The following article contains spoilers from Action Comics #1050, on sale now from DC Comics.
A new era of Superman begins as the Dawn of DC initiative kicks off in 2023, with the seeds for this bold future coming to fruition in Action Comics #1050. Written and illustrated by many creative teams from the upcoming wave of Superman titles, including the relaunched Superman and Adventures of Superman, the issue has Lex Luthor wipe Clark and Jon Kent's public superhero identities from the general public at a deadly cost. With only a handful of individuals retaining their knowledge of the Men of Steel's secret, Superman faces Luthor in a brutal showdown, but the telepathic attack is only the beginning of a wave of fresh challenges for the father and son.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Action Comics #1050 writers Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Tom Taylor, and Joshua Williamson explained the rationale behind restoring the Supermen's secret identities. They also detailed key moments from the landmark issue and teased what readers can expect as Superman leads the Dawn of DC into 2023.
CBR: The genie's back in the bottle, with Clark and Jon's secret identity back in place. What was it about restoring this concept in this context that appealed to you all?
Tom Taylor: We are starting a new era of Superman. We're starting with two new #1's and [Action Comics] #1051, and we wanted this to be something that anyone in the world could pick up and go, "This is the Superman that we start with in January and in March for Adventures of Superman." We wanted that back on the table, and Josh wanted to write Clark Kent and that dynamic.
We also wanted Jon's secret identity back for the first time. Jon has come back to the planet, and everyone knows who he is. He hasn't been able to be a teenager and walk down the street without cameras in his face. He's basically the most famous person on the planet -- infamous in some people's eyes and famous in others. Anonymity gives us something, and it's a great reward for Jon for everything.
We also wanted Lois Lane to have her identity back. We didn't want her to be relegated to just the wife of Superman. She's one of the greatest defenders of truth and fighters [against] corruption in the world. We wanted that back. We wanted Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lois Lane back [with] Clark Kent, with that dynamic. When this opportunity came up, we talked about it, and we went, "Yeah, let's go for it," especially when we found we had all of those organic building blocks that came from Son of Kal-El and Action Comics, and we could put them together to make this happen with "Project Blackout."
Joshua Williamson: When I got The Flash seven years ago, one of my goals was to touch every piece of the Flash mythology I could. Every single character, every villain, every little bit of it -- [I wanted to] look back at its history and touch everything I could. When we started talking about me working on Superman with these guys, it was the same conversation. We wanted to play with every single piece. We want all the mythology and to be able to touch all of these different things. How do you do that without Clark Kent? It became one of those things that was missing, and we [wanted] to play with all of it. That involved Clark Kent.
We had a lot of conversations about if we were going to do it or not, and then it became a conversation about how we were going to do it. Not only how we were going to do it but what are the after-effects of it, and how does that impact the story moving forward? That impacts some of these character dynamics. Like Tom was saying, Jon finally gets to have a secret identity again and be able to be like, "This is cool for me," but there is also an impact on his relationships with some people. There are going to be some dynamic changes.
I say this after saying, "We're putting all the pieces back on the board!" but we did take Perry White off a little bit even though [he] will be around in some of the stuff I'm doing on Superman. The fact that we got the secret identity back and got to do a new era for Superman, having Perry White shifted over, and having Lois Lane as editor-in-chief of The Daily Planet, we got to play with all these pieces. We didn't want to put everything back in the box. We wanted to put them on the table, play with them, and take them in new directions. We didn't put the genie back in the bottle. We just put all the toys on the table. No toys got put back in a box -- they're all on the table so that we can play with them.
Phillip Kennedy Johnson: When you talk about a character like Superman, who's been around for generations, any big changes from the status quo are the illusion of change. But anybody who has been around as long as Superman actually has seen a gradual shift in the status quo. Nobody knows who he is, then he comes out to Lois, they get married, and they have a son. There has been a slow, glacial change to Superman's status quo. When the secret identity went away, at the time, I thought that was going to be the next slow-moving change to his thing. For someone who is the bastion of truth and justice, for him to tell everyone the truth from a certain perspective made a lot of sense.
When I was writing Action Comics, it was nice for him to be able to tell people, "My name is Clark," instead of saying, "I am Superman," which inherently suggests superiority. He can give them his name. But that came with some big sacrifices, too. Part of that was the Lois and Clark relationship, plus the iconography of the glasses everyone knows. He's a journalist and walks among us. He doesn't float above us in slow-motion. He walks among us, is one of us, and identifies as one of us. While he's walking around us as a normie, something happens, and then the shirt comes open, and he becomes somebody who is going to save us all.
That piece is such an important part of Superman's mythology. This is the beginning of a new Superman era that is a celebration of everything that Superman is -- the globe on top of the Daily Planet building, the S-shield, the fedora, the glasses, Lex Luthor, [and] the iconic rogues' gallery. We want all that stuff. This was the time to bring it back.
A moment of silence for Manchester Black, who was really the face of the Authority team that Grant Morrison and Mikel Janin had put together. Why did Manchester have to pay the ultimate price, as defiantly as ever, leading up to the showdown between Luthor and Superman?
