Superman Red Son

The elseworlds title is used for stories that for one reason or another cannot work in the continuity of the DC Universe. One spectacular such story features the story of Superman, if his rocket crashed in the Soviet Union rather than the heartland of the United States. Setting Superman up with a moral system that is eerily twisted from his normal views leaves a strange and unsettling taste in my mouth. In the best possible way. This is everything an elseworld title should be, it takes what we know about Superman and finds a new and insightful way of looking at it. As well as one of the best and most maddening endings which I wont spoil for you here.

With the strength of the man of steel behind him the Soviet Union wins the cold war, the survival of the United States is left solely to the arch enemy of Superman, Lex Luthor. Who they really do write well as his intelligence and ego as well as maddening obsession with Superman are all well intertwined into the proper running of the story. The largest focus of the three-part story is on the idea of where the line of safety and freedom should be drawn, how much of Superman's power should be used to keep us safe? There is an impressive 1984 vibe to this story, one of my favorite literary works of all time. The leader of the resistance against this government is none other than Batman. Those who are interested in who would win in a fight can finally have it answered... somewhat, I do not want to spoil it for you but suffice to say there is interference by an outside force.

A friend of mine described the ending of this mini-series as a massive troll, and I can see why that comes across. This series would have stood up on it's own merits with a more traditional ending so it shows the impact it has when I say that the ending is one of the most memorable things about it. You will be tearing your hair out over it and in my opinion it's just brilliant.

Not only worth a read well worth multiple reads.

8.5/10