I love the Superman mythos. I love the thematic tension of a man representing both an all-powerful dying alien race and the quintessential small-town American. This contradiction is perfectly captured in Superman Vol. 1 as the comic sees Clark as a father and husband while contending with Krypton’s legacy.

The story follows Superman and his family fighting the Eradicator a Kryptonian weapon hell-bent on erasing “corrupted” Kryptonian blood by killing Superman’s half-Kryptonian half-human son Jon. What I found most moving about this arc was the way it asserted Jon as the heir to the legacy of Krypton and that being half-human doesn’t make him any less Kryptonian than his father or any less deserving of the mantel of Superman and his Kryptonian heritage.

Outside of the big picture storytelling I also adored the slice-of-life aspects of this story. I love family-centric stories and the simple mundanities seen in bits and pieces in the volume were sweet. The Kent household is wholesome and I loved seeing them in life or death scenarios and the low stakes day-to-day.

As far as I can tell this run of Superman is a great starting point with the character. I haven’t read any Superman comics and outside of some minor continuity confusion in the beginning I could follow the story easily and had a great time with it. I loved Superman Vol. 1 and I’m excited to continue on in the series.