Speaking recently with Comicbook.com via a Q&A session at the debut of Warner Bros latest DC Comics animated movie Batman: Gotham By Gaslight; producer Bruce Timm, the man most well known for Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, stated that he wants to do more adaptations of the DC Elseworld series of stories and the top of his list is Superman: Red Son.
For those of you who do not know the story behind Superman: Red Son, written by Mark Millar:
SUPERMAN: RED SON is a vivid tale of Cold War paranoia, that reveals how the ship carrying the infant who would later be known as Superman lands in the midst of the 1950s Soviet Union. Raised on a collective, the infant grows up and becomes a symbol to the Soviet people, and the world changes drastically from what we know – bringing Superman into conflict with Batman, Lex Luthor and many others.”
The story, featuring re-imagined versions of characters like Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Batman (complete with awesome Russian-style cowl); takes the traditional Superman origin and flips it on his head by using Cold War Russia as the framing device. Superman: Red Son is one of the fan favorite comic book stories of all time, right up there with other DC Comics Elseworld stories such as The Killing Joke, and personally I have been waiting for DC and WB to realize that by making Superman: Red Son into either an animated movie or even a live action movie would be license to print money and put a real dent into the Marvel media empire.
Of course all this relies on Batman: Gotham by Gaslight being a hot seller. While most of the DC Comics animated movies have been selling decently, they have been relying on either popular trends (Batman and Harley Quinn) or nostalgia (Batman vs Two-Face) to sell rather than the stories themselves. Superman: Red Son is one of the top DC Comics selling Graphic Novel collections on record, going through many reprints over the years. Adding someone with the background and following of Bruce Timm to the project would bring the fans in by the busload throwing cash at DC Comics like it’s going out of style.
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight releases January 23rd on digital. It releases February 6th on Blu-ray.
