Superman Year One Thousand #1

Superman Year One Thousand #1 (2026 Annual)

Released July 29, 2026
DC Comics, Color
39 Pages

The Return of Superman

Joshua Williamson - Writer
Eddie Barrows - Artist
Adriano Lucas - Colorist
Ariana Maher - Letterer
Jillian Grant - Assistant Editor
Paul Kaminski - Editor

Synopsis (SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THIS)

Lois Lane wakes up in her apartment to find Clark typing at his laptop. She talks about coming to terms with the possibility of Clark living forever, only to find out she's dreaming. We get a two page splash summing up the end of DC KO where Superman wins the King Omega prize and fixes the past from Darkseid's influence. Superman feels a pull into the future and lands on a boat helmed by Hourman, sailing on the sea of time, which has been roiled into a hurricane due to a mysterious glowing force that is destroying the futures. 

Superman decides to take care of this, but Hourman warns him of losing himself in the timestream. Accepting the risk, Superman goes through the future, repairing the damage Darkseid's Legion did, in the process gaining a purple cloak.  He lands in the future Metropolis that we saw in the Legion of Darkseid story last year where Legions were pitted against Darkseids Legionnaire shock troops. Clark has been gone for some time repairing the future, as he has grown a beard in addition to the new cloak. 

He lands in an encampment to find the Darkseid Legion Saturn Girl begging for mercy, now just Imra and clutching her young children, a boy and a girl perhaps two years old. She explains that once Superman defeated Darkseid, their connection to him was broken, and they returned to this Metropolis to rebuild and try to find penance. Rokk shows him the construction of their own HQ when the earth quakes and the cause of the future entropy is revealed - Infinite Man (who was the figure in the sea of time) is taking control of the future with the Time Trapper gone and wants to erase all times with all Legions. Clark realizes that if he defeats the Infinite Man, his Legion will be saved, but he also wants to save ALL the Legions, including the Darkseid Legion. 

Becoming as giant as the Infinite Man, Superman attacks in an epic slugfest.  Chains wrap around Superman's arms as Infinite Man declares that time has chosen a new Time Trapper, and it is Superman.  Using his chains as bracers, Superman rushes Infinite Man just before he smashes the new Legion HQ, saying "LONG LIVE ALL THE LEGIONS!" With that Superman releases all his King Omega energy to defeat the Infinite Man, and in the process saves all the Legions that had been defeated by the Legion of Darkseid. 

Unfortunately, Clark is now lost in time, getting pulled into the entropy at the end of time.  Thinking of Lois, he starts to pull away, and is helped by his younger self as Superboy arrives in a Time Bubble piloted by Booster Gold, with Mary Marvel and Martian Manhunter (from the recent pages of Action Comics, and this ties directly to issue 1100). Clark is rescued and we transition to part two of the Annual....

Legion Found

Joshua Williamson - Writer
Yasmine Putri - Artist
Ariana Maher - Letterer
Jillian Grant - Assistant Editor
Paul Kaminski - Editor

Synopsis (EVEN BIGGER LEGION SPOILERS!)

Garth picks up his twins from their crib to cuddle, and Imra wonders whether it is safe, as its been weeks since Superman defeated the Infinite Man. Hourman appears and tells them that everyone was saved.  As Garth and Imra walk with their kids, we see "vibrations of the moment" as ghostly figures of the Reboot and Levitz v2/v3 Garth and Imra look adoringly at the children.  Hourman says that All Legions are now possible. 

Just then a spaceship lands hard in the middle of the Metropolis ruins. Cosmic Boy opens it up and dozens of Brainiac drones attack. The Legion rallies and pushes back against the drones.  Hourman tries to escape to warn Superman, but is blocked by a force field wall of some kind. The Legion of Darkseid has been trapped by Brainiac One Million, aided by Pandora, who hints at another future attack on the universe by Darkseid. Brainiac 1M says that Darkseid can do whatever he wants, but the deal they agreed on was that the future belongs to Brainiac 1M. 

Brainiac 1M has been collecting the Legions so that no one can be inspired by Superman again to create a Legion. We see all the Legions in their own bottles - Silver Age, Retroboot, 5YL, Threeboot, Rebirth and Reboot. Brainiac says that because of Superman's actions, a new future has been created, but one without superheroes.  Or a Legion. So he brings in his agent to ensure no Legion is created - Hank Henshaw, AKA Cyborg Superman, who says if there is a new Legion, HE will be its inspiration. 

We then get the first three pages of the new Legion of Super Heroes (v9) by Williamson, artist Hayden Sherman and colorist Tamra Bonvillain.

