What do you think?
Rate this book
Elseworlds
Superman: Kal
Superman: Kal (written by Dave Gibbons with art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez) has Kal's rocket landing in medieval England. Kal becomes a blacksmith, hiding his abilities at the urging of his father. He impulsively enters a tournament to impress the Lady Loisse, who is being held captive the Baron Luthor. Mighty Kal weakens when he meets Luthor, who wears a glowing green gem on a necklace. Luthor also discovers the rocket ship and has Kal work it into a suit of armour and a sword. Gibbons nicely mixes a tale of good versus evil and triumph alongside tragedy as the story builds toward a deadly, violent confrontation. Garcia-Lopez' art is well suited to the setting with lots of depth and detail.
59 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
4 people are currently reading
271 people want to read
About the author
Dave Gibbons
655 books257 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything". He also was an artist for the UK anthology 2000 AD, for which he contributed a large body of work from its first issue in 1977.
Gibbons broke into British comics by working on horror and action titles for both DC Thomson and IPC. When the science-fiction anthology title 2000 AD was set up in the mid-1970s, Gibbons contributed artwork to the first issue, Prog 01 (February 1977), and went on to draw the first 24 installments of Harlem Heroes, one of the founding (and pre-Judge Dredd) strips. Mid-way through the comic's first year he began illustrating Dan Dare, a cherished project for Gibbons who had been a fan of the original series. Also working on early feature Ro-Busters, Gibbons became one of the most prolific of 2000 AD's earliest creators, contributing artwork to 108 of the first 131 Progs/issues. He returned to the pages of "the Galaxy's Greatest Comic" in the early 1980s to create Rogue Trooper with writer Gerry Finley-Day and produce an acclaimed early run on that feature, before handing it over to a succession of other artists. He also illustrated a handful of Tharg's Future Shocks shorts, primarily with author Alan Moore. Gibbons departed from 2000 AD briefly in the late 1970s/early 1980s to became the lead artist on Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly, for which magazine he drew the main comic strip from issue #1 until #69, missing only four issues during that time.
He is best known in the US for collaborating with Alan Moore on the 12-issue limited series Watchmen, now one of the best-selling graphic novels of all time, and the only one to feature on Time's "Top 100 Novels" list. From the start of the 1990s, Gibbons began to focus as much on writing and inking as on drawing, contributing to a number of different titles and issues from a variety of companies. Particular highlights included, in 1990, Gibbons writing the three-issue World's Finest miniseries for artist Steve Rude and DC, while drawing Give Me Liberty for writer Frank Miller and Dark Horse Comics. He penned the first Batman Vs. Predator crossover for artists Andy and Adam Kubert (Dec 1991 - Feb 1992), and inked Rick Veitch and Stephen R. Bissette for half of Alan Moore's 1963 Image Comics series.
Works other than comics include providing the background art for the 1994 computer game Beneath a Steel Sky and the cover to K, the 1996 debut album by psychedelic rock band Kula Shaker. In 2007, he served as a consultant on the film Watchmen, which was adapted from the book, and released in March 2009. 2009's Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars Director's Cut for the Nintendo DS and Wii platforms featured hand drawn art by Dave Gibbons.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything". He also was an artist for the UK anthology 2000 AD, for which he contributed a large body of work from its first issue in 1977.
Gibbons broke into British comics by working on horror and action titles for both DC Thomson and IPC. When the science-fiction anthology title 2000 AD was set up in the mid-1970s, Gibbons contributed artwork to the first issue, Prog 01 (February 1977), and went on to draw the first 24 installments of Harlem Heroes, one of the founding (and pre-Judge Dredd) strips. Mid-way through the comic's first year he began illustrating Dan Dare, a cherished project for Gibbons who had been a fan of the original series. Also working on early feature Ro-Busters, Gibbons became one of the most prolific of 2000 AD's earliest creators, contributing artwork to 108 of the first 131 Progs/issues. He returned to the pages of "the Galaxy's Greatest Comic" in the early 1980s to create Rogue Trooper with writer Gerry Finley-Day and produce an acclaimed early run on that feature, before handing it over to a succession of other artists. He also illustrated a handful of Tharg's Future Shocks shorts, primarily with author Alan Moore. Gibbons departed from 2000 AD briefly in the late 1970s/early 1980s to became the lead artist on Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly, for which magazine he drew the main comic strip from issue #1 until #69, missing only four issues during that time.
