enlists the help of Mr. Terrific and newest League recruit Omen to try and use their tech to reopen the time rift and locate Validus. They wonder what the significance of this location is to time. For some reason the anomalies are linked to Kal-El’s arrival on Earth and moments in time connected to him in this specific location.
They are able to pull Validus our of the rift and into the present long enough for Omen’s psychic probe to find the motive to the attacks. As Validus vanishes once again Omen reveals that Validus wasn’t attacking as part of a master plan, rather he was terrified of something and desperately trying to escape.
Epilogue:
Validus crashes through time to the feet of the three strangers. The trio reveal themselves to be Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy (or variants of) in servitude of Darkseid. They are upset with Validus and puzzled as to how he was able to escape. They don’t suspect that Validus was secretly released in an attempt to signal Superman by their prime captive… Booster Gold.
To Be Continued…
Story – 3: I’m not sure what I expected of this Special. I’m glad Lana and John tied the knot but the rest of the book seemed a little dull. The character moments were nice and seeing Clark as Superboy is always awesome. I think the mystery was just a little flat for me. Perhaps because of the pacing of the story already in progress in “Superman” this felt disconnected from it. It wasn’t by any means a bad story, there were some really nice scenes, especially between Lana and Clark. I actually wish the Pete and Clark Ross blink and you’ll miss it cameos were looked into more. I mean this issue was heavy on character drama and Pete was just as much a childhood friend as Lana… and of course in the modern day, Lana and Pete divorced. The story moments that could have created were skimmed over and felt like a missed opportunity.
Art – 4: I really enjoyed the art this issue, there was a fun styling to it and the panel compositions and coloring really lifted the muted storytelling. I do wish each of the Super wedding guests were given a splash panel, seemed a little off that Steel and Superwoman Red weren’t showcased a little more.Cover Art – 4: The often sidelined Super Twins! This is a lovely piece showing Superman leading the newest generation of heroes. I am not a fan of the color palette, the muted coloring and hues rob it slightly of its inherent energy.
Variant Cover (John Giang) – 5: I do love a Lobo cover. It’s always cool to see the Main Man. I really like the style and coloring. Lobo looks like he means business, and the lighting and motion effects overlayed onto the linework really elevate it. Not sure why he’s a variant cover but I’m not complaining.Variant Cover (Alexander Lozano) – 4: A really pretty image And beautifully painted, though I’m not sure it really embodies Supergirl. It does evoke a more coy Kara and that not a bad thing but I’m not sure I can see her going toe to toe with the likes of Solomon Grundy or Rampage, perhaps thats the point of the image though to fool you into thinking she isn’t someone that could defeat the Female Furies without breaking a sweat! Lozano is a fantastic illustrator!Variant Cover (Chrissie Zillow-Uminga) – 5: The love affair with modern audiences discovering Krypto continues! Love this cover! It’s fun, family friendly, bold and unapologetically joyful. Nicely illustrated with clean linework and the colouring gives it a kind of carnival poster feel.Variant Cover (Dan Jurgens) – 5: Clark Kent as Superboy is an aspect of the character I really miss. There is a joy and innocence in his eyes, an aspect of the Clark, that despite the adversity he faced has remained. Dear DC can we have more Clark Kent/Superboy because this is nostalgic goodness. I wish the short story from Waid was expanded upon more and this cover fuels that wish!
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