We see the Superboy/Superman origin with a narrator talking about the age of heroes not being heralded by death and destruction (showing the destruction of Krypton) but rather love, and the compulsion to help others with that power. We then see a double page spread of "Superlopolis" (based on the Interlac) and the narrator says that they are optimistic of a return to a heroic age, despite the potential cost. 

COMMENTARY

Just to get this out of the way, I will say that I am completely biased in favor of this book prior to its release.  Since the end of KO, I knew that the only option that they had to show of Superman is him rebuilding the future, which means Legion.  This seemed to be confirmed when the cover image was released. But more to the point the announcement of the new Legion title was made at the end of June (as we covered on the Long Live the Legion podcast), some of the art by Hayden Sherman started to get released, and as someone who loves their art based on Absolute Wonder Woman and Batman Dark Patterns, I was blown away.  So I knew that this annual had to build some kind of a bridge to this new Legion, as well as resolve Clark's story and get him back to the main universe again and I was looking forward to reading whatever Williamson & co were cooking up. 

The first half of this book is an Epilogue to DC KO. As I said above, we pretty much knew what Superman had to do, but now we actually see him doing it.  Likewise, it closes the current chapter on the Legion of Darkseid, who we also saw in DC KO limping back to the ruins of their Metropolis to hide from their former master.  When we see them here, they seem to have been there for a few years based on the children.

When Clark is talking with Hourman on his (awesomely designed) ship, I figured that the glowing creature we were looking at was the Infinite Man (and not Infinitus from the JLU) and I was not disappointed.  It made complete sense for me in the story, and it was great to see the classic Legion antagonist. Clark's gradual change into the Time Trapper was another subtle touch that I appreciated, as well as the knock-down, drag out fight between the two, and LONG LIVE ALL THE LEGIONS was icing on the cake.

I've been critical of DC in the past regarding the treatment of other Legions, primarily the post-Zero Hour version.  PZH had the longest run of any Legion team outside the original, but DC kinda tossed it in the waste bin.  Same is true for any fan who came on board with Threeboot. I'll not get into all that. When I reviewed Superman 29 last year, I was critical of the fact that these Legionnaires were mere cannon fodder as happens too often (Legion of 3 Worlds is a great example).  Based on this story, and the comments of the DC creative team about the new Legion title, I'm very comfortable with the fact that the Legion is in the care of good stewards. 

The second story (with the name Legion Found - a title that is quite hopeful to me versus the opposite), was more transitional, focusing on closing Darkseid Legion's story (for now) and introducing Brainiac One Million.  This character is interesting and it will be interesting to see how this develops into whatever the next Crisis event is going to do (I'm assuming Absolute Crisis). We see that all the Legions are indeed alive, but they are captives of this Brainiac, who seems to intimate that he owns the future based on a deal with Darkseid.  We'll see how this goes.

The reveal of Cyborg Superman was a twist I wasn't expecting - I am a fan of Henshaw as a villain, and I am excited to see how he integrates into the new Legion book. Is he the assassin of RJ Brande?  Will he be in disguise and be a pied piper for this new Legion? I'm excited for the journey!

One thing that I've noticed about this Superman arc of Williamson - from All In, to KO to the Legion - a core theme running through all of these narratives is love.  Clark's love for Lois and his family at the core. The Trinity. His fellow man. Imra is "infected" by the love Lois has for Clark, and when Superman defeats Darkseid, Imra realizes her love for Garth, enough to bring children into a ravaged world. In the pages of The Flash, even the Darkseid Legion version of Dream Girl seems to be pushing back, and I am assuming that is also based on the love she has for Star Boy. The Legion preview pages we get also talk about love, specifically the love Ma & Pa Kent instilled into Clark for him to become a selfless hero. Its a great theme, and one that is sorely needed in today's world. And in the end, love wins in these stories. Initially, in Superman 27, Saturn Girl tries to use love against him, but ultimately love changes Imra.

The art was top notch.  Barrows drawing the first half was excellent, and Putri doing the second was just as good, although there were a few inconsistencies (Garth & Imra's twins looked nothing like the kids in the first half). But Yasmine is a fantastic artist (she drew some of the alternate covers for the first few Legion books that are so, so good) and her pencils projected the urgency of the fight with the Brainiac forces. And did everyone catch that Legion ring on Cyborg Superman? Who's is that??

Anyway, I liked it.  Can you tell?  Interestingly, I don't think its something that MUST be read to start the new Legion book - its just a transition which is useful if you're a Legion fan who's been following All In and KO for the last couple years. But its definitely a fun read and I do recommend it whether you're a Superman reader or a Legion fan.  Hopefully, you're both!

LLL!

Grade - A.