All-Star Superman #1-12
Published by: DC – 2005
Written by: Grant Morrison
Illustrated by: Frank Quitely
All-Star Superman—a twelve-issue, 2005 miniseries written by Grant Morrison and penciled by Frank Quitely—is a modern classic and is arguably among the great Superman stories of all time: a dying Superman performs twelve miracles, preparing the Earth for a time when he will no longer be around to protect it. Superman’s longevity as a character and cultural icon is precisely due to his ability to inspire stories such as these, ones that can buck nearly a century of history to remain fresh and relevant in a world already familiar with all its attendant tropes, yet do so without altering the core of the character and what he stands for.
In its twelve issues, All-Star Superman features a host of his greatest villains—Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Doomsday, renegade Kryptonians—but is not just a series of knock-down drag-out fist-fights—as too many superhero stories are. Superhero fist-fights often take on symbolic significance—as physical metaphors for ideological struggles—but lack literal depth; each blow signifies the advantage of one ideology over the other—the way in which war is less about the men fighting and more about what they are fighting for—but, literally, is just two men striking each other.
All-Star Superman, however, chronicles Superman’s final acts as the world’s greatest humanitarian—his altruism on full display. His final acts include recording his own genome to enable future cloning—to create Supermen to protect Earth in his stead—freeing the bottle city of Candor, revealing his secret identity to Lois Lane, visiting the past to see his father one last time, and—for good measure—a couple of knock-down drag-out fist-fights.
Instead of a myopic focus on Superman, the story of his final days is told by also focusing on supporting characters, providing multiple perspectives on Superman, his legacy, and the events he encounters during his final days. This additionally humanizes Superman by focusing on his impact on the people whom knew him best. There is an issue devoted to Jimmy Olsen—in this world a popular culture reporter—an issue devoted to Lois Lane at the “Fortress of Solitude,” an issue set in Smallville during Clark’s days in high school, and an issue devoted to Lex Luthor’s life in prison.
Morrison’s Elseworlds-style reimagining of the Superman mythos is notable for its fresh use and reinterpretation of the entire canon that preceded his work without being beholden to continuity. For example, rather than believing a pair of glasses and clumsiness can disguise Superman’s identity as Clark Kent from the likes of Lois Lane—an intelligent, insightful, and inquisitive reporter—Morrison instead establishes the idea that she has always suspected they were one and the same and had, in fact, tried to prove it for years to no avail, but becomes skeptical when he finally reveals his secret identity—not knowing or trusting his motives for all of a sudden admitting what he had for so long denied and worked so hard to keep hidden. Another subtle detail that enriches the Clark Kent identity is the recurring scenario in which his clumsiness is a deliberate act to protect people in a way only Superman can without appearing to do so intentionally—tripping and, in the process of falling and regaining balance, knocking someone out of harm’s way, for example.
All-Star Superman is mostly appropriate for a general audience; it is a mainstream American superhero comic—though a smart and sensitive one—and, thus, features non-graphic violence, avoids profanity and nudity, and contains no controversial ideas or points-of-view.
The art in All-Star Superman is among Frank Quitely’s best—perhaps surpassed only by his work on Flex Mentallo. It is clean and precise, and Quitely’s avoidance of heavy blacks and ink-based shading—hatching or halftones—lends itself to embellishment by computer-coloring without the colors obscuring the delicate line-work or altering the penciller’s black-and-white spatial compositions. If you like Quitely, definitely check out his run on The Authority—written by Mark Millar—an original and darkly humorous “JLA” analogue—originally part of the Wildstorm imprint—where the characters corresponding to Batman and Superman—The Midnighter and Apollo, respectively—are gay lovers and the world’s greatest magician is a junky. It should be noted, however, that The Authority is not as appropriate for younger audiences as is All-Star Superman, as the preceding details attest.
Morrison’s writing on All-Star Superman is among his best. Though not as ground-breaking or experimental as his work on Animal Man or Doom Patrol, or as boundary-pushing as The Invisibles, All-Star Superman shows the subtlety and restraint of a master of the craft at the peak of his powers. The characters are real and round; even unfamiliar supporting characters are unique, with distinct personalities. In Superman, Morrison creates an archetypal character without transcending into cliché or making a mere rehash.
Recommendations:
Though Superman’s origin story is one of the most retold stories in the history of comics—perhaps second only to Batman’s origin—any fan of All-Star Superman—and Superman in general—should also check out two retellings of Superman’s origin: Superman for All Seasons by Jeph Loeb (writer) and Tim Sale (artist) and Superman: Birthright by Mark Waid (writer) and Leinil Francis Yu (artist). Both feature insightful writing and standout art.
Superman for All Seasons is a retelling of Superman’s origin as established in the “post-Crisis” 1986 reboot miniseries The Man of Steel by John Byrne—but skips all the parts about Krypton—and tells the story of a young man with incredible powers coming to grips with what that means for himself and the world, the responsibility that comes with great power, and the doubt that besets one taking on such an immense undertaking. Each of its four issues is narrated by a different supporting character, showing their unique perspective on Superman and, often more importantly, on Clark Kent.
Superman: Birthright tells Superman’s story from a more contemporary viewpoint. Superman for All Seasons ostensibly takes place in a chronological pastiche that begins with landmarks of the 1950s—the youths in the Smallville community gather at the local soda-shop, for example—and modern technology is largely absent, but Birthright is firmly in the twenty-first century. In its twelve issues, Birthright follows Superman from his beginnings as a fledgling reporter to his hiring at “The Daily Planet,” his transformation from mild-mannered Clark Kent to an ever more confident, if still neophyte, Superman, and his first encounters with a power-mad Lex Luthor. Though such a synopsis would lead one to believe that this is as generic a Superman story as could possibly exist, it is the way in which it is told, the small details, that make it feel fresh and new. It breaks no ground, nor does it innovate, but is a satisfying adventure from start to finish.
Another Superman miniseries of note—notable for its intelligent and sophisticated treatment of the mindset and motivations of Superman’s greatest villain, rendering him a (somewhat) sympathetic and three-dimensional character—is Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Lee Bermejo. Lex Luthor: Man of Steel portrays its namesake as a complex man willing to do horrible things in the name of what he believes is right. While the writing and characterization are a treat, one of the series’ most appealing traits is, as always, Lee Bermejo’s art which comes off like a cross between Tim Bradstreet and Simone Bianchi at their best.
A final story of note that fans of the big-blue boy-scout might want to investigate is a famous-but-brief one: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” written by Alan Moore and illustrated by legendary Silver-Age Superman penciller Curt Swan. Spanning only two issues—but subsequently reprinted as part of several different collected-edition paperbacks—the story takes place after Superman’s death and recounts the end of his life and adventures.
Brian Bigelow
June 23, 2017
