| Title | : | All-Star Superman, Vol. 1 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1401209149 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781401209148 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 160 |
| Publication | : | First published April 11, 2007 |
| Awards | : | Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Best Continuing Series (2007) |
Two of the comics industry's top creative talents, writer
Grant Morrison and artist
Frank Quitely, the acclaimed team behind
'JLA:EARTH 2' (2000), reunite to redefine Superman based on the timeless, essential iconic elements that everyone knows about the Man of Steel.
In the first volume, the World's Greatest Super-Hero rescues a doomed group of astronauts on the surface of the sun, where he's exposed to massive amounts of solar radiation. No one could possibly anticipate how he'll be affected—except Lex Luthor! Now, the world's greatest superhero must set his affairs in order, beginning by telling Lois Lane the truth about Clark Kent's secret identity.
You've seen it before. Now, see it again as though for the first time. Not an origin story, modernization, or reinvention—but instead a timeless and iconic presentation refined by the passion and craft of master storytellers, All-Star Superman presents a unique and elegant interpretation of the original and most recognizable of all superheroes.
Age Rating: 12–17+ / Grades 7–9+
All-Star Superman, Vol. 1 Reviews
-
A completely different approach to the Man of Steel
Who can be vulnerable too
How exactly would be a spoiler, but let's just say that he goes on an untypical superhero journey towards a final, epic end. With Lex Luthor and big, stellar problems, there are enough
Enemies to fight while the clock is ticking
This element of limited time makes it even more suspenseful than usual and one absolutely can´t see the conclusion coming. By finally adding one more storyline to the mix to enable a big end fight, Supermans´ whole history is condensed to one point of a big solar eruption. The final retrospective some time after the main events
Lets readers see the whole universe with different eyes
Especially the big, galactic factor, which is often underrepresented with fights just taking place on earth, makes it more outstanding. All in all one of the most unconventional superhero stories, establishing a completely different plot concept and thereby somewhat revolutionizing how comic and graphic novel universes can be expanded and modified.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
Note: Second part All Star Superman Vol 2
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
is included without writing an extra review for that one -
Okay, other than Frank Quitely giving Supes the physique of a championship bowler, this book wasn’t bad. It certainly was NOT the loathsome, Batman persona-raping shit bomb that
All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder, Volume 1 was (I still haven’t forgiven you for that Frank Miller). I think that Grant Morrison did a good job capturing the essential, archetypal “goodness” of Superman in this homage/tribute/restoration of the icon of icons.
Still, this was a swing and a miss for me...though a well-intended and decently executed one (i’m still looking at you Frank Miller). Part of my displeasure with this is that I’m just not a huge Superman fan and I never really have been. For me, his adventures and story-lines have always lacked the reader engagement and dramatic tension that more “vulnerable” heroes are able to inspire. Therefore, take this review with a grain of kryptonite since I have never been one that drank deep from the kool-aid when it comes to the last son of Krypton.
I like my heroes more “punishing” and with a bit more “bub” in them.
That said, one of my problems with this was the timing in which I read it. I'm currently half way through Grant Morrison’s
Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us about Being Human, a full-length non-fiction book on the history of the comic book superhero and I....LOVE...the way this guy writes. Hip, slick, punky, phrase-turning poetry that reminded me of some of his fellow SF-writing Scotsman, Iain Banks and Richard Morgan, both of whose work I love. This guy should definitely be writing novels and I hope he does so in the near future because I was blown away by his witty, grungy prose.
The problem, Houston, is that such style is non-existent here. And, as I look back, that style is non-existent in all of Grant Morrison's comic work that I've read to date. This baffles and sorta ticks me off. For someone so instrumental in increasing the visibility of the comic book form, I don’t know why he wouldn’t unleash a whole can of his breezy, attitude-laden addictive whoop ass to this medium that just screams out for it. Don’t get me wrong, the writing is fine, but reading this and then immediately switching to
Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us about Being Human is like alternating between Dan Brown to Dickens...jarring to say the least.
Readers’ Cardinal Rule #1 to writers: don’t “dumb down” the prose...ever. Whether it’s YA fiction, children’s stories or comic books. Write the story and trust your audience. Now, if I wasn't currently reading Morrison’s novel and seeing first hand what a gift the man has, than I may not have been as put off by the writing.