He is best known in the US for collaborating with Alan Moore on the 12-issue limited series Watchmen, now one of the best-selling graphic novels of all time, and the only one to feature on Time's "Top 100 Novels" list. From the start of the 1990s, Gibbons began to focus as much on writing and inking as on drawing, contributing to a number of different titles and issues from a variety of companies. Particular highlights included, in 1990, Gibbons writing the three-issue World's Finest miniseries for artist Steve Rude and DC, while drawing Give Me Liberty for writer Frank Miller and Dark Horse Comics. He penned the first Batman Vs. Predator crossover for artists Andy and Adam Kubert (Dec 1991 - Feb 1992), and inked Rick Veitch and Stephen R. Bissette for half of Alan Moore's 1963 Image Comics series.
Works other than comics include providing the background art for the 1994 computer game Beneath a Steel Sky and the cover to K, the 1996 debut album by psychedelic rock band Kula Shaker. In 2007, he served as a consultant on the film Watchmen, which was adapted from the book, and released in March 2009. 2009's Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars Director's Cut for the Nintendo DS and Wii platforms featured hand drawn art by Dave Gibbons.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
November 28, 2018
Powerful tale!
This is a special prestige one-shot publication, in the line of "Elseworlds" tales, showing known DC Characters in a different environment.
Creative Team:
Writer: Dave Gibbons
Illustrator: José Luis García-López
Letterer: Todd Klein
BRAVEHEART MEETS MAN OF STEEL
Dave Gibbons, famous for his collaboration in not other than Watchmen, along with Todd Klein, one of the best letterers in the business, along with the adequate artwork of José Luis García-López, bring us a strong tragedy in the times of knights in shinning armor...
...only using the familiar characters from Superman.
Kal-El comes to Earth as a baby in a rocketship...
...only like one thousand years before, right in the middle of the Middle Ages.
There he grew up, learning the skills of a blacksmith, and falling in love of Lady Loisse,...
...but in each knighthood tales, there is a villain...
Enter: Baron Luthor!
The clash between Kal and Baron Luthor will be like nothing you ever seen before in the pages of Superman!!!
But, considering Gibbons' involment in something like Watchmen, I'm not surprised that he had the balls to produce a story that visceral.
Definitely, a truly great elseworlds tale, using at maximum the liberties that offer these kind of stories.
This is a special prestige one-shot publication, in the line of "Elseworlds" tales, showing known DC Characters in a different environment.
Creative Team:
Writer: Dave Gibbons
Illustrator: José Luis García-López
Letterer: Todd Klein
BRAVEHEART MEETS MAN OF STEEL
Dave Gibbons, famous for his collaboration in not other than Watchmen, along with Todd Klein, one of the best letterers in the business, along with the adequate artwork of José Luis García-López, bring us a strong tragedy in the times of knights in shinning armor...
...only using the familiar characters from Superman.
Kal-El comes to Earth as a baby in a rocketship...
...only like one thousand years before, right in the middle of the Middle Ages.
There he grew up, learning the skills of a blacksmith, and falling in love of Lady Loisse,...
...but in each knighthood tales, there is a villain...
Enter: Baron Luthor!
The clash between Kal and Baron Luthor will be like nothing you ever seen before in the pages of Superman!!!
But, considering Gibbons' involment in something like Watchmen, I'm not surprised that he had the balls to produce a story that visceral.
Definitely, a truly great elseworlds tale, using at maximum the liberties that offer these kind of stories.
