It’s been a long time coming, butSupermanis finally forced to deal with his massive Phantom Zone problem - and it’ll all take place in a newAction Comicsstory by Mark Waid and Clayton Henry. ScreenRant spoke with Waid about what’s to come in this twelve-issue weekly run on DC’s most storied title.
Superman heads into the Phantom Zone for a perilous journey- that will lead him all the way back in time to Krypton - beginning inAction Comics#1070 by Waid and Henry. The story, which begins on October 9th, ispart of DC’s All In initiative, which relaunches a number of titles to provide the perfect jumping on point for new readers.
ACTION COMICS #1070 (2024)
October 9th, 2024
Variant Covers:
Wes Craig, Eddy Barrows, Danny Miki, Daniel Sampere, Mark Spears
THE ACTION COMICS WEEKLY STARTS HERE WITH SUPERMAN SUPERSTARS MARK WAID, CLAYTON HENRY, MARIKO TAMAKI, AND SKYLAR PATRIDGE! An otherworldly horror, tearing its way through Metropolis, has emerged from the Phantom Zone. Something’s wrong in the Zone–something terrible–and Superman must enter alone to find out what! From the pages of Absolute Power and Batman/Superman: World’s Finest comes a new Action epic unlike any you’ve seen before from the visionary creative team of Mark Waid and Clayton Henry! Plus, the Woman of Tomorrow is here today! Supergirl Special’s Mariko Tamaki and Skylar Patridge return to bring Kara to the farthest reaches of space in pursuit of a mysterious threat only she can handle.
After speaking with ScreenRant about his newBatman and Robin: Year Oneserieswith Chris Samnee, Waid generously spent some time telling us about his plans forAction Comicsthis fall. Check out the conversation below, edited lightly for clarity, which includes everything from Dante’sInfernoto what Super-Man Kong Kenan will be up to in this monumental weekly story.
Mark Waid Reveals More About Superman’s Journey Through the Phantom Zone
Covers forAction Comics#1071-1075 by Series Artist Clayton Henry
ScreenRant: Could you tell us a little bit about what you’ll be doing inAction Comicsthis fall?
Mark Waid: The Action Comics story is a story that I’ve been telling for over a year in secret. Because we’d always planned it to be twelve consecutive weekly issues, but we had that, and then we had to start a long time ago. But it’s a story I’ve had in my back pocket for a long time, and it addresses the Phantom Zone. It addresses the fact that we have, over the last ten years or so, sort of turned it from an ethereal prison to hell. To just complete hell! And every time I see that, it bothers me that that doesn’t seem like a very Superman thing to do: to send criminals there.
So the story kicks off with an event that shows that the Zone has gotten even worse than Superman has already known it’s been, and he can’t put it off any longer. He’s got to figure out some way to figure out why it’s getting worse - and if it’s possible to fix it. But in fixing it, you might end up destroying it. And if you destroy it, what are you gonna do with all of these superpowered criminals?
Beginning withAction Comics#1070, this run also includes a back-up story starring Supergirl by Mariko Tamaki and Skylar Patridge!
So it is Superman in the Zone on a journey, much like Dante through hell, sort of. Going through the stages of the Phantom Zone and trying to get to the root of it and figure out what the problem is.
SR: Let’s start with Dante! Can you talk a little bit about how you’re thinking about that kind of metaphorical Dante’s journey and how it applies to Superman as both a superhero, but also like, a traditional hero’s journey kind of hero? How does that apply to what’s going on inAction?
MW: It’s always harder to do a real formal hero’s journey with a character like Superman, because he’s not going to change significantly. There’s just not the room for these long standing 85 year-old characters to have radical changes in who they are. Nor should there be! Because we all know what makes Superman Superman at this point.
But on a structural level, yeah, it’s Inferno. It is meeting his Virgil, who is Mon-El, who is a stranger from another planet much like Krypton. A kid that he met when he was a teenager, thinking that they were brothers because this guy had amnesia, but he had Kryptonian powers. Maybe they’re brothers, turns out they’re not. But then Mon-El is poisoned, and the only way to save him is to throw him in the Phantom Zone. So he’s been there ever since, andSuperman has been tryingto figure out a way to heal Mon-El. Has always failed.