Johnson: Man, you should've read the original draft. It was much darker and felt like something Manchester Black would say when he knew he was about to die. But I was like, "This is rough. I don't think this line belongs in a Superman comic." [laughs]
Williamson: This is also coming out of Dark Crisis, and this is one of the most important parts of Dawn of DC and going back into the light. This is the first comic that is post-Dark Crisis, and Phillip was coming in like, "I'm bringing the darkness in." It was like, "Let's take it down a little bit!' [laughs] It was an early morning conversation when we decided that Black was dying.
Johnson: Probably. I had sent it in the day before, and then I wrote back to [editor] Paul Kaminski, "Stop the presses. Here's a new version of that scene. Use this one," and Paul was like, "Damn, dude." [laughs] I really wanted Manchester to not go softly into the night, to get in one last jab.
Taylor: When we were discussing how the secret identity would work, we were like, "Hold up, we have one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet, these things that could boost his powers and these things that could control him." We both turned to Phillip and were like, "You've played with him for a long time and are super-attached to him. How do you feel about this?" [laughs] You were close to the guy because you had been writing him in this massive epic, so we were like, "This is probably the answer but are you alright with this?" For Phillip, it was like, "Will I kill my darling for you?"
Johnson: It's alright. It was the right move. We were talking about needing a telepath and that it should be a big sacrifice, and I was like, "I've got a guy like that…"
Williamson: I remember when you said that because part of it was whoever Lex picked also had to die, that was a piece of it. I remember we were talking about some different characters, going back and forth, and I remember you saying, "I have somebody, but…" The moment you said it, all of us were like, "Yeah, that's it!" [Then] you were like, "Wait, slow down for a second!" [laughs]
Johnson: It made sense. As soon as I realized it, I was like, "It's got to be this," because even Grant set Manchester up in their miniseries as being a traitor. There was a scene that I think made it into the final version where he says, "I'm in with Superman," and you get the impression that he's still kind of a traitor even then, so it was the only choice.
I was surprised to see Lex and Superman come to blows here because Lex had steadily been building his new Superman Revenge Squad with Metallo and everyone. What was it about putting Luthor behind bars in this story?
Williamson: Here's my question for you -- do you think Lex doesn't want to be behind bars? Do you think it's not part of Lex's whole plan? There's a reason why he starts something. He picked a fight on purpose. Not only does Lex steal his truth from him, but he also suggests that he would steal his marriage and his child. Of course, Clark was going to knock him one. He was picking a fight on purpose. Obviously, there is a lot to be said, and it's an emotional scene, and there are things of truth in there that he's saying in these moments, but he was picking a fight on purpose.
We have to mention the art. How was it working with Clayton Henry, Nick Dragotta, and Mike Perkins to bring this milestone issue to life?
Taylor: It was great, with them being the artists for the series that are coming next. Clayton came on Son of Kal-El for the annual, and straightaway, we were like, "This guy is so good and so perfect for this." Having him for Adventures of Superman and having him tell this story in Action Comics #1050 was really exciting.
Williamson: I've been a fan of Nick's for a long time, and he came up in a couple of conversations in the spring. We had already talked about Jamal Campbell and knew we needed somebody else to work with. I love Nick's work and didn't want him in any way to play second fiddle. We had a couple of conversations, and I met him at San Diego Comic-Con, sat next to a pool, and talked about all this stuff. It was great, and I think Nick is a storytelling genius.
Through our conversations, with his perspective on the characters and Lex, he put a lot in. I gave very few notes on the fight scene. I was like, "I need this to go from A to B, here are the emotions [and] these are the things that need to happen on an emotional level between them in this scene." Nick just ran with it and amped it up. That scene where he kicks the car wasn't in the script. [laughs] The scene said, "People are in danger," and he said, "I'm going to have him kick a car." I was like, "As long as there are people in it." [laughs] That's how I work with Nick. He's great.
Johnson: Ram V and I are good friends. I've been reading Swamp Thing forever, and he and I have very similar sensibilities as far as making everything creepy. [laughs] Mike Perkins was so perfect for it, and when I found out we could get him for Action Comics, I was just blown away. I've been meaning to meet Mike. He lives in the U.K. these days, and I've never met him -- but when I found out he was doing this book, I was super stoked about it.
Tom, I feel like Jon is the only person smiling after the identity wipe. What's his headspace like coming out of Action Comics #1050?
Taylor: This is a bit of a spoiler for Adventures of Superman, but Jon loves it. He feels he's the most free he's ever been. He's been the most famous person on the planet and had cameras in his face and all of this stuff. People still know that Jay is the boyfriend of Superman. They don't know who Superman or Jon is, but they know that Jay kissed him in front of the world's cameras at the end of Issue #15. His identity is gone, but Lex Luthor isn't going to go and mindwipe everybody and say, "Forget who Jay Nakamura is!" That gives us a really interesting dynamic to play with, but for Jon, it's wonderful.
Action Comics #1050 is written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Tom Taylor, and Joshua Williamson, drawn by Mike Perkins, Clayton Henry, and Nick Dragotta, colored by Frank Martin, and lettered by Dave Sharpe. The story continues in Action Comics #1051, on sale Jan. 24 from DC.