{"id":27900,"date":"2023-04-29T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2023-04-29T09:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27900"},"modified":"2023-04-24T08:02:35","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T08:02:35","slug":"superman-batman-saga-of-the-super-sons-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/04\/29\/superman-batman-saga-of-the-super-sons-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Superman\/Batman: Saga of the Super Sons"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Bob Haney<\/strong> & Dick Dillin<\/strong>, with Dennis O\u2019Neil<\/strong>, John Calnan<\/strong>, Ernie Chan<\/strong>, Rich Buckler<\/strong>, Kieron Dwyer<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-6968-5 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

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

The brilliant expediency of the Parallel Earths concept – and especially its contemporary incarnation Infinite Frontier<\/strong> – lends the daftest tale from DC\u2019s vast back catalogue credibility and contemporary resonance, providing a chance that even the hippest and most happening of the modern pantheon can interact with the most utterly outrageous world concept in the company\u2019s nigh-90-year history. It especially doesn\u2019t hurt here, since – following the Rebirth<\/strong> reboot – the actual sons of the Dark Knight and Man of Tomorrow are now part of an established – and therefore \u201creal\u201d – DC Universe.<\/p>\n

Thus, this collection of well-told but initially \u201cimaginary\u201d tales from 1972 to 1976, supplemented by some episodes from more self-conscious times, results from another earnest opportunity to make the fundamental allure of stuffy adult characters relevant to kids and teens.<\/p>\n

Written by Bob Haney and drawn by Dick Dillin, The Super-Sons<\/strong> appeared without prior preamble or fanfare in World\u2019s Finest Comics<\/strong> #215, (cover-dated January 1973, and hitting newsstands mid-October 1972). It was a tough time for superhero comics, but a great era for teen rebels. Those free-wheeling, easy-rider, end of the flower-power days generated a huge (and lasting) societal refocussing on \u201cteen consciousness\u201d, and the \u201cGeneration Gap\u201d was a phrase on almost every lip.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t hurt that the concept was already tried and tested. Both Man of Steel and Caped Crusader had already been seen as younger versions of themselves many times over the years, and the evergreen dream of characters who would more closely resonate with youngsters never died in editors\u2019 minds. After all, hadn\u2019t original Boy Wonder Robin<\/strong> been created to give readers someone to closely identify with?<\/p>\n

The editors – Murray Boltinoff and E. Nelson Bridwell – clearly saw a way to make their perilously old-school so-very establishment characters instantly pertinent and relevant. Being mercifully oblivious to the more onerous constraints of continuity – some would say logic – they simply and immediately generated tales of the maverick sons of the World\u2019s Finest heroes out of whole cloth.<\/p>\n

\u2026And smartly-constructed, well told tales they are. Debut outing \u2018Saga of the Super Sons!\u2019 <\/em>(inked by Henry Scarpelli) sees the young warriors as fully realised young rebels running away from home – on the inevitable motorcycle – and encountering a scurrilous gang-lord.<\/p>\n

But worry not, their paternalistic parents are keeping a wary eye on the lads! Speaking as one of the original target market for this experiment, I can admit the parental overview grated then and still does, but as there were so many sequels, enough reader must have liked it\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018Little Town with a Big Secret!\u2019 <\/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\u2019s tight murder-mystery yarn.<\/p>\n

Crafted by the same team, WF<\/strong> # 221 (January-February 1974) featured \u2018Cry Not for My Forsaken Son!\u2019 <\/em>depicting a troubled runaway boy discovering the difference between merit and worth, and the value of a father as opposed to a biological parent, after which #222\u2019s \u2018Evil in Paradise\u2019<\/em>(inked by Vince Colletta) saw young heroes voyage to an undiscovered Eden to resolve the ancient question of whether Man is intrinsically Good or Evil.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Shocking Switch of the Super-Sons\u2019 <\/em>(WF<\/strong> #224, cover dated July-August and also inked by Colletta) took teen rebellion to its logical conclusion when a psychologist convinces the boys to trade fathers, whereas \u2018Crown for a New Batman!\u2019 <\/em>provides a radical change of pace as Bruce Wayne Jr.<\/em> inherits the Mantle and the Mission when dad is murdered!<\/p>\n

Never fear, all is not as it seems, fans! This thriller – guest starring Robin – appeared in WFC<\/strong> #228, and was inked by Tex Blaisdell, who inked Curt Swan, on more traditional Lost Civilisation yarn \u2018The Girl Whom Time Forgot\u2019 <\/em>in WF<\/strong>#230\u2026<\/p>\n

The Relevancy Era was well over by the time Haney, Dillin & Blaisdell crafted \u2018Hero is a Dirty Name\u2019 <\/em>(#231, July 1975), wherein the Sons are forced to question the motivation for heroism in a thriller guest-starring Green Arrow<\/strong> and The Flash<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In #233\u2019s \u2018World Without Men\u2019 <\/em>(inked by John Calnan) the ever-rambling, soul-searching Super-Sons confront sexual equality issues and unravel a crazy plot to supplant human males, after which \u2018The Angel with a Dirty Name\u2019 <\/em>(by the same team in June 1976\u2019s WFC<\/strong> #238) offers a supervillains and monsters slug-fest indistinguishable from any other Fights \u2018n\u2019 Tights tale, before the original series fades out with December\u2019s #242\u2019s in \u2018Town of the Timeless Killers\u2019<\/em>. <\/em>Illustrated by Ernie Chua (nee Chan) & Calnan, it sees the kids trapped in a haunted ghost town and stalked by immortal gunslingers offering a rather low-key and ignominious close to a bold experiment.<\/p>\n

Four years later in mid-March 1980, the boys surprisingly showed up in a momentary revival. Cover-dated June-July and courtesy of Denny O\u2019Neil, Rich Buckler & Dick Giordano in WFC<\/strong> #263, \u2018Final Secret of the Super-Sons\u2019 <\/em>shockingly revealed that the boys were no more than a simulation running on the Man of Steel\u2019s futuristic Super Computer.<\/p>\n

In a grim indication of how much of a chokehold shared continuity had grown into, they then escaped into \u201creality\u201d anyway, accidentally wreaking havoc in a manner The Matrix<\/strong> movies would be proud of\u2026<\/p>\n

The collection concludes in a short tale by Haney & Kieron Dwyer from Elseworlds 80-Page Giant <\/strong>in 1999. \u2018Superman Jr. is No More!\u2019 <\/em>is a charming, fitting conclusion to this odd, charming and idiosyncratic mini-saga, embracing the original conceit as it posits what would happen if Superman died and his boy was forced to take over too soon\u2026<\/p>\n

Supplemented with a full cover gallery by Nick Cardy, Chan, Calnan, Giordano, Ross Andru & Ty Templeton, these classic yarns are packed with potency and wit. If you\u2019ve an open mind and refined sense of adventure, why not take a look at a few gems (and one or two clunkers) from an era where everybody read comics and nobody took them too seriously?
\n\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, with Dennis O\u2019Neil, John Calnan, Ernie Chan, Rich Buckler, Kieron Dwyer & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-6968-5 (TPB\/Digital edition) Are you now old enough to yearn for simpler times? The brilliant expediency of the Parallel Earths concept – and especially its contemporary incarnation Infinite Frontier – lends the daftest … <\/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":[10,76,91,15,316,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batman","category-dc-superhero","category-flash","category-green-arrow","category-super-sons","category-superman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7g0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27900","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=27900"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27904,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27900\/revisions\/27904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}