2022 Comic Book News Archives
November 29, 2022: Phillip Kennedy Johnson Responds to Fan Complaints Regarding Jon Kent's Age
If you haven't been reading Superman's comic books for some time, you might not be aware that Jon Kent, the son of Superman and Lois Lane, went from being a young boy to a young man in a very short amount of time.Jon went off on a space adventure with his grandfather Jor-El (long story) to broaden his horizons and increase his knowledge of the universe. Unfortunately Jon was sucked in to a black hole and ended up on Earth-3, the home of the Crime Syndicate. He was captured and imprisoned by Ultraman, with his imprisonment lasting for quite a few years before he was finally rescued by Jor-El and sent back to Earth. While seven years had passed for Jon, for his parents, only three weeks had passed since he left. The young 10 year old son they knew three weeks ago was now 17.
Fans were disappointed at the turn of events, feeling like they'd been robbed of stories of a young Jon Kent, and began calling for DC to "de-age" Superman's son. While that story took place in 2018, the complaints have continued unabated.
During our live interview with "Action Comics" writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson on Monday night, a fan called in to ask him about the possibility of taking Jon Kent back to an earlier age.
"People just love talking about this and it's been going on for so long," Phillip Kennedy Johnson responded. "But the thing with Jon Kent is that, as soon as I came on the whole thing, Jon's future had already been settled. [Writer] Tom [Taylor] already had his plans for what he was going to do with the character, everything he was going to do."
"There was all the stuff he'd been through with the Legion, things he was going to do in the 'Superman: Son of Kal-El' title. One of those things of course was him coming out as bisexual, but there were lots of other stories as well. He's been through a lot of stuff and if we were to 'One More Day' Jon - referring to the Spider-Man thing where they just kind 'poofed' it away - if we were to do that, we would be undoing all those stories that happened since then. We'd be screwing over not just Tom Taylor but everyone who'd read any of his books and all that time like none of that happened, like nothing happened in "Legion" would have happened, it would literally be by erasure taking a bisexual character and making them vanish. To take him back to an age before those things happened it just would have been wrong."
"I acknowledged that it was not a popular decision, however to undo it would have been a bigger mistake."
"So there were lots and lots of reasons why it would not happen with or without my help. Even if I pitched them the idea like, 'Hey you know we should make Jon 10 again,' whether that be through some kind of you know magic stuff or discovery of another Jon someplace else or you know some Multiversal whatever, no matter what happened, it would have meant all the other stuff that happened was gone. So there were lots of reasons why we kind of can't go back."
"But one thing I did want, that I did really miss, was seeing the relationship between Superman and Lois and Jon as a young boy, making all the kind of dumb mistakes kids make when he's like frying cats and trying to figure out how to do stuff on the farm. All those things that were just really fun, seeing them on roller coasters, and you know I wanted to get back to all that. It's not so much about Jon, it's about the stories, it's about the feelings that those stories gave us. I'm going to make another analogy, and I'm sorry to go on about this so long, but I feel like it's a big deal and I'm hoping that everyone on Twitter is watching so we can just kind of put this to bed. On on my first "Alien" arc... (All of my stuff I do for "Alien" goes through not just Marvel but also 20th Century. Everyone at 20th Century looks over that stuff too to make sure it all fits the Alien brand). I discovered that anything that has not already happened in an "Alien" film they don't want to see it in the comic either. All they want is like the original dinner scene with Jon Hurt over and over and over and over again. That's all they want. They want to see chess burster, just like they did in the first movie because everyone loved the first movie. But what those kinds of notes don't understand or don't take into account is that they're not trying to just see the one cool thing happen over and over, you're trying to recapture that same feeling of horror and mystery, and you're trying to recapture that feeling in the reader or the viewer. So I'm trying to recapture the magic of the Superman/Jon Kent/Lois Lane relationships without undoing a big important piece of canon."
"Also, side note, the thing that happened with Jon kind of added a more complex layer to Superman that we didn't have before. Superman now has a deep regret that makes him kind of sad, it kind of haunts him, and Lois Lane too, and now it's going to make things a little more complicated with Jon and the super twins, and you know Clark is all up in the middle of that and it makes it, it kind of makes for drama. You know sometimes we see bad things or unfortunate things happen to characters that we love and it allows for these really powerful stories, and I think that the aging up of Jon is a prime example of that where something unfortunate happened to somebody that we care about, and you know what are our favorite characters going to do now after suffering this loss?"
