This is probably my favorite `else world' comic that I've read to date. Superman lands in the USSR rather than the US. I particularly like how though the Soviet Union use Superman being in their corner to tip the balance of power, but at the same time a lot of his personality is the same we have known for all these years just tinted in a Soviet light. He is still trying to do right, but just by Soviet values. To me his confrontations with Lex Luthor in this are particularly good, and are on there own a reason to read this. I would definitely recommend this to any Superman or Else Worlds fan.

This is one of Superman's best books. Millar hits a home run with this Elseworlds book. Elseworlds only means it's an alternative world, meaning it's not in continuity, meaning it's not boggled down with current DC stories or status. Whew. But who cares as long as the story is good and the characterization is respectful. In fact, many Elseworlds stories are far better than the stories "in continuity", meaning it's far more creative and far more interesting than the same old drivel used again and again.

Lex takes the cake in this series. He's amazing. Superman is superman. Sure he's Russia's Superman, but Lex is the American hero in this series. And we all know Lex is a genius who is only human, but can cripple an alien Man of Steel, the World's hero and moral standard. But Superman is not Superman with Lex. The story takes the readers on a journey that challenges Superman's relevance on Earth. Somewhat political in tone, it's still an old fashioned super-hero wham bam comic book. But it is ever so intriguing and vast in scope.

Highly recommended.

Great story that really draws you in. I am not a very big fan of comic books, so it was a surprise to me when I could not put this one down after starting to read it at 2 am.. Had to finish the whole thing in one sitting. Pencil and coloring are also great. I wish they'd make a movie out of this Superman twist. I'd recommend this to both the people who are new to comic books as well as supernerds.

He may be one of the largest icons in comic book history, but for some reason, Superman always makes for a much better elseworlds story or original graphic novel than he does a regular monthly title. Kingdom Come, Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, Trinity.... your comic book store is full of cool original stories about the man who represents truth, justice, and the errr.. Soviet Way. Soviet Way? Yep, that's right! That's what Superman: Red Son is about, and frankly, it may be one of the best original Superman stories I've ever read.

Red Son takes place in an alternative universe where Superman's ship crash landed in the Stalin-era Soviet Union. While Superman still possesses some of the same benevolent world-saving notions his American version is known for, his chest now bares the Soviet sickle, and he shows up for May Day parades as the people's champion. Throughout the tale, Superman almost proves himself too naive to exist in a country where secret police plots rule the day, but frustrated with long lines for food and other problems that face the Soviet public, he takes it upon himself to become the "leader of the people."

Blessed with superior intellect and the ability to "shake things up," Superman turns the Soviet Union into the Utopian society that Karl Marx always intended. He's so successful that in this alternate universe tale, the U.S.S.R. wins the Cold War! Countries flock to the Soviet banner as they see Superman bring prosperity to the world. Along the way, many classic golden age heroes make an appearance. Batman is an underground resistance fighter in Moscow who reminds readers of the vigilante in V for Vendetta. Wonder Woman leaves her island paradise and joins Superman's side convinced his government is the only one on the planet that upholds her Amazonian vision of human equality. Hal Jordan also makes an appearance as the crumbling United States led by JFK finds the original crash site of Abin Sur and uses the ring as a weapon to fight Superman's powers. Perhaps the coolest twist is Lex Luthor who still manages to becomes Superman's obsessed arch-nemesis, although now he fights the man in tights in the name of "good" and American resistance.

Red Son poses some of the same questions that any alternate universe tale about Superman's reign faces: Will humanity accept his ability to make them perfect? You'll need to read this puppy to discover the answer but rest assured, the ending is terrific and this is one book you'll set down with a large smile! As a matter of fact, this Mark Millar original is so compelling, it's a Superman title I'd recommend even for people who normally don't enjoy reading Superman books. The guy at the comic book store told me it was the best Superman story he had ever read. I just thought he was trying a salesman shtick, but having read it, I have to agree. If not the best, definitely one of the top five Superman tales in comic book history.

