“Superman Red Son” artist Dave Johnson, “Unknown Soldier” artist Dan Panosian to appear at New World Comics on Saturday

The artist of an essential Superman graphic novel will appear in Oklahoma City on Saturday.

Artist Dave Johnson will join artist Dan Panosian (“Unknown Soldier”) for a three-hour signing at New World Comics, 6219 N Meridian. The event will run from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday. Johnson is the artist of “Superman: Red Son,” a story written by Mark Millar that posits what might have happened if Superman had crash-landed in the Soviet Union as a baby instead of in the United States of America.

Henry Cavill told the Los Angeles Times in 2011 that “Red Son” was “essential” in his research into the Superman character. Cavill will play the hero in this summer’s “Man of Steel” film.

“When you’ve got two polar opposite viewpoints of the same character, you will see what the authors consider the important baseline trend,” Cavill told the L.A. Times. “I got to see that and see the different ways he would have developed and that was very useful to me. And because we are retelling the story and we are doing our own reinvention and a modernization for the screen, I get the opportunity to add my own interpretation of how he developed. So that was cool to look at ‘Red Son’ and see what changed, what didn’t change and what that reveals about the baseline of Superman. You can find what is essential to Superman and what is nature vs. nurture by locating that baseline.”

New World owner Brian “Buck” Berlin said “Red Son” is one of his store’s all-time best-selling graphic novels.

“It’s easily one of the best Superman stories ever,” he said.

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