Ever since acclaimed comic book creator Phillip Kennedy Johnson took the helm on the adventures of Superman, he has steadily been setting up an epic showdown between the Man of Steel and the interstellar tyrant Mongul. The culmination of this begins in October's Action Comics #1036, with the launch of "The Warworld Saga," where Superman leads the latest iteration of The Authority to confront Mongul on his home turf. As hinted in Johnson's work during Future State at the beginning of the year, Superman's journey to Warworld will quickly go off the rails when he arrives in the supervillain's domain.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Johnson teased what readers can expect as Superman blasts off into deep space to take on the cosmic supervillain. He shared what it was like to collaborate with Grant Morrison in order to sync up his Action Comics run with Morrison's Superman and the Authority miniseries and revealed how the stakes for "The Warworld Saga" are poised to change the Superman mythos. Also included are uncolored, unlettered preview pages by series artist Daniel Sampere, along with the standard cover for Action Comics #1036 by Sampere.
CBR: This issue is, in a lot of ways, the culmination of everything that has been brewing since you took the helm on Superman/Action Comics at the start of the year. What is it like to blast Superman off for this epic showdown with Mongul?
Phillip Kennedy Johnson: You're right, Superman's mission on Warworld is where we've been headed all year, arguably since even before Future State with the emergence of a new Mongul. But the journey to Warworld is actually just the BEGINNING of what we've been planning. Future State, the "Golden Age" arc, "The One Who Fell," and now "Warworld Rising" all planted the seeds for what's to come, and Superman's epic and much-anticipated clash with the new Mongul is the beginning of the next chapter. We're playing the long game on this title, and when it's all said and done, Superman fans will have a science fiction epic saga for the ages.
Future State provided a possible roadmap of how this confrontation can go, coupled with Jon Kent's warnings. How is it playing with and subverting those expectations based on that potential roadmap?
The whole time I was scripting the Future State Superman: Worlds of War issues last year, I was also writing the outline for "The Warworld Saga." Future State was always meant to be not just a mission statement for what Superman is, but also a statement to our readers of what they can expect to see in Action Comics this year. If we just ended "Warworld Rising" with a head fake and told readers, "Never mind, everything works out fine," that would have felt like a betrayal. With Future State Superman: Worlds of War, we promised readers a big, epic swing and a kind of Superman story we haven't seen before. We're taking that swing now, and it begins in Action Comics #1036.
Warworld presents a very interesting environment to play in and the latest Mongul is a good parallel to Jon becoming Superman. How is it playing in a space we normally don't see Superman in for an extended period of time?
Johnson: It's a dream come true. I got into comics because of my love for world-building, and because of how freely you can world-build in a medium like comics. Getting to explore a setting like Warworld -- a setting that I think has been a little underserved historically -- and having an opportunity to really flesh it out, to show readers what life would be like in a place like that, is more than I ever dreamed I'd be able to do at DC Comics.
I have SO MUCH I want to show everybody this year and next, and we're going to put as much of that on the page as we can. I want readers to see a colorful character in the background, a statue, a headstone or a fragment of an alien language and be curious about what it means. We'll reveal every secret we can in the pages of Action Comics, and for the things that get left on the cutting room floor, hopefully we'll get opportunities to reveal those in time.
Regarding the new Mongul, we now have the opportunity to create a Mongul who's an even bigger threat than the ones we've known, and more interesting. Having had some time with Clark, Lois, and Jon as a family, seeing how beautiful that relationship is, now we're going to learn what it means to be a son of Mongul on Warworld. What the expectations are, what the dangers are, what this Mongul has been through, what he wants and what he's afraid of. For me, Mongul's story is one of the most interesting aspects of the Warworld Saga, and one of the most heartbreaking.
You've mentioned that Daniel Sampere belongs with the great canon of Superman artists, like Curt Swan and Dan Jurgens. What do you think he uniquely brings to the Superman mythos visually?
Johnson: What Daniel did that was so remarkable was design a Superman that could be the Superman of any era. Look at Daniel's Superman, and you BELIEVE that this is the Superman of Joe Shuster, Curt Swan, John Byrne, Jerry Ordway, Frank Quitely, Ivan Reis and all the other classic versions wrapped into one design. His Superman has this imposing, unstoppable-looking frame, but with Daniel's mastery over the facial expressions, he can also look gentle, compassionate and humble while sacrificing none of his determination or strength. Daniel just GETS Superman, and it shows in every panel.
I've spoken with Grant Morrison and they said you've been working together to bring this vision of the Authority into the story. How has that process been and taking up the narrative baton from Grant by bringing this team in?
Johnson: It's hard to overstate what a tremendous honor it is working with Grant Morrison. Not only is Grant a creature of purest imagination, they're also a person who knows as much about Superman as anyone I've ever met, and has a PROFOUND love and appreciation for the character. Every conversation is a lesson in Superman, especially from the Silver Age, a period about which I am admittedly a little ignorant, certainly compared to Grant.
Grant and Mikel [Janin] had a very specific story that they wanted to tell with Superman & the Authority, and Daniel and I had ours in Action. Grant was extremely generous in making adjustments to their story to accommodate us in Action, and I tried to return the favor and write beats into the pages of Action that would harmonize with Grant's writing in Superman & the Authority. I LOVE the cast of characters, I love the dynamic of the new team, I'm having a blast writing them, and I hope Grant and I have an opportunity to work together again, because it was an absolute pleasure.
There have been some questions about whether Superman & the Authority and Action Comics connect directly, and I can assure readers that they do. I know Grant's voice and mine are very different, and that it might seem as though we're seeing two different versions of Superman, but I promise, any apparent dissonance between the series will be explained in the pages of Action Comics #1036. That issue is required reading for fans of either title.
Now that we're off-world, what can you tease about Action Comics as we dive into "The Warworld Saga?"
Johnson: I can tell you that by the end of Action Comics #1036, several brand new characters have been introduced, and every one of them has a crucial role to play in what's to come. Action Comics and Superman & the Authority have put all the pieces on the board, and now Action Comics #1036 is the moment when the game really begins. It's the biggest story I've ever told at DC Comics. If you enjoyed the world-building, mythology and lore of DC Black Label's The Last God and want to see that kind of storytelling applied to a flagship DC title, check out what we're doing on Action Comics. "The Warworld Saga" will be a Superman story for the ages.
Created by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Daniel Sampere, with a backup story by Sean Lewis and Sami Basri, Action Comics #1036 goes on sale Oct. 26 from DC Comics.