Great read for anyone looking for a creative well thought out twist to the Superman legacy.

A very different relationship between Luthor/Superman and Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman, in this recreation of the Superman myth, witch Superman growing up a Ukrainian farm boy.

Taking over for Stalin, the world becomes happy and communist, except for Luthor and the USA.

A little twist at the end, too.

The notion of the infant Kal-El landing in the Soviet Union instead of the United States is enough to stir the imagination, and this book doesn't disappoint. While true to the character of most of the personalities from the DC Comics universe, it manages to be neither formulaic nor predictable. It's the sort of book that improves with re-reading, which is a rare pleasure in comics these days.

WikiPedia has a pretty good entry if you're looking for a detailed synopsis (there are plenty of spoilers - be warned), but if the premise of the story interests you at all, you won't be disappointed.

Liked it, quite a bit. It's one I'm glad I own as I'll probably want to re-read it in the future.

I heard about this book a while ago and decided to get it to see what could be done to make the superman story different. It is really well done with an excellent story with a great ending. All the people from the normal superman universe are there just changed roles to suit the story. highly recommend this for anyone with an interest in superman, you don't have to be a huge comic fan to enjoy this book. only bad thing is i thought it was a bit short, could have added more i thought and thats why it gets 4 instead of 5 outa 5.

An excellent read for anyone, Superman fan or not. I fall into the latter catagory, not a big Superman fan, but this book was great fun to read. It rarely falls into cliche, the characters are adequately changed in demeamor and story, and the artwork is fantastic.

I am not a fan of superman. I think he is ridiculously overpowered and since his creation he gets a new ridiculous power every 3-5 years.

BUT, I enjoyed this immensely. Some other reviewers have complained about various other characters being in different positions that they don't believe they would have occupied just because they didn't meet superman. I think most of it is plausable and when it isn't, it's more interesting to put known characters in a different situation than to just make up new ones to fill places in the plot. I don't see what others are complaining about.

"What was the point of Lex Luthor. A human being who dared to challenge a God."
Superman, Red Son

This statement by Superman pretty much sums up the relationship between Superman and Lex Luthor except that in a weird twist the God is the hero and the man the villain. `Red Son' turns the dynamic 180 degrees into its more natural state. Baby Kal-L lands in a Soviet Union farming collective rather than Kansas and becomes the standard bearer of Stalin's Communist vision. Thanks to the sheer might of Superman the Soviet Union is able to rise up while the United States (and Chili??) are left isolated and in disarray.

This is a very deep story that cuts to the core of Superman in a way that canonized stories cannot. Essentially Superman becomes a metaphor for an all intrusive government. Benjamin Franklin once said, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety". The question of liberty vs security is more important today than ever before with many Americans jumping to give up civil rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights to feel a little safer. Should we submit to random searches, warrentless wiretapping, suspension of habeas corpus, automated traffic cameras? Superman is a reflection of increasingly sophisticated technology that monitors and dehumanizes us all. In America, Luthor is as obsessed with destroying Superman as he is in the canonized version except this time his goal is more reasonable (regardless of his despicable personality).

The Soviet Superman is never meant to be evil just overprotective and stifling. Unfortunately the author chose to absolve the alternate Superman of most of his crimes by blaming them on outside manipulations reducing the impact of the story. I also have to question the ending lesson. After Luthor is successful in wresting control of the world's destiny from Superman he takes a similar path of top down social engineering called Luthorism with even better quantifiable results than those attained by Superman including a life expectancy that went from 120 years to an astounding 180 years. The point of the story seemed to be that Superman's good intentions were oppressive because they dehumanized man but in the end the book seemed to imply that Luthor was better because he could put up superior statistics.