But I am...and I was
Apart from the jarring effects of the writing disparity and the doughy pillsbury nature of the Superman rendering...
my other problems/irritants (without giving away major spoilers) include:
1. The Atlas & Samson “who has the bigger one” contest storyline was silly and stupid. Sorry, but it was.
2. I really squirmed at the portrayal of Lex. This is Lex “other than Darkseid and the Joker, I’m the coolest, most diabolical bad guy in the history of DC badguyness” Luthor. He came across in this story as lame, insignificant and petty. That is, until the last page of issue 5 when he finally came through like Lex should. Still, too little too late. Lex deserves better.
3. The black kryptonite story...Hells NO...and no again...bad idea...nuff said.
Now Jimmy Olsen in a bra was pretty damn funny. However, the rest of the portrayal of Jimmy, in the aforementioned Black Kryptonite episode, was just hokey and uninteresting.
Now, there are certainly some positive aspects to the story. I thought the first issue was good and some of the SF ideas/concepts introduced were quite clever. For example, genetically grown human suicide-bombs...nicely done. In addition, the last issue was fun and also had some real poignancy at the end. Enough that I plan to pick up the next volume in this series and see where it goes from here.
But issues two, three, four and five...MEH...didn’t much care for them.
Overall, not bad and a million times better than
All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder, Volume 1, but I can bring myself to give it more than 2.0 to 2.5 stars. -
Despite the fact that I read a lot of comics -- and I do read a lot of comics -- I don't read a lot of superhero comics. Which isn't true at all, because I read a lot of superhero comics; it's just that almost all the superhero comics I read are Batman. I am absolutely obsessed with Batman in a way I've learned to live with, and I don't feel the need for non-comics fans or non-superhero fans to 'get it,' because so many other people obviously already do.
But. If, say, you were getting into comics -- but you were getting into them as an adult, say, and you were trying to walk that fine line that all us comic-fans walk, of enjoying the goofy weirdness that comics can bring without falling into the depressing trench of Those People Who Read Comics -- if, basically, you were trying to find that magic line where the Good meets the Terrible and Transcends...
Well, at some point or another, you'd probably ask yourself what the hell superhero comics were all about, and if there were any part of you that could ever appreciate them, both unironically and without becoming one of Those People Who Read Comics.
And probably, if you had friends like me who read a lot of comics and sort of openly wished they could make you see what was beautiful about them, even superhero comics...
It would be folly to recommend Batman to you. Because Batman isn't about superhero comics. Batman is about loving Batman, and while there is a rich, dark world that lies within, you wouldn't really have that amazing staring-at-the-universe moment that superhero comics can, through their ham-fisted hopefulness, let bloom within you.
It would be equally folly to recommend
Watchmen, or
Zot!, or
Starman, or
Powers,or
Astro City, or any of the other post-modern superhero fare that gets offered up as "gateway comics" for the uninitiated, like it makes any sense at all to foster the incredulous joy of superhero comics through an analytical back door, in which the mechanics of how the genre works are stripped and enjoyed, at best, as meta-fiction.
The aforementioned works are all brilliant in their own rights, no doubt. But that is not what superhero comics are about. These books are the works of people attempting to recover from the intense, brain-blasting heartbreak of pure emotion that superhero comics instilled in them when they were too young to know any better. These books are intellectualized post-mortems done on innocence.
And yes -- in a way, if you are entering into comics as an adult, there will always be something you missed out on. There will always be a strange confusion in you when you see a lifelong reader's eyes glaze over with shy happiness at the sight of a single issue of Fight-Man Fights Gigantor in X-World #685. You both know that what lies within those pages will be silly and underwhelming and embarrassing and base...but the lifelong reader knows (and more importantly, feels) that a secret joy still lives here, and can't be washed away by age.
But, throwing that hopelessness aside -- let's assume that you still demanded to know just what this fuss was all about. Let's say you insisted that the child in you could still be touched by something unabashedly resplendent, even if it was a decade or two too late.
I'd say this.
I'd say, "Look, a few years ago a writer and an artist who you've never heard of but who are really famous in comics -- a few years ago they teamed up and they made a Superman book. And you don't have to think Superman is cool, because I don't think he's very cool. And you really don't have to know anything more about it, but it's not going to feel dated or stilted or any of those things that turn you off, except when it does so in very charming ways. And it's short -- only a couple paperbacks.
