Far-left progressives have sought to push their “woke” agenda and challenge societal boundaries in an unrelenting fashion, but it appears that most people are simply uninterested in embracing that agenda, if not actively opposed to it.
It was revealed last weekend that the DC Comics series featuring a bisexual Superman would be ended after just 18 issues, the Washington Examiner reported.
That series, titled “Superman: Son of Kal-El,” has experienced incredibly low sales since it was launched in mid-2021, and will be concluded with its 18th and final issue in December, per an announcement from DC Comics at the New York Comic Con.
Superman as a “woke” leftist activist
The “Son of Kal-El” series featured the character known as Jon Kent, the progeny of the original Superman Clark Kent and his love interest, Lois Lane, according to the Daily Mail.
The series first debuted in July 2021 and immediately revealed its “woke” agenda, as in addition to the usual arch-villains, the new Superman was also an activist who battled against climate change deniers, school shootings, and those who would deport or discriminate against refugees and undocumented immigrants.
It was in the fifth issue of the series that it was revealed that Jon Kent was also bisexual, as he developed a relationship with an activist refugee/reporter named Jay Nakamura.
Dismal sales numbers
Yet, while real-life progressive activists cheered the new “woke” Superman, it turned out that most comic book fans were, quite literally, not buying it.
The Daily Mail noted that the first issue of the “Son of Kal-El” series sold around 68,800 copies, ranking 17th on the best-sellers list for July 2021.
But even that level of initial sales couldn’t be sustained, as the number of sold copies was cut roughly by half within just a few months and dropped out of the top 50 on the best-sellers list, with the most recent issue selling only around 34,000 copies.
DC claims the series was not “canceled”
Of course, while it appears obvious to most that “Superman: Son of Kal-El” had been canceled due to its poor showing in the sales numbers, the folks at DC Comics have insisted that while this particular much-hyped series will end after just 18 issues, the Jon Kent character will live on in a six-issue miniseries titled “Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent,” that will launch in January, according to National Review.
“The ‘Superman: Son of Kal-El’ series was not canceled,” a DC Comics spokesperson said in a statement. “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.'”
It will be interesting to see if the sales numbers for the new miniseries are as dismal as the initial Jon Kent offering and if the folks at DC Comics will eventually come to accept the fact that, aside from a small but outspoken activist minority, most comic book readers don’t care about the “woke” agenda and would prefer that it not be shoved in their face in a heavy-handed way.