Superman: Last Son of Earth
Encyclopedia
Superman: Last Son of Earth is a DC Comics
Elseworlds
tale released in the year 2000
. It was written by Steve Gerber
with art by Doug Wheatley
. There was a sequel in 2003
called Superman: Last Stand on Krypton.
The story is a reverse of the usual Superman
origin with him being sent from Earth
to Krypton
and discovering a power ring
which he uses to become a superhero
. Gerber's focus, however, is more on social commentary
: particularly xenophobia
, cultural stagnation, and authoritarianism
.
is about to crash into Earth. He then builds a rocket that is supposed to carry his wife and son into space. However, his wife would rather stay by his side, and so the son is sent into space. The ship eventually lands on Krypton
and the boy, Clark Kent, is adopted by Jor-El
. Clark eventually finds a Green Lantern ring
and saves Krypton. He eventually uses the ring to recover his memories and he returns to Earth where he meets his love Lois Lane
and his greatest rival Lex Luthor
. Due to Clark's body having adapted to the stronger gravity of Krypton, Clark is a physical powerhouse when he returns to Earth (with superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, and resistance to injury, much like the classic Superman in his earliest appearances), which he discovers when Luthor steals his ring in an attempt to access its power.
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
Elseworlds
Elseworlds
Elseworlds is the publication imprint for a group of comic books produced by DC Comics that take place outside the company's canon. According to its tagline: "In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places — some that have existed, and others...
tale released in the year 2000
2000 in comics
-February:*Strange Adventures vol. 2, #4, final issue cover-dated February - January :* January 5: Goseki Kojima, co-creator of Lone Wolf and Cub, dies at age 71.* January 6: Mad magazine fixture Don Martin dies at age 68....
. It was written by Steve Gerber
Steve Gerber
Stephen Ross "Steve" Gerber was an American comic book writer best known as co-creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck....
with art by Doug Wheatley
Doug Wheatley
Doug Wheatley, sometimes credited as Douglas H. Wheatley or Doug Tropea-Wheatley, is a comic book artist that has illustrated numerous comic books including several Star Wars stories for Dark Horse Comics.-References:* ComiCon.com...
. There was a sequel in 2003
2003 in comics
-January:* January 2: Kid Colt artist Jack Keller dies at age 80.- April :* Action Comics #800: Double-sized anniversary issue, "A Hero's Journey," by Joe Kelly, Pascual Ferry, and Duncan Rouleau...
called Superman: Last Stand on Krypton.
The story is a reverse of the usual Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
origin with him being sent from Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
to Krypton
Krypton (comics)
Krypton is a fictional planet in the DC Comics universe, and the native world of the super-heroes Superman and, in some tellings, Supergirl and Krypto the Superdog. Krypton has been portrayed consistently as having been destroyed just after Superman's flight from the planet, with exact details of...
and discovering a power ring
Power ring (weapon)
A power ring is a fictional object featured in comic book titles published by DC Comics. It first appeared in All-American Comics #16 .-Origin:...
which he uses to become a superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
. Gerber's focus, however, is more on social commentary
Social commentary
Social commentary is the act of rebelling against an individual, or a group of people by rhetorical means, or commentary on social issues or society...
: particularly xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
, cultural stagnation, and authoritarianism
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
.
Plot
In the story Jonathan Kent is a scientific genius who discovers that a meteorMETEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
is about to crash into Earth. He then builds a rocket that is supposed to carry his wife and son into space. However, his wife would rather stay by his side, and so the son is sent into space. The ship eventually lands on Krypton
Krypton (comics)
Krypton is a fictional planet in the DC Comics universe, and the native world of the super-heroes Superman and, in some tellings, Supergirl and Krypto the Superdog. Krypton has been portrayed consistently as having been destroyed just after Superman's flight from the planet, with exact details of...
and the boy, Clark Kent, is adopted by Jor-El
Jor-El
Jor-El is a fictional character, an extraterrestrial in the . He was created by the writer Jerry Siegel and the artist Joe Shuster, and he first appeared in a newspaper comic strip in 1939 as Superman's biological father....
. Clark eventually finds a Green Lantern ring
Power ring (weapon)
A power ring is a fictional object featured in comic book titles published by DC Comics. It first appeared in All-American Comics #16 .-Origin:...
and saves Krypton. He eventually uses the ring to recover his memories and he returns to Earth where he meets his love Lois Lane
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
and his greatest rival Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...
. Due to Clark's body having adapted to the stronger gravity of Krypton, Clark is a physical powerhouse when he returns to Earth (with superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, and resistance to injury, much like the classic Superman in his earliest appearances), which he discovers when Luthor steals his ring in an attempt to access its power.
In other media
- The premise of Superman becoming a Green Lantern on Krypton was visited in mainstream continuity. In JLAJLA (comic book)JLA was a monthly comic book published by DC Comics from January 1997 to April 2006 featuring the Justice League.-Publication history:The low sales of the various Justice League spinoff books by the mid-1990s prompted DC to revamp the League as a single team on a single title...
#8-9, the supervillain known as the Key trapped the Justice League in their own private dreamworlds via a neural virus. In Superman's mind, he was born and raised on a Krypton that had not exploded. One day he discovered the dying Green Lantern Tomar-ReTomar-ReTomar-Re is a fictional DC Comics character, and a member of the Green Lantern Corps. He debuted in Green Lantern #6 in a story written by John Broome with art by Gil Kane.-Fictional character biography:...
crashed on Krypton. Tomar gave Superman his power ring and named him the Green Lantern of Sector 2813. In this fake reality Superman was able to use his ring to trap criminals in the Phantom ZonePhantom ZoneThe Phantom Zone is a fictional prison dimension featured in the Superman comic books and related media published by DC Comics. It first appeared in Adventure Comics #283 , and was created by Robert Bernstein and George Papp...
.
See also
- List of Elseworlds publications
- Batman: In Darkest KnightBatman: In Darkest KnightBatman: In Darkest Knight is a one-shot comic book, published in 1994 and written by Mike W. Barr with art by Jerry Bingham. The comic is an Elseworlds story in which Bruce Wayne becomes the Green Lantern instead of Hal Jordan. This one change creates a domino effect which changes many events and...
, in which BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
discovers the power ring.
