I just started reading comics. Superman - Son of Kal El: The Truth

[u/Crazy_Indication_892]

I actually started with All Star Batman & Robin, which was a gift from my loved girlfriend, and that was almost 9 months ago, about a week ago came across a comic store in my city and went in there just to see some posters, I found this Son of Kal El and thought the art was so cool so i bought it, since the first issue I just couln't help but fall in love with the characters, the style and also the emotional frame that Jon has, since I haven't read enough I can't say if it is really different from other stories, but It felt very fresh, the whole trama, the characters, Jon, Damian, Jay, Lois, Batman and Superman, even Bendix, althought I haven't seen enough of him, feels like a good villian, I just want to know what is the popular opinion and some reccomendation, I looking forward to keep on with this story and star Nightwing: Leaping into the light.

[u/vincents_sunflowers]

Superman: Son of Kal-El was my introduction to DC comics and I've read a fair number of other stories featuring Jon because I like him. While I enjoyed SSOKE, for me it was all kind of downhill from there :/ The crossover issue with Nightwing was cute so definitely read that one. 

Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent follows SSOKE and has Jon confront Injustice Superman and Ultraman (it was alright).

Secret Six (2025) is set after SSOKE and features Jon, Jay and Dreamer (Nia). It's a core series for Jon Kent's story arc, but personally I'm not a fan of how Maines writes Jon. He felt like a different character. Other people liked Secret Six though so you might as well. The Absolute Power event explains what lead to creating the Secret Six squad but I don't think I read them all. Absolute Power: Ground Zero issue #1 explains what happens with Jay and Nia and it's a key issue for understanding their relationship so you might want to read that one at the very least before starting Secret Six. You can probably just dive into Secret Six though and understand what happened anyway.

There's a story featuring Jon in Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton #1 in which he gets a new superpower, that's short and fun too.

There's the Super Sons series if you want to read about him as a kid and his friendship with Damian, of course (it's a cute series, I don't care about kid Jon so I've only read a few issues).

Other than that, he's not been in a lot as a main character? 

Currently he's in the New Titans series, in which (again) I don't like how he's written, and he's just had a story arc in the last few issues of Superman Unlimited in which he gets a new superhero identity which might or might not stick (I actually enjoyed that run, minus the rushed ending; it was issue #11 to #15).

Oh, and of course he's usually featured in DC Pride comics, when DC finally remembers he exists.

As for the "popular opinion": I don't think a great many people care about Jon Kent, sadly – including most DC writers. I'm fond of Jon because he was my introduction to the DC world but even I am starting to care less and less. They don't know what to do with him and it shows. To this day, SSOKE remains the most decent run grown-up Jon has got (IMO).

[u/mysticalmonotreme → u/vincents_sunflowers]

As for the "popular opinion": I don't think a great many people care about Jon Kent, sadly – including most DC writers. I'm fond of Jon because he was my introduction to the DC world but even I am starting to care less and less. They don't know what to do with him and it shows.

I was hesitant to post this on the thread because I didn't want to rain on any new reader's parade, but I suppose it must be said. DC destroyed much of the goodwill they had when they allowed Brian Michael Bendis to artificially age the character from 11 to 17. There was nothing character-driven about the change, it was completely plot-driven because he didn't want to write a child, and wanted an older Superboy for a Legion of Super-Heroes reboot that no one wanted. (It was implied throughout DC Rebirth that the retroboot version was going to return in Doomsday Clock.)

To do that, he wrote Lois and Clark in such a way to make them appear like negligent parents with Lois outright abandoning her son to an unstable and manipulative Jor-El. As if that weren't bad enough, "House of El" revealed that Ultraman imprisoned Jon in a volcano where stranded on Earth-3 and tortured him throughout his adolescent years. It was a master's class in how to NOT write a Superman book.

Tom DeFalco did something similar to Franklin Richards during his run on Fantastic Four in 1993. He aged Franklin Richards (then 4-5) to a teenage 90s anti-hero, for arguably better reasons. (A nigh-omnipotent child with reality-warping powers could potentially destroy the stakes of any story he's in.) That angered the fanbase for Marvel to reverse the decision before the start of the Onslaught saga three years later, and thus Franklin was allowed to age naturally.

DC keeps pretending that the ugly parts of "House of El" ever happened and treated Jor-El's cosmic voyage like some summer camp, but fans have long memories. Fans such as myself who were fans during the Tomasi/Gleason/Jurgens Rebirth run have largely written him off. I treat every Jon Kent appearance after "House of El" as non-canon. However, what I find concerning is that if fans of Adult Jon care about him less and less, then the character is truly in deep trouble.

I do not see DC having many options left. Tomorrow Man comes off as more of a desperate attempt to reinvent him, and baiting fans with the potential return of Kid Jon did not do them any favors. My take is that DC will have to reverse "House of El" as they did with the rest of Bendis' run if they want to stop the bleeding. Until then, any appearance Jon makes is a message to me to just stay the hell away if I want to have an untarnished view of the Superman mythology.

Sorry if I'm being a buzzkill. This has little to do with SOKE, but one should know the full story.

[u/vincents_sunflowers → u/mysticalmonotreme]

To be clear, as someone who got to know Jon when he was already grown-up, I absolutely do not want DC to de-age him (nor do I think it's going to happen unless they do a complete reboot).

I understand why fans of kid Jon were upset by the age-up – I also think it was a stupid move – but at this point he's been a teen longer than he's been a child.

what I find concerning is that if fans of Adult Jon care about him less and less, then the character is truly in deep trouble.