March 20, 2019
A What if? Superman's ship crashed in medieval Europe instead of a Kansas farm. Your standard middle ages tale of a hero rising up to dethrone the local tyrant. Well told, with great art by one of the premier Superman artists of the 70's and 80's, José Luis García-López.
The Superman mythos lends itself to the Elseworlds concept so well. All that needs to happen is that Baby Kal's spaceship crash lands in a different time or place.
The Superman mythos lends itself to the Elseworlds concept so well. All that needs to happen is that Baby Kal's spaceship crash lands in a different time or place.
August 27, 2013
Media has to be careful when using rape as a plot device. And the rape/murder in this comic that happens to a character that has really no purpose other than to be there to be raped and murdered, is ham-fisted and frankly appalling.
Clumsy attempt to tie it all into Arthurian legend.
Just a mess. But an offensive mess, because of the aforementioned rape and murder.
Clumsy attempt to tie it all into Arthurian legend.
Just a mess. But an offensive mess, because of the aforementioned rape and murder.
May 11, 2015
Interesting premise, and reasonably well done, but considering the scale of the tale being told it all struck me as rather rushed. Baron Luthor is all nasty menace with no subtlety, kind of a comic-bookish Sheriff of Nottingham with a mean streak that's turned up to eleven. Likewise, the Lady Loise seems to exist more as a plot point than a person. Writer Dave Gibbons is capable of scripting characters with nuance, so I have to think the overall length of the book was the primary culprit. I suspect that a two or three part expansion of the story would have been more satisfying.
Still and all, I did enjoy this for what it was, and it was fun to see the ways some of the familiar characters were recast. Overall I'd rank it as fairly good... I was just hoping for great.
Still and all, I did enjoy this for what it was, and it was fun to see the ways some of the familiar characters were recast. Overall I'd rank it as fairly good... I was just hoping for great.
January 18, 2015
Superman: Kal examines the idea of what would happen if Superman's space crash-landed in medieval England. The result is a story with fantastic artwork that we reuses some of the classic characters (with variations in spellings) and tells a story that certainly is worthy of medieval legend.
The book was released around the time of Rob Roy and Braveheart and has some similar plot elements. The two things I didn't like about Kal was the fact that Baron Luthor wore Kryptonite around his neck because he'd found it (and I guess) decided the metal was pretty, which is kind of a big contrivance. The other problem is that Kal doesn't really go beyond himself. His motivations in the story are falling in love with a girl and seeking revenge on Luthor.
Overall, though the book was a fair read and a good take on the scenario.
The book was released around the time of Rob Roy and Braveheart and has some similar plot elements. The two things I didn't like about Kal was the fact that Baron Luthor wore Kryptonite around his neck because he'd found it (and I guess) decided the metal was pretty, which is kind of a big contrivance. The other problem is that Kal doesn't really go beyond himself. His motivations in the story are falling in love with a girl and seeking revenge on Luthor.
Overall, though the book was a fair read and a good take on the scenario.
September 8, 2015
Cool idea. Well done. Fun little book.
February 13, 2016
A nice medieval Superman story of an alternate universe. Recommended
April 7, 2016
One of the best elseworlds ever produced. Chivalry is impersonated in Kal, his deeds and adventures coded beautifully by Garcia Lopez. Gibbons scribes a masterpiece of fantasy, a gem of the nineties.
January 10, 2018
Short and sweet, this book transposes Superman to Middle Ages England to great effect, and makes a fab one-off story.
