Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent - Countdown to Injustice

Dawn of DC. Another day, another "bold new era" from a publisher that relaunches itself roughly every two years. At this point the phrase means almost nothing, but Countdown to Injustice is at least trying to make a case for why this one matters, by handing the keys to Jon Kent.

Jon lands on an alternate Earth where Joker has murdered Lois and Jon (the how is unclear but it revolves around him trucking Clark into doing the deed himself through joker toxic mixed with scarecrow venom), and the grief sent this world's Clark spiraling into full authoritarian mode. A Superman ruling with an iron fist instead of an open hand. Jon, still very much himself, ends up face to face with the Justice League and his own father, and instead of throwing down, he tries something different: talking. He takes the moral high ground and tries to show them the error of their ways.

Right as we're about to see whether that actually works, whether hugging your dad and telling him to be better actually works, Cyborg blasts Jon into another reality. We're left with a cliffhanger that moves the pieces on the board. Several cliffhangers, actually, all of which are clearly getting saved for later chapters in this event.

We get a story about legacy, morals, heroes and their affection issues. We see how fast the people we trust most can crack under enough grief, the arc spends most of its runtime on reving up the story. The build is patient. The payoff isn't there, at least not yet. It resolves in a fraction of the time it took to set up, which makes the whole thing feel like a really good first act, but not a great one.

Jon earns the moniker. This is a Superman story that's actually interested in what kind of Superman Jon is going to be, and it uses a corrupted version of his father as the mirror to prove it. But, it never shifts into the gear that moment deserves. We get told this is Jon's defining test. We don't quite get to see him pass it, not yet, anyway.

Also it's reliance on multiverses and insistence on forcing a hero shift on us will also rub many the wrong way. Clark is our Superman, why can't Jon stand on his own without the Superman label? This is a constant comic industry issue.

Overall, solid if not wanting intro to the new DC status quo. Good bones, a compelling hook, and a thesis about Jon-as-heart-of-the-DCU that the book believes in more than it proves. It's worth reading if you're tracking the event. Just don't expect it to fully deliver in this volume. But it's still early, time will tell how it stacks up.