THIS WEEK: We sort through the complexity of the Superman Annual: Year One Thousand #1. Plus, a Batman and Lex Luthor team-up in the Justice League: Knight Vision Special #1!
The Superman Year One Thousand Annual #1
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Eddy Barrows and Yasmine Putri
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Ariana Maher
The Legion of Superheroes has not had an easy time in the 21st Century. The comic arguably saw its heyday in the ’80s, peaking in my opinion with The Great Darkness Saga, one of the best DC Comics storylines of all time. And it then went to do some new interesting things throughout the ’90s as well as briefly in the early ’00s, with the Five Years Later era standing out as a highlight.
A few years ago, there were rumors that writer Jonathan Hickman had a pitch for Legion, and while there’s no telling if Hickman’s Legion would have been the one that finally stuck in the 21st Century (or if it would have been as popular as the Krakoa Era X-Men), the Legion’s struggles continued in its absence. The incarnation of the Legion that has shown up most recently came from writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Ryan Sook, and for various reasons it ended up being relatively short-lived, ultimately feeling like it never realized its own aspirations during a jerky, abbreviated run.
So, that brings us to now, with writer Joshua Williamson and artist Hayden Sherman preparing a Legion of Superheroes relaunch, essentially reviving a cult-favorite DC property that has struggled to gain any traction over the past 20 years or so, which is perhaps roughly as long as the Gen Z readers helping propel the Absolute Universe to massive sales success have been alive. And while Legion of Superheroes #1 proper is not due out until September, this week sees Williamson penning a new Superman Annual, subtitled Year One Thousand, that seems to set up and directly tease all that is to come.
Now, to be clear, this comic is not entirely about the Legion. It is also the story in which we learn the specifics of what happened to Superman after last year’s DC KO event, which ended with him vanishing. It builds on the ending to that story, while also using some of the seeds Williamson and his collaborators planted with the Time Trapper character in the one name Superman title, before it deviated into a Superboy Prime book for a bit.
Some fun characters show up in that context, and the comic really looks great, deploying as it does the team of artist Eddy Barrows, colorist Adriano Lucas, and letterer Ariana Maher. Followed by a second story (more on that shortly) illustrated by Yasmine Putri.
Ostensibly, the Year One Thousand main story sees Superman repairing damage done to the time stream by Darkseid, before ending up in a ruined future where he’s dealing with what’s left of the Dark Legion of Superheroes. He’s also trying to get back to Lois Lane, and we get full recap spreads along with entire pages of him in a time void to show us how lost he is and why.
At its core, Year One Thousand is all a time travel and alternate future story, so some level of disorientation is to be expected. It would be weird without it. And while there was some confusion for me, the book mostly holds together well enough. It’s loaded with character reveals that start to feel a bit excessive, especially as we get into the second story, which is directly centered on the Legion itself.
In fact, there’s one page in that section with two big character reveals at once that felt like a bit too much, all before ending with one more character reveal cliffhanger for good measure. I guess I just wanted a little more time to steady myself between gasps, and to get my bearings around what is actually going on. That, however, will presumably be made more clear in the Legion title itself, with this being more a gap bridger with deep cut DC references for continuity sickos.
In the end, this ends up being an interesting-if-disorienting comic, one that gives us a bit of insight into what’s up with Superman lately while also setting the stage for the new Legion, the early previews of which all look excellent. I think the artwork for that preview will be enough to reel in new readers.
Sherman has emerged as a true superstar Big 2 artist, and their linework is massively elevated in the Legion preview by the bright, future-forward colors of Tamra Bonvillain. What remains to be seen, however, is whether people who don’t have a deep knowledge of the Legion — a group that presumably includes the majority of new younger readers — will be able to engage with the complexities of the concept, including the spiderweb of events as laid out in this comic and the many characters it seems bent on repurposing for new uses.
The Round-Up
But Year One Thousand isn’t the only comic this week dealing with DC KO fallout. No, we also get that in the pages of the Justice League – Knight Vision Special #1 by writers Williamson and Mark Waid, artist Miguel Mendonca, colorist Romulo Fajardo, Jr., and letterer Steve Wands. Batman/Luthor is a fun team-up, and I’m glad we get a story leaning into that, anchored thematically around the clever notion that the two actually have quite a few things in common. It also brings back a classic JLA villain whose identity I won’t spoil here, while seeding new storylines (presumably) for the current Justice League Unlimited title. Good stuff use of the annual format all around.- Finally, last can we just take a moment to acknowledge that Hawk-Girl Summer is a super clever title for this year’s summer superhero jam session anthology? Because it is and I think it deserves that.
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