And this book. I mean, I don't want to spoil it for you by explaining it. But this book, I think, will help you get it."
That is what I would say to you. That is what I would say. -
4.5 stars
This is what I would recommend to someone who is not a fan of Superman. Morrison manages to take all of the things that make Superman such an iconic character, and turn it into a great story. -
Dear Grant Morrison,
It's not you, it's me. I should have known better. I've never been a big fan of Superman. We both know that I'm much more of a Batman sort of girl. I can't think of a single Superman book that I've loved. I probably should have left well enough alone. But I was curious, and anything had to be better than Frank Miller's All-Star Batman. That much was true. At least you seem to understand Superman's character, in a way that Miller no longer understands Batman's and has never understood Superman's. You know that the core of him is defined by Ma and Pa Kent. I can respect that. There's so much temptation to make things darker and edgier, and you withstood much of that. And we all know that you're a writer with no problem going to the dark side. And I have to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for not writing your female characters as sex objects.
That's the good part. But I thought the point of these All-Star books was supposed to be in presenting these iconic characters without all of the backstory getting in the way. But it felt like a lot of backstory was floating around here, and not being well-versed in Superlore, I felt lost half the time. Like, who the hell is Samson? I'm still not sure. I'm pretty sure I don't want to know. He wasn't exactly engaging while he was onstage. In fact, most of the individual storylines were less than compelling. The overarching storyline, about Superman facing death, was actually quite interesting. Maybe a bit more of that and a bit less of Lois's birthday superpowers.
It all felt very retro, in a way, right down to Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane getting superpowers for a day. I think I remember seeing a story like that from back in the Silver Age. The whole thing felt Silver Age. But that's not really my thing, so it didn't work for me. Again, it's not you, it's me. I'm sure there are plenty of readers who adore Silver Age stylings, and they'd be right at home here.
Also, could you tell Frank Quitely that Superman gave up the donuts long ago? I know that's his style, but everybody just looks so round. So much like the plush toy versions. It looks odd, especially on Superman. Can't say I'm a fan of that.
With polite indifference,
Sesana -
5.5 stars!!!
Introduction:
Now, I have a little confession to make (I seem to be making so many book confessions lately, right)? I had only read a few “Superman” comics over the years, which included “Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” and “Superman: Secret Identity.” The reason why I have not read that many “Superman” comics was not because I hate Superman (I actually really like his character), but it was hard for me to look for some recommendations for good “Superman” stories while recommendations for good “Batman” stories came much more readily. One of the “Superman” stories that was always highly recommended to me was Grant Morrison’s run on “Superman” called “All-Star Superman.” At first, I was a bit hesitant about checking this series out because from what I had heard from some comic book fans, Grant Morrison’s works tend to jump off the deep end at a certain point in his stories and I had experienced that with his work on “Batman R.I.P.” However, after I finally decided to dive into this graphic novel, I now see why this particular graphic novel was so highly recommended to me and I have to say that “All-Star Superman Volume One” is one of the best “Superman” stories I had ever read!
What is this story about?
The story starts off with Superman going to the sun to rescue a space crew who were on a mission to take fire from the sun and it turns out that because Superman went too near the sun, he contracted apoptosis, death of the body cells, which means that he will soon die. When Superman finds this out, he decides that he must do some things on Earth before he dies, such as temporarily giving his love interest Lois Lane superpowers for her birthday and trying to confess his secret identity to her, getting in a fight with Jimmy Olsen due to being affected by Black Kryptonite, meeting up with his nemesis Lex Luthor, and saying his goodbyes to his father Jonathan Kent.
Will Superman have time to do all of these things before he dies?
Read this graphic novel to find out!
