Customer Reviews
A Red Son Rises... never to set, hopefully - By: Sam Mackley-Ward, 08 Mar 2008 
I have read this book over ten times so far & am still finding layers I had not seen before. I cannot recommend it enough. Red Son takes Kal-L (note spelling old school Superman fans) & places him in Soviet Russia at the height of Stalin's power. It shows how the world would be if Superman had ultimate power but communist ideals.
The story begins in 1953, continues up to the modern day & far beyond. Superman remains the same kind hearted hero he has always been portrayed as but now his actions have as much political impact as physical particularly with Stalin's influence. As time moves on his responsibility grows & he must decide what to do for the best. America fears this new Soviet weapon & so commission their greatest mind Lex Luthor to come up with a solution. Luthor is portrayed brilliantly here, his genius pouring out of every word & action. When he is first introduced he is learning Urdu from a tape recorder he designed in the washroom, reading Machiavelli's Il principe & playing fourteen games of chess at once, alll in his coffee break.
Millar does a good job of making extraordinary things like this seem simple & relatable to the reader. The Superman presented here is massively powerful but also very human. When he meets Luthor's first but by no means only plan to remove him, a bizzaro-esqe clone, & his true blue spirit is shown as well as his awesome power. He says, in perfect English "Pardon me if my English isn't perfect but I only learned the language ten minutes ago & I'm still having trouble with the grammar but... these shores are off limits comrade." He wants to help everyone but finds that the more responsibility he has the more control he must exert over the people bringing the point that absolute power corrupts, not nessaceraly the man but his ideals. He laments later "Life was so simple in those days: deflecting meteorites, welding tectonic plates, managing a global economy single handedly."
The writing is immensely clever & the art reflects both the idealistic & darker elements of the narritive. Other Dc characters are placed in the story subtly while various political viewpoints both old & contemporary are discussed. The narrative twists & turns & the ending comes as a complete surprise...something very rare in comics.
Ambiguity rules - By: Mr. N. M. Wordsworth, 22 Nov 2007 
Another alternate Superman, this time in an alternate history... Landing 12 hours early, the rocketed alien(?) infant is found & raised in Ukraine instead of Kansas. Growing up to be the Comrade of Steel (successor to Stalin, both in title & in position as Soviet Premier), he upholds the communist philosphy of absolute state control, seeking to create a global utopia with no crime, no poverty, no hunger, no unemployment - & no choice. His noble intentions shine through as always, whatever the outcome.
Why Batman & Wonder Woman also had to be emerge in Russia (whilst Lex Luthor, Lois Lane & Hal Jordan remain Americans) is never quite justified... but it makes for a fascinating story. Casting Batman as terrorist instead of crimefighter may be actuallly more suited to his forbidding image, although he is still a hero & an inspiration in his setting. Luthor, a misanthropic & selfish genius, departs from his usual villainy, yet remains Superman's nemesis as always - representing the Land of the Free, later becoming President & saving America from economic collapse, ultimately the creator of an Earthly paradise. The twist at the end, although corny, completes the inversion of the classic Superman concept.
The defining characteristic of this graphic novel is that one can never define who is hero & who is villain.
Best Elseworlds in years - By: Thor Willy Bakke, 23 Sep 2007 I don't care much for the Elseworlds-titles. Most of them can be classified as complete nonsense, & I rarely pick up any. But the drawings in this one attracted me, so I gave it a try.
Simple the best Elseworlds-title since Gotham by Gaslight (which started the whole thing). It's got marvellous artwork, an exciting & entertaining story, some great plot-twists & a ironic & surprising ending. For once, old familiar heroes reallly were taken in new directions. Heartily recommended to grown-up-fans. It may be a mite to dark for the youngest fans, besides, the more you know about history, the funnier it gets. Like, president Nixon got shot in 1983 & JFK married Marilyn... And this was just a throw-away joke from a team boiling over with ideas.
the adventures of Soviet-Man - By: H, 12 Jan 2007 
A simple premise:- Kal-El lands in rural USSR instead of Kansas. Well written up to a frankly rushed & cliched ending.
That as a young man Kal-El could turn a blind eye to some of the less savoury behaviour of the Soviet leaders did not ring true either.
Still worth the price & more than one read.
A Great What If But..... - By: H. R. Trippett, 21 Jan 2006 So instead of landing in Smalllville USA, Superman finds himself entering the atmosphere hurlterling down towards the Soviet Unions equivelent. Well, well,well you may be thinking so surely Superman won't be the wuss that he is in the normal Superman stories. Hmm well sorry to ruin it for you but he is. It's his good soul you see coming through even when those around him aren't, how should I put it...nice. So you maybe thinking so what we love Superman because he is a "good guy" if he were evil the whole comic wouldn't hold much weight as we'd alll be slave. Yep I agree completely. In this strory Superman tries to save the world in a way similar to the warped logic of Terminators Skynet. What else can I say. Its a reallly good story with reallly good graphics & text, & a reallly reallly corny ending.
Don't take my word for it though. Well worth a read. I may critisise certain things about it I bought it & so should you!!
