10 Great DC Elseworlds Comics EVERY Fan Must Read
2. Superman: Red Son
One way to guarantee that Mark Millar will behave is if you hand him Superman. The normally crass, borderline immature writer tends to rein it all in when writing the big blue boy scout. And nowhere is that more evident than with Superman: Red Son.
The premise is very simple: what if Kal-El's rocket arrived just a few hours later than he was supposed to, and instead of landing in America, landed in the countryside of Soviet Russia?
Well, simply put, everything goes sideways immediately. Superman is used as a strong arm for Stalin, the Soviet Union overtakes Europe practically overnight, with the only one standing in his way being the dangerous sociopathic genius, Lex Luthor.
From there, the story reimagines every DC hero in this similar cold war paranoia aesthetic. Green Lanterns are now a corps of American soldiers with retrofitted lantern rings, Batman is now a violent anarchist, and Wonder Woman is an ambassador slowly losing her faith in man's world.
Superman Red Son is both biting social commentary as well as being completely and utterly bonkers sometimes, all without either one overriding the other.