In the preface, the hyperbolic Tom DeSanto wildly trumpets "Red Son" as a devastating critique of American foreign policy, not the cookie-cutter "feel-good propaganda" that might have been expected. Instead, he hints darkly at surrendering freedom in favor of security.
Oh please. The Soviet Union that Superman serves here is the sort of cookie-cutter comic book autocracy one might have expected in a 1950s comic and bears no resemblance to the murderous regime that truly was an "evil empire." At one point, Stalin understands why Superman must rush off to save thousands in Vladivostok. This is the dictator who killed, yes slaughtered, tens of millions of his own people.
It's this sort of superficial investigation that dooms "Red Son" to superficial stabs at political comment, and third-rate reimaginings of history that are, frankly, tiresome.
Though the story is redeemed in the end by a circular ending which seems to say we are always doomed to repeat the same mistakes, this "devastating critique" is not really all that original, exciting, or particularly entertaining. Nor does it comment on anything except the overexcited imaginations of a bunch of leftists who obviously learned their politics from comic books. Grow up, guys.

The premise of this story is that Superman lands in Russia during the height of the Cold War. Most writers would've gone for an easy "Superman as a bad guy" story. Instead, we get a mature and refreshing take on the Man of Steel that surprisingly changes very little about his personality.

This is still the Superman we know, more or less. A good man with amazing powers trying to make the world a better place, struggling to make sense of his role in the larger scheme. It's very good. Very, very good.

I do have one minor complaints though. It is very strongly bound to Superman continuity (even if an alternatre version) and a lot of non-fans might have trouble following the story because many characters basically have cameos. This is due to the fact that the story takes place over several decades, highlighting each era of the Cold War. While very well written, it can seem a little rushed. But I'd rather the story move quickly than drag itself down with endless exposition.

Fun read. Intelligent read. Satisfying read. In other words, a very worthwhile take on the Superman character that might make you think, but, more importantly, will keep you entertained.

Like Dark Knight Returns, this one will become a classic for comic geeks like myself.

Rather than just reimagining Superman as a tool for the Soviet Empire, the writer subtlely compares the strengths and weaknesses of American capitalism and Soviet socialism, and while the book clearly leans toward an American system, the fact that the greatest Superman villain, Lex Luthor, remained a "American capitalist" in this Elseworld, makes you wonder.

Red Son dares to be political in a child's popular medium and dares to challenge our view of not only the "Superman world" but also the political world in general. Rather than blandly stating America was better than the Soviet Union, the author suggests there were virtues and flaws in both "Empires." A brilliant comic that could be discussed in an English or Political Science class and also absorbed and enjoyed by teenagers.

I throughly enjoyed this story and would rate it right up there behind Dark Knight Returns and Daredevil : Born Again ( haven't read Watchmen yet ).

I love elseworlds stories , particularly with Superman because the common criticism is that he's indestructable and it becomes repetitive and boring.

My only criticism of the book is the shocking twist with the Russian Batman which doesn't really make sense. The re-imaginings of Superman , Batman , Wonder Woman , Lex Luthor , Lois Lane , and Green Lantern are interesting and there is wonderful little references that made me excited to keep reading. The artwork was impressive and the propoganda and political slant was done quite well.

I waited awhile to pick this up but you shouldn't.

This is one of those books that I find myself looking forward to every page. The story is original and the art is fantastic (coloring supreme!). The ending seemed alittle overly heady but wasn't so much that it spoiled the book overall. I typically like "what If " stories becasue they don't have to follow the rules and fit the characters in a nice little box of comformity. This book does a good job of looking at the other side of the coin. I personally would give it a A-

Warning, spoilers ahead.

This easily holds it's own among the great Elseworld books, such as Kingdom Come, Batman and Dracula, and The Dark Knight Returns. Reimagining the Man of Steel as a Soviet champion rather than an American one is a stroke of genius, yet it is so simple and obvious that you would never expect it. The story is not only Supermans story, but includes diverse reinventions of Batman, Wonder Woman, Luthor, Green Lantern, Brainiac, etc.

Part of the brilliance in this story is that it explores the more questionable aspects of a superhero, and how easily such a figure could become a fascist dictator while never fully grasping the ramifications of what they are doing. Another fine touch was that it contains many nods to many diverse aspects of the DC universe, and the characters take nods from all ages of the DC continuity. The Superman we see here is much in line with the amazingly powerful Golden Age version of Superman, as is the mad scientist rendition of Lex Luthor, who we see with and without hair, AND as President later in the story, a nod to his being elected in the regular continuity in 2000.

