Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 13, 2025 | 3 comments

A terrific series that should still be around today…

By PETE STONE

Before becoming the superstar artist on Batman and Justice League, Jorge Jimenez was the penciller on one of my favorite DC Comics titles from the past 15 years: Super Sons.

It was a wonderful title that continued the legacy of the Big Two heroes from DC — Batman and Superman. When Denny O’Neal worked on the first Ra’s al Ghul saga, he and penciller Bob Brown introduced the sexy and exotic Talia Al Ghul — soon perfected by Neal Adams. Years later, Mike W. Barr and Jerry Bingham created the graphic novel Son of the Demon, in which Batman and Talia have a brief and passionate relationship, which resulted in the birth of a child: the son of Bruce Wayne and grandson of Ra’s al Ghul. Whether he was in canon or not was a question for a long time, but Mark Waid and Alex Ross used him in Kingdom Come.

In Son of the Demon, Talia and Batman’s child is adopted by a young couple.

But it wasn’t until Grant Morrison came along on Batman in 2006 and took the idea to its logical conclusion: The barely adolescent boy, appropriately named Damian, was trained in the ways of the League of Assassins, and was to be his father’s killer and a replacement body for Ra’s al Ghul. Despite the boy’s violent, almost feral side, Bruce Wayne takes him in, and they grow to struggle toward a father/son relationship. Eventually, Damian becomes the fifth Robin — under the tutelage of Dick Grayson, who took over the Bat-mantle when Bruce Wayne was believed dead.

2009

A number of years later — and here’s where it gets really complicated — the Superman and Lois Lane from the pre-New 52 universe return and it’s revealed they have a son, Jonathan. (It’s all very convoluted and not worth explaining here except to say this version of the Kents once again became the Superman Family of the DC Universe.) Anyway, recognizing the potential of these two kids together, DC took a page out of the 1970s and in 2017 gave us Super Sons, a fantastic team-up book by writer Peter J. Tomasi and artist Jorge Jimenez.

2015

The dynamic between the kids was absolutely spot on. Damian initially distrusts Jonathon because of his Kryptonian heritage and, well, the fact that Damian is generally a distrustful, angry, conniving young man. Just like that dude who swings around Gotham City at night in a bat costume, breaking bones and shattering teeth. Eventually, the two young men come to an understanding and actually start to like each other. Of course, they try their level best to stop crime, save cities, and rescue people. Does it always work? Of course not. More often than not, the two dads have to step in and save the day, but the boys are learning how to become moralistic young men who will take their fathers’ places one day.

Allow me a moment of time to express just how good Jimenez was (and is). His covers were absolutely what the combination of Batman and Superman should be. Damian (just like his father) lurks in the shadows and uses gadgets, vehicles, and martial arts while Jonathan (just like his father) flies above the cities through the clouds, bathed in the warm embrace of the yellow sun. Jimenez gives the Super Sons thin, adolescent frames… not the beachball muscles their fathers have. When Jonathan smiles, the world is a better place. He embodies hope and joy, and when Damian smiles, the reader wonders what he’s up to. What kind of devious plan is he cooking up? Jimenez captures the difference between these two young men expertly and subtly.

The action is handled in the same manner. When Damian and Jonathan encounter a six-foot-thick metal door, Damian gestures at the door wryly, fully expecting Jonathon to open it with his powers. “Well,” he would say. “That’s what you’re good for.” Those kinds of scenes are everywhere and make the stories hilarious and charming. Jimenez is the ideal artist in every situation and on every page.

When families would come into Neal Adams’ comic store in California and ask what a good read for their kids was, I would always tell the guys there to recommend Super Sons. It is a solid read without graphic violence and perfect for any kid who wants to read a story about two boys who are their own age. I was always reordering the first collection. My enthusiasm probably helped sell a hundred of them.

Then there was the DC animated movie The Battle of the Super Sons. It is probably my favorite animated DC movie. Starro takes over Batman and Superman, forcing their sons to fight to save their dads and the world itself. There is some motion capture in the animation, making the heroes move more realistically. It’s a really solid story that even my wife loves. The Super Sons are funny and heartfelt. When Jonathan knocks out Batman, he triumphantly says, “I just knocked out Batman… with one punch!” Great bit.

Finally, I always thought it would make a great TV show when the Arrowverse was still around. Two young teenage boys fighting to save the world and trying to become friends simultaneously. With the right casting, I think it would have been epically good. When they adapted Crisis on Infinite Earths, it would have been wonderful to have Damian find a kindred soul in Amell’s Green Arrow or Jonathan shyly introducing himself to the Flash.

All of these possibilities were pretty much lost when DC agreed to age Superboy into a young man and Damian went off in his own direction. Sometimes you can’t see what is right before you. Super Sons — and its sequels, Adventures of the Super Sons and Challenge of the Super Sons, each written by the flawlessly cast Tomasi but with different art teams — is uncomplicated story about friendship and camaraderie between two young boys struggling to find their way in a world of gods. They just want to make their fathers proud of them while becoming best friends.

I cannot recommend this series more highly. Perhaps DC will one day realize that this concept is filled with exactly what comic books should be… hope and morality. There is always room for the darker stories, but Jimenez and Tomasi gave us a moment of beauty and charm with a dash of awkwardness, a helping of decency, and a whole lot of fantastic art.

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MORE

— BURIED TREASURE: Denny O’Neil and Joe Quesada’s BATMAN: SWORD OF AZRAEL. Click here.

— BURIED TREASURE: Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso’s BATMAN: BROKEN CITY. Click here.

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Peter Stone is a writer and son-in-law of the late Neal Adams. Be sure to check out the family’s online Facebook auctions, as well as the NealAdamsStore.com.