September 25, 2022
Another pretty solid elseworlds story, this one gives us the look at a medieval Superman. Well, in this case he simply goes by Kal. Dave Gibbons (writer) teams up with Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (artist) to bring us this fantasy one-shot. Like all other Superman stories, elseworld or not, we see baby Kal-el shipped off to Earth in a rocket after his planet is destroyed. This time around he lands during the middle ages and is found by some local farmers. The usual happens of him growing up and his parents noticing his abilities, and from there he goes on to work as a blacksmith in Lexford, the town ruled by the baron Luthor. That is also the same place he meets Loisse, the daughter of the murdered lord Layne. After a tournament held by Luthor to display skill and strength, Kal enters and bests Luthor’s strongest men and even survives an attempted murder. The prize he asks for is Loisse’s hand in marriage and she accepts. This of course angers Luthor, resulting in his revenge to be very gruesome and brutal. Kal must free the people from Luthor’s terrible reign, but with Luthor possessing a very particular green gemstone, it might be a more difficult challenge for Kal.
Dave Gibbons tries his hand at giving us a new, interesting, and creative take on the Man of Steel, and boy does he deliver. The beginning of the read does start off a bit slow however when Gibbons decides to pick it up, HE PICKS IT UP. He doesn't do too much with Superman and his abilities, really only displaying Superman’s strength. I wasn’t initially a fan of that, however with the setting taking place during the middle ages, it ended up being better for it. It still feels like the normal Superman with his great will and hope. Luthor is also written as a great villain, he is very dark and brutal and I mean *brutal*. There is a certain scene in particular that really left me going “wtf!”. It all leads to a great finale that once again gives us a satisfying one-shot, but also leaves us a little hungry for more.
Probably the best part of this read for me was the artist on duty, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Hands down the most recognizable DC artist to ever grace our eyes. I mean, even if you’ve never read a DC comic in your life, but you've seen any old school superhero marketing, clothes, stickers, posters, school supplies, etc.. then you’ve seen Garcia-Lopez’s work. So of course his artwork gives us a very familiar look to the Man of Steel, and it kinda makes the whole thing look classic. His work is a PERFECT match for the medieval setting as he displays this world in great detail. The work feels clean and smooth, with great panels that add to the story telling. The climax scenes are also super entertaining and add to that WOW ending. It’s truly prolific work and this read should be checked out alone for the artwork.
Overall; another really fun elseworld tale with a super dope creative duo. A bit slow in the beginning but the build up is well worth it and super fun.
Dave Gibbons tries his hand at giving us a new, interesting, and creative take on the Man of Steel, and boy does he deliver. The beginning of the read does start off a bit slow however when Gibbons decides to pick it up, HE PICKS IT UP. He doesn't do too much with Superman and his abilities, really only displaying Superman’s strength. I wasn’t initially a fan of that, however with the setting taking place during the middle ages, it ended up being better for it. It still feels like the normal Superman with his great will and hope. Luthor is also written as a great villain, he is very dark and brutal and I mean *brutal*. There is a certain scene in particular that really left me going “wtf!”. It all leads to a great finale that once again gives us a satisfying one-shot, but also leaves us a little hungry for more.
Probably the best part of this read for me was the artist on duty, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Hands down the most recognizable DC artist to ever grace our eyes. I mean, even if you’ve never read a DC comic in your life, but you've seen any old school superhero marketing, clothes, stickers, posters, school supplies, etc.. then you’ve seen Garcia-Lopez’s work. So of course his artwork gives us a very familiar look to the Man of Steel, and it kinda makes the whole thing look classic. His work is a PERFECT match for the medieval setting as he displays this world in great detail. The work feels clean and smooth, with great panels that add to the story telling. The climax scenes are also super entertaining and add to that WOW ending. It’s truly prolific work and this read should be checked out alone for the artwork.
Overall; another really fun elseworld tale with a super dope creative duo. A bit slow in the beginning but the build up is well worth it and super fun.
May 27, 2024
This one took me by surprise. It was a quick, short read, but it was surprisingly dark. The art work was great, I love retro comic book art. The story drew me in and I dwelled on the twist ending for quite some time after I had finished the book.
This was my first proper ebook comic read so I had to get used to that.
It's good, well worth it if you can't afford the big collections.
This was my first proper ebook comic read so I had to get used to that.
It's good, well worth it if you can't afford the big collections.
August 2, 2013
Written much like an old-timey-fairytale, this alternate universe is fun and interesting.