New Superman Art Brings Back A Tragic Smallville Cliffhanger (That I Still Can’t Stop Thinking About)
In a moment echoing one of Smallville’s best cliffhangers, Superman is isolated from his friends and family and trapped inside the Phantom Zone.
But there’s Mon-El in the Phantom Zone, basically being his Virgil. And there is a central God in the middle of it. We’ve already met him. his name is Aethyr, and he showed up in the World’s Finest two-parter that was the origin of the Superman / Batman team. #18 and #19, I think it was.
So we’re on a journey to meet that God and to hopefully find some way out of this prison once you are there. And he does! He does find a way out, but not the way he wants to go and not on purpose. And he ends up back on Krypton - before it exploded.
Now he’s got two problems. The Phantom Zone’s still falling apart, and he’s stranded on a red sun planet with no powers and no way of getting home and no time machine. And what the hell is he going to do?
Superman’s Original Planet, Krypton, Is One of DC’s Great Tragedies
Main Cover forAction Comics#1076 by Clayton Henry
SR: Because this is what happens when we’re just playing in the space, I’m bringing up another epic poem - because I always think about Superman alongside Milton’sParadise Lost. So if we’re going to talk about Dante, I feel like we have to talk about Milton as well. And this idea ofParadise Lost- you bring up Krypton before its fall, right? Its explosion, and the Phantom Zone as a kind of hell as well. So I’m not exactly sure what I’m asking other than I’m making a connection that is very purely mine, but we have these ideas of “Paradise” and “Hell” in Superman lore: Krypton and the Phantom Zone. What’s up with that? That’s the question. [Laughs]
MW: Well, what’s up with that is that it gives me a chance to do one of the things I really like to do, which is to remind people that the tragedy of Krypton is not that it wasn’t some bitter, barren ice world. It wasn’t some planet full of emotionless beings who were hard to identify with. There are times when we feel bad that Krypton exploded. There are also times when we are shown a Krypton that we’re like: well, no big deal. Good riddance. This is not one of those times.
Kryptonians still have great reverence for compassion, kindness, humanity. But their real God, their real North Star, is science.
Superman’s on that planet.He’s looking at roughly three billion people. It’s a smaller population, roughly three billion people who are very much like humans in their attitudes and their moral stances. There is, however, one fundamental difference, and it’s a small one, but it’s an important one. And that is that, as humans - as our best selves in our best world - we value humanity and compassion over pure science. The Kryptonians, that is just a little bit the other way. They still have great reverence for compassion, kindness, humanity. But their real God, their real North Star, is science.
And so navigating that, trying to find a way to connect with those people - because that’s not the world that Kal-El was brought up in - is the challenge for him.
Mark Waid Reveals the Fate of Fan-Favorite Superman Family Characters
Main Cover forAction Comics#1077 by Clayton Henry
SR: So you’re working with Clayton Henry onAction. What’s it been like working with him and seeing the art come in? The covers are gorgeous.
MW: Oh, the covers are gorgeous. The interiors are even better. I mean, there’s such energy and a clean line to what he does. It feels very classic Superman.
At the same time, we have Michael Shelfer doing subplot pages throughout - because I didn’t want to do just twenty pages in every issue with justSuperman in the Phantom Zone, because that’s twelve issues of going without any of the supporting cast. And if you’re in Action Comics as a reader because you enjoy the entire supporting cast, I didn’t want to leave you out for twelve issues.
For more Superman and Superman Family action, fans should check out theSupermantitle, which relaunches with a new story starting in issue #19 by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora, available October 23rd from DC Comics!
So there is a runner of a subplot beginning in the second issue that Michael illustrates, a four or five-page chunk in every issue, that follows Superboy - Conner - and Kong Kenan - the New Super-Man - as they are kidnapped into a Space Museum and trying to figure out what’s going on and how to make their way home. And it’s pretty funny if I do say so myself.
Thanks again to Mark Waid for taking the time to talk about Superman, the Phantom Zone, and even a little bit of epic poetry.Action Comics#1070is available October 9th, 2024 from DC Comics.
Superman
The icon who launched the entire world of superheroes, the last son of Krypton escaped his dying world to crash land on Earth and be raised as Clark Kent. The world knows him better as Superman, the Man of Steel, the leader of the Justice League, and the most well-known hero in the DC Comics Universe. Blessed with the powers of a demigod, Kal-El of Krypton fights enemies both small and cosmic in his endless pursuit of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.