What I loved about this story:
Grant Morrison’s writing: I really enjoyed Grant Morrison’s writing in this graphic novel as the story has a nice mixture of drama and humor thrown in and I often found myself laughing at some of the situations in this volume, such as Superman and Lois’ encounter with the comical superhero duo Samson and Atlas. I also like the fact that this story tackles the subject about what would happen if Superman is about to die and how he would spend his last days on Earth (although, the concept about Superman dying is nothing new at this point). This gives Grant Morrison a chance to explore Superman’s life from his arrival to Earth and being adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent to working in the Daily Planet and meeting Lois Lane and there is a great love to the character as not only do older readers get to see Superman’s life be presented again in this volume, but new readers will be able to understand more about Superman’s origins through a modern interpretation. I also enjoyed the way that Grant Morrison portrayed Superman in this volume as Superman is not shown as being a flat character, but has many dimensions to his personality as we get to see Superman become sad, happy, angry and humorous all at once in this volume; it was fantastic seeing the various emotions that Superman displays in this volume contribute to the story at hand.
Frank Quitely’s artwork: While there are some parts of Frank Quitely’s artwork that annoyed me a bit, which I will discuss more about in the cons section, overall, the artwork is extremely detailed and gorgeous to look at. Probably my most favorite image in this graphic novel was the image of Superman and Lois Lane kissing each other on the moon and you can see the gorgeous detail being done to Lois’ wavy hair as it is waving around in space.
What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:
The only problem I have with this graphic novel is that there are so many things happening in the story that it would make it pretty confusing for anyone who is not used to reading “Superman” comics. Even though I found this graphic novel to be pretty entertaining, the narrative can get overcrowded at times because there are so many events going on and you have to read each issue a bit carefully to get the full details of each of the stories. Also, some of the artwork can be a bit off at times, especially with the way that Superman’s face seems to look like dough in some panels and I felt that he was drawn a bit too bulky in this volume, despite the fact that Superman is naturally muscular.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, “All-Star Superman Volume One” is seriously one fantastic and hilarious volume that I would love to read over and over again if I get the chance to and I cannot wait to read the second volume of this series!
Review is also on:
Rabbit Ears Book Blog
-
2.5 stars. I’m mad this took me 3 days to slog through. This was a chore to read. Taking away time I could have been reading something else. I hate to bad mouth any comic since I love reading them but I found most of this boring or kind of dumb. Although I tell myself I’ll never do it, twice this book made me want to close it and never open it again. The first time was when Samson and that other dude pulled up treating Lois like an object. Telling Superman let’s battle for her and Lois was going along with it. That part really got under my skin. But I told myself I’m not a quitter and I’ll finish this book. The second time was on that Bizzaro planet with all the broken English and backwards talk. 🤦🏾♂️ Man I was ready to frisbee this book out the window. Needless to say this book wasn’t for me.
-
Look! Superman playing super-fetch with his super-dog! Aw!
Hey, guys. Guess what I read yesterday? Superman. Isn't that weird?
Well, it was "Buy 1 Graphic Novel, Get 1 For $1" Day @ my work. And I had stocked up on the latest volumes of the three series that I am currently in the middle of (Fables, The Walking Dead, Chew). I just needed one more! And the stock was looking slim (yay! sales; boo! none for me). When this guy that I work with, Tyler, hands me Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman. Since he knows what he's talking about when it comes to superhero comics - and I certainly don't - I bit.
Now, I have a "working knowledge" of Grant Morrison, since I compose the company's weekly Comic Book newsletter. He's like a big deal guy that everyone lurves. And I have the same ingrained "because- you're-an-American" pop culture knowledge of Superman that you probably have... you know: Krypton, Clark Kent, Phonebooths, Lois Lane, Smallville, Lex Luthor... that kind of thing. But, I had never wanted to read a Superman comic before. And I'd never seen a Superman movie or television show. I just figured I knew all I wanted to know about Superman.
But, this was really, really good!
Frank Quitely does the artwork, and man! His Clark Kent is fucking adorable. He's goofy and clumsy and chubby (!) and sweet. Look at this guy:
Aw! Pigeon-toed? Cute.
The storyline goes like this: Superman goes to save some dummies who are flying into the sun, and gets Superman-Cancer. Ordinarily, the Sun gives Superman all kinds of awesome powers, but THIS TIME, he overdid it, and now his cells are so bursting with power that they are going to overload. Of course, Lex Luthor sent those dummies into the sun in the first place, knowing Superman would save them (and the world), and hence - Lex Luthor is responsible for Superman's impending death. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha.
