Some thoughts about Dark Crisis: Worlds Without a Justice League: Superman #1

How can Superman and Son make a better universe?

Clark is trying his best to guide Jon to become a better hero but he soon will realize that his kid has his own ideas about how to become his own man.

The tie-ins from this event begin. Is kinda weird that we go into the Multiverse to explore other world considering that concept was sadly overdone by Scott Snyder's Metal events. However, Tom King wants to tell a different kind of story about a father and son... and that automatically makes me worried since we all know that King is very hit and miss, and unfortunately, I think this story is a miss for the most part.

The plot focuses on an alternate reality where Clark actually watched Jon grow this time and in fact that plays a big part on the theme of the book. This is admitedly a pretty neat concept since everyone (even frikking Tom King) realizes that what Brian Bendis did with the character of Jon was a mistake and so they want them to correct it in their own way. The issue is separated in chapters showing the personal growth that Jon has and creates a pretty compelling case about how he different he can be from Clark.

On the other hand, this is King we're talking about and his characterization is messy at best. Let's take for example how Jon right when he was a child starts questioning his father about what he does as a hero instead of, you know, acting like an actual kid. This is not much of a surprise since King has problems writing children (or human beings in general) but considering the premise itself, I was hoping for a follow-up to what Peter Tomasi did with the character and so, this is a letdown. I know that King is playing with the them of Jon thinking he knows better once he becomes an older teenager but once again, it seems like King is overusing his classic "Themes over characterization" angle instead of delivering an actual enjoyable portrayal.

Chris Burham handles the art and the storytelling is pretty on-point as expected although sometimes I feel like the style is overly-detailed, especially the characters.

There's also a second feature focusing on Aquaman written by Brandon Thomas and plays a lot of the ideas about family that he has been handling during his work and is fine overall. Fico Ossio handles the art and while the style looks good, is a bit hard to follow due to the sorta chaotic storytelling.

Not my thing overall, then again, is not like I was expecting something great.