SUPERMAN: THE STRANGER: Shades of Batman: 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’ Batman: 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.
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MORE
— Beautiful! Dig BILL MORRISON’s Utterly Exquisite Homage to FLEISCHER SUPERMAN. Click here.
— The TOP 13 FLEISCHER SUPERMAN Cartoons. Click here.