For the most part, the rest of the comic revolves around Superman coming to terms with his death, preparing the world for a Superman-less future, and trying to convince Lois Lane that he's been Clark Kent all along (she doesn't believe him...).
It's actually really touching!
One of the things that I enjoyed about Morrison's story is that I didn't necessarily have to know too much about Superman besides the mythos, you know? There are references to events that have taken place throughout the evolving Superman stories, but nothing Morrison couldn't explain to me in a non-condescending way. And, I do not know for sure (this is just a guess), but I think Morrison really added some arcane bits of Superman's past for the real fans, too.
Anyways, the reason I docked this book a star is that while this was a really great read, a couple of things were kind of dumb.
1. Superman gives Lois Lane Superman-powers for a day as a gift. This would've been a really fun little episode to read, except some asshole characters (Samson, Atlas) stepped out of the space-time-continuum, or whatever, and started harping on Lois Lane and ruined it. The two dudes and Superman get into a dick-measuring contest over who can "win" Lois, and she just poses for the entire length of the chapter instead of doing anything interesting. Srsly? So lame. What year is it? 1940? This part was a sexist PoS...
2. Superman gets exposed to "black kryptonite" and turns "bad" for a few pages. But, something also impairs his mental functions during this time, so he's also a bit retarded or something. I don't know. The dialogue took a turn for the INANE, and I was left laughing at what could've been a dramatic moment. It was so silly. In a bad way.
3. That Superman chin? It was out of fucking control.

But, other than that chin and stuff - this first volume of All-Star Superman was actually very enjoyable, and I will definitely be reading the second volume in the series soon. -
This was so good!
Morrison managaes to make one of the best Superman stories ever and I loved this!
Superman saves some peopne and well in the sun he goes but it sort of overloads him and what it results in a few days left and so we follow him as he meets people important to him and gets into weird adventures like hanging out with Lois, a random adventure vs Samson and Atlas and the battle with Ultra-Sphinx, or Jimmy and Clark vs Black kryptonite and that was a wild story and I loved it!
There is a story with Lex and Clark and its so iconic and it just shows Lex at his worst and how dangerous he is and the Clark-Lex dynamic is so different and well perfect. I love the whole horror prison vibe I was getting this issue and well its dynamic.
And finally that story with what happened on the day his father passed away while Superman was battling Chronovore and its an emotional story showing the sacrifices he had to make to be Super.
Its one of those stories that just shows Superman at his best and worst and also throw in crazy adventures and then have his supporting cast and villains and everything! The pencils by Quietly are so good and probably the best of his career easily. This is a book that will stand the test of times and will make you fall in love with Superman again! <3 -
Morrison is a great comic book writer, but he has a few obvious flaws that can make his work difficult to digest, and have always kept him from reaching the same heights as Alan Moore.
All-Star Superman, while using the same deconstructed narrative and mind-blowingly bizarre gift of invention that are his trademarks, manages to overcome those limitations and essentially create the platonic ideal of what a Superman story should be.
In twelve issues this series manages to truly show how an epic story can be told about a man who cannot be hurt by normal means. It throws us into a universe that is already deep and rich, and where this hero has been that planet's protector for many years. It unflinchingly goes from silly to hardcore sci-fi, all with a strong emotional undercurrent that drives everything forward.
It's not perfect, and I still found myself wondering what the hell he was talking about from time to time, but the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. And with his background in the occult and kabbalistic magick, Morrison manages to take Superman beyond just being a simple Christ figure.
I read someone describe this as is the "only Superman story you'll ever need" and they're probably right.
Note that you'll need to read both volumes to get the full story. -
*some minor spoilers* Superman is dying...
I really liked this, but there was a problem that almost ruined this whole book. And, that is issue 2 and 3. You see in this universe, Superman has yet to tell Lois who he is. But since he is dying, he decides it's about time. I can't really explain why these issues rubbed me the wrong way but I'll try. It just felt very off to me how Lois was not believing Clark. Like he literally showed you his biggest secret. And, your just like, "Yeah, no". I mean, what does he get out of lying to you?
Then in the third issue, Superman gives Lois this serum to give her powers for a day. And, fine I guess? whatever. But then these 2 dudes come along named Samson and Atlas. And they were just weird. I get they were supposed to be from the past. But in a competition, and the winner get's Lois. Seriously?
