Superman: Red Son

Summary: A reimagined Superman, played out as a Cold War story with Superman landing in the 1950s Soviet Union.
As I say in almost all of my posts about graphic novels, this is not my area. I read books that are recommended by people who it is there area, like Seth. It was not Seth that I heard this from first. I heard about it first on a podcast that I do not remember. And then it was in the Christ and Pop Culture best of 2018 series. And there have been others that have recommended it once it was on my radar screen.

I like remakes. I know many people do not, but I like the reimagining of stories. A shot by shot remake is not particularly interesting to me; but a different take, a new character perspective, an alternate timeline, etc., is often interesting.

Complete reimagining like this tends to focus on upsetting our assumptions. Superman in his original conception was the ultimate American, the image of the American Dream. Superman: Red Son imagines Superman as the ultimate communist. One that not only believed in the ideals but tried to enact them and oppose those that were working within communism only for their own power.

I thought the ending was well done and I think really the only option for this type of story. The art was good, but I read this more for the story than the art.

One of the problems with polarization today is that many do not believe that true believers can continue to exist. There is an assumption of only cynical belief, a belief that uses others for their own purposes. Superman here is not a cynical believer, he is a true believer, but one that is not blind to others that are cynical or power hungry, or at least not always blind.

As much as I do think we need to identify mixed motives and motivations, the reality of true belief if something that is important to allow for.

originally posted on my blog at http://bookwi.se/superman-red-son/

That. ENDING. 😮 I'll admit, I wasn't totally feeling it for a good portion. Perhaps it's recent American history, or just American history as a whole, or my distance from the Cold War, but my main thought for much of the book was ‘it's downright bizarre to see the binary thinking of if Superman were raised in the Soviet Union he would have turned into a despot and of course that would never happen in the U.S.' Being raised on propaganda and being guided by suspect political influences to do wrong in the name of an ideology feels like something that could easily happen in the U.S. today. 
Definitely some parallels with the Injustice storyline, Superman in a position of power for the good, which is warped, Batman heading the underground insurrection.  But the one-two punch of the ending, the letter bringing it home, the line of succession and Luthor's part in it, those names and that plan, the cycle of humanity's decisons?! Damn. I get why this one looms large in people's recommendations of Superman comics.