Pages and Panels

DC Comics had a strange family-reunion theme going on in their print and media this week, with two stories I know of dealing with the reveal of secret relatives. That being said, spoilers for Nightwing #81 and for Superman and Lois episode 1×10, O Mother, Where Art Thou? follow.

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Originally tweeted by Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) on June 12, 2021.

Books

This week, in the sold-out Nightwing #81, Tom Taylor further introduced the new characters, Heartless and Melinda Zucco. While I was expecting a huge Heartless drop, we walked away with the terrifying image of their creepy grin. 

Instead, my panic attack came from Melinda Zucco. You know, the daughter of the man who had Dick’s parents killed? Except in the last few pages of the book, she has Nightwing, peels off his mask and reveals Dick’s identity. I was in a parking lot screaming. And then I turned the page. She says that Tony Zucco was not her father, but John Grayson was, making her Dick Grayson’s sister, I hyperventilated a little. 

The best part of this week’s issue and that reveal isn’t in the writing. (Sorry Tom, you’re wonderful.) Instead, it’s the art by Bruno Redondo. While the story tells us that this girl is claiming to be a Grayson, it’s the character design from Redondo that makes it possible. 

The very last page, the reveal, shows that there are a lot of visual similarities between the two. They’re standing in similar poses, hands curved in almost identical ways, and they almost mirror each other. There’s something about the set of their jawlines, the curve on the bridge of their noses, and the arch of their eyebrows that seem to mimic each other in a way that makes this twist in the story far more compelling.

Secret sibling/family reveals are nothing new to comics. Many characters are victims of loss and end up isolated or the “last of their kind”, and introducing a character who challenges that notion and a character’s sense of identity is always dramatic. For characters like the Batfamily, so much rides on the idea of their found family. Adding in a biological family twist brings in the question of nature and nurture and what self identity means.

Television

On CW’s Superman and Lois, Superman was still reeling from last week’s reveal that the villainous Morgan Edge is his half brother, on their mother’s side. While Clark tries to reconcile the idea of his birth mother and her ideals with the plot Edge had cooked up for the citizens of Smallive, Kal-El gets to talk to his biological mother.

Except in a weird situation that nobody else seemed slightly wigged out by, the Kryptonian conscious of Lara Lor-Van took over the body of Clark’s ex-girlfriend and friend, Lana Cushing.  

While Clark seems to have mastered the art of staying friends with your ex, and having your ex getting along with your new partner, it surprised me that nobody mentioned he was meeting his mother- who he never really met, as she died sending him to Earth- in the body of a woman he dated. There were concerns about Lana’s safety, yes. But not a peep about any previous relationship. I figured General Lane would make some comment about it because we all can tell he’s exactly the kind of person who would bring that up, even though Lois isn’t wigged out at all having a conversation with her mother-in-law in the body of her husband’s first love. 

More evidence to prove why Lois Lane is a far greater woman than I will ever be, cause I’d be a little freaked.

However, the moment where Lana first sees Superman in Smallville was probably one of my favorite moments on any Arrowverse show, only surpassed by Brandon Roth’s return to the cape in Crisis. As someone who has been watching since Arrow, it’s so easy to forget that these characters exist as icons in their worlds. Seeing Lana get starstruck grounded things. It created the tone of urgency the characters needed, while also managing to not weigh down the story with a speech. Lana volunteering to have Lara’s conscious put into her made sense. Superman would inspire me to do whatever it took to try to fix things too. He’s Superman. That’s what he does, even when he doesn’t mean to. 

The moments that Clark and Lois each had with Lara as she reaffirmed her stance as a hero of Krypton and recalibrated the Eradicator to reverse the effects of the X-Kryptonite, where she took comfort in knowing that her son was loved and happy, were touching and expertly acted, and I was a little disappointed that we only got a few moments of Lara Lor-Van and Clark and Lois, when I think the episode could have been stretched into two. The pacing was a little off. She just whipped through the Eradicator reprograming like it was no big deal.

Mostly, I’m hoping that in next week’s episode somebody calls Kara to let her know that there are more Kryptonians? Please? Wouldn’t you reach out to the other Kryptonian on Earth to help with your murder-y Kryptonian problem? But maybe that’s just me.

Nightwing #82 on sale 7/20, Superman and Lois airs Tuesdays on the CW, stream next day on CW.com.