One of my favorite artists is Dustin Nguyen. His watercolor work gets me every time. While key collecting is where I spend most of my effort, there are runs I put together for the sheer joy of it. Like the Super Sons covers.

Today we are going to take a look at a completely manageable (in terms of the number of issues) and affordable series to put together. If you love Nguyen's style, now is a great time to pick up the full run of variant covers for Super Sons (1st series). I was already a fan of his watercolor work in comics from his amazing collaboration with Jeff Lemire on the Image title Descender, as well as Damian Wayne. I figured it was a no-lose proposition and so I added the variant cover to my pull list.

Tomasi Captures the Boys Perfectly

Wow was I ever happy with that call... Peter J. Tomasi's writing was a sweet bonus for me. The naive Jonathan Kent and the obnoxious but lovable Damian (am I wrong? Do you like Damian or not so much?) get in over their heads time and again but seem to figure things out with a minimum of interference from their famous pops.

Right from the Get-Go, the Cover Art is on Point

Damian is of course serious beyond his years and his pal Jonathan is smiling because of course, he is. The cover to #1 echos the personalities of their respective fathers as well. There are sixteen issues in the first series and Nguyen has a variant for everyone. You can check them out here (along with the regular covers in the series.

C2E2 2017 A Personal Highlight

I met Dustin Nguyen, you can see more of his art here, in Chicago. He was easy going and didn't seem in particularly high demand, at least when I stopped by. The first thing I remember was that he said he liked my t-shirt. I was wearing a Krypto the Super Dog shirt I had received in a subscription box. I said something silly like, pretty sure DC can hook you up before I gushed about how much l liked Descender and Super Sons. He pulled out a big sketch pad and showed me what he was working on. "It's my cover for Super Sons #4, DC hasn't even seen it yet." Day. Made.

My Favorite Cover of the Run

Is easily the homage to World's Finest Comics #33 from 1948. Pure joy. There are covers featuring Damian's mother Talia as well, which are not to be missed, but the truth is, you should collect all 16 issues. The writing and art (Jorge Jimenez, your interior art is great), and these covers, to me, are one of those magical runs of perfection that you can find if you are paying attention.

Spec Potential?

Probably not. It is always possible that HBO decides to produce a Super Sons property and if so, wow, I'll take it. Could work as a modern-day Odd Couple, but with kids, that are superheroes...But I think this run, which you can probably put together for cover price, is worth it for the great storytelling and perfect art. It won't even take up much space in a short box.

How Do You Collect?

Do you put together runs just because you love them? Or do you focus solely on the keys? There is no wrong answer, I am curious to hear what you have to say.

 

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