Warning: spoilers for Action Comics #1051 are ahead!Jon Kent's childhood as he grapples with the truth about his father's secret identity, and his burgeoning Kryptonian powers.
The original Lois and Clark series took place shortly before DC's Rebirth era, when the Kents adopted new identities in order to keep Clark's life as Superman a secret from their son, Jon. The series chronicles different periods in Jon's childhood, leading up to his eventual discovery of his father's superhero life and powers. Since Superman's secret identity as Clark Kent has returned to the DC status quo, a sequel to Lois and Clark couldn't have come at a more salient time.
In an interview with writer Dan Jurgens and artist Lee Weeks, we discussed what went into the continuation of this beloved Superman story, and what's ahead for DC's Superman family.
Could give us an overview of what fans can expect from this Lois and Clark story?
Dan Jurgens: I think that the best way to look at it is, this is something that, you know, people will look at it and often ask that question in of plot what happens to Jon, what happens to Clark, what happens to Lois, but really what this is about is the three of them as a family. And it's about how do they interact with one another? What are the extents that Clark and Lois go to in of raising Jon? What is John trying to do in of being a kid, a child of Superman, and in this case, trying to protect his father. And it is just as it was, when we did the miniseries several years ago, a story about this truly extraordinary family, and how they stay together and move forward in a complicated world and a complicated adventure.
Absolutely, and the tensions underlying what is keeping the family together, and which brings me to my next question. Keeping a secret was one of the biggest points from the last series, just in of Lois and Clark keeping Clark's identity a secret from Jon. And it seems like this time around, it's Jon's turn to keep a secret from his family. So what did both of you discover about Jon in writing and drawing him from this standpoint?
Dan Jurgens: Lee, why don't you take this one first?
Lee Weeks: What did I discover about Jon? First and foremost, that it's a little tougher to draw him a little bit older than where we left him. So there are challenges in that. Other than that, just that there have been some challenges to get that sense of just a couple years older than what he was. To be honest, in a lot of ways, I'm one of you guys. And I get to enjoy, you know, the newness of the script every time it comes from Dan. So I'm as much along the ride in some ways as everyone who's reading it.
Dan Jurgens: Yeah, and I would say here that I think what we really want to build in this story is, is that even though he can fly, even though we might have heat vision, this is still Jon, he's still basically like a 10 year old kid. And most 10 year old kids always have a couple of things they don't necessarily want to share with their parents. And in this case, with John, it's the fact that he picked up the Doomsday bone to hide it, because he doesn't want to have anything happen to his parents. He figures that if he's the only person in the world who knows where it is, he can keep it away from all the bad guys and everything else. And some of that, I think we even hint at around the edges a little bit in this story, where for example, we find out that it's Bruce Wayne, who essentially bought the farm and everything after the Kents moved away from it, or the Whites as they were known back in those days. So I think that Jon is also just figuring out how to negotiate this world of complicated secrecy of secret identities and everything else. But in this case, he's absolutely convinced he's the best man for the job. Right?
Absolutely. And to return to you Lee, visually, something that's so striking about Superman in the original series is he's based around stealth and imperceptibility. So since this story seems to be more focused around Jon, what is guiding your art this time around?
Lee Weeks: First and foremost, Dan's script, conversations we've had together and just his sense and then my coming alongside and, just having a sense of what that family is, what their core values are, and such. And then a lot of it is tapping into our own sense of wonder from that age, the memory of it. It feels, I don't want to say easy, because none of this stuff is easy, easy. But it does feel like it is there, you know, this boyhooded-ness, if that's even a word, for Jon.
Like him going to the treehouse, and then also just the image of him opening up the backpack and the glow of light coming from the bone. It's interesting because it's a consequence of violence and danger. But for Jon, he's protecting his family and he has a different viewpoint of it.
Lee Weeks: Based on from what you just said, I just think of when we were growing up, we would go to the treehouse to conjure up these adventures. He's taking the adventure and the danger back to it, so it's like an inverse of the way it actually happened for us as kids, because we would dream up these, you know, crazy, dangerous adventures and stuff. But we'd start at the treehouse and go out, he's going from out back to the treehouse.
I love that. Yeah, it's a great way to put it. Time jumps were an important part of the original story. And this one now takes place several years in the past. So can fans expect these events to tie in with Jon Kent's new adventures at all?
Dan Jurgens: I'm not writing Jon Kent's new adventure, so I don't know. I think as much as anything, this is our story that we're trying to tell that I think very much complements the work that we have done before. And also fits the core ideas that we have about Jon Kent and who he is and who Clark and Lois are, and how they function as a family. So I think as much as anything, we're going to be very consistent with what we had already started on several years ago.
For sure. And as collaborators, what's your favorite part about working together?
Dan Jurgens: Well, I know for me, it's whenever Lee's work comes in, because it's always spectacular. And honest to god, and this is one of the great truisms of working in comics: if you are writing something, and you're working with someone whose work you truly enjoy and ire, when those pages start rolling in every time, it's just a joy to see. And it's certainly that with Lee because I respect his work so much and his approach to telling a story, it fits very much with sort of how I visualize things, you know. If I'm writing for someone else, I always make it clear that I'm not looking for them to draw it the way I would, I want their personality in it. But, at the same time, I think Lee and I have a kind of a common language about what makes a good story, what makes a good comic page, how real estate is distributed among s on a comic page. And it all fits very well.
Lee Weeks: Yeah, and for me, it's as much about just the person who has the gift, the talent, [and] Dan's always been just really welcoming, very generous. I come with a lot of maybe a little uptightness. I want to get things just right. And he's been really generous about encouraging me to express myself within the frame of the book. But one of the things I love about the collaboration is reading through that plot script for the first time. And seeing the couple of you know, the gem moments. I mean, it's all wonderful to draw, but he deposits a good handful of gem moments throughout these little chapters, that just well, they kind of drive me forward, you know. I'm thinking about that moment come forward as I'm building everything leading up to it so that it creates a neat bit of anticipation and excitement for me.
Action Comics #1051 is available from DC Comics now.
