Written by: Mark Waid, Dan Slott, Joshua Williamson
Art by: Jorge Jimenez, Belen Ortega, Dan Mora
Letters by: Dave Sharpe
Cover art by: Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey (cover A)
Cover price: $5.99
Release date: April 16, 2025
Summer Of Superman Special #1, by DC Comics on 4/16/25, recounts the wedding of Lana Lang and John Henry Irons when a beast from the future lands in Smallville to interrupt the nuptials.
Is Summer Of Superman Special #1 Good?
Plot Synopsis
Summer Of Superman Special #1 is an anthology that breaks down into three chapters by separate creative teams and an epilogue. This review will cover each section separately with a specific critique before getting into overall impressions.
Chapter One, Written by Mark Waid
In the past, sixteen-year-old Clark Kent sat on his porch with his best friend, Lana Lang. On this day, Clark has decided he wants to be more than friends with Lana, so he plans to tell her his biggest secret. Before he can get the words out, Clark hears a ruckus in the middle of Smallville caused by the unexpected arrival of the mindless brute from the future, Validus. Clark makes a quick excuse to Lana, zips to Main Street, and engages Validus. During the battle, hero and villain are randomly sucked into the Time Stream, where Superboy sees snippets of his past, present, and future, including a flash that confirms Lana Lang won't be his one true love.
Suddenly, Validus is gone, Superboy returns to Smallville, and the memory of the future quickly fades, thanks to a mental block implanted by the Legion. Clark instinctively decides not to tell Lana his secret, but he learns his decision is for the best many years later.
Dan Waid's wholesome Superboy story hits all the right emotional beats and intriguing flashes in this one-and-done story that technically serves as a prologue for things to come. Further, Dan Mora's exquisite art can't be beaten. This short is almost too short to feel complete, but it hits where it counts.
Chapter Two, Written by Dan Slott
Lana Lang and John Henry Irons prepare for their wedding in Smallville. The preparations are in order, but Lana and John have an unexpected talk about timing, given their superhero lives. Ma Kent also gives Pa Kent a stern talking to when he doesn't help with setup due to a pain in his knee that portends bad weather.
Suddenly, Validus emerges from a portal and begins tearing up the town as he did years ago. All supers present suit up and rush to keep Validus contained. Simultaneously, a "storm of the century" breaks out in the middle of nowhere with devastating tornadoes that level the town. Superman concentrates on Validus while the rest of the family works on protecting civilians and mitigating the storm damage.
Suddenly, again, Validus disappears along with the storm. When Nat asks what caused the storm, Superman suddenly launches into a heavy-handed speech about climate change and our responsibility to do better by making responsible choices that will control the weather. The issue ends with Lana and John getting married amid the rubble.
Oof! Dan Slott's first foray into Superman lore starts off great but ends on a note that makes me gravely worried about his contributions to DC moving forward. If a time-traveling brute arrives out of nowhere, and a massive storm arrives with him, that should be a clue that something's off. When the brute mysteriously vanishes, and the storm mysteriously vanishes with him, it doesn't take Batman levels of detecting to figure out there's a connection. Yet, Dan Slott somehow concluded this was the perfect moment to ignore all the clues in front of Superman's face and twist the situation into an opportunity to talk about climate change.
The art is great, and everything up to the end of the fight is strong, but the nonsensical swerve sounds like Dan Slott took very, very bad advice from Tom Taylor or one of the DC editors.
Chapter Three, Written by Joshua Williamson
With John and Lana safely away on their honeymoon, Superman contacts Mr. Terrific and Omen to uncover why Validus keeps appearing in the same spot at different times. Mr. Terrific detects a time rift in Smallville and brings along a containment device that can hold Validus when they bring him out of the shifting moments. Omen is there to probe Validus's childlike mind when he arrives. The experiment works, and Validus is pulled out of the time rift. Superman fights the brute to a standstill while Omen probes for information.
Suddenly, Validus's physical form fluctuates, and he blinks out of existence, back to where he came from. Before the brute left, Omen deduced Validus was scared and on the run from something or someone. The issue ends with an epilogue depicting Validus falling back into the clutches of Darkseid's Legionnaires while Booster Gold (last seen in the All-In Special #1) remains chained nearby.
Overall, the art is super strong, especially with contributions from Dan Mora in the epilogue, and Joshua Williamson's script is a decent pairing with Waid and Slott's scripts. That said, there's a lot of hand-waving that happens to explain Validus's presence, which lowers the satisfaction level.
First Impressions
Overall, not bad. The Summer of Superman Special #1 uses a throughline on two fronts - the long overdue Lana/John wedding and a mystery that gets back to the Absolute Legionnaires - to lay the groundwork for assorted Superman creators moving forward and the futures of the All-In and Absolute imprints. If not for the super-weird swerve by Dan Slott in Chapter Two, this anthology would be an unqualified winner.
How’s the Art?
The art's great. It's tough to credit any one creator since you have a collective of folks working on the comic. Therefore, I'll say the individual character moments land well, the action is great, and the overall visual appeal of the book is on point.
What’s great about Summer Of Superman Special #1?
The comic accomplishes the three things it sets out to do. First, you get a well-done and lore-appropriate wedding between Lana Lang and John Henry Irons that hits all the right, sweet, wholesome notes. Second, you get a minor but intriguing update about what's happening with Darkseid, the Absolute Legionnaires, and Booster Gold since the events of the All-In Special #1. Third, you get a foretaste of the writers who will significantly contribute to Superman comics for the foreseeable future, coinciding with the release of James Gunn's Superman movie in July 2025.
In short, the Summer of Superman Special #1 gets the job done.
What’s not great about Summer Of Superman Special #1?
Two foibles are too big to ignore. First, the smaller of the two is Joshua Williamson's loose narrative concerning where and how Validus traveled through time. The pieces are there, but the connective tissue is lacking. How did Booster Gold know about or facilitate Validus's escape through time when Booster Gold is a chained-up prisoner? How was Validus supposed to be a warning that something is wrong in the future? How did Validus escape into the past on our Earth when the Absolute Legionnaires and Booster Gold currently occupy a different Earth? We've come to expect fast and loose details from Williamson, so this foible isn't a surprise.
Second, the out-of-the-blue, nonsensical swerve into a climate change lecture is not how Dan Slott should have made his debut in DC writing for Superman. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with having a story that focuses on climate change or incorporates climate change into the plot, but it has to fit within the story being told. Here, it not only doesn't fit, it blatantly contradicts the events of the story.
No, Dan Slott. We don't put up with that nonsense here.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
Summer Of Superman Special #1 is a generally solid anthology that does what it sets out to do - complete the long overdue Irons/Lang wedding, update readers on the events from the All-In Special #1, and give readers a taste of what's to come for the Man of Steel. The big question most readers will want answered is - How did Dan Slott do? Well, the jury's still out on that one.
7/10
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