Superman (2023-) #31

Superman (2023) Single Issues #31

by Joshua Williamson, Eddy Barrows (Artist)

Superman and his allies have been thrown into a dangerous game to capture the Heart of Apokolips at the center of Earth. But what is the Heart of Apokolips? And how are its origins tied to Krypton?! And why doesn’t Darkseid’s Legion want Superman to find out?

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Superman

Kindle Edition

Published October 22, 2025

Reviews

[Craig Schorling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good and enjoyable tie-in issue. This KO event is off to a great start. Superboy Prime is awesome and Lois is set to play a big role in the things to come. The art was pretty solid but some facial expressions felt a bit off.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superman might go down as Williamson best work. Wonderful work on Lois and Prime too.

[Jadyn❀ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joshua Williamson is putting that work into making Superman the heart and soul of this DC K.O. event. Lois Lane is so cool here, where she is just as essential to making this story exactly what you want from a Superman story as Clark is.
I’m not even regularly reading Superman right now (my best friend and I usually just trade Batman and Superman recaps), but I love Joshua Williamson’s writing for his obvious understanding of and care for the characters he works with. It definitely makes me want to catch up on his Superman run thus far.

[Joshua Tompkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great tie in! Story leaves off on a cliffhanger but starts by continuing almost directly from right before K.O. issue 1. We see Superman reluctantly accepting what is going to happen and look for answers in the only place he knows. Lois does what she's and goes off to investigate. Very engaging and very well done, with a hint of breaking the forth wall at the end! I loved it!

[Cristhian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prime is back

[Landen Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good tie in too DCKO

[Rory C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great issue in the DC K.O. series and a important tie-in.

Has reinforced to me that I need to be picking up this series on a regular basis.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright I’m NGL I wasn’t enjoying myself for a lot of this issue, it felt like a rehash of most of the stuff already covered in DC KO, but then as SuperBoy prime says…you got me on that last page reveal!! HAHAHA! But I do also have to admit that the pencils in this book infuriate me. The bodies are fine, but does this dude understand eyes?! And what’s with people frowning while showing their teeth. I swear it’s so inconsistent and actually infuriating. One thing that was revealed in DC KO was Superman and doomsday’s shared origin. In that book we saw Lara, Kal-El’s mother, explore ruins where she found a prophecy about king omega and how doomsday was created to be the alpha/opposition to that omega. In this book we follow Clark in the days leading up to DC KO as he goes through all the preparation for the event and attempts to find out more about what doomsday was alluding to when it came to their shared history. Clark took a visit out to the fortress of solitude to ask the computer simulation of his father about any files on darkseid or king omega, but all he got back was that there is no knowledge on any of that, and that if there was some knowledge on krypton was deemed illegal and was lost when krypton was destroyed. With that being a dead end Clark also asked about why they saved only him and if they had unlimited resources and the chance to save everyone on the planet…would they have? His father confirms they would have. And with that Clark sets out to lexcorp, formerly known as supercorp, to talk to mercy about mass scale evacuations. Also turns out parasite is healing back up nicely from his battle with doomsday. It’s kinda funny how both Superman and the dc KO special did better than the titans tie in in showing how everyone got off world, when the specific purpose of the titans tie in was to show how everyone got off world. Even thought lexcorp is cut off from JLU communications, they know something is up and had something in development that nah help. They call it a supership and it contains brainiac tech and is capable of shrinking a whole city and containing it. Superman instructs them to build at least a dozen of them, and gets them in contact with leaguers who can help rush the request.

