It’s a great time for Superman fans, with the Man of Steel soaring into movies, TV, animation and comics. To help us stay on top of it, writer Tim Beedle shares what's grabbed his attention and why in this monthly Super-Family column.
Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…not Tim Beedle. Instead, it’s your pal Joshua Lapin-Bertone, filling in for him in this month’s edition of Super Here For… with my own unique style. Don’t worry, Tim will be back next month. I think he said something about needing time to clear his head after ascending to godhood so he could defeat Darkseid during the DC K.O. event, but maybe that was Superman. I’ll be honest, I always get the two confused.
Actually, there is a bit of a meta thing going on with this month’s Super Here For…, which is kind of fitting because we’re writing about a meta character. Tim Beedle is away, so I’m filling in, writing about Superboy-Prime, who is filling in while Superman is away. Maybe I’m stretching it, but that’s a cool parallel. Plus, Prime and I have some things in common, like being total nerds who consume all things comics. But there are also some differences between us, such as the fact that he’s a former villain who slaughtered countless superheroes. I’ve never done that. I promise.
Anyway, if you need to get caught up to speed, Superman’s been missing in action for a while, which disrupted just about all of the Super-Family titles. Joshua Williamson used it as an opportunity to give us a fun and often thought-provoking interlude with Superboy-Prime in Superman #36-40. If you’re not familiar with Superboy-Prime’s deal, it’s too long to fully explain here, which is fine because Alex Jaffe already did that anyway. In short, Prime is a version of Clark Kent from a reality much like our own, where all the DC heroes are comic book characters. He was a hero, then he became a mass-murdering villain, and now he’s trying the hero thing again (and he would really prefer it if we stopped talking about his villain era).
From the moment I read the first pages of Superman #36, I knew we were in for a good time. Prime breaks the fourth wall and tells the reader exactly how things are going to go.
“For the next few months, what if you and I just have a bunch of fun, okay?” Superboy-Prime asks. “We’ll go on a hero’s journey, learn some very important life lessons, and beat up super-villains. Maybe make some new friends along the way.”
That introduction had me hooked and showed that Joshua Williamson (who has an awesome first name) and Dan Mora understood the assignment.
As a comic book nerd, I appreciated the fact that Prime was written as…well, a comic book nerd. For example, when he fights an obscure villain named Ignition, he proclaims, “Dang, I haven’t seen Ignition in years. Deep cut! Someone busted out their DC Encyclopedia!”
Like I said, this storyline gets pretty meta and I enjoyed every minute of it. Prime also did the things that you would expect a comic book fan to do if they ever found their way into the DC Universe, such as visiting Crime Alley as if it were a tourist spot. Damian Wayne quickly explains why that’s in bad taste.
Superboy-Prime also tells Jonathan and Martha Kent that he loves it when they’re alive and that Mark Waid prefers them as dead. That was a moment so chaotically meta that I was surprised to see it in an official DC comic. Honestly, I can’t say enough good things about Superman #39, which finds Prime skirting through various comic book genres, from romance to horror and beyond. At one point he runs through a nine-panel grid and says, “I better keep moving before Tom King gets me.” Oh man, I just know Williamson and Mora had fun putting this issue together.
I figured “Prime Time” would be a fun redemption arc filled with cheeky meta references, but it turned out to be so much more. The just-wrapped storyline is a celebration of the comic book medium and a reminder of what makes it special and why it’s still relevant. Manchester Black acts as a proxy for the worst pop culture critics, telling Prime that comics are played out.
“A product of a bygone era just as outdated and stupid as Superman,” Black says as he rips up a comic book.
Prime doesn’t buy it, however, and in the end, it’s a conversation with his friend Rebecca that reminds us why comics are still relevant.
“Every month is an opportunity,” Rebecca says. “Every week, really. They’re an opportunity for something good. To discover something good. Sometimes something great. This week might be hard, but next week could be awesome. Every Wednesday is another chance.”
I didn’t think that this was where Williamson and Mora were taking the story, but I absolutely love it. After all, DC All In’s entire mission statement is to demonstrate that comics are still exciting, cutting edge and where the best stories live. I never would have thought that I would get that lesson from a former Crisis-causing superbaddie, but the DC Universe has always been unexpected, and I’m super here for it.
Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, movies and comics for DC.com, is a regular contributor to the Couch Club and writes our monthly Batman column, "Gotham Gazette." Follow him on Bluesky at @joshualapinbertone and on X at @TBUJosh.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joshua Lapin-Bertone and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