"So that would be my answer about why we're going to leave Jon alone as far as his age."
Hopefully that put that to bed for fans who keep demanding DC "de-age" Jon Kent.
2022 Comic Book News
Listed below are all the Comic News items archived for 2022.- January 11, 2022: Five Preview Pages from Mark Waid and Dan Mora's “Batman/Superman: World's Finest”
- January 11, 2022: “Action Comics #1” with Rocket Stamp to Sell for Over $2 Million
- January 13, 2022: “Action Comics #1” with Rocket Stamp Sells for Over $3 Million
- January 19, 2022: DC Announces “Death of the Justice League” in “Justice League #75”
- January 21, 2022: First Look at Superman/Nightwing Crossover in “Nightwing #89”
- January 22, 2022: DC Announces “Dark Knights of Steel: The Gathering Storm”
- February 3, 2022: Defenders of Truth, Justice and the Prehistoric Way in “The Jurassic League”
- February 9, 2022: DC Announces “Dark Crisis” Comic Book Event
- February 10, 2022: First Look at “Batman/Superman: World's Finest #1”
- February 14, 2022: A Dark Crisis Looms on Free Comic Book Day 2022
- February 14, 2022: Daniel Johnston Posthumously Covers DC
- February 16, 2022: “JLA/Avengers” Crossover Reprinted for Hero Initiative
- February 28, 2022: Superman Content Available on DC Universe Infinite in March 2022
- March 10, 2022: Favorite Superman Comic Book Artist - Poll Results
- March 15, 2022: Auction for “Superman #1” at ComicConnect.com
- March 15, 2022: DC Announces “Dark Crisis: Young Justice” Comic Book Miniseries
- March 15, 2022: DC's Pride 2022 Publishing Plans Announced
- March 17, 2022: Favorite Superman Comic Book Writer - Poll Results
- March 18, 2022: “Superman #1” Sells for $141,450 at Auction
- March 19, 2022: Heritage Auctions Lists Original “Death of Superman” Art by Jon Bogdanove
- March 20, 2022: Mark Waid Discusses “Batman/Superman: World's Finest”
- March 21, 2022: Four Historic Superman Family Prototypes to Sell at Auction
- March 24, 2022: 25 Years Since Electric “Superman Blue”
- March 25, 2022: Comic Book Covers for “Batman/Superman: World's Finest #2”
- March 28, 2022: DC Universe Infinite is Going Global
- March 29, 2022: DC Holds Second DC Round Robin Voting Tournament
- March 31, 2022: Superhero With the Best Villains - Poll Results
- April 4, 2022: A Superman Classic in the Making: “Superman Space Age”
- April 6, 2022: DC Reveals the Cover for the Finale of “Earth-Prime”
- April 6, 2022: DC Announces “Young Justice: Targets” from “Young Justice: Phantoms” Creators
- April 7, 2022: DC Announces “Dark Crisis: Worlds Without a Justice League - Superman #1”
- April 8, 2022: Heritage Auctions Sells Original “Death of Superman” Art by Jon Bogdanove
- April 13, 2022: Mile High Copy of “Superman #1” Sells for Record $5.3 Million
- April 14, 2022: Dreamer Makes Her DC Universe Debut in “Superman: Son of Kal-El #13”
- April 19, 2022: Heritage Auctions Sells Original “Superman Annual #11” Art by Dave Gibbons
- April 21, 2022: Should Zack Snyder Fans Be Angry at “Earth-Prime #2: Superman & Lois”? (The S Files)
- April 22, 2022: DC Celebrates George Perez's Birthday for All of June
- April 29, 2022: Neal Adams, Legendary Comic Book Artist, Dies Aged 80
- May 7, 2022: George Pérez Dies, Aged 67
- May 11, 2022: Meet the Earth-11 Super Heroes of “Multiversity: Teen Justice”
- May 16, 2022: DC Announces “Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen's Boss, Perry White #1”
- May 16, 2022: Rare “Superman #1” Comic Book to Sell at Auction
- May 17, 2022: “Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow” Wins DC Round Robin Voting Tournament
- May 18, 2022: DC Announces “DCeased: War of the Undead Gods”
- May 19, 2022: Superman and Supergirl Receive Eisner Award Nominations
- May 24, 2022: Superman Comic Book Creators Attending HeroesCon
- May 25, 2022: Japanese Superman Manga Series Ending Soon
- May 26, 2022: Fan Interest in “Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow” - Poll Results
- May 30, 2022: Video - Superman Hidden Gems Comics by Superhero Stuff You Should Know