June 28, 2015
loved the idea of a midevil superman.
June 8, 2025
This is another one of those extremely simple Superman Elseworlds that put Superman into a different setting. This time it's a medieval one. Superman is still his virtuous self and in this setting it makes him knightly and with his superior strength he can be a mighty knight indeed, once he overcomes his (seemingly) lowly birth. The patriotic aspect of Superman is not present due to the setting where people don't really concern themselves with that, I don't think the kingdoms name is even said, but that just opens potential for conflict with the corrupt Baron Luthor. What follows is heroic tale of knightly glamour and a chivalric hero overcoming odds, fighting against a tyrant and saving a damsel in distress. It takes a surprising dark turn and there's a twist, but I don't think it ruins the momentum and I am all here for it. But there is one massive flaw... the setting itself. It's not really medieval, it's more like a concoction of all preconceptions people have about the Middle Ages. And while that might just be seen as a part of corny tone of the book, it really frustrated me. I decided to cope by telling myself to view it as a fantasy setting, but something would always quickly come up to snatch me from my delusion. And in the end when it is revealed that this is all a prequel to Arthurian mythos part of me wanted to scream because that's something so cheesy I love it while another part of me wanted to scream because it made things worse for the setting's accuracy. And both parts were unsatisfied when the perfect opportunity to have Excalibur be at the bottom of a lake is replaced with it ending up ready to be pulled out of stone by King Arthur, something that is more recognizable, but not where Excalibur is supposed to come from. None the less, I decided to consider this just a single flaw and therefore take away only one star. Now I am fantasizing about a sequel where king Arthur leads an industrialized Britain and interacts with DC superheroes which would fix this by making the whole world premised on being an alternate reality first and foremost and not a historical setting.
April 15, 2021
My reaction reading Superman: Kal went something like this:
Ooooooo Superman is gonna meet Merlin! Superman is gonna be this world's Merlin!
. . . . . .
Luthor is a tyrannical ruler. Sigh, how original, I'm quaking in my boots with suspense. Oh, goodie he's the only one with Kryptonite.
Loisse is the fair maiden trapped by the evil baron. Okay I'll bite, I'm a sucker for Robin Hood and Maid Marian storyline.
BUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS NEVER DEVELOPED
You're probably reading this shaking your head and going, it's a comic book, there isn't room for character development, and you would be dead wrong. 😑 In Elseworld's Finest: Book 1 of 2 had plenty of character development and was not flat. I loved the interaction between Jimmy and Clark, and Lana's new history.
I'm sorry but I didn't get that vibe in Superman: Kal My expectations were sky high for this. book. You've got to understand this gal is a huge Arthurian legend fan. I expected magic, tyrannical lords (which I sort of got in a odd comical way) quests and knights of the Round Table. The tragic ending is what saved it from being a 2 stars. I liked how it felt like a legend of old, but the characters and world leave much to be desired. I would love to read a well written medieval superman AU someday.
Ooooooo Superman is gonna meet Merlin! Superman is gonna be this world's Merlin!
. . . . . .
Luthor is a tyrannical ruler. Sigh, how original, I'm quaking in my boots with suspense. Oh, goodie he's the only one with Kryptonite.
Loisse is the fair maiden trapped by the evil baron. Okay I'll bite, I'm a sucker for Robin Hood and Maid Marian storyline.
BUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS NEVER DEVELOPED
You're probably reading this shaking your head and going, it's a comic book, there isn't room for character development, and you would be dead wrong. 😑 In Elseworld's Finest: Book 1 of 2 had plenty of character development and was not flat. I loved the interaction between Jimmy and Clark, and Lana's new history.
I'm sorry but I didn't get that vibe in Superman: Kal My expectations were sky high for this. book. You've got to understand this gal is a huge Arthurian legend fan. I expected magic, tyrannical lords (which I sort of got in a odd comical way) quests and knights of the Round Table. The tragic ending is what saved it from being a 2 stars. I liked how it felt like a legend of old, but the characters and world leave much to be desired. I would love to read a well written medieval superman AU someday.