The Green Lantern is the Silver Age Hal Jordan, but with a militaristic look, reflecting his fighter pilot roots, while Batman is firmly in the mold of the Dark Knight Returns caped crusader.

Wonder Woman does not play as large a role as I wished, and her character does seem a bit thin at times, but that hardly detrtacts from the overall genius of this book. ^_^

Overall, I liked this graphic novel. In did seem odd to me, however, that, not just Superman, but none of America's superheroes came to being without Luthor's help. An earlier reader was correct in his assessment that the entire DC Universe in rewritten in this story. But it seems to fit this dark and moody story that seemingly without Superman, America's heroes ceased to come into being. I do, however, think the story accurately portrayed the dark feeling of the Cold War. I also like the depiction of Josef Stalin. Pick up this graphic novel for the complexity of the story, Stalin, the ingenious use of "grey areas", and the shocking secret revealed at the end!

Both one of the best concets DC has ever come up with for the Elseworlds concept of tales entirely removed from DCU continuity, and utterly flawless in its execution; an instant classic that's still going to be vital centuries from now.

As the title implies, "Superman: Red Son" takes on the 'what if' notion of the Man Of Steel's lifepod having come down in the late 30s in the Soviet Union instead of the Kansas. Fitting in with the time frame, Superman and most of the other characters (with the notable exception of Batman, who more resembles his current self) in the saga are much more in keeping with their decades-ago incarnations than their current post-Crisis selves, with Superman light years more powerful than in current continuity (back to the days when he was practically omnipotent) and Lex Luthor seeming to be about ten times smarter than Einstein and Hawking combined. I don't think these characterizations/attributes could ever fly (no pun intended) on a long-term basis in the modern, highly-detailed and plausibilty-concerned universes, but it has proved to work spectacularly in a self-contained Elseworlds tale such as this.

Random high points: there are so many open-to-interpretation/subtext points it would be impossible to mention them all here (besides it would give away pretty much the whole story) but it does provide invigorating fodder for conversation and wonder. There are a host of familiar DCU characters who turn up along the way, some in major roles and for others small cameos, and again it would be grossly unfair to give even a partial list of the surprise players here. And the art and the way it conveys what's going on inside the character's minds without a word in some panels - you'll see a prime example when you get to Pages 134-135 near the end of the book; if this was a movie the actors would deserve awards for conveying so much and with such force. And finally, only rarely does the tale go where one would expect it to; truly one of the more unpredictable epics out there.

Possibly THE indispensable Elseworlds.

I am not a fan of "Elseworlds" books, they usually fall flat. This one however...

...is GREAT! "Superman: Red Son" is compelling from beginning to end. Mark Millar had a tall order with this, re-imagining the Man of Steel as the poster-boy for socialism. The story heads in directions that you wouldn't expect, Millar adds several great twists. Johnson and Plunkett's concise, beautiful artwork serves the story well. They cleverly depict several alternate versions of DC heroes and villians. There is a great "sketchbook" in the back of this trade paperback, showing the evolution of some of these characters.

I couldn't disagree more with the "spotlight review" by Antonio Nunez. To discuss the plausability of any Superman book is ridiculous. His entire existence is implausible.

Order this book, you'll love it.

Mark Millar comes up with a simple but interesting idea for "Superman: Red Son." What if the rocket ship carrying the infant Kal-el from Krypton landed in the Ukraine rather than in Kansas? The idea of Superman wearing a hammer and sickle rather than a big "S" and standing next to Joseph Stalin on top of Lenin's tomb is certainly captivating. The problem with "Red Son" is that Millar takes this idea and goes way too far in finding variations on virtually every significant element of the Superman mythos.

