Superman: The One Who Fell Review (Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Phil Hester)

Superman’s son Jon is back from being part of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the future and is by his father’s side as Superboy - but, oh no, Superman can suddenly be hurt somehow (and not Jon)! Jon realises he must soon take his father’s place as the new Superman when his dad becomes… The One Who Fell!

Bendis’ reign of boredom on Superman is thankfully over but because I read so little of it I’m not sure if Superman’s contrived vulnerability was set up during his run or whether it’s a premise new writer Philip Kennedy Johnson has come up with. Either way, this ain’t a very good Superman comic.

Both stories are sooooo uninspired. In story #1, Superman and Jon punch insectoid aliens in space. In story #2, Superman and Jon travel to an alien world to punch other insectoid aliens. Woah… so imaginative… And, as if to emphasise further the book’s forgettable mediocrity, there’s Phil Hester and Scott Godlewski’s wholly unremarkable meh art.

I did like some of the father/son material here - about how Jon realises his dad is not the god he once thought he was, is becoming vulnerable, and isn’t long for the world. It’s poignant, sweet and is going to be relatable to a great many readers. The only thing that undermines this decent writing and fine sentiment is knowing that the father in this instance is SUPERMAN, ie. the dude who’s famously died before and come back, and, despite all this table-setting for the next Death of Superman storyline and Jon becoming the new Superman for a while, it’s all pointless because Superman - the real Superman - will come back and become Superman again, like Superman always Superman. Superman.

So yeah, even though Bendis’ generic, underwhelming run on Superman is over, his replacement - who wrote the most generic fantasy book at DC called The Last God and wrote a generic Aliens book at Marvel - is (unfortunately but not unsurprisingly) writing still more generic, underwhelming Superman comics. Don’t expect much with Superman: The One Who Fell, if you’re gonna read it, because you’re not being offered much.