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Warning: The following contains spoilers from recent issues of Action Comics, on sale now from DC Comics.
DC’s greatest hero, Superman, is about to partake in a bold new adventure in one of the most hostile environments in the universe. Initially teased in Future State, the emotionally charged Man of Steel is diving into his most personal and perilous mission yet, to free the enslaved residents of Mongul’s WarWorld, brought to his attention by a surviving group of escaped Kryptonians called the Phaelosians. Unfortunately, his regular allies in the Justice League aren’t available to accompany him on his mission into space, forcing him to rely on new companions, whose morals and priorities are quite different from those of the League.
Eisner-nominated writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Extreme Carnage, Superman) took part in an exclusive discussion with CBR to discuss the future of DC’s Man of Steel as he heads into the beginning of “The WarWorld Saga” that kicks off in Action Comics #1036. Johnson discussed DC Comics CEO Jim Lee’s enthusiastic endorsement of Superman’s next adventure and detailed how this massive event relates to the world of Future State.
CBR: Action Comics #1036 is the first part of “The WarWorld Saga.” What do fans need to know going into this story?
Phillip Kennedy Johnson: “The WarWorld Saga” is a story that we’ve been building to all year, a story in which all the promises we made in Future State are finally kept. It’s the most epic Superman story we’ve told in a very long time. Future State left fans with a lot of questions. Putting Superman on WarWorld was a big, bold move, and everyone wanted to know how something like that could happen. We’ve been answering that question all year with “WarWorld Rising” in Action Comics, and now that we’re finally here at the first issue of the “WarWorld Saga,” I could not be more stoked for people to see what’s coming.
Speaking of Future State, how much will the events of that story dictate the fate of the Man of Steel?
With Future State, we didn’t want to tell a story that didn’t “count.” I wanted to make sure that the story fans read in Future State had repercussions. I wanted Future State: Superman – Worlds of War to be a glimpse into the future of the story that we’re telling now in Action Comics. That story gives a very accurate depiction of what’s coming in Action.
DC CEO Jim Lee personally endorsed this book at DC FanDome. Can you give some insight as to why fans should be particularly interested in this story?
“The WarWorld Saga” is something we’ve never seen before, at least not in this scope. We’ve seen Superman on Warworld in the past, but we’ve never seen a story like this, that takes a small corner of the DC mythos and blows it way out. We normally see WarWorld in passing, as a big metal planet with guns coming out of it, not really understanding the scale of what we’re seeing. This is a place that has mowed down countless worlds across the entire multiverse. It’s become a preserve of otherwise dead species across the DC Universe. It has a really rich culture and long bloody history, with life forms that you can’t find anywhere else in the universe. People don’t know the history of the Mongols or WarWorld and how long they’ve been around, and we’re going to finally reveal all of that in Action Comics. We’re taking what used to be a small corner of the DCU and making a big important place full of rich culture and a long, long history.
What can you tell us about the Phaelosians?
The Phaelosians are a race that were once Kryptonian, but left Krypton so long ago that they can’t accurately be considered Kryptonians anymore. We saw earlier this year in Action Comics that they have powers that are similar to Superman’s, but different. And we’ve also seen that they’ve been on WarWorld for a long time. But so far, while they’re on Warworld, their powers are kind of theoretical. We don’t really know what they’re capable of yet.
Much like the Daxamites they have common ancestry with the Kryptonians, but their race is something we’ve never seen before. Their culture has been shaped not just by their time away from Krypton, but also by their time on WarWorld. A couple of the descendants of Superman seen in Future State: House of El and the Action Comics Annual are Phaelosians, and in those stories we see that their culture is still very war-like due to their time on WarWorld. I’m really excited for people to see what the Phaelosians bring to the Super-Family.
How does the beginning of “The WarWorld Saga” correlate with Grant Morrison’s Superman and the Authority series and recent issues of Justice League?
I’m sure readers were excited-slash-confused when they got to the end of Superman and the Authority and saw Superman put on his traditional costume and say they’re going to WarWorld. Fans have been asking me all year if this the same continuity as Grant Morrison and Mikel Janin’s Superman and the Authority, and that question is definitively answered in Action Comics #1036. Aside from being the first issue of the “WarWorld Saga,” this is also the issue that joins Superman and the Authority with Action Comics going forward. All readers’ questions will be answered in the final pages of that issue.
Action Comics #1036, the first part of the highly anticipated “WarWorld Saga,” is created by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Daniel Sampere, Adriano Lucas, and Dave Sharpe. The issue is on sale November 9th from DC Comics.
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