I'm still gonna give this 4 stars, because I really enjoyed everything else. I look forward to continue the series, in hopes we don't have any bad issues like 2 and 3. -
I've had this Comic for *ages* without reading it-& I should've read it sooner, as it's really good. :)
The storylines for each episode are all different, yet often interlinking & all of the usual suspects in terms of characters are in it.
The artworks nice-Retro mixed with modern with a good amount of detail when needed.
However, what let it down a bit for me was the way that Clark Kent/Superman himself was drawn sometimes. As this massive, thick necked/Jawed man, that was even more obviously not human {So, Superman} than what we're used to! :P I just wasn't feeling that & it kept distracting me from everything else...But aside from that, a really good read. -
I keep wanting to like Superman, to find those epic stories that boil him down to the essentials and show why people love him so much. All-Star Superman was one recommended to me, and I came away with nothing but meh.
Most of this feels so over the top and hokey (Black kryptonite? Jimmy Olsen what are you doing? Atlas and Sampson's pissing match over Lois, let me puke), which only buries the nicer moments.
Also, I have never, ever liked Quitely's art. Too many potato faces and giant bodybuilder necks. Why the neck as thick as his head, Quitely? WHY?
I won't be moving on to volume two, unless someone can give me an incredibly compelling reason to. And if you know of any other Superman stories I should be reading, please share, I will happily check them out. One day I will understand Superman. One day. -
How do I rave without giving everything away or repeating what others have already said? This is Morrison at his best and most focused. It's still out there, sometimes "cerebral," funny, wacky. But it's mostly charming, classic, and true. This is how I think about Superman, omnipotent yet vulnerable, strong yet sensitive. And Clark Kent steals every scene he's in like a chubby Dick Van Dyke. Very well done. Looking forward to Volume 2 and then buying the whole in a collective hardcover edition. -
Let it not be said that throughout my history of reading comics I have not given Superman and his creative teams ample opportunity to make me a fan. Because I have. Probably more opportunity than both my free time and my wallet really appreciate, to be honest. This persistent (and futile, I now realize), pursuit of the Man of Steel's fandom was most likely fueled by a few fleeting moments of brilliance in stories about him I've read in the past. (Those stories being
It's a Bird... by Steven T. Seagle and a short story called "Life Support" written by Damon Lindelof that appeared in Action Comics #900 and was absolutely brilliant.) The only problem with those stories were the fact that, while each story dealt directly with Superman, neither of them actually prominently featured him. So, in a last ditch effort to find value of some sort in the character, I turned to Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, authors of the decently emotionally affecting We3. I now think that was a mistake.
Quitely is a pretty awesome artist, but I'm glad I was introduced to his pencil work through another book, as his work here is uncharacteristically bad. Proportions, especially of the facial variety, seem incredibly off to me. This mismatching extends to the physique of many of the characters as well, Superman most notably. And while I'm willing to forgive that Supes' bodily proportions don't necessarily have to be normal (he isn't human, after all), his disproportionate body doesn't look like alien physiology, it looks like bad artistry.
The stunning and memorable panels and visual techniques employed in other works of Frank Quitely (such as the aforementioned We3) are completely absent here, which is highly disappointing. There's nothing special about the presentation here, and while I don't mean to say that standard delivery can't be effective, I was really hoping to see more of Quitely's creative visual style. Perhaps I've been spoiled when it comes to him.
On the writing side of things, Grant Morrison's writing, much as I hate to say it, is frustratingly stupid and amateurish. The stories in this volume are often ridiculous, even by superhero standards, though not because they're outlandish. Instead, it's because things like common sense are ignored where it's consideration would make the story collapse and the out of nowhere revelations at the end of stories that explain everything with a hand wave Harry Potter style.
Morrison's writing isn't entirely bad though. He shows shades of his talent in a few scenes involving Lex Luthor, a character many times more interesting than the star of the show. It's a shame, then, that we spend such little time with him. Instead we spend most of the comic with a boring protagonist and a good portion of it with an annoyingly stubborn Lois Lane.
