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Blogathon 2003, Post #42
Pen-Elayne For Your Thoughts – SUPERMAN: RED SON #1 (Red Son Rising) and #2 (Red Son Ascendant)

Writer: Mark Millar
Penciller: Dave Johnson
Inker: Andrew Robinson
Letterer: Ken Lopez
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Editors: Mike McAvennie, then Tom Palmer Jr.
Published by DC Comics

Here's what I thought:

Warning: May Be Spoilers Ahead

But probably not that many spoilers, because it's too late and I'm way too off my game to discuss this in specifics (all due apologies to the fine creative team on this endeavor). 'S okay, wasn’t my plan anyway. This "what if" story (DC calls them "Elseworlds") takes a speculative look at what the Superman mythos might have been like had young Kal-El's rocket crashed in '30s Siberia rather than Smallville, and had the boy been brought up by the Politburo. The art makes terrific use of shadows, and Mounts' coloring is very complimentary to Robinson's light inks on Johnson (whose pencils remind me a bit of Michael Lark's). The real plot point I wanted to raise with this series, which I'm enjoying a lot overall (some nice twists and turns featuring familiar DCU characters), is Millar's de facto assumption that, as Superman (quite reluctantly, as it's shown) takes over the leadership of the Soviet Union upon the death of Stalin (the "Man of Steel"), there’s widespread underground protest against him basically bettering Soviet lives (in ways that Stalin obviously never did). I'm afraid I don't quite buy his logic. I know it's a take on the old "bird in a gilded cage" trope, and in a society such as the US (or even the UK to an extent) I can see where the idea of individual liberty would be so powerful as to overcome any notion that people can be cared for by a government. But in a socialist or communist country? I don't think so; I think most Soviets would have been enraptured at this fortunate turn of events, having someone in charge with the power and the will to truly carry out the wishes of the people and not put himself above them. In any case, I'd be curious as to what others more coherent than I think of this.

In fact, what did y'all think?