{"id":18365,"date":"2018-05-15T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-05-15T08:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=18365"},"modified":"2018-05-14T10:16:58","modified_gmt":"2018-05-14T10:16:58","slug":"superman-batman-saga-of-the-super-sons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2018\/05\/15\/superman-batman-saga-of-the-super-sons\/","title":{"rendered":"Superman\/Batman: Saga of the Super Sons"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Bob Haney<\/strong> & Dick Dillin<\/strong>, Dennis O’Neil<\/strong>, John Calnan<\/strong>, Ernie Chan<\/strong>, Rich Buckler<\/strong>, Kieron Dwyer<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-6968-5<\/p>\n

Are you old enough to yearn for simpler times?<\/p>\n

The brilliant expediency of the 52<\/strong> Parallel Earths concept lends the daftest tale from DC’s back catalogue credibility and contemporary resonance since there’s now a chance that even the hippest and most happening of the modern pantheon can visit\/interact with the most outrageous world or concept in DC’s long history. It doesn’t hurt either that following DC’s Rebirth<\/strong> reboot the actual sons of the Dark Knight and Man of Tomorrow are now part of the established – and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153real\u00e2\u20ac\u009d – DC Universe.<\/p>\n

Thus, this collection (available in trade paperback and eBook editions) of well-told \u00e2\u20ac\u0153imaginary\u00e2\u20ac\u009d tales from the 1970s (January 1972-December 1976), supplemented by a few episodes from more self-conscious times, can be re-released with a clear continuity-conscience without even the most strident fan complaining.<\/p>\n

Written by Bob Haney and drawn by Dick Dillin, the Super-Sons appeared with no preamble fanfare in World’s Finest Comics<\/strong> #215, 1972; a bad time for superhero comics, but a great era for teen rebels. Those free-wheeling, easy-rider, end of the flower-power days saw a huge focus on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153teen consciousness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Generation Gap\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was a phrase on many lips.<\/p>\n

The editors clearly saw a way to make arch-establishment characters instantly pertinent and relevant and – being mercifully oblivious to the constraints of continuity (and some would say logic) – simply generated tales of the maverick sons of the World’s Finest heroes out of whole cloth.<\/p>\n

And well-constructed, well told tales they are. In debut outing ‘Saga of the Super Sons!’<\/em> (inked by Henry Scarpelli) the young warriors run away from home – on the inevitable motorcycle, natch! – and encounter a scurrilous gang-lord.<\/p>\n

But worry not, the paternalistic parents are keeping a wary eye on the lads! Speaking as someone who was the target market for this experiment, I can admit that the parental overview grated then and still does, but as there were so many sequels somebody must have liked it.<\/p>\n

‘Little Town with a Big Secret!’<\/em> appeared in the very next issue: another low key human interest tale, but with a science-fiction twist and the superb inking of Murphy Anderson complimenting Haney & Dillin’s murder-mystery yarn.<\/p>\n

Crafted by the same team, WF<\/strong> # 221 featured ‘Cry Not for My Forsaken Son!’<\/em> which showed a troubled runaway boy the difference between merit and worth, and the value of a father as opposed to a biological parent, whilst in #222 ‘Evil in Paradise’ <\/em>(inked by Vince Colletta) the young heroes voyaged to an undiscovered Eden to resolve the ancient question of whether Man is intrinsically Good or Evil.<\/p>\n

‘The Shocking Switch of the Super-Sons’<\/em> (WF<\/strong> #224, and also inked by Colletta) carried teen rebellion to its most logical conclusion as a psychologist convinces the boys to temporarily trade fathers whereas ‘Crown for a New Batman!’<\/em> provides a radical change of pace as Bruce Wayne Jr.<\/em> inherits the Mantle and the Mission after his father is murdered!<\/p>\n

Never fear, all is not as it seems, fans! This thriller – guest starring Robin<\/em> – first appeared in WF<\/strong> #228, and was inked by Tex Blaisdell, who then inked Curt Swan, on the more traditional Lost Civilisation yarn ‘The Girl Whom Time Forgot’<\/em> in WF<\/strong>#230.<\/p>\n

The Relevancy Era was well over by the time Haney, Dillin & Blaisdell crafted ‘Hero is a Dirty Name’ <\/em>(WF<\/strong> #231), wherein the Sons are forced to question the motivation for heroism, in a thriller also featuring Green Arrow<\/em> and The Flash<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In #233’s ‘World Without Men ‘<\/em>(inked by John Calnan) the ever-questioning rambling Super-Sons tackle sexual equality issues and unravel a crazy plot to supplant human males, after which ‘The Angel with a Dirty Name’ <\/em>(by the same team in WF<\/strong> #238) offers a super-villains ‘n’ monsters slug-fest indistinguishable from any other super tale, before the original series ends with WF<\/strong> #242’s ‘Town of the Timeless Killers’ <\/em>– illustrated by Ernie Chua (nee Chan) & Calnan – wherein the kids are trapped in a haunted ghost town and stalked by immortal gunslingers; an ignominious close to a bold experiment.<\/p>\n

Four years later the boys popped back for a momentary revival in ‘Final Secret of the Super-Sons’ <\/em>(Denny O’Neil, Rich Buckler & Dick Giordano in WF<\/strong> #263, 1980) where it was shockingly revealed that they were no more than a simulation running on Superman’s giant Computer. In a grim indication of how much of a chokehold shared continuity had grown into, they then escaped into \u00e2\u20ac\u0153reality\u00e2\u20ac\u009d anyway to wreak havoc in a manner the Matrix<\/strong> movies would be proud of\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The collection concludes with a short tale by Haney & Kieron Dwyer that appeared in Elseworlds 80-Page Giant <\/strong>in 1999. ‘Superman Jr. is No More!’ <\/em>is a charming and fitting conclusion to this odd, charming and idiosyncratic mini-saga, embracing the original conceit as it posits what wold happen if the Man of Steel died and his boy was forced to take over too soon…<\/p>\n

Supplemented with a full cover gallery by Nick Cardy, Chan, Calnan, Dick Giordano, Ross Andru & Ty Templeton, these classic adventures are packed with potency and wit. If you’ve an open mind and refined sense of fun, why not take a look at a few gems (and one or two duds) from an era where everybody read comics and nobody took them too seriously?
\n\u00c2\u00a9 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1999, 2017 DC Comics. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bob Haney & Dick Dillin, Dennis O’Neil, John Calnan, Ernie Chan, Rich Buckler, Kieron Dwyer & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-6968-5 Are you old enough to yearn for simpler times? The brilliant expediency of the 52 Parallel Earths concept lends the daftest tale from DC’s back catalogue credibility and contemporary resonance since there’s now … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Superman\/Batman: Saga of the Super Sons”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,76,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batman","category-dc-superhero","category-superman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-4Md","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}