Best of Superman: All Star Superman

Posted 10 years ago by myetvmedia

One of the most recognisable superheroes of all time, Superman turns 75 this year. He doesn’t look it. Blame the Kryptonian DNA. Check out our series of the top five Superman comics to prep for the upcoming Man of Steel.

All Star Superman

“Somewhere in our darkest night, we made up the story of a man who would never let us down.”

Winner of two Eisners, two Harvey awards, and one Eagle award, and a frequent mention on “best of Superman” lists, All Star Superman is a story based around labours of Hercules and the Hero’s Journey, featuring Superman at the end of his career. When a scientific experiment on the sun is sabotaged by Lex Luthor, Superman is left more powerful than ever but fatally wounded. With time ticking by and his life coming to an end, Superman resolves to leave the world a better place than he found it.

All too often, people just assume that Superman isn’t very approachable because of his vast powers and alien background. These are usually the same people that believe that a multi-billionaire who regularly schmoozes with supermodels is more relatable than a talented loser who can’t get girls attention. Morrison had a simple goal: show that Superman is relatable. He keeps a key to his house under the doormat, he treats his pet, and he hangs out with his friends. The key weighs half a million tonnes, his pet is a tentacled monster from Jupiter that eats suns and his friend lives on the moon. This is not a deconstruction, but a reconstruction. This is Superman, Clark Kent, Kal-El of Krypton, superheroes in general, taken totally at face value. Where everyone else fails, Superman comes through.

The idea came to him after what Morrison describes as a “shamanic” meeting with a man in a Superman costume. “He looked totally relaxed…and I suddenly realized this was how Superman would sit. He wouldn’t puff out his chest or posture heroically, he would be totally chilled. If nothing can hurt you, you can afford to be cool. A man like Superman would never have to tense against the cold; never have to flinch in the face of a blow. He would be completely laid back, un-tense. With this image of Superman relaxing on a cloud looking out for us all in my head, I rushed back to my hotel room and filled dozens of pages of my notebook with notes and drawings.”


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Best of Superman: All Star Superman

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