Letters to Action Comics #50

That’s definitely some high praise. Interestingly, some of the first comics I ever read were issues of Superman Family from the 70s that we found in the local charity shop. That, along with Batman: Strange Apparitions were some of the formative stories of my youth and have probably influenced more DC2 stories than I can possibly say. There’s just something about that era that resonates with me, same as all the Ellis and Morrison content that permeates my work.


Yes! This story was building even as I wrote it, so it took me in directions I didn’t quite expect, but once that twist took shape, I knew exactly where this was going to go. Figuring out the crises, and also making it so that her actions made sense was fiddly. She had to make sure of certain things happening, she had to not pre-empt certain things, but she could save lives, and do more, as well as save the love of her life.

She saved Lena, and countless lives, and that iteration of the Justice League, and what did she lose? Nothing, but she could have… and still might… but we’ll get to that further down.


Thank you. I wanted to show post-Omega Crisis world without revealing that’s where we’re at, so we had all these cameos from future characters (and then the fucking Legion! I didn’t know I had it in me, but with the Omnicron making an appearance, that just had to happen-- and they helped save the day!) and we discovered how irrevocable the damage was to the love of her life. But she’s not let anything stop her before, so why accept that now?


This was the part of the story I was most worried about! Thematically, it’s close to what Hal Jordan wanted to do after the destruction of Coast City-- he wanted more power to bring the city back to life! Before fear parasites and all that malarkey, it was about bringing back a city he failed. I was struck as I wrote it by how selfish Kara was doing… and it’s a theme we also see in The CW’s Flash show… you can’t use time travel as a way of fixing your mistakes… but Kara’s single-mindedness drove the story forward.

One thing we’ve established with her character is that she’s stubborn and driven. She didn’t speak to Lena for 2-3 years because she blamed her for the loss of Kru, even if she knew, in her heart of hearts, it wasn’t Lena’s fault. But sometimes, once she makes an emotionally-driven decision, even if it’s the wrong one, she’ll stick with it, even when it brings her nothing but misery. This is a continuation of those personality traits established in previous stories, but I was worried that the reader might turn on her. What gives her the right to do something so selfish?

Then I thought… she’s sacrificed everything for this universe. For this reality and so many others! So why not bend the rules? Why not, this one time, she do such a thing?

It was also an opportunity to revisit the small group of confidantes that Kara has surrounded herself with so far in the DC2. Her relationship with Doctor Fate is alluded to in the last Christmas special we did, a few years back. Nat Irons has been by her side quite a lot. Kon is her cousin, they’re family, and of course Krypto wouldn’t abandon her. It was good to reinforce that, and also show that she’s built so much for herself in her time as the sole protector of Earth (and the universe, obvs) in the absence of Superman.

Originally, there were major temporal repercussions to her changing the timeline. I excised an entire plot thread-- half written*!-- with Rip Hunter travelling to Vanishing Point and witnessing what the changes to the timeline wrought, which was the destabilising of the foundation of Vanishing Point, and the discovery of why Vanishing Point exists in the first place. But it disrupted the final scene with the ring, so it had to go.

We were going to learn… that Vanishing Point is a prison. And the sole prisoner it holds is a member of the chaotic, eldritch pantheon we’ve established across the DC2, with the likes of Nekron (in Nemesis), M'nagalah (in Green Lantern Corps), Xthulhu (in Aquaman) and the creatures of Ugthothlhem (from Justice League counted amongst their numbers. I know the basis of their existence-- it’s actually outlined in the appearances of Ugthothlhem’s avatar in Justice League, and it was also discussed during M'nagalah’s manifestation during the desecration of Coast City in Green Lantern Corps… they’re all creatures from the First World. Cosmic war criminals on the god-level. They’re the First Gods. We’re in the Fourth World, on the cusp of the Fifth, but the First Gods still exist, trapped in nether realms beneath and below reality. They’re locked up, and the final DC2 story… my final DC2 story… will be about when they’re finally freed. “Oh, but Charlie, didn’t all the doors open up when the Key was empowered by Krona over in Omega Crisis?” C’mon, guys. I know what I’m doing.

…Anyway, where was I?

Vanishing Point!

In the now deleted scene, we were going to spend time with all sorts of time travellers, and set up a villain for later issues on the site, but then I realised how badly the story was getting away with me. I might share those scenes at some point, but they’re out of continuity and might find a new home down the line…

The beast is called the Chronmirridon by the way. It’s been imprisoned under Vanishing Point since time became a concept in the universe. And it is angry…

*Every title I write, I also have a file nearby called “Chaff”; paragraphs and sequences that I had to strip out of the final story. A lot of the time its because the story changes direction, but sometimes its crap. For this, I was getting too far away from the story itself, so I had to delete the scenes around the thread.


It's been important to me for every Superwoman story to build on the last. Each story is a milestone, each event important. In her miniseries, we were following her through the years, and she’s taken the spotlight in her appearances in Omega Crisis (I know, I know, I need to finish it). We’ve discovered her character and taken leaps with her every time she appears, and if she’s the last character I write on the site, I’d be happy.

What will happen when we next see Kara and Lena? Can the DC2 withstand another wedding? I guess it would have to come out after Omega Crisis concludes, because even though we’re jumping ahead of that (the universe survives Krona… of course it would) there are some important wedding-related threads from that story that need to be tied up.

The fights were never the most important thing in this. The characters drove the story, and I wanted to spend more time with people interacting, rather than fists flying. Its important to me that the Els don’t really start fights, that’s why she’s trying so hard to talk Batman down. It’s why she relies on her other superpowers to end their fracas, and it’s why she doesn’t throw a punch against Doctor Demo’s forces. She doesn’t need to.

And I also didn’t want Clark to think poorly of Kara at the end of the story! Everything about this group of characters boils down to love. There’s so much hope and optimism-- so much trust-- that I think the other members of the Justice League think that Superman is naïve, but I don’t think that’s the case. He wants to believe that people are capable of their very best, and Kara is the epitome of that. I think there’s relief that she’s not turned out to be some kind of evil double-- or Ultragirl!-- and he knows that she’s doing the best she can, and that’s the thing that makes him the proudest.

Oooph, I’m glad you appreciate the layers to this story. I put so much into it, kept folding and folding and folding until the story was this elaborate piece of origami, and I’m glad it looks as good as it does. And those covers! Mike really helped me out on this, and it wouldn’t have been right to hit a milestone like Action Comics #50 without Roy-- and also his son!-- contributing art. The pair of them really made this story special.

There’s only one plot thread still dangling from the first chapter of this story, but that’s going to have to wait another day. I’m kinda miffed that I completely forgot about it when I hit the conclusion, but its not a massive one… its just important to me. More on that later, I guess.

But at the end of the day, I think these three issues of Action Comics could stand as my thesis statement on the DC2. This all started with a unique version of Kara’s origin written by Roy and edited by Brian, and led to a future that is deserving of where she’s gone since that stellar debut, all borne from a desire to prove somebody wrong (me, that is). I'm really proud of this story, and couldn't have told it without the DC2.

So, thank you.