It's a bird...it's a plane...It's Commie Superman!It was alright, but I'm not as in love with Red Son as everyone else seems to be. Intellectually, this is a good Superman What If story. *sigh*But it bored me.Sorry, but I had a hard time not putting this down.I can't give it less than 3 stars, because it really is an ingenious take on Superman. I can't give it more, because I had to put it on the back of my toilet to ensure I would finish it.Recommended for Superman fans looking for a What If co...

This was a re-read for me. This book captures what Elseworlds is all about. Millar, Johnson, and Plunkett have created a fully realized world where Superman landed on Earth 12 hours earlier and so crashlanded in Russia instead. Superman appears in Moscow as an adult and becomes the new red scourge for America in the 50's. Superman allows communism to flourish and spread throughout the world and establishes order whether citizens want it or not. Lex Luthor is still his terrible self but still an

Honestly? The best Superhero comic I've read in years. I might say "The best Superhero comic I've ever read" if not for The Dark Knight and Watchmen. Very clever. Tightly written. Different enough to be interesting, but still true to the original source mythology of Superman. Highly recommended. Even if you don't really give a damn about superheroes.

The idea of reimagining Superman as a Soviet hero instead of an American one could've led to so many great political, moral, and societal questions, but instead Millar goes out of his way to write Superman as the exact same boring, perfect character we've seen for 70 years. We see all the same villains acting pretty much exactly how they always act. He isn't raised by the Kents in Kansas. He's raised in the Ukraine by some farmers we never meet, and yet still has the exact same moral compass as

(A) I don’t like Superman.(B) This is the best Superman story I’ve ever read.Twelve hours. That’s all it would have taken to change the course of history and turn the Superman we have grown up with into someone entirely different – or is he that different after all? In Red Son, the capsule from Krypton lands in Russia instead of the United States and, after the boy’s powers manifest, he is taken and raised by Joseph Stalin himself. Superman grows up a communist but, while he appreciates his adop...

"Yes, it's Superman - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men . . . [who] fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way!" -- from the introduction to the 1952-1958 Adventures of Superman TV seriesSure, that's all well and good because Superman - a.k.a. Kal-El from the doomed planet Krypton - was rocketed to our planet and landed in a Kansas cornfield, soon to be raised by the humble and salt-of-the-eart...

Mark Millar reinvents Superman into a Soviet superhero in this Elseworlds story appropriately named, "Red Son".What if the craft carrying Kal-El landed in Soviet heartland instead of Kansas? Millar writes a compelling and ultimately re-readable story of Superman ended up behind the Iron Curtain. It definitely changed how superheroes emerged for once and a Russian Batman emerges with a different reason for existing. This went one for two-thirds of the story, until Millar revealed his trump card.

Could you imagine if Superman landed in Canada instead of the United States? What if Joe Shuster tried to persuade Jerry Siegel that Clark Kent should grow up on a farm in Alberta or the snowy terrain of northern Manitoba? Or God help us, Newfoundland? What kind of a hero would he be then? Far too polite to get physical.“It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Nah, that’s just Superman, eh.”Fortunately for us, the readers, Mark Millar gives us a more interesting scenario. What if Superman landed in Ukraine a...

"Superman: Pride of the Soviet state, symbol of our military might."Otherworld stories are the best, aren't they? My second read was better than the first because I picked up so many more details. I won't do any summary because it's far too interesting to reveal. This takes place (unofficially) on Earth 30 in the DCU. And let's just say this books contains probably the most fascinating versions of well-known characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Brain...

2012 read: Mark Millar envisages a world where the spacecraft from Krypton crashes into the Soviet Union controlled Ukraine and not the USA! Nice work! 8 out of 12I read the comic books Superman: Red Son #1-3

What if Superman had landed in Soviet Russia instead of Smallville, Kansas? DC's "Elseworlds" series imagines an alternate take on the Superman story with "Comrade Superman" becoming ruler of Soviet Russia, slowly taking over the world while an independent America led by Lex Luthor fights against an increasingly unhinged and totalitarian-minded Man of Steel.Mark Millar has written no less than a masterpiece with "Superman: Red Son". We see the character of Superman evolve from an idealistic youn...

