Absolute Superman (2024-) #14

by Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval (Artist)

It has all been leading to this. The final battle against Ra’s Al Ghul, for the fate of Smallville and the soul of Superman!

Genres: Comics, Superman, Superheroes

Kindle Edition

Published December 24, 2025

About the author

Jason Aaron grew up in a small town in Alabama. His cousin, Gustav Hasford, who wrote the semi-autobiographical novel The Short-Timers, on which the feature film Full Metal Jacket was based, was a large influence on Aaron. Aaron decided he wanted to write comics as a child, and though his father was skeptical when Aaron informed him of this aspiration, his mother took Aaron to drug stores, where he would purchase books from spinner racks, some of which he still owns today.

Aaron's career in comics began in 2001 when he won a Marvel Comics talent search contest with an eight-page Wolverine back-up story script. The story, which was published in Wolverine #175 (June 2002), gave him the opportunity to pitch subsequent ideas to editors.

In 2006, Aaron made a blind submission to DC/Vertigo, who published his first major work, the Vietnam War story The Other Side which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Miniseries, and which Aaron regards as the "second time" he broke into the industry.

Following this, Vertigo asked him to pitch other ideas, which led to the series Scalped, a creator-owned series set on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation and published by DC/Vertigo.

In 2007, Aaron wrote Ripclaw: Pilot Season for Top Cow Productions. Later that year, Marvel editor Axel Alonso, who was impressed by The Other Side and Scalped, hired Aaron to write issues of Wolverine, Black Panther and eventually, an extended run on Ghost Rider that began in April 2008. His continued work on Black Panther also included a tie-in to the company-wide crossover storyline along with a "Secret Invasion" with David Lapham in 2009.

In January 2008, he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, though it would not affect his work on Scalped. Later that July, he wrote the Penguin issue of The Joker's Asylum.

After a 4-issue stint on Wolverine in 2007, Aaron returned to the character with the ongoing series Wolverine: Weapon X, launched to coincide with the feature film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Aaron commented, "With Wolverine: Weapon X we'll be trying to mix things up like that from arc to arc, so the first arc is a typical sort of black ops story but the second arc will jump right into the middle of a completely different genre," In 2010, the series was relaunched once again as simply Wolverine. He followed this with his current run on Thor: God of Thunder.

Reviews

[Thaddeus Tuffentsamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the new mythos.

I like the new suit and the AI Sol.

But after 14 issues 1.2 years of him fighting Lazcorp in one form or fashion, I’m really ready to move on. It’s been like one of those dramas that go on for 46 episodes, eventually you don’t care how it ends anymore.

At least it now looks like he’ll finally become Superman fighting more than just one villain.

We see him with a new (classic) suit and embracing the Clark Kent name, but I really hope that they keep his suit and just have him move on to more Superman stories against different villains.

