Absolute Superman

I kept seeing positive comments and reviews about the comic series "Absolute Superman", so I had to check it out. I've read the issues that have been released so far twice now, and I love it. 

On the surface this kinda looks like another gritty take on Superman, but it's actually really good! I haven't caught up with the events that led to this universe being created, but as far as I understand, some big fight with Darkseid happened, and this universe was created by him somehow. So it's kind of dark and twisted. It seems like the main premise for the storytelling was to take the core of the characters, but remove some main big parts of what made them who they are in the original universe. Superman in this universe actually grew up on Krypton, and the planet exploding didn't happen until he was a teenager. The Els left with him, but the ship got hit, and Kal broke away from the others in a kind of rescue pod, and spends months alone, freaking out in space before he finally crashes on earth.

Things I particularly like

• He's still the same guy at the core, he's just living in a hella crappy world, in a hella crappy situation. I can deal with angry red eyes when I know it's still the character I love. He just has a very good reason to be angry. 
• The red dust/smoke "cape". What an odd idea. But such an incredibly cool way of maintaining the look of Superman without having him literally wear a cape. 
• The fact that Kal is kinda young in this universe. I think around 18? While he's in space, it says "6 years ago". So say he was 12 then, that adds up with his appearance on Krypton. I really like having a young Superman.
• The fact that there's no glasses or secret identity. 
• This is a long-haired Superman look I can get behind.
• And I'm kinda low-key obsessed with the idea that Superman is probably going to look fairly tiny standing next to the Batman and Wonder Woman of this universe, when they finally meet up XD Both Bruce and Diana are supposedly like 7 feet tall?

Stuff that I don't like so much

• The different artists in this don't always manage to keep him looking consistently like an 18 year old. The main artist does well. But some of the cover artists etc draw him looking way too old. Some early concept art showed him with stubble, which also made him look old. I haven't really noticed any stubble in the actual comic, so that idea was probably dropped.

Other thoughts

• Saw someone on tumblr talk about how Batman in this universe has a mother and a community. Meanwhile Absolute Superman is having a terrible time. I haven't read absolute Batman yet, but it's interesting to see them flipped a little bit? Kinda.
• His short time with the Kents was the loveliest thing <3 so sad they didn't get more time.
• Dunno what it is, but Kal-El is such a great name. Sounds alien, sounds good, flows well. I think about that sometimes.