November 13, 2020
An Elseworlds story which begins with baby Kal-El's rocket crashlanding in Medieval England and goes on to tell a version of Superman's tale recast as an Arthurian tragedy.
I won't lie, most of the Elseworlds books I've read so far have been pretty underwhelming. It usually seems that they begin with a clever 'what if...?' idea but then feel like they don't have to deliver on anything beyond that. So, I wasn't holding out much hope for this book actually amounting to anything more than 'What if Superman was a Medieval knight?'.
Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised.
Perhaps it's because Gibbons is British and the Medieval romances of Robin Hood and King Arthur are carved bone-deep into our cultural consciousness, but this book brilliantly escapes the potential pitfalls of coming across as a Disney-fied Middle Ages-meets-superhero story. Instead, Gibbons does a great job of adapting the source material into a surprisingly compelling Arthurian tragedy.
And the squeamish should take note of my use of the world 'tradgedy', because this book does actually go to some pretty dark extremes; much like actual mythology does. This is not a 'Superman-lived-happily-ever-after' story.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com/ *
I won't lie, most of the Elseworlds books I've read so far have been pretty underwhelming. It usually seems that they begin with a clever 'what if...?' idea but then feel like they don't have to deliver on anything beyond that. So, I wasn't holding out much hope for this book actually amounting to anything more than 'What if Superman was a Medieval knight?'.
Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised.
Perhaps it's because Gibbons is British and the Medieval romances of Robin Hood and King Arthur are carved bone-deep into our cultural consciousness, but this book brilliantly escapes the potential pitfalls of coming across as a Disney-fied Middle Ages-meets-superhero story. Instead, Gibbons does a great job of adapting the source material into a surprisingly compelling Arthurian tragedy.
And the squeamish should take note of my use of the world 'tradgedy', because this book does actually go to some pretty dark extremes; much like actual mythology does. This is not a 'Superman-lived-happily-ever-after' story.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com/ *
October 22, 2018
Pretty average elseworld story. I agree with other reviewers that the "rape time!" moment feels stupid and cheap, considering that in reality - the same Gibbons tries to push down our throat with all the fuss about Kal being superhealthy in a unhealthy environment etc. while telling us that a three-years kid choose his own name - the Ius Primae Noctis was (if ever existed) nothing more than a monetary marriage tax. Comic authors should stop using such storytelling device AT ALL because it doesn't engage nor interest in the slightest. Dave Gibbons, please don't write any more comic, if this, the first Batman and Predator miniseries and the horrid Rogue Trooper reboot are an indication of your "abilities" as an actual writer. Two stars only for the cute art, otherwise it would be easily a one out of five. For a good medieval reimagining of a classic superhero, check Dark Knight of the Round Table, where Arthurian legends don't need a rape as a plot point. And for the most parts, it works!
May 19, 2021
Superman Kal
by Dave Gibbons and José Luis Garcia-Lopez
DC created the Elseworlds imprint as kinda a new version of an old idea of theirs, and a cousin of Marvel’s What If? Here we see what would happen if Kal-El’s rocket landed not in 20th or 21st century Kansas but instead ends up in long ago Britain. Some peasants find and raise him, even thought they think he might be a demonspawn or something, all because he arrived in a strange vessel and shows usual abilities.
When he is discovered, Kal is sent to apprentice with a blacksmith and eventually runs afoul of corrupt local Baron Luthor and is smitten with brave Lady Loisse. Luthor of course becomes obsessed with destroying Kal, and plots and plots and plots.
The story takes an R rated and unfortunately historically accurate and foreseeable turn with Luthor, which leads to the final showdown between Kal and Luthor.