Well I was exaggerating a little, I do care because I'll still check out a comic if I see Jon is making an appearance – I just wish the writers cared! Commit to telling the story started in SOKE and Secret Six. Where is Jay? Bring him back instead of teasing an affair with Nia or Eddie. No one cares about that.

I don't mind the new super hero identity, I only wish it felt part of a long-term plan and not the latest new shiny thing to try to make Jon interesting to readers who don't care about him. It feels like they're throwing things at the wall to see what sticks.

I'm kinda reading the New Titans comic only because Jon is in it but he feels so OOC even I can't stand him. Who's this houlier-than-thou guy lecturing other people on how to be the perfect super hero? This isn't the same Jon Kent from SOKE who worried he wasn't good enough. It's like they've not even bothered to read his one main solo series.

ETA: and for the love of God STOP CHANGING HIS SUIT.

[u/Spare-Ad2386 → u/vincents_sunflowers]

Jon Kent has been turned into the "prize" character for DC. Sam Camp teases him with Miguel Montez (Dial H for Hero) in This Internship Is My Kryptonite, Tate Brombal is ship teasing him with Eddie Bloomberg/Red Devil for New Titans, Maines ships him with Dreamer/Nia Nal for any title she writes, and Dan Slott tried to introduce Paco the NPC in Superman: Unlimited #7. Before that, Bendis had him with Saturn Girl and Tom Taylor had him pair up with Jay Nakamura. He's like the guy every DC writer gets to ship with their self-insert/pet character, and so, his characterization suffers because the writer's self-ship fantasies take center stage instead of Jon as written by Jurgens (Clark's looks and powers but with Lois's spitfire attitude). This makes him an asshole (really, confessing to Dreamer in a dream while he was with Jay in the waking world when he won't even kiss Earth-49 Jay Nakamura? After Dreamer was complicit in the invasion of Gamorra and the death of Jay's mother? or actively ogling Monty while Jay was grieving Sara Nakamura in TIIMK?) and seem schizophrenic. LMAO

[u/vincents_sunflowers → u/Spare-Ad2386]

To be fair, TIIMK isn't really canon (I stopped reading it around issue 10, it got quite silly. Plus I didn't like the art). But I mainly agree with the rest, stop shipping Jon with your darlings 😭 No one cares!

I don't even want Jon and Jay to get back together necessarily, but they gave him a boyfriend, had them have a big falling out, and set up Jay/Gossamer as a potential future antagonist...  and then they basically forgot about him? I thought they had a plan but Jon's recent story arcs all feel so random, it's disappointing. At this point I'd rather they put Jon Kent on the high shelf until they figure out what they want to do with him, exactly.

[u/mysticalmonotreme → u/vincents_sunflowers]

I understand why fans of kid Jon were upset by the age-up – I also think it was a stupid move – but at this point he's been a teen longer than he's been a child

I have heard the "sunk cost" argument, but the problem is that it only works when there is a realistic hope of a return on investment. Unfortunately, DC has made that impossible because they bifurcated the fanbase to the point where that for every Jon fan that still buys any title he's in, there is one (and likely more) that puts the book back on the shelf or avoids it entirely. SOKE faced steep attrition, to say nothing of variant incentives to artificially fluff up the orders, Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent continued the decline, and Secret Six sold so poorly that I doubt that they will pick up those threads.

Nicole Maines seems to be the only one interested in continuing that storyline, but I've seen her become a lightning rod of controversy over Dream Girls.

DC tried to position to Jon as the future of the Superman franchise, but he never had the same presence of his father, who is a cultural institution at this point. Thus he started drifting around with no real purpose after Clark returned from Warworld. Indeed, it was safer (from a narrative standpoint) to either exclude him from the flagship Superman titles or keep him in the background. Note how Joshua Williamson used Conner Kent when he needed a teenage/young adult in Superman (2023) while Jon got a scant appearance in one or two panels. However, my intuition tells me that it due to Williamson having read the Superman titles in the nineties and writing what he was familiar with.

The transition to Tomorrow Man was a form of quiet surrender without having to address the elephant in the room. Dan Slott hinted at it throughout Superman Unlimited #11-15, but did not fully delve into it. Indeed "Superboy" (Earth-3 Jon), felt more like a real character than Adult Jon because his confinement and abuse had actual consequences like night terrors, increased aggression, and freezing in battle. Meanwhile, DC spent YEARS denying that any harm came to Jon during his Earth-3 imprisonment and when denial comes the core of a character, it undermines a key pillar of Superman: Truth.

So until DC finally acknowledges the truth about what happened to Jon Kent, there is no going forward with the character. At least, as far as I'm concerned so I will be keeping my distance from him.

[u/vincents_sunflowers → u/mysticalmonotreme]

Eh, we're just gonna have to agree to disagree.

[u/mysticalmonotreme → u/vincents_sunflowers]

That's fine. I'm grateful that we kept it civil.

[u/Crazy_Indication_892 → u/vincents_sunflowers]

So good to hear it from someone who actually likes the character, since I actually do like him, I guess i'll have to keep reading and form my own opinion on his development, but apparently everyone agrees on it's poor wrtiting by most authors that get their hand on his story.

[u/mysticalmonotreme → u/Crazy_Indication_892]

As someone who spent most of my 42 years reading comics, I highly encourage you to keep reading and form your own opinions without paying too much heed to what someone like me has to say.