Look up any list of the best Superman comics, and you are sure to find All-Star Superman. Grant Morrison’s story, with art by Frank Quitely, All-Star Superman was meant to be an iconic, timeless Superman story that was not an origin story or connected to any ongoing story arc.
It was also the first Superman story I ever read. I remember hearing a warning about it that it was better enjoyed after you’ve experienced more of Superman. Figuring advice was for losers, I plowed ahead anyway. And now, years later, I’ve decided to give it a second look. What is it like to read one of the most iconic Superman stories as both a novice and… slightly less novice?
Back Then
My experience with superheroes goes back to when I was a very young kid, obsessed with Batman: The Animated Series. But my experience with comic books proper is much more recent. I started getting into monthly superheroes in 2009. Blackest Night was kicking into high gear, Bruce Wayne was dead, and DC was enjoying a high moment in the comic book landscape before the ascendant MCU would completely come to dominate pop culture. It was at this time that I started dabbling in comic books, mainly sticking to Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern epic. But then I started attending grad school at a university that developed a robust comic collection, which gave me much wider access to a variety of stories.
My history with Superman is narrower. Power Rangers and Star Wars replaced my childhood obsession with Batman, so I trailed off the DCAU before Superman: The Animated Series began. In college as I was getting back into superheroes Netflix (back when they were just a DVD rental service) let me watch Superman: TAS and Justice League, serving as a new gateway into the hero. I had maybe seen the 1978 Superman movie? But maybe my biggest exposure to the hero, and his deep and occasionally weird history, came from the popular (and now defunct) Superdickery website, which chronicled all the weird comic book covers of the Silver Age that made Superman look kind of like an asshole.
But it was also in this era as I finished out college and began grad school that Superman began to appeal to me. A man who, as one comic put it, “can do anything you want, and all you want to do is help people.” As a recent college grad who wanted to make an impact in the world, that became something to aspire to.
So of course I’d want to read one of his most acclaimed stories! So I excitedly picked up All-Star Superman from the library and threw myself into it.
… And didn’t really enjoy it. The warning that it shouldn’t be someone’s first Superman story is well taken. All-Star Superman is a celebration of the history of the hero, particularly drawing from some of the weirdness of the Silver Age. Grant Morrison crafts a story about Superman completing 12 Labors in his final days before his death, a death orchestrated by Lex Luthor supercharging Superman’s cells with intense solar radiation.
Across twelve issues, Superman has some exciting adventures: A trip to Bizarro World, dalliances with Lois Lane, misadventures with Jimmy Olson, and dramatic encounters with foes ranging from Lex Luthor to a sun eater, Superman clears his twelve labors and finds time to grapple with his looming mortality. All-Star Superman is a dense story, and Morrison makes use of every page while still finding time for some quieter moments and even some shenanigans from the Daily Planet workers. Notably, the story contains probably one of the most widely-known Superman moments, which isn’t particularly connected to the wider story except in Superman doing as much as he can in his remaining time:
But that deep, dense story that touches into so many different aspects of the Superman mythos really does make it a challenging read for a relative Superman novice. Even as someone somewhat aware of his Silver Age history (thanks again, Superdickery), I just didn’t jive with the story. Shortly thereafter I would read Up, Up, and Away, a Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek story that would become my defining take on the character, and I left All-Star Superman aside, chalking it up as a story that simply wasn’t for me.
All-Star Superman, Revisited
When I started Second Look (slots still available for April through June, sign up here!), I started thinking about what might be interesting to revisit. Browsing through my comic shelf, I looked at All-Star Superman and decided it would be a great candidate. While I am still nowhere near an expert in any facet of comic book history, I’ve got 14 more years of engaging with comics and comic book history, and wider understanding of Superman. I’ve only scratched the surface of Superman stories, but I have read much more than All-Star Superman and Up, Up, and Away, which gave me more grounding to understand the history of the character. And, perhaps just as importantly, I’ve also read more Grant Morrison – giving me better understanding of their approach to comic books and superheroes.
