SUPERMAN: THE STRANGER: Shades of Bat-Man: First Knight — and the Fleischers…
DC in September will launch Superman: The Stranger, a six-issue, monthly Black Label miniseries that puts a modern spin on the Man of Steel in 1938 — very similar to Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins’ Bat-Man: First Knight concept.
“Set in an Art Deco-inspired 1938 Metropolis, the series reimagines Superman’s earliest adventures through a modern storytelling lens while drawing heavily from the visual language of DC’s Golden Age of comic books and the Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons,” DC said in its announcement. The Stranger will be written and illustrated by Wes Craig.
Issue #1 main cover by Wes Craig
“Superman is my favorite hero. Always has been,” Craig said. “I grew up on Christopher Reeve and John Byrne’s interpretation, then his animated adventures and All-Star Superman as I grew older. His mythology always changing with the times. But the version I love the most and the one that I think, strangely, reflects our modern world best, is the original. You strip away the extra powers, you strip away Ma and Pa Kent, and Smallville and Krypton, you boil it down to that explosive first issue of Action Comics, and you have this vital, powerful myth of a brash young man with incredible powers fighting against a corrupt city. That’s the story I want to tell.”
DC further described the series: “In Superman: The Stranger, readers will follow Superman at the very beginning of his journey. During the day, Clark Kent does what he can to make ends meet in the bustling city of Metropolis, but when the sun goes down, he leaps into action to keep the city streets safe. As Superman, Clark fights for a better tomorrow, but he feels like he’s not affecting change. The rich keep getting richer, and the poor struggle to survive. Can Superman truly save the downtrodden?”
Issue #1 is due September 2, 2026, and will feature variant covers by Dave Johnson, Goran Parlov, and Ethan Young. All covers will be printed on cardstock and $4.99 each.
Dave Johnson variant
Ethan Young variant
Goran Parlov variant, borrowing heavily from Christopher Reeve
I’m definitely down to check this one out.
—
MORE
— Beautiful! Dig BILL MORRISON’s Utterly Exquisite Homage to FLEISCHER SUPERMAN. Click here.
— The TOP 13 FLEISCHER SUPERMAN Cartoons. Click here.
June 17, 2026
I love the Bat-Man: First Knight stories by Jurgens and Perkins, so I will probably check this out. However, I’m leery of this statement: “ The rich keep getting richer, and the poor struggle to survive.” I don’t want it to be a 2026 rant set in 1938. If the Haves and Have Nots are going to be a theme in this story, it needs to be told as it would have been told or reported in 1938. After all, greed affects the struggling as well as the rich. And that’s not a popular point of view to have.
(No, I’m not rich (far from it); I have worked hard for what I have and have learned to be content with what I have. But I recognize my struggles are different than others.)
June 17, 2026
i agree it needs to be written with the 1930s problems in mind. If it’s a period piece then immerse us in the period. Of course the problems of the Great Depression reflect our current era of great inflation.. they both take workers and the poor to similar places, especially anxiety over deprivation and uncertain futures.
Early Superman didnt simply go after the rich, just those who exploited what they called “the little man.” And of course those so greedy they would harm both individuals and society. I look forward to seeing that version in action again.
June 17, 2026
My biggest complaint with Bat-Man was the language. The 2nd story I felt was also not as good. It was not enough to turn me off completely. I felt it was very grounded in a Golden Age setting (where I personally believe comic heroes should live). I’ll give this at least a try but I’m not opposed to dropping off a story if I don’t like it.
June 17, 2026
I don’t like not finishing a story, but here lately I’ve had a few novels that ended up in the DNF pile and some that probably should have.
June 17, 2026
Looking forward to this, it’s a much more nuanced and deeper dive into the early Action Comics issues where Superman was a champion of the oppressed.
June 17, 2026
Wow, this looks AWESOME! The Golden Age social crusader viewed through a modern lens; I’m down!
This year is an absolute embarrassment of riches for Superman fans: the Brainiac Reborn Omnibus, vol. 3 of the Triangle Era omni, both an Absolute & a DC Finest edition of The Man of Steel, the Return to Krypton omni, Action Comics #1100 next month, and now this!
June 17, 2026
They’re doing this to try and keep the copyright on the 1938 version of Superman somehow, arent they?