I was a bit concerned when this story did not begin with Superman being raised by his Soviet parents on a collective in the Ukraine. It was not just that Superman landed in America, but that he was found by the Kents. How they raised him was more important than where he was raised, and Millar skips over that part. Having President Eisenhower announce that the Soviets had Superman was a nice touch, transferring the paranoia about Sputnik from that period to the threat of a Soviet Superman. But then there was Millar's reworking of the introduction to television's "Superman," which describes the strange visitor from another world who, "as the champion of the common worker, fights a never-ending battle for Stalin, Socialism, and the International Expansion of the Warsaw Pact."

Millar does not just throw the kitchen sink in with this one, but pretty much every other fixture he can find. Lois Lane is still a reporter for the "Daily Planet" but is married to Lex Luthor, the scientific genius of the age. Wonder Woman shows up and this world has its own Batman on that side of the Iron Curtain and Green Lantern on this side. There is also a point where you are going to be thinking Frank Miller's "The Dark Night Returns" than the original story by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. There are just so many changes here that keeping track of all of them and figuring out how they are coming into play in the story. Ultimately, it is not that the Soviet Superman is most different here, but rather Lex Luthor without any rational justification other than the dictates of simple role reversal. Superman landing in the Ukraine would make him Soviet rather than American, but what turned Lex Luthor into the guy who makes Albert Einstein feel stupid?

This three-part comic book story is penciled by Dave Johnson & Kilian Plunkett and inked by Andrew Robinson & Walden Wong. There are a series of "posters" extolling the "Comrade of Steel" in the introduction, but that style is extended in part to the storytelling itself. A story about a Soviet Superman drawn in the style of Soviet propaganda art appeals to me, especially since I think this one really needed to look different to sell the story and a specific artistic style was clearly available to be emulated.

"Saturday Night Live" did a skit once where Superman landed in Nazi Germany and used his x-ray vision to identify circumcised spies trying to get to Hitler. That skit had a simple elegance that "Superman: Red Son" could use more of that approach. Part of my problem is that I had a strong expectation that Stalin would have used Superman to not just end but rather to win the Cold War, and I was expecting that it was in subjugating the United States and the rest of the West that Superman would experience a crisis of conscience over his Proletarian ideals and the execution of a Soviet master plan for world dominance. Less would have been more here, and there is a sense in which this story end, in a manner of speaking, where it needed to have begun to tell this variation on the familiar tale.

I waited a long time for this book. I was thrilled to get it via Amazon. I was *very* disappointed by it, and for many reasons.

The first reason is that the premise is too narrow for such a long story to hold one's interest. A great comic is read breathlessly, and only upon a second or third reading does one clearly identify the boring bits. Here they are evident from the beginning and only become more so upon re-reading. A long Elseworld book like "Golden Age" will warrant a fourth or fifth re-reading. Not the case with Red Son.

The second reason is that it is inconsistent. Lex and Lois Luthor appear to be in their 20s in 1953 (the year of Stalin's death, at the beginning of the book). That would make them about 65 when Lex is elected President. At the time there is no indication that they have any children, and yet a complete lineage of Luthors is created in the final chapter, and a son is shown when there is no intimation that he should exist, or when he came to be. Also, there is no reason why Richard Nixon should have been elected in 1960, and murdered in 1963, or why John F. Kennedy would be elected President in 1968 and hang around for about 20 years. His marrying a fat, slutty Marilyn Monroe is fun but farcical. That is clearly a take on Nixon in "The Watchmen", where he is still President in 1985. There is no reason either why a pseudo-Batman should exist in the USSR, as the child of murdered dissidents, since Kal El's arrival in The Ukhraine in the 1930s should have no impact on NKVD activities prior to his adulthood.

Finally, the book shows a profound ignorance about Communism. Stalin is presented as a fairly malevolent old goat, but showing Stalin's son as the head of KGB is ridiculous, given that Stalin never gave a hoot about his own children and actually drove one of them to suicide in a German KZ. And the drawings aren't so hot, except for the simulated "Socialist" posters. A sort of "Social Realism", a la "Batman Year 1" would probably have been more suitable. As it is, it looks cartoony in a cheap sort of way.

