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Grant Morrison doesn't do "normal" superhero stories. We know this. But when DC announced Superman and the Authority, people were legitimately confused. Why would the Man of Steel—the ultimate Boy Scout—team up with a group of cynical, hyper-violent anti-heroes who basically think democracy is a suggestion? It felt wrong. It felt like a gimmick.
Honestly, it turned out to be one of the most poignant things DC has published in a decade.
The comic arrived in 2021, right as the real world felt like it was fracturing into a million jagged pieces. Most fans expected a simple crossover. You’ve seen it before: heroes meet, they punch each other for three pages, they realize they’re on the same side, and then they go fight a giant robot. Morrison threw that script in the trash. Instead, we got a story about an aging Clark Kent realizing that his old methods weren't working anymore. He was getting older. His powers were fading. The world was getting darker, and he needed a different kind of hammer to fix it.
The Superman and the Authority Dynamic: More Than Just Muscle
Look at the lineup. You’ve got Manchester Black, a guy who literally exists to mock everything Superman stands for. Then there’s Midnighter and Apollo, who are basically "What if Batman and Superman were married and had no problem killing people?" It's a powder keg.
The core of Superman and the Authority isn't the action. It's the philosophy. Superman is a relic in this story. He’s wearing a suit that looks more like a SHIELD uniform than pajamas. He’s recruitment-focused. He knows he can’t be everywhere at once, especially since his heat vision is starting to flicker and his flight is a bit wobbly.
He goes to Manchester Black first. Why? Because Black is the ultimate cynic. If Superman can convince the guy who hates him the most to help save the world, then the mission has a chance. It’s a brilliant bit of writing by Morrison. They use Black as the audience surrogate—the person who rolls their eyes at the "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" speech. But Superman isn't giving that speech anymore. He’s talking about survival.
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Why This Version of Clark Kent Matters
Most writers handle an "old Superman" by making him grumpy or making him a dictator like in Injustice. Morrison went the other way. This Clark is still kind, but he's exhausted. He’s seen the 21st century turn into a mess of misinformation and corporate greed.
He realizes that the Justice League, for all its power, is reactive. They wait for a monster to attack, and then they stop it. Superman and the Authority is about being proactive. It’s about the uncomfortable truth that sometimes you have to step outside the law to actually protect people. It's a gray area Superman usually avoids like kryptonite.
The Art of Mikel Janín
We have to talk about the visuals. Mikel Janín’s art is clean, almost clinical, which contrasts perfectly with the messy moral themes. The way he draws the older Clark—white temples, shorter hair—gives him a statesman-like quality. It doesn't feel like a costume. It feels like a burden. When the action does kick in, it’s sharp. It’s brutal. It doesn't look like the bright, poppy panels of the Silver Age.
Breaking Down the Team
This isn't your daddy's Authority. It’s a mix of old Wildstorm characters and new DC faces.
- Manchester Black: The telepathic heart of the book (in a weird way).
- Midnighter & Apollo: The heavy hitters who bring the "by any means necessary" energy.
- Enchantress: Bringing the weird, supernatural edge that Superman usually struggles with.
- Natasha Irons: The genius who keeps the tech running when Clark's raw power isn't enough.
- OMAC & Lightray: New versions of classic characters that ground the story in the wider DC multiverse.
The chemistry is prickly. They don't like each other. Most of them don't even like Superman. They just realize that if he's desperate enough to ask for their help, the situation must be catastrophic.
The Context of the 2021 Release
You can’t separate Superman and the Authority from the time it was written. We were coming out of a global pandemic. Political polarization was at an all-time high. Morrison was looking at the idea of "The Authority"—the concept of power itself—and asking who gets to use it.
Is it better to have a hero who follows the rules while the world burns, or a group that breaks the rules to save it? There’s no easy answer. The book doesn't give you one. It just lets you sit with the discomfort of Superman hiring a bunch of assassins to do his dirty work.
What People Get Wrong About the Ending
A lot of readers were confused by how this tied into the "Warworld Saga" in the main Action Comics run. Basically, this miniseries was the prologue. It set the stage for Superman leaving Earth to liberate a slave planet.
Some critics complained that the ending felt rushed. Maybe. But the point wasn't the final battle. The point was the assembly. The mission was the team itself. By the time they get to the end, the status quo has shifted. Superman isn't just a symbol; he's a leader of a strike force.
It’s also worth noting the influence of Jan Kennedy and the editorial shifts at DC at the time. There was a lot of moving parts behind the scenes, and Morrison managed to weave those real-world constraints into a narrative about a man trying to manage a chaotic universe. It’s meta. It’s very Morrison.
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The Legacy of the Run
Does Superman and the Authority still matter in 2026? Absolutely. As James Gunn builds out the new DC Universe on film, the influence of this specific era is everywhere. He’s already confirmed an Authority movie is in development.
The idea of blending the gritty, "real-world" violence of the Wildstorm universe with the hopeful idealism of the DC core is the blueprint for the next decade of superhero media. We’re moving away from the era of "pure" heroes. We want complexity. We want to see Superman deal with people who think he’s a joke.
Actionable Insights for Readers and Collectors
If you're looking to dive into this story or understand its place in comic history, keep these points in mind.
First, read it as a standalone piece before trying to connect it to the massive Warworld Saga. It functions best as a character study of Clark Kent’s mid-life crisis. The trade paperback is easy to find, but the individual issues have some killer variant covers by Bryan Hitch (one of the original creators of The Authority) that are worth hunting down for the historical symmetry.
Second, pay attention to the dialogue between Superman and Manchester Black. It’s a masterclass in philosophical debate disguised as superhero banter. It challenges the reader to think about their own political and social beliefs regarding interventionism.
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Lastly, if you're a fan of the "Modern Age" of comics, use this as a gateway into the original The Authority run by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch from the late 90s. It’ll give you a much deeper appreciation for why Superman teaming up with these people was such a shocking move in the first place.
This wasn't just another Superman story. It was a funeral for the way things used to be and a blueprint for a much more complicated future. Whether you love or hate the idea of a "gray" Superman, you can't deny that it forced us to look at the character in a way we hadn't in decades. It’s messy, it’s loud, and it’s surprisingly human.
Check out the collected edition if you want to see what happens when the Man of Tomorrow realizes that tomorrow is already here and it's nothing like he expected. Focus on the subtext of age and legacy—it's where the real story lives.