Superman Annual: Year One Thousand #1

The Omega Crown will never cease to be silly, yet Superman looks amazing on this cover courtesy of illustrator Eddy Barrows and colourist Alejandro Sánchez. The image is a fair play representation of what’s inside the issue, before Superman’s return to his own time, something we saw in last week’s Action Comics. What happens after that, well, that’s for us to know and Superman to find out.

The story opens with Lois dreaming about her missing husband, who vanished after the DC KO tournament. We quickly join the real Superman in the timestream, where we learn he didn’t leave everyone on the field of battle on a whim.

And to whom does that voice belong in the final panel of this dizzyingly good spread from writer Joshua Williamson, artist Barrows, colourist Adriano Lucas and letterer Ariana Maher?

While Superman hasn’t seen the android heir to Rex Tyler’s superheroic legacy for awhile, we adventured with him a couple of times in 2023, when he helped the Flash and Stargirl. Here he tells Superman the future has been derailed by Darkseid’s shenanigans – he doesn’t go into detail, maybe everything has gone, perhaps the futures are still there but corrupted by the dark god’s evil energies. Standing in the way of chronal repairs is a mystery being wielding massive energies.

Superman, confident his omega energies will allow him to stand up to this godlike figure and fix the future in the same way he already restored past and present, zooms forward through time, tweaking.

A warning from Hourman turns out to have merit, though, as he begins to lose his personal sense of time, becoming disconnected from his sense of self. As he reached his final stop, though – a devastated 31st-century Metropolis – a vision of his wife puts the Man of Steel, now clad like a classic Time Trapper, back on track.

And then he sees someone else, scrabbling to survive a broken world.

It’s the Imra who was a member of Darkseid’s Legion, free of his influence for a few years and hanging onto what hope she and her fellow surviving members can find.

As Imra’s husband, Lightning Lad, shows Superman how they’ve been attempting to rebuild a Legion worthy of the name, timequakes strike. The timeline is righting itself, readying to erase this Legion in favour of the heroes they murdered in Darkseid’s name. Superman returning the previously dark Legion to their original timeline would stop the damage but they’d likely face the wrath of Darkseid. Superman isn’t having it, he’ll face the foe Saturn Girl can now unveil.

Has Superman really enough powers to stop Infinite Man’s time tinkering?

Yes. Yes he has. Expending his final reserves of Omega energy, Superman ends the threat of the Infinite Man. Back to his regular power levels, our hero is ripe for rescue from the timestream, as seen in the aforementioned Action Comics #1100.

As for Imra, Garth and co, they get their shot at redemption… for a few weeks, anyway. Then something drops from the sky with a fatal payload.

They’re Brainiac drones. But which Brainiac?

Pandora, one of the architects of the disastrous New 52 continuity, working with Brainiac One Million on behalf of Darkseid? She sees herself as a mere functionary in the next stage of the Apokolips ruler’s war on the heroes of Earth, and warns the robotic conqueror to stay in his own lane. Fat chance, as we see when she leaves.

So yes, Superman has restored every Legion to their particular parallel Earth/timeline, but while we see members railing against, or accepting, their status as miniaturised prisoners in bottles, their captor chuckles ‘The other Legions’ stories continue unaware until I can weaponise them against Superman and Darkseid’. Which is it?

I enjoyed this issue loads up until the ending. Superman meets Hourman in a cool Viking-longboat timeship. The rarely seen but visually impressive Infinity Man appears – I bet every Bronze Age Legion fan named him at first silhouette. Darkseid’s Legion work for redemption in a world of punishment. Every Legion is restored to the multiverse, with all casualties and deaths undone.

And then that coda, which sees every last Legion a prisoner of Brainiac One Million. Can’t we have a clean happy ending? I realise there’s yet another big Darkseid story on the way, an Absolute Stonkingly Big Crisis or something, but why does it have to suck up all the good stuff here?

As for the new Legion Williamson and artist Hayden Sherman are bringing us next month, there’s a three-page taster at book’s end, but we don’t see them among the teams in the Annual story. I’m starting to worry they’re actually in the Absolute Universe, given they’re on a world where heroes are outlawed. We’ll see.

I enjoyed the fact Lois and Clark are so connected that even in some timey-wimey non-space they’re having visions of one another. It’s ironic that in her dream Lois is telling Clark not to worry about his outliving her… but she’s the one dreaming the conversation.

This exchange is interesting.

Hourman seems to be reframing every version of the Time Trapper as a force for good. How very Galactus.

There’s also a reference in here to ‘possible futures mixed with locked ones’. Who decides?

And odd thinking from Superman when he spots Imra but doesn’t immediately recognise her.

Who? Anyone without the resources to leave. Maybe this is Williamson again showing just how far removed from humanity Superman has become.

Hands up who’s happy to see Pandora again? Anyone? And didn’t she get killed awhile back?

I’m happy to see a double-length story drawn by Barrows, who takes advantage of the extra space by giving us some striking big images. His Omega Champion Superman is majestic, while the bearded version looks differently great. Hourman’s environment is wonderfully dramatic, and Infinity Man has never looked better. As for Brainiac One Million… sorry, I don’t recall him at all. Green, I guess. Pandora looks silly, so points for consistency. The layouts are cracking, I especially enjoy Superman hurtling across spreads, a figure of shimmering orange and yellow, thanks to Lucas.

The colours are a treat throughout, ranging from naturalistic for Lois’ dream to eye popping in the timestream and burnt browns and orange again in the ‘dead Earth’ Metropolis.

Maher has a lot of script to fit onto the art and does a fine job making everything look appealing. There are a couple of pages where Superman’s narrative boxes are a different colour to the rest of the issue… maybe it’s to do with… er, over to you!

The ‘Legion Found’ pages treat us to the full-colour art of Yasmin Putri, who does an especially striking Hourman. More please.

Big thanks to the DC Production Department or whoever decided to to dump the crystallised Superman: The Movie logo in favour of the rarely seen minimalist version. Love it!

All in all, Superman Annual: Year One Thousand #1 is a fun read, it’s just a shame DC’s Event-Set-Up-Itis kicks in towards the end. Now, let see this new Legion in action.