Superman declares love for his bisexual son in new DC comic

Superman’s 2022 hasn’t been like any other year in the life of the world’s first superhero. It was the Action ComicsClark Kent has been busy with series, in space and overthrowning the gladiator planet dictator. In the meantime, Earth has been guarded by his son Jon, who has learned a lot about himself since he took up his father’s mantle as Superman, including that he’s bisexual.

Clark was victorious from Warworld last month. That means that this month marks the first month in which Superman is able to discover, and then react, that his son is gay. Writer Tom Taylor and Cian Tormey were given the honor and challenge to create that moment. Superman: The Son of Kal El.

[Ed. note: This piece will contain spoilers and art from Superman: Son of Kal-El #17.]

They are the people behind Kal-El SonThese are the same creators that established Jon Kent last November as a queer character. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Superman accepts his bisexual son in the very book that paired Jon Kent up with a cute underground journalist who can phase through walls.

This expectation, however, creates an actual narrative gap: How can you make a story tension when it is obvious that the ending will be there? How do you give a story tension without simply reviving queer trauma before the reader’s eyes? You also need to keep it from being as dull as an episode of Very Special.

Taylor shared his thoughts with Polygon via email. He said it was difficult but that one crucial change helped him overcome the challenge. “For the first time in our series, the inner monologue isn’t Jon’s. The reader experiences this moment of a father’s love with Clark.”

Ever since Superman’s dad-ness became a regular part of the character in main DC Comics continuity, the status has offered creators a built-in lever to flip the Man of Steel from an invulnerable monolith to a vulnerable, relatable guy who’s just trying to raise his son in a crazy world.

In Kal-El SonClark #17 is nothing but vulnerable. It’s not just a father’s love that comes out in the issue, but his fear and anger. Thanks to Jon’s adventures, most of the world knows he has a boyfriend by now, and in his big ol’ steadfast heart, it takes Clark a beat or two to even understand why Jon might hesitate to actually talk to him about it.

Clark sadly tells Pa Kent that Jon seems afraid to talk to him about his boyfriend. “It’s strange how angry that makes me. That this world could tell him to expect anything other than acceptance from the people who are supposed to love him unconditionally. How could Jon possibly believe I’d want anything other than his happiness?” “How?” retorts Pa, “Because some fathers don’t,” in Superman: Son of Kal-El #17 (2022).

Clark talks to his own father, and Jon’s namesake, Pa Kent.
Image by Tom Taylor/DC Comics

Speaking from personal experience, even when you’re a financially independent adult and you’re virtually certain your dad will love and accept you afterward, it’s still scary to come out to your parent! You may be able to see your fear make you feel better. They afraid that they’d failed you. Thanks to the power of fiction, Jon is actually able to articulate why he’d still be scared to come out to the world’s best dad in Kal-El Son #17 — a superpower I sure wish I’d had.

“The scene with Clark and Jon took me almost as long to write as a whole comic usually would,” Taylor says. “I spent days working and reworking and fine-tuning three pages. Of course the expectation is Superman will instantly accept and welcome his son, but I didn’t want to write a clichéd scene we’d seen many times before, one that didn’t feel earned or real.”

In a hospital bed, with his head bandaged, Jon/Superman tells Clark/Superman that he was gone a long time. And a small part of him was worried that if he told him that he was queer and “saw the wrong look on your face — doubt, disapproval, disappointment — even for a second, then that would be... distance between us,” in Superman: Son of Kal-El #17 (2022).

Image by Tom Taylor, Cian Tomey/DC Comcis

While it is difficult to reduce the superhero genre to its most basic principles, almost a century worth of experimentation has produced countless exceptions to the rule. There are a ton of iconic superheroes who don’t have secret identities, others who don’t wear a costume, and Tones who don’t even have superpowers. There are heroes who patrol the dark streets at night and others that explore space. Others solve mysteries or reverse natural disasters.

As the superhero from which superhero variation sprang, Superman’s genericness is the archetypal answer to the genre’s 84-year quest to define heroism itself. It is amazing and necessary to cast him as someone who loves unconditionally his gay child.

“I definitely felt the importance of showing Superman’s care, assurance and embrace of his bisexual son,” Taylor says. “And I wanted to show that Clark understood and empathized with his son’s apprehension. After it was written, I talked to the artists, Cian Tormey and Ruairí Coleman, about the importance of this issue, and both told me they’d teared up reading the script. Cian and Ruairí both took so much care, and depicted these scenes beautifully. I hope what the Man of Steel feels and how he acts in this issue resonates with other parents of queer children.”

Clark/Superman holds his son Jon/Superman’s hand, Clark’s wedding ring clearly visible. “Anyone who makes your life better will always be a hero in my eyes. And no matter what, I will stand beside you. I will defend you. I will love you. And I will always, always be your father,” in Superman: Son of Kal-El #17 (2022).

Image by Tom Taylor/DC Comics

But it’s likely that the issue will resonate with queer children of all ages. One of the side effects of Superman’s dadification is that he has become even more of a mentor figure, an effect only enhanced in a book like Kal-El Son that’s usually told from the perspective of his child.

Taylor, Tormey, and every other creative who’s worked on the issue haven’t simply had Clark tell Jon that he’ll always love and defend him — they’ve told every queer reader who picks up the book that Superman will always love and defend them as well.

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