Superman Takes Part In Pride Parade, Waves LGBTQ+ Flag On Cover Of Action Comics #1044

JB Augustine |

Mar 24, 2022

DC Comics writer Tom Taylor gave Twitter users a preview of what’s coming in Pride Month from Action Comics. The issue count reaches #1044 in June and it will put a spotlight on the young Jonathan Kent who recently inherited the cape and is written as bisexual.

The issue will have two variant covers and one of those is a DC Pride special by Derek Charm showing Jon flying by a crowd at a Pride event. Standing up front are his parents, Lois and Clark, smiling and proudly supporting their son by holding a Pride flag emblazoned with a white Superman logo.

“Jon Kent with a proud Clark and Lois looking on,” Taylor wrote in his post. “The @derek_charm #DCPride cover to ACTION COMICS #1044. #Superman”

His thread is full of glowing supporters who like Charm’s art and approve of the symbol for LGBT pride Jon Kent has become. But, of course, the praise comes a little too late as it doesn’t reflect in the sales for Superman books.

As of the beginning of March, Taylor’s Superman slipped out of the Top 50 on the sales chart after issue #5 – the issue where Jon came out – briefly cracked the ICv2 chart’s Top 10 in November. This led him to defend the comic’s sales.

“I don’t believe a story’s worth is measured by its sales,” he tweeted back in January. “But our Superman is selling pretty well. Issue #5, where Jon Kent comes out as bisexual, made the Top 10 in comic sales for November.”

Superman: Son of Kal-El is the same series that changed the Man of Steel’s age-old motto to “For Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow,” and made him a climate activist in a Multiverse teeming with hospitable planets and infinite Earths.

It and the editorial overhaul of the motto were also notoriously the last straw for colorist Gabe Eltaeb who quit in protest. Since then, he’s joined the chorus of outspoken creators critical of DC’s woke agenda and corporate policies regarding diversity.

Eltaeb is the latest to give IndieGoGo a try for his new line of patriotic characters – Truth. Justice. American Way.

Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and drawn by David Lapham and Riccardo Federici, Action Comics #1044 is 32 pages with a cover price of $4.99.

“The Warworld Revolution is here!” says the summary provided by Lunar Distribution. “With the Genesis Stone feeding Kal-El a portion of his long-dormant powers, the quest to overthrow Mongul’s tyrannical rule is well underway…but can Superman convince the war-torn combatants of this hellish nightmare planet that kindness can best cruelty?”

It continues, “All this, plus Midnighter stabs some fools who had it coming! Then, in ‘A World Without Clark Kent,’ Lois, Jon, and John Henry Irons (a.k.a. Steel) convene to unlock the secrets of the mysterious Genesis tech…and Thao-La awakens…”

NEXT: Former Superman Colorist Gabe Eltaeb Says Another Reason He Left DC Was “Racism” And Treating POC Like “Victims”