- June 13, 2022: “DC: Mech” Comic Trailer
- June 15, 2022: Superman Returns to Earth in “Action Comics #1047”
- June 16, 2022: Comic Book Artist Tim Sale Dies
- July 20, 2022: DC Comics Panels at San Diego Comic-Con
- July 21, 2022: DC Comics Announces “Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths”
- July 21, 2022: Robert Venditti Working on Sequel to “Superman '78”
- July 24, 2022: DC Announces “Superman: Harvest Youth” Graphic Novel
- July 26, 2022: DC Teases “Death of Superman” Special Announcement
- July 27, 2022: SDCC Report - DC's “Dark Crisis” Panel
- July 27, 2022: DC Announces Death of Superman Anniversary Special with Stories from Original Teams
- July 27, 2022: Tom Taylor and Tom King in Conversation: “DCeased: War of the Undead Gods”
- July 28, 2022: “DC's Saved by the Belle Reve” Arrives August 31
- August 2, 2022: “Superman '78” From Screen to Page
- August 4, 2022: Fan Interest in “The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special” - Poll Results
- August 9, 2022: DCComics.com Rebrands as DC.com
- August 14, 2022: First Look at “Superman: Kal-El Returns Special #1”
- August 18, 2022: First Look at Doombreaker from “Death of Superman” Anniversary Special
- August 22, 2022: Superman Comic Book Creators Attending Conventions This Weekend
- August 24, 2022: Final Order Cut Off for “The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special #1” this Sunday!
- August 24, 2022: Superman Artist Clayton Henry Hates Drawing Windows
- August 27, 2022: “The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special” Comic Trailer
- September 1, 2022: DC and Universal Distribution Enter Into New Distribution Agreement
- September 8, 2022: New Superman Era Starts with “Action Comics #1050”
- September 12, 2022: Auction for “Action Comics #1” CGC 8.5 Restored Copy
- September 12, 2022: DC Announces Superman Panel for New York Comic Con
- September 15, 2022: “Action Comics #1” with Rocket Stamp Sells for $3.4 Million
- September 17, 2022: Who is the Mystery [Redacted] Singer on “Action Comics #1050” Variant Cover?
- September 18, 2022: Get Ready to Meet New Superman Villain - Red Sin
- September 29, 2022: Where Did the Name “Clark Kent” Come From?
- October 5, 2022: DC Unveils New Super-Family Costumes
- October 6, 2022: Superman's Secret Identity - Poll Results
- October 8, 2022: New Era of Superman Starts This January
- October 17, 2022: Revisiting “Superman Blue” Ahead of “Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent”
- October 18, 2022: Superman Comic Book Creators Attending Baltimore Comic-Con
- October 20, 2022: Superman's Secret Identity is... Nabil Fawzi
- October 25, 2022: DC Introduces Digital Collectible Comics Starting With “Superman #1”
- October 27, 2022: “Superman #1” DC Collectible Comic Sold Out!
- October 30, 2022: New Book - DC Greatest Events
- November 9, 2022: RIP Comic Book Artist Carlos Pacheco
- November 10, 2022: 30 Years of Doomsday - A Look at One of Superman's Deadliest Enemies
- November 17, 2022: DC Reveals Mystery Singer on “Batman/Superman: World's Finest #10” Variant Cover
- November 17, 2022: “The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special” Gets Second Printing
- November 18, 2022: “Dawn of DC” Starts in January 2023
- November 20, 2022: DC's “Dark Knights of Steel - Vol. 1” Comic Trailer
- November 23, 2022: Superman's Secret Identity is Coming Back!
- November 29, 2022: Phillip Kennedy Johnson Responds to Fan Complaints Regarding Jon Kent's Age
- November 29, 2022: “Action Comics” Trade Paperback Collections (2016-2022)
- December 8, 2022: Superman Comic Book Interest for 2023 - Poll Results
- December 9, 2022: DC Announces “Superman: Lost” 10-Issue Miniseries
- December 11, 2022: What Happened to Comic Book Cover Dates?
- December 13, 2022: DC Adds “Crisis on Infinite Earths #1” to Digital Collectible Comics
- December 15, 2022: Top 10 Christmas/Holiday Themed Superman Comic Book Covers
- December 15, 2022: Comic Book Reading Habits in 2022 - Poll Results
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