Absolute Superman #4 is on stands today, and some big things are going down in the new issue by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval. Spoilers past this point, but not only do we meet Jimmy Olsen, but we also find out about a deteriorating Peacemaker named Chris Smith, and a mysterious new rebel leader, Omega Prime.
“I like the idea of meeting Lois and Jimmy, where they couldn’t be more different in terms of what they’re doing, who they’re involved with,” Aaron told Comic Book Club. “Both still see themselves as fighting the good fight, but when they meet Superman, that’s when that little voice starts whispering in the their ear that maybe you’re not on the right side.”
To find out more about the issue, whether there’s a connection between Darkseid and the Omega Men, and what’s coming up for Absolute Superman, read on.
Comic Book Club: We get a brand new take on Jimmy here, and similar to Lois, we see him reaching for his true identity, or at least the way that we know him, once Superman shows up. Is that sort of how you’re approaching things here?
Jason Aaron: Yeah. In my mind, every person we see in Absolute Superman, characters that we know from the other universe, they shouldn’t be in the same situation. They’re not in the same place [where] we expect them to be. I didn’t want to do a new, fresh take on Superman that opened with Lois and Jimmy working for the Daily Planet. We’ve seen that set up so many times. I wanted to tell what is absolutely, fundamentally a Superman story, but to do that in ways that still feels new and surprising.
So part of that is about the nature, the corrupted nature of the Absolute Universe. If you’ve read the All In Special you know that Darkseid is at the heart of this. The Absolute Universe is very much born from Darkseid energy. Even if you haven’t read that, if you just pick up Absolute Superman, it should be clear that just nothing worked out the way it was supposed to in this universe. So everybody’s in a different place, and not necessarily a good place.
I like the idea of meeting Lois and Jimmy both where they’re opposing forces in this world, and they’re opposite ends of the of the spectrum. Lois is an agent of Lazarus Corp, and Jimmy is an a fledgling agent of the Omega Men, who are set up as the opposing force to Lazarus. In the same way that we think of the Omega Men from the main DC Universe, these freedom fighters who are a ragtag band of aliens who’ve come together from different planets to fight oppressors in deep space… That’s what these Omega Men are doing on Earth. They’re freedom fighters. They’re fighting to help people who are being abused and persecuted by Lazarus all over the planet. To Lazarus, they’re terrorists. They’re violent, militant, murderous terrorists.
So I like the idea of meeting Lois and Jimmy, where they couldn’t be more different in terms of what they’re doing, who they’re involved with. Both still see themselves as fighting the good fight, but when they meet Superman, that’s when that little voice starts whispering in the their ear that maybe you’re not on the right side. With Lois, Superman’s effect on her was that she sat down and wrote something for the first time in a way that really affected her. It’s very much set up that she hated writing. Never wanted to do that. But after she met Superman, and was so shook by that encounter, she needed to get it down in her own words.
And then after Jimmy’s brief encounter with Superman, we see him looking at a picture he took of Superman taking off. You can see, Superman’s the one force in this story that when people encounter him, they start to get a sense of, maybe my life is not what it’s meant to be. I don’t know what that means or where that’s going to take me, but I just know I’m intrigued by this guy. Where the hell did he come from?
Maybe I’m connecting too many threads here. But as you mentioned, the universe is infused with Darkseid energy. We’ve got the Omega Men. And Darkseid is often associated with an Omega. Is there a connection there at all?
There could be. I think it would be weird if there was absolutely no connection whatsoever, right? Again, if you’ve read the All In Special, you know that Darkseid connection. If you’ve just been reading any of the Absolute books at this point, we’ve never used the word “Darkseid” in any of those books. You don’t need to know that part of it to understand what’s going on in any of these comics. Everything you need is on the pages of those books. But the Darkseid part of is clearly a big key to the nature of this universe. That’s the thing we will see continue to develop in the pages of these books, that’s clearly a story that affects both universes, and we’ll continue to see that story build.
But within the pages of Absolute Superman, anything we do that references Darkseid or the New Gods will still be about telling the story that we’re telling in that book. You will start to see some of that. Whether there is a connection between the Omega Man and Darkseid, and what that is, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Speaking of, I’m sure, “wait and see,” everyone seems to be someone in this book. So what can you tell us about the identity of Omega Prime, aka Primus?
Well, I can’t tell you anything about her identity.
Is she connected to the band Primus?
[Laughs] Yes, yes. It’s Less Claypool. Primus was the name of the leader of the of the Omega Man in the main DCU. So it’s just a shout out to that. She is Omega Prime, so that’s why they call her Primus. She’s definitely the leader of the Omega Men. Beyond that, we’ll just have to wait and see. We’ll actually see a lot more of the Omega Men in issue #9. I just wrote issue #8 recently, where they pop back up again. And issue #9, we’ll dive into them in a in a big way.
Another big character in this issue has been bubbling in the background is Chris Smith as part of the Peacemakers, and he really starts to break off on his own here, almost in the opposite direction from Jimmy and Lois. Other than him being so hot right now with the TV show and everything, what was important about using this character as an antagonist in the book?
I liked the idea of using the Peacemakers as corporate soldiers for Lazarus Corp. Taking Peacemaker and making him the symbol of that seemed to me, the way to use something that we know from the other universe, just in a different sort of way.
And within that, it’s the Peacemaker that we usually think of as the Peacemaker, who things aren’t going super well for, is having a rough experience, and cracking a bit under the training and pressure of what Lazarus has these guys doing all over the the planet. In his mind, he signed up to be a good guy, right? Like, “Oh, we’re bringing peace to to these hot spots all over the globe.” That’s a worthwhile pursuit, but it hasn’t really worked out that way. He started to fracture under that. And then in a moment where he needs help and wants help, he doesn’t get it. He becomes a pawn we see Brainiac is moving around on the chessboard. And so when he snaps at the end of this issue, it’s certainly not a surprise to Brainiac. The big question will be, what does Superman do when he finds out about this?
One thing I’ve seen as a big theory online, that Jor-El and Lara are still alive in this continuity. Any comment on that?
I’ve seen that too. I mean, I could just tell you the answer yes or no, but what’s the fun in that? Me and my partner are very different. She’s a binge watcher. We’re watching a show together. She’d rather, like, let’s just watch the whole season now. And I’m like, “No, I prefer to watch an episode now, and let’s take a week and talk about it and think about it and make guesses about where this is going to go.” Severance is a great example. So great to speculate and guess about, what does any of this stuff mean with that show? I like that part of it. I’d rather people read the story than just have me tell them the answer.
So we’ll have to wait and see. Issue #5, the next issue is Krypton’s last day, so that that will answer some of your questions about what happened with Jor-El and Lara, and how did that last day go? And then the issue right after that, issue #6, will fill in more pieces about what happened when Kal-El landed on Earth.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
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