DC Comics cancels its gay Superman book series after just 18 issues as sales fall flat – Daily Mail

DC Comics has announced it will axe a recent book series that was centered on a bisexual Superman.

Superman: Son of Kal-El is based around Jonathan Kent – son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane – and was launched by DC Comics last year.

Now amid poor sales the comic book publisher announced at New York Comic Con that its 18th issue – due to release in December – will be its last.

In the months after Jon Kent made his debut in July 2021, the 17-year-old character embraced various social issues, including school shootings, fighting climate change deniers and the deportation of refugees.

Then in the series’ fifth issue Jon Kent began a relationship with a male friend and refugee ‘hacktivist’ Jay Nakamura.

In October last year Tom Taylor, who authored the series, went to the New York Times to reveal that Kent would be coming out of the closet.

He said in an interview: ‘The idea of replacing Clark Kent with another straight white savior felt like a missed opportunity.’

DC denied the series was canceled and said the Superman character would return to a different series. 

‘The Superman: Son of Kal-El series was not canceled,’ a spokesperson for DC Comics said to DailyMail.com. ‘Historically, there have been multiple titles that feature Superman, including Action Comics, Superman and Adventure Comics. It was always our plan to have Clark Kent return to the main Superman title and Jon Kent’s story is continuing in Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent.’

According to estimates from Comichron, a public database of comic book sales figures, 68,800 copies of the first issue of Superman: Son of Kal-El were sold, making it the 17th best-selling comic of July 2021.

That month the 110th issue of Batman sold around 125,000 copies, ranking it fourth.

When the Superman series was rebooted by Brian Michael Bendis in 2018, its first edition sold 133,700 copies.

The fourth issue of Superman: Son of Kal-El issue sold 37,500 copies, placing it 55th in October 2021 sales. And it was down again to 34,000 last month.

The 16th issue of Superman: Son of Kal-El is now 19th on Amazon’s best seller list for comics and graphic novels.

Ahead of it are other DC comics. In second place on the list is Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, in sixth is Batgirls and in eighth Batman vs. Robin.

Despite the cancellation of Superman: Son of Kal-El the comic book publisher said during Comic Con New York that Jon Kent will live on in Adventures of Superman. 

‘I couldn’t be more excited for Jon Kent to headline the iconic Adventures of Superman,’ said Taylor at the time.

‘It’s a real testament to the fantastic response of fans to Jon as Superman.’

Taylor always wanted his series to be called simply Superman and not Superman: Son of Kal-El, reported the outlet Bleeding Cool.

The new series Adventures of Superman may be a step closer to labelling Jon as just Superman, although it will keep Jon Kent’s name in the subheading. 

Gabe Eltaeb worked as a colorist for DC Comics but quit last year in protest of the agenda behind what he described on Twitter as an ‘America hating’ book.

Eltaeb took to Twitter to celebrate the end of Superman: Son of Kal-El.

He also left his position at DC soon after learning that DC was removing America from Superman’s famous motto: ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way.’

Eltaeb then began working on his own ‘anti-woke’ comic, Isom, with writer Eric July. 

The first issue of Isom sold 43,000 copies according to Rippaverse, it’s publisher.

Unlike Superman who comes from Metropolis – generally thought to be based on New York or Chicago – Isom, the protagonist of the eponymous ‘anti-woke’ comic, is from Texas.

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