The rest of the issue is stuff we see expanded upon that we basically already knew, Clark visiting Lois and telling her what is happening while getting to spend a day with his family before saying goodbye. He told her all about the interaction he had with Jor-el and how he can dj this tournament as long as he knows they are safe. As the supership’s take off loaded with people…Lois is noticeable absent, she smelled a story and took her own personally ship to the fortress of solitude to follow up on it. There she activated the Jor-El program and began to interview it, she wants to know all about everything Clark asked for but wants the truth. The only way they can know contents on krypton were illegal is that if they knew things were illegal to know to forbid it. Lois began to plead with the program about Clark out there saving the world and if it knows something that can help it needs to. Suddenly Jor-El begins to glitch out but then it changes its phrase from no knowledge in “our” records to no knowledge in “my”’records. Suddenly Jor-El is replaced by Lara, and it seems she can talk freely. She sees the love that Lois has for her son and is so happy she found him, her questions triggered her program and she has information that may be helpful. On krypton she was a historian and while there are no records of darkseid she did come across the legend of the destroyer, a dark omega presence that scientists on krypton hoped to create a champion to stop him. An alpha to the dark omega, Lara believes doomsday was feared for that purpose. Clark needs to know this immediately, Lois somehow had to get this information to him but how is she going to do that?! Suddenly a something crashes through the fortress of solitude…CLARK?! Sorta, but the wrong Clark, it’s SuperBoy prime! Last we left off he was stuck in the future, and he was and managed to hold off Darkseid’s army but there were too many. He has returned because he now why happened to the rest of the legions and he had to talk to Superman. Seems we all need that right now, but suddenly Lois and prime are thrown back by a blast of light. A really terrifying Sun boy from the legion of darkseid floats down towards them. He announces that they know their plans and that they’ve already won, darkseid is coming. SuperBoy prime stands again sun boy claiming that they will be stopped as he has forgotten about one thing…THE LAST PAGE REVEAL! Sun boy blasted them with a heap of sun powers, which means Lois got a heap of solar energy. SUPERWOMAN IS BACK!! Hahahaha!

[Colin Post · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a culture chooses (or forces people) to forget is just as important as what is saved. They probably should have written down that stuff about King Omega and Darkseid though. The reveal that every culture Kryptonians encountered had some legend of a Destroyer is telling though.

Some very lovely Clark and Lois moments in this one, and Barrows art feels like sketches from an illustrated newspaper. Beautiful stuff.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Qué interesante que se pueda volver a jugar con la ambiguedad y misterios de Krypton y qué mal que esté adscrito a este tema del Torneo de Darkseid. Ha sido muy bonito que Lois interactue con la consciencia de Lara. Por la parte masculina, esa frase de que la casa de EL si puede, salva a todos, reafirmando el sentido de Superman para esa última página *PIEL DE GALLINA*

[AJ Easterday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly I am just not a fan of Lois as Superwoman. We don't need everyone to have superpowers. Lois is plenty interesting as normal human being. Plus her gaining powers has been done to death already. It's a lame last page reveal.

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a tie in ill continue. absolute chills. deadass thought that reveal was Absolute Superman at first

[Raymond Paquette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good character setup for the new big event. Also last page reveal. Great hook for the next chapter.

[Andy Waldron · Rating 4 out of 5]

big dumb fun!! why didnt we get a superboy prime/deadpool team-up this year instead of batman/deadpool….

[rafaela (taylor's version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4, 25

[Ushnav Shroff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big dumb fun!

[Arthur Marchetto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma história secundária bastante interessante que compõe o evento DC K.O. e acrescenta um pouco sobre o passado do Superman e a relação dele com o Apocalipse.

[Antonio Escobar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ending legit had me like oh shit!!

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent tie-in.

[Richard A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent issue in this DCKO event. So many different stories/angles that will eventually tie together.

[PixieART · Rating 3 out of 5]

Storyline leading up to Dark side in the DC KO story. Superman has to say goodbye to his family while all of earth is evacuated.

[Ahren · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last page reveal actually got me to shout "Yes!" out loud to an empty room.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sun Boy looks sick asf in this! God are some of the faces ugly though

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending is interesting, at least. Some strange choices with the art.

[ceodantes · Rating 5 out of 5]

supermani bu eventin merkezine koymak istiyorlar LOVE IT öyle de yapın

[Dani Robles · Rating 2 out of 5]

No hay ser humano, caracteres con disfraz de poliespan.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75
Williamson's Superman is really fun.

[Mark Cubillos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This arc has been incredible and with Prime and Lois in the mix, what an issue.