DC is going back to 1938, and they’re stripping away the cape’s most famous cosmic trimmings to do it.
The publisher has announced Superman: The Stranger, a brand-new six-issue DC Black Label limited series launching this fall. Written and illustrated by the acclaimed Wes Craig (Deadly Class, Kaya), the book is set to reimagine the Man of Tomorrow’s earliest adventures by throwing out decades of established mythology in favor of raw, street-level Golden Age grit.
Forget Smallville. Forget Krypton. Forget Ma and Pa Kent. Superman: The Stranger drops a young, brash Clark Kent into a heavily Art Deco-inspired 1938 Metropolis. By day, he’s just another face trying to make ends meet in a bustling, unequal city. By night, he uses his raw, scaled-back powers to protect the streets.
But this isn’t a story about punching giant robots. The core conflict is systemic—the rich keep getting richer, the poor are left behind, and Clark is left wondering if a man who can leap tall buildings can actually fix a corrupt, broken society.
Visually and tonally, this is a massive shift from the current mainline All In status quo. Craig is drawing heavy inspiration from the visual language of Action Comics #1 and the classic Fleischer Studios cartoons of the 1940s.
According to Craig, the goal is to get back to the core myth: “You strip away the extra powers… you boil it down to that explosive first issue of Action Comics, and you have this vital, powerful myth of a brash young man with incredible powers fighting against a corrupt city. That’s the story I want to tell.”
The Creative & Release Details:
- Writer/Artist: Wes Craig
- Colors & Letters: Jason Wordie (Colors) and Tom Napolitano (Letters)
- Release Date: September 2, 2026
- Format & Price: Six issues, printed on premium cardstock, retailing at $4.99 US.
- Age Rating: DC’s Ages 17+ content descriptor (Mature Readers).
Black Label has always been at its best when it lets visionary creators take DC’s biggest icons completely out of safety zones. Giving a master stylist like Wes Craig free rein over a Depression-era Superman sandbox makes this an absolute must-add to the fall pull list.
Are you ready for a grounded, Golden Age Superman? Let us know what you think of Craig’s approach!
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