Superman searches for his missing family in this exclusive preview

Brian Michael Bendis’ excellent The Man Of Steel miniseries set up a lot of plot lines for his runs on Action Comics and Superman, establishing that the writer has big plans for the world’s most iconic superhero. Those ongoing adventures begin in this week’s Superman #1, partnering Bendis with his collaborators from The Man Of Steel #1: artist Ivan Reis, inker Joe Prado, and colorist Alex Sinclair. The new title picks up right after the end of the miniseries, with Superman desperate to reconnect with his wife and son, who have left Earth to explore the universe with Superman’s father.

Clark’s deep-space communicator was broken when new villain Rogol Zarr destroyed the Fortress Of Solitude, and now he needs to take to the stars to gain some peace of mind that his birth father hasn’t put his family in danger. This exclusive preview of Superman #1 highlights the Clark’s current anxiety and loneliness, but also makes plenty of room for big superhero spectacle as the hero discovers a Dominator armada heading for Earth. He quickly takes out the alien threat, and throughout this issue, Superman quickly flies off to handle disasters before rushing back to his personal problems.

The art team does great work with the action, but also handles the quieter emotional moments very well, as evidenced by the final page of this preview showing Clark reminiscing about intimate moments with Lois. Reis’ compositions for the space battle are flashy and grandiose, but he has a more gentle touch when depicting the tenderness of the Super-family. Sinclair’s coloring similarly shifts, using a dramatic palette of purple, green, red, and blue at the start, then shifting to lighter, more subdued colors for Clark and Lois. The art and writing are totally in sync, and the specificity Bendis brought to The Man Of Steel carries over to his new Superman #1.