Did my enjoyment of the comic improve upon a second look? It’s hard to say, honestly. Many of my challenges with the story still rang through upon a reread. I’m going to be real honest with y’all. I don’t understand Bizarro. I will probably never understand Bizarro. I can’t decipher Bizarro speak. And there is a lot of it in this comic. Shout-outs to this gem though:
It feels like the ultimate Silver Age Superman story, but the Superman story that appeals to me isn’t one where he’s tackling larger than life threats. It’s the one where Clark Kent is trying to do the best he can. I don’t think those two things are even all that opposed, nor do I think Morrison might disagree with me. In response to a question about whether Superman or Clark is the “mask”, Morrison had this to say (original link dead, but the interview is quoted here):
‘Superman’ is an act. ‘Clark Kent’ in Metropolis is also an act. There are actually two Kents, at least – one is a disguise, a bumbling, awkward mask for Superman. The other is the confident, strong, good-hearted Clark Kent who was raised by his surrogate Ma and Pa in Kansas and knows how to drive a tractor. I think he’s the most ‘real’ of all. ‘Kal El’ is where he goes when he wants to escape from his human nature and see things from outside.
But even though I still don’t like the story all that much, I appreciate it much more on a reread. Grant Morrison understands Superman, and I don’t think I was able to see that as well on my initial reread. There’s a simple elegance to the opening pages of the comic, distilling his iconic history into four panels and eight words. As someone who struggles to write even a basic work email that isn’t three paragraphs of extraneous information, this jumped out to me in a new way:
Whereas before my point of comparison was Up, Up, and Away, the story that kept coming to mind for me was Alan Moore’s Silver Age sendoff, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? Both serve as a “final” Superman story, but take opposite tones: Moore’s story is fairly bleak and sees Superman’s supporting cast fall one by one to Superman’s various enemies, whereas Morrison fully embraces Jimmy Olsen dressing in drag.
Morrison weaves wacky, world shaking Superman heroics with those moments that show Morrison’s love and appreciation for the character. And although I still have to say Up, Up, and Away remains my favorite rendition of Lex Luthor, Morrison makes Luthor a compelling, hateable villain, gives Luthor a rare moment of humanity when he is given the opportunity to see the world as Superman sees it… and then still allowing a satisfying comeuppance:
Frank Quitely’s art I have a harder time with. His style just doesn’t work for me. All the same, I did appreciate some of his touches better. The way he draws Clark Kent, who adopts a bumbling, awkward persona to mask his identity as Superman, evokes the way Christopher Reeves portrayed the same character. And Quitely’s paneling allows for some moments of understated humor, such as when Samson casually tosses away a monster attacking Metropolis:
Where I ultimately fall on this is that I think All-Star Superman is a great story, but it’s not a great story for me. Superman is a difficult character to write. How do you make a compelling story for a character who is more or less invincible? Up, Up, and Away does it by showcasing a depowered Superman – and shows why Clark Kent is a hero with or without his powers. Other famous Superman stories are more focused on quieter character pieces, such as Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Superman for All Seasons. Morrison takes the opposite approach and goes for a big, bombastic spectacle with a flurry of superhero feats – that still finds time to showcase the moments that make Superman so extraordinary.
My final takeaway might be about Morrison themself. Grant Morrison is a writer whose works, love for comic book history, and vision of superheroes as a modern mythology I respect. But their work is just not for me. Besides All-Star Superman, I’ve read some of their other works: The acclaimed Batman run goes way too deep into niche Batman lore for me, although the Batman and Robin run with Dick and Damian remains a standout. Their Green Lantern run is very much a Silver Age sci-fi sendup, and while I appreciate it for eschewing the various additional Lantern colors that have been a part of the franchise since Geoff Johns, it was just too dense for me. And Final Crisis, while having some “Hell yeah” moments, is just a Crisis that’s a little too esoteric for me. I am glad they wrote this story, and I’m glad we’ve had voices like theirs in comics. But when I reach for my next Superman comic, I may reach for one a little more grounded. On the flipside, maybe in if I read a deeper array of Superman comics over the next 14 years, a third pass of All-Star Superman will shine in a new way.