One doesn't expect deep social criticism from a comic book (although they can provide it on occasion), but "Red Son", so long in the making, was subject to high expectations, which it hasn't discharged.

All in all, an opportunity lost. A pity.

I haven't read a comic in a long time. Can't remember the last time I actually did. I read some good stuff about this book and also like things that play around a little bit with mythology and ask a few "what if" questions. Millar has created a world where Superman is Russian and doesn't even use a secret identity. Lex Luthor is elevated to a status of a great American icon whose motivations might be bad, but do the ends justify the means?

The book asks a lot of good moral questions and yet doesn't get preachy at all; it also remains immensly enjoyable.

It's a good read. The illustrations are top notch. I'm extremely happy I picked it up and will be looking for other Mark Millar novels.

It's a Superman story that's dying to be translated to the big screen, but likely will never happen. Pick it up and enjoy it for yourself.

This graphic novel is not a parody, it's an alternate history. A most unusual alt-history: an alternate to a fictional reality, rather than an alternate version of our history. (The most popular themes for alternate history are, What if the South won the Civil War?, and What if the Germans won WWII?)

Alternate history is a concept generally more familiar to those who read SF novels rather than comics/graphic novels. Many of us SF novel readers did read a lot of comics when we were younger, though, and I think this particular graphic novel is aimed at us. We read Superman - and Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman - in the 50's, 60's and 70's. So, although we may not have read any other of this particular series of graphic novels, we have quite a bit of background in the Superman mythos - his real parents, where he grew up, girlfriends, enemies, etc.

I think that knowing that background from the original comics may make this book more enjoyable to my middle-aged generation than to people who are used only to the graphic novels. As well, my generation had the advantage of living through most of the history that was really happening from 1950 on. For those who know the history of the Cold War only from school, many of the details wouldn't make sense. It helps a great deal in reading this book if you are familiar with the course of the Cold War, and that you know not only who JFK was, but some of the celebrity gossip about him as well as the official records. (The name Norma Jean should mean something to you.) You should know what the Warsaw Pact was, and something about in what order the Soviet Union took over various countries.

I liked the way the book involved similar alternate twists on Batman, and brought in Wonder Woman and Green Lantern as well. Batman's hat is the funniest thing I've seen in a while!

A couple quibbles: having the artwork done by more than one artist is distracting; a couple times it was hard to recognize Lois Lane as herself. And I do wish that illustrators would STOP trying to use the Cyrillic alphabet incorrectly. If you can't use the letters for what they really are, don't use them, please. The thing that looks like a backwards R is NOT an R. The letter that looks like a backwards N is NOT an N. So stop it already! Just go for English in the signs and titles, or for accurate Russian. (One illustrator did this correctly, but on many pages, and the cover art, these letters are used incorrectly.) OK, that's one of my pet peeves, since I happen to be able to read Russian a little; it may not bother other people as much as it bugs me.

Summary? A graphics novel that may be of more interest to an older generation that doesn't usually read them, in a vein more familiar to SF readers than comics readers.

Not the best "Elseworlds" Superman title: I have two other 'Elseworlds' titles of Superman - the mediaeval 'Kal' & 'Superman: The Dark Side' (raised by Darkseid) - and they're both FAR better than this one, even the fact that 'Kal' is MUCH shorter doesn't detract from its impact. 'The Dark Side' is definately the best story of the 3 ('Kal' doesn't have much time for a story to develop), but there's something else to it that I can't quite put my finger on.

Don't get me wrong: it's a good story & worth getting if you like Superman graphic novels, it just doesn't have the same kick as 'The Dark Side'. I think it might be that it's so focused on Superman vs Lex Luthor that the other super-heroes mentioned (Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern) get short shrift. There's also no clear 'bad guy' in it which made 'Kal' & 'TDS' enjoyable: who do you get fired up AT if there's no clear bad guy?

I gave it 3 stars because it's "good, as you'd expect" instead of "Wow! that's awesome!"