DC's Bisexual Superman Fails in Sales, Triggers Debate Among Fans

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Superman - Sputnik International, 1920, 29.01.2022
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The writer who decided to introduce more inclusivity to Superman's story, Tom Taylor, revealed in an interview with The Washington Post that the idea to make the bearer of the iconic red superhero mantle bisexual began to take shape two years ago.
The comic series "Superman: Son of Kal-El", despite being praised by liberal activists for promoting LGBTQ rights with Superman's son coming out as bisexual, does not seem to be doing very well commercially, according to sales tracking website ICv2.
Despite being the flagship book, "Superman: Son of Kal-El" did not make it to the top 50 chart when looking at total units, and only secured 45th place by dollars.
Many critics have already pointed to the sexual orientation of Jonathan Kent, the son of the iconic superhero Clark Kent, aka Superman, as a possible reason for the commercial misfortunes of the comic book. In "Son of Kal-El", Jonathan Kent, who inherited his dad's mantle as the latter travelled to space for a mission, comes out as bisexual and has an affair with reporter Jay Nakamura.
Additionally, the new Superman appears to be a climate activist and no stranger to the liberal agenda. According to the series' writer, Tom Taylor, today's Superman could not stand aside when it comes to issues like climate change and migration crises.

“The question for Jon (and for our creative team) is, what should a new Superman fight for today? Can a seventeen-year-old Superman battle giant robots while ignoring the climate crisis? Of course not", he said. "Can someone with super sight and super hearing ignore injustices beyond his borders? Can he ignore the plight of asylum seekers?”

However, despite the initial excitement about the changes for the Man of Steel, sales do not seem to reflect the same mood. Even though "Superman: Son of Kal-El #5" was the sixth most sold comic book for the month of November, it did worse than Batman and Dark Knights of Steel. Back in July, it sold 68,800 issues, and plummeted to just 34,000 copies in September.
And it does not seem that everyone online is fond of how Superman has changed.
Other users, however, argued that this is how "series work", with follow-up issues being less commercially successful than the opening ones.
It was last year that DC Comics announced the new Superman would come out as bisexual, prompting buzz and debate at the time. Tom Taylor noted in an interview with The Washington Post that Jon Kent, like the straight superheroes in DC, is not defined by his sexuality - which is why he only comes out in the fifth issue, and not in the debut one.
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