We’ll see next month.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit I am conflicted, there is a large part of me that just feels like this isn’t Superman. I think in large part it’s because humanity has such a connection and love for him that he is having a hard time reciprocating because he still has such a strong hold back to Krypton, very much a supergirl situation in that regard. And in a way it makes a lot of the resolution in this issue feel unearned, but oddly it also feels like a stepping stone to a true Superman…and after 14 issues that’s not a good thing. But at the exact same time, that ending legit made me cry. We jump into this issue directly from the last as the battle of Kansas has culminated into Sol being taken over by brainiac and Kal engaging Ra’s in a one on one fight for who controls his direction in life. But the issue starts with Kal’s life on Krypto and seeing his family glad before his eyes as Ra’s stabs him cleanly through with his extra large Kryptonite sword. Ra’s is brutal and his eyes may as well be popping out of his head with the stress he is putting on his body to engage Superman in this fight all so that he can reshape him into his own sun so that he may sweep the planet in Ra’s image. But what does Kal-El do when Gods try and grind him into the dirt…he spits in their face and stands right back up again. This issue is so odd for me because Kal-El has a lot of actions in this that feel like something Superman would do, all while expressing himself and closing himself off from the world with very non Superman ideas. But that is the big thing that this creative team has done to set this character on a different trajectory than the Superman we know. But that’s not to say he doesn’t care for humanity. As Kal continues to stand up to Ra’s, the next move to try and turn him over is to use Sol’s crystals, now in control of brainiac, to kill everyone he loves. But right before brainiac is about to do it, Sol whirs back to life. Brainiac took deep control of his systems, but that’s a two way street and he can see deep into brainiac’s mind as well and rather than be party to murder…Sol gathers all of its remaining strength to self destruct. Killing itself and Brainiac’s control over it in the process. Kal witnessed all of his and immediately took the anger from that loss and redirected it at Ra’s. Unfortunately this only falls into exactly what Ra’s wants, he wants Kal to unleash all of his anger into the world. Kal’s eyes erupt with the fury of the sun and he causes a giant explosion, additionally masking the way for everyone hiding underground to escape to the surface. The unfortunate thing…Ra’s can take the punch. Only thing he really lost from that huge explosion was his shirt. Kal is barely holding on, he can feel the parts of his body oozing as Ra’s throws him back with a heavy strike and one of the peacemaker soldiers in a giant titanfall unit picks Kal up. Kal can’t help but think of Sol, as they would know what to do. At this point all of the people left from Smallville and the peacemakers are standing at odds with each other. Rifles vs blasters. But Ra’s isn’t paying them any mind, right now he is more pissed at the peacemaker soldier who decided the could step in to “lay a hand” on his “son.” As Ra’s slashes down his own unit with the Kryptonite sword and goes to kill the operator…Kal gets the strength to jump in the way and deflect back the sword. It’s finally at this moment that Ra’s realizes that Kal may be no son of his with the weakness to protect a person trying to kill him. So it may be time to finally end this, and to start Ra’s orders his units to gun down all the people of Smallville. Kal stops them before they can, he will do whatever they say as long as they let the people go. Ra’s declares that what he wants is for Kal to cast aside his old life and embrace his new destiny. Kal tried to do this by rip pin away the shield that makes up his suit, the symbol of his people and one he wears with pride, but a people he can now accept he no longer has. Ra’s orders him to his knees, and Kal doesn’t care…he can grovel all he wants but Kal has a feeling Ra’s is going to kill all these people anyway. That is where Kal is wrong, as Ra’s plans to make Kal kill them all. And that is not something Kal can stand for. As he clenches his fist he takes the sands of krypton that make up the part of his suit that he just ripped off, and he reforms them into a giant sword! The two are locked into combat and the peacemakers ready themselves to fire on the people of Smallville. But then the mech suit peacemaker steps in and blocks them from firing. He calls out to them, this is not what they signed up for. I guess they are only chill when they kill people that don’t speak their same language, it’s finally gotten to a point that even their limited morals are caught up in a bind. But getting back to the main fight. It’s sword vs sword as Kal has to go after someone who has used a sword for centuries…but the one thing he has that Ra’s doesn’t…Ra’s doesn’t know how to fly. Hahahaha. I have to admit this fight is pretty epic, and as Kal’s memories flash before his eyes and he finally accepts that krypton is a distant memory and he is already home on Earth…he is finally able to shatter the Kryptonite blade and best Ra’s Al Ghul. But what now? He has Ra’s kneeling before him, and what Ra’s wants is for Kal to become the son of the demon and to strike him down and show everyone who he was always meant to be. To embrace the fear of the animals on this Earth and take them over! To finally give Ra’s what he deserves! So Kal does exactly that, and the next time we see them Ra’s is bound up and being delivered to the people of Orangi Town, Pakistan so he may face punishment for his crimes. As the issue comes to an end we jump a few weeks into the future. The word finally got out about what happened in Smallville and the people are starting to rebuild and people all over the world are learning what happened as Ra’s company is ruined. It doesn’t even matter that Talia slipped away during the battle.Kal gathered every spec of sunstone crystal, and the cape is still working but the machine inside of it is silent and lifeless…Sol is gone. Kal has spent this time healing but is now heading into town to the senior living facility to try and talk to Martha Kent…except he is too late as well. One of the nurses takes him back to her room where all of her stuff is packed up, she died peacefully in her sleep the night before…but she was so excited to know he was coming. This shocks Kal a bit, every time he came by she had no idea who he was. That is the cruel trouble with dementia, but she stayed busy and never stopped talking about her husband…and her son and what she worked on for weeks. As we look at the final page we see what she prepared for Kal, a blue partially finished suit with his crest to wear. “For our angel, our lost son, Clark Kent.” OMG, I am literally crying at this final page. It’s really the art that does it for me, it’s just so impactful and this just feels like a defining shift for this character.

[Craig Schorling · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fight! What an ending page. That hit me hard. This was a fantastic conclusion to the arc. It was brutal but stayed true to Superman. Incredible art filled the pages and brought this issue to life even more. Can't wait for the next arc.

[Raymond Paquette · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is over and Ra’s lost. Not only that, he wasn’t killed. He failed in every way, but Kal lost his best friend. Great endings lead to great beginnings.

[Andre Burrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful yet tearful way to introduce this phase of his Superman journey and the transition of so many characters to the traditional roles in the DC universe

Great read

[scarlet♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was beautiful. i can't believe i cried

[David Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where do we go from here? Great ending.

[Celina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, what a beautiful ending.

[Antonio Escobar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect

Idk how to explain it. Pure peak.

[James DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

That's how you end a motherfuckin ARC. To our SON! Superman begins HERE.

[Ushnav Shroff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was insanely well-done, and the ending - oh so fucking beautiful. Made me teary-eyed...