One of the things I love with a good Elseworlds is the twist endings, and this one has a great one as well, tying everything all together between this myth and another.
by Dave Gibbons and José Luis Garcia-Lopez
DC created the Elseworlds imprint as kinda a new version of an old idea of theirs, and a cousin of Marvel’s What If? Here we see what would happen if Kal-El’s rocket landed not in 20th or 21st century Kansas but instead ends up in long ago Britain. Some peasants find and raise him, even thought they think he might be a demonspawn or something, all because he arrived in a strange vessel and shows usual abilities.
When he is discovered, Kal is sent to apprentice with a blacksmith and eventually runs afoul of corrupt local Baron Luthor and is smitten with brave Lady Loisse. Luthor of course becomes obsessed with destroying Kal, and plots and plots and plots.
The story takes an R rated and unfortunately historically accurate and foreseeable turn with Luthor, which leads to the final showdown between Kal and Luthor.
One of the things I love with a good Elseworlds is the twist endings, and this one has a great one as well, tying everything all together between this myth and another.
July 3, 2023
A fun, if somewhat gimmicky, Elseworlds story. It not only reimagines the story of Superman in a medieval setting but it adds a legendary quality to it, like King Arthur or Robin Hood. Creating a link between medieval folklore and contemporary comic book storytelling that it doesn't expand on. It's biggest flaw is a quite brutal bit of fridging. The visuals throughout, with a few exceptions, are the best selling feature of the book. The image of Kal's sword in particular is one that now lives rent free in my brain.
May 5, 2022
A tragic ending but great story
This is a short self-concluding story with a really interesting and original concept.
As a one-shot story this is great but this world had potential for so much more with a longer and more developed story, I would really like to read an alternative with this same concept including more fantasy elements.
This is a short self-concluding story with a really interesting and original concept.
As a one-shot story this is great but this world had potential for so much more with a longer and more developed story, I would really like to read an alternative with this same concept including more fantasy elements.
March 12, 2023
I liked the concept and art very much, sort of a what if story, What if superman had landed on Earth in the middle ages. The characters were fun adaptions of what we know as familiar characters from our own time line. My biggest complaint would be that I would have enjoyed even more, but all good things do need to come to an end some boring people say. For me this was a good read.
Read
December 19, 2023Medieval Superman is a brilliant idea for a story, but this short Elseworlds one-shot doesn't really cut the muster in delivering the kind of epic such a concept deserves. Superman: Kal is short, straightforward, and filled with flatness, but offers a fine distraction for the better part of an hour with powerful artwork that pushes the story as far as it can go.
May 12, 2019
This beautifully crafted Elseworld tale takes place in the times of brave knights, common people at the mercy of cruel overlords. See what happens to Kal (Superman) as he is a common blacksmith apprentice in a borough belonging to the Evil Lord Luthor.
A must read for fans of Superman.
A must read for fans of Superman.
May 26, 2019
I'm surprised how good this one was. Elseworlds of this period were being cranked out like crazy, usually to very predictable and dull effect, but this one rises slightly above by being a little more creative and ambitious. Certainly not the best Elseworld ever, but better than most.
July 6, 2024
Lex Luthor tries to rape Lois and then beats her to death when she fights back
Also the pseudo-medieval setting is all over the place re; how they all speak.
A valiant attempt at a superman king-arthur story, i guess….?
Also the pseudo-medieval setting is all over the place re; how they all speak.
A valiant attempt at a superman king-arthur story, i guess….?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2024
More Shakespearean tragedy than medieval romance, Karl is a surprisingly adult tale by Gibbons.
JLGL’s is clearly taken from Gibbon’s storyboards, often more inking than pencilling.
Overall a very satisfying read.
JLGL’s is clearly taken from Gibbon’s storyboards, often more inking than pencilling.
Overall a very satisfying read.
April 27, 2018
comics where lois is brutalized will always be trash
May 17, 2019
Releyendo un elseworlds de Superman de los Favoritos y añorando los años 90.
July 14, 2019
good story and art, setting the superman story in medieval times
August 26, 2019
comics where lois is brutalized will always be trash
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews