Review: Superman: Son of Kal-El Vol. 3: Battle for Gamorra hardcover/paperback (DC Comics)

On occasion when there’s a particularly short space between DC Comics events, we sometimes get a brief run of experimental comics (insofar as mainstream superhero comics go “experimental”). The DC You books between Convergence and DC: Rebirth are one such example. Another, as it turns out, is between Infinite Frontier and Dark Crisis, with such 12- to 16-issue titles that rose and fell in the span of a year-ish, including Teen Titans Academy, Batgirls, Deathstroke, Inc., and Superman: Son of Kal-El.

Superman: Son of Kal-El Vol. 3: Battle for Gamorra is a fine conclusion proper for the series (I’m hopeful that a few unresolved threads are tied up in the Superman: Kal-El Returns crossover collection). Son of Kal-El remains as it has always been — philosophically clever and a great rendition of Superman Jon Kent, though largely without real danger or drama.

I’d have been curious to see a second year of this title (and if a book is a miniseries, I wish DC would go ahead and call it a miniseries!) perhaps for writer Tom Taylor to have dispensed with the inaugural scene-setting storyline and gotten down to what the day-to-day looks like for the young Superman. That’s not to be, though I am glad Taylor gets to continue writing, at least for one more miniseries, what I think is the definitive adult Jon Kent.

[Review contains spoilers]

More so, I think, than in previous volumes of Son of Kal-El, Taylor integrates Jon’s having been kidnapped by Ultraman into his character. I still don’t feel this has had a full reckoning — a villain kidnapped and tortured a superhero’s child and held him prisoner for years; Brian Michael Bendis' initial recounting in Superman: The Unity Saga is heartbreaking in the extent to which Superman, Lois, and Jon can’t seem to digest the enormity of what’s happened.

[See the latest DC trade solicitations.]

I know Taylor is going to do more with that soon, so maybe Gamorra sets the groundwork for that. But I thought Taylor did well in presenting the incident through Jon’s narration — never spoken aloud — as Jon fights for people in similar situations — the young metahuman taken from his family, the son forced to fight his own mother. Rather than ignore this hard-to-process trauma from another writer’s title, Taylor uses it as subtle motivation for Jon to do the things he does, and I thought this was wisely understated when other writers would have made it loud and melodramatic.

We started this series in Superman: Son of Kal-El Vol. 1: The Truth, an ironic name since Bendis' Superman Vol. 3: The Truth Revealed was about Superman revealing his identity to the world and Taylor’s was about Jon trying unsuccessfully to create himself a new secret identity. (Clark originally revealed his identity with Jon gone to the future, never perhaps to return until Legion of Super-Heroes ended). Full circle, in the third volume not only is Jon’s identity not secret, but neither is his boyfriend Jay “Gossamer” Nakamura’s, and nor is their relationship.

That’s the end, and a happy one, though I’m curious about the wealth of things that come next and, again, I hope that either in the final issues or the Adventures of Superman miniseries, Taylor gets to address some of that. In the fictional DC world, ideally the young Superman having a boyfriend wouldn’t be a big deal, but I’m interested to see Taylor address any responses, whether positive, negative, or simply the pressure Jon and Jay might face having a celebrity relationship in public. We should also note that Jon just toppled the dictatorial leader of a country where Jay’s mother was previously president; granted they have Henry Bendix’s taped confession, but it’s not a far leap for some circles to claim Jon perpetuated a coup to his loved ones' benefit. I hope that doesn’t get swept under the rug with this series' end.

For a book that’s only five issues, Taylor covers an impressive amount of ground and the book feels longer than its page count. There is Batman out on the porch discovering Pa Kent and Alfred Pennyworth used to chat regularly; there is new billionaire Dick Grayson having a tete-a-tete with Lex Luthor (though that Lex doesn’t know Dick’s secret identity when he still knows Batman’s as of Batman Vol. 6: Abyss is an unfortunate gaffe). Taylor and Nicole Maines also seem to effortlessly introduce Dreamer in media res, giving her a clear origin in a couple of panels without interrupting the already-ongoing story.

Superman: Son of Kal-El Vol. 3: Battle for Gamorra caps off essentially a 15-issue story (plus annual) that felt cohesive throughout and never too long or dawdling. For my tastes, artist Cian Tormey drew close enough to initial series artist John Timms that I’d venture the art is pretty cohesive, too. Hopefully this one gets the all-in-one treatment it deserves; as he’s done before, with this volume Tom Taylor continues to delight.

[Includes original and variant covers]

Rating 2.5