Every culture has its icons. Characters or figures that are recognizable by anybody who lives there, figures that are almost impossible not to know. And America is very good at producing those icons and spreading them worldwide. I remember reading somewhere - I don't remember where at the moment - that the United States' chief export is dreams, and I think there's definitely something to that.Of all the dreams to emerge from the American subconscious over the last century, Superman is one of the...

Coulda Been a Contender...What if Superman had crash-landed and grown up in the Soviet Union rather than in the United States? What if he was… oh my God, dare I spell it out… a “commie”?! What would he be like? Would we still cheer him on? How would the Cold War have turned out? The premise behind Superman: Red Son is as obvious as it is intriguing: in the tradition of Watchmen, it allows – theoretically, at least – for an investigation of the genre’s underlying ideological and political assumpt...

Mark Millar’s got the alternate reality/universe/elseworlds thing down. Between Superman: Red Son, Ultimate X-Men, and Old Man Logan, he has penned some bomb-ass shit. He’s got some haters out there. He certainly isn’t the most sensitive dude. But boy can he write some fun stuff. Anybody that can get me to sit through a Superman book has some talent. Sorry, not a lot of love for the boy in blue.Well in Red Son he’s actually the boy in grey. In this twist of fate story, Kal El crashes in Russia i...

Superman: Red Son is an Elseworlds story that sees Superman landing in the Soviet Union instead of America. The story is comprised of three chapters, and in each, we see Superman grow and change as the world around him does. For the most part, I like this Elseworlds take on Superman. Millar certainly has a knack for writing Superman, and his supporting cast as well.The first two chapters were really good ,in my opinion, as for the third one, not so much.The first critique is a minor one, though,...

Nature or Nurture? Is Superman’s moral code hot-wired in his DNA or did being raised by the do-right Kents help establish his role as the world’s ultimate Boy Scout?What better way to examine this question than for Mark Millar to have Superman’s rocket ship land in a collective farm in Soviet Russia rather than in the American heartland.When Superman’s powers are realized by the Soviet government, Stalin elevates him to become champion of the common worker and a handy tool in the Cold War agains...

Truly one of the great Superman stories, written by early 2000s-era Mark Millar back when the author was in his heyday. This alternate world story exploring the possibility of Superman's rocket crashing in the Soviet Union is, of course, quite political. The communist iconography works great, and the cameos by Stalin and Kennedy are enjoyable for any fans of alternate history. But in a way, it's not about communism and the Soviets specifically. That's the initial premise to be sure, but in the b...

What a fantastic idea. A counter-fantastical take on Superman, where the once Clark Kent comes to Earth in a communal farm in the Ukraine, USSR rather than the Kent farm outside Smallville, USA. Twelve hours difference in Superman's arrival is twelve hours that make all the difference.Soviet Superman works for Stalin instead of Eisenhower, and the Cold War takes a very different turn. The Warsaw Pact comes to dominate the Earth. Nixon is assassinated, Kennedy becomes a debauched old fool, Lex Lu...

Red Son is an elseworlds story positing what might have happened if the pod carrying the infant Superman would have crash landed on a farm in the Soviet Union under Stalin's rule. It's a pretty awesome idea for an elseworlds story, but I thought it could have been much better than it was. I suppose I can cut some slack for the fact that it was only three issues long. The idea behind the overarching plot, though it comes at it from an entirely different setup, is that superheroes have the ability...

The fact that I only became an aficionado of comic books in college while receiving a degree in literary analysis gives me a slightly different take on the medium. For example: my understanding of Superman and Batman come mostly from reading the odder, subversive versions of them (Frank Miller's 'Dark Knight Returns', Loeb's 'Hush', Moore's 'Killing Joke') as well as allusive explorations of what the characters could have been (Astro City, Watchmen, Powers, Invincible, Enigma).Though I do have c...