Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Bruce retiring as CEO to focus on being Batman leads the unscrupulous Maxwell Lord to take over, directly leading to Gotham's gentrification and Bruce's own death years later. This comic also has an interesting role for Lex Luthor. How did you come up with this interpretation of him?

DC Announces Superman: Space Age From Mark Russell and

Outliving One's Offspring: The origin of this continuity's Joker involves him wanting vendetta against Wayne Enterprises because of his daughter Tabitha dying in a fire that was caused under Maxwell Lord's ownership of the company. Pyrrhic Victory: Lex cements his victory over Batman, Wayne Enterprises, and the world the day the world ends. To add insult to injury, the fact that he refused Superman's DNA extraction means nothing of him remains on the new Earth. It is implied that this story is set on a Pre-Crisis universe and the events in the present (1985) take place during the first Crisis.I love that Lois was writing the Kooks and Kranks column. It reminded me of her debut in Action Comics #1 where she was responsible for writing “sob stories.” Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Superman and Batman are never as close here as they are in the comics and most other adaptations. Notably, despite both being active for over 20 years, Superman never learns that Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne, even after Batman’s death.

SUPERMAN: SPACE AGE | DC SUPERMAN: SPACE AGE | DC

Demoted to Extra: The main five Justice League members all get some highlights and character moments except for poor Aquaman, who isn't even seen participating in the final battle. Superman comics were published in the 1960s, but they didn’t lean into contemporary events the way this story does. How did these events shape your version of the character? The 1960s were a turbulent time for our world. While we thrilled to the music of the Beatles, TV shows like Star Trek and spy thrillers like the James Bond movies, outside the realm of entertainment, things were chaotic. America experienced a Presidential assassination, the torrent of the civil rights movement, a high-stakes space race, and the always looming threat of nuclear war. It was a difficult time for everybody, but what if they were Superman?

This story contains examples of:

I love the contrast between Superman's relationship with both of his fathers. What was your take on that? Freudian Excuse: The Joker targets Bruce Wayne because he lost his daughter to the fires the company set when Maxwell Lord was CEO. This story also features other superheroes like Batman and Wonder Woman. What was it like to craft your own version of the DC Universe? TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

SUPERMAN: SPACE AGE | DC

Against my will, yes it did. Especially in the end when there's the nuclear crisis. I am not going to say I'm a fan of Superman IV, but there are a lot of nods in this book to both the films and the past Superman comics. That might have been an unintentional Easter egg on my part. Red Herring: Kryptonite's existence and potential as a weapon is mentioned repeatedly, but never used, even when Otis expends Lex's resources to buy some. Bittersweet Ending: Superman dies, but his actions gave everyone on his Earth a new chance at life and gave an alternate Superman a whole Earth's worth of hope. Uniting the critically acclaimed writer Mark Russell and Eisner-winner Mike Allred for the first time, this series promises fans an unforgettable journey through U.S. history and culture starring our beloved characters.Chekhov's Gunman: Brainiac shows our Superman a world that had already destroyed itself, leaving only its Superman, in an attempt to get him to join him. Superman decides to give that world renewed hope by transporting his Earth's inhabitants' DNA structures there. Journalism plays a major role in this story. Can you talk about Superman’s relationship with the medium? Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Lex Luthor is ultimately more of a Batman enemy than a foe of Superman. He competes with Bruce Wayne at the beginning of the story, and is sent to prison before Superman becomes publicly known. When he's released 20 years later, he focuses his efforts on trying to absorb Wayne Enterprises, dismissing Otis' idea to use Kryptonite against Superman, and never directly confronts the Man of Steel once in this story. This is a dream project for me,” said Mark Russell. “Not only because I get to work with a genius like Mike Allred, but because I’ve always found Superman such a philosophically fascinating character, one which forces us to ask how different would the world be if we chose to be our best selves?”