Perhaps I would have a different point of view had I entered into this book with the mentality of a fan. I'm certain I've enjoyed some stories more than they may have objectively deserved when Spider-Man was the central focus due to my fondness for the cast and mythology of the character. Perhaps that's the key to enjoying this volume. Fans of Superman may very well enjoy the hell out of this. For this non-fan, however, the story was overwhelmingly dumb and not worth the effort. -
After saving a group of astronauts from falling into the sun, Superman finds that he is dying. An over radiation of the sun's rays has poisoned his cells.
Knowing his end is at near, Superman goes about completing things he thought he would always have time to get to.
An excellent Superman story that embodies all the qualities and ideals that make The Man of Steel as human as us all. -
I honestly don’t know what to think of this now that I have read it. I was fun, it was colorful and brilliant, and yet overall it didn’t make much sense to me. It’s like when they sat down to write this superman book they decided to explore x number of stories and themes and in the end all those themes and stories didn’t flow with each other in the amount of allotted pages they were given.
Here’s the gist of what I saw in this book.
Superman is dying by the hands of Luthor.
Luthor is okay with going to his death because he 'killed' Superman.
Lois Lanes Birthday.
A day in the life of Jimmy Olsen, who, at the time, is experiencing a day in the life of another person’s life.
A retelling of the death of Pa Kent. This one always gets me. Prepare to see me well up with tears folks. (The only time I didn’t get the feels for Pa was when he got knocked off in the first Henry Cavil Superman movie. I don’t care how much you love your dog, leave the poor thing to die if there’s a chance YOU won’t make it back alive.)
And Superman’s offspring/time travel.
Overall the book gave me the impression that I was looking at an older Superman story telling of the 1960’s, as if we had never given up that strange and whimsical way of writing comic books, but our writing style has evolved all the same. If that were the case then I would say we saw an issue of Action Comics, Superman’s Girl friend Lois Lane, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, Superman and an issue of Superboy.
I guess if I look at it that way I could say I got five different superman stories with only a little bit of overlap of plot in each one. This was fun, but if you want something a little more coherent this isn’t for you. Probably not the best book for someone just beginning to explore Superman either, but if you really like the big lug you might give this a try. -
Too much hard to follow techno-jurgons and incomprehensible weird sci-fi elements to enjoy the Superman-adventures properly, and all the episodes felt rather disjointed and scattered instead of a firmly connected chronological development of a single plot. Still, independently, the plots of each of the episodes works, even though they were not very interesting (other than Superman slowly dying and finally revealed his trueself to Lois so that they can spend some quality time together, which was fun). But the characterizations were much more up to the mark than the plots and in the short span of each episodes they worked perfectly, detailing classic supporting characters like Lex Luthor, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen's true motivations and inner driving forces, and of course Superman himself. All in all, a good read, but not a great one as I was hoping for.
Update: After finishing the whole All-Star Superman, I can now see with a clearer eye how Morrison built the foundation through these earlier seemingly unconnected storylines which turned into one (more of less) cohesive complete storyarc connecting most of them by the end. So in retrospect, even though I didn't enjoy this volume that much, or at least nowhere near as much as the next volume, I had to view everything in a new light, and decided it deserves another star with my original three stars (more like 3.5 actually). -
Poor Superman is always going to start off on the wrong foot with me, and having him written by Grant Morrison doesn't make things much better. Fortunately, I've read Morrison's
We3, where he lets Quitely's art do what it's supposed to do: tell the story--so I expected to see as much here. Secondly, Morrison's approach to this series pleased me, as he stated in the planning stages, that he did not want to rehash Superman's origin story, yet again. The point of All-Star Superman is to give us the essence of the character, which is what I have been looking for all this time.
Superman fans who have seen my low ratings of other tales such as
Superman: Birthright and
Superman: Earth One, while I praise alternate, darker visions of the characters like
Superman: Red Son and
Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, probably think I'm trolling. What I have been doing in my readings is try to understand why people like this character that just doesn't make sense to me. He's a god disguising himself as a human. That's not fitting in. That's just damn good acting. "But you read stories about people who command the weather and shoot laser beams out of their eyes," people argue. I sure do, but for me, the X-Men have always been human beings first. The world as a whole might hate them from time to time, but the X-stories have always given the mutants a place to belong within their own community, whether it be in Xavier's mansion, or in the sewers with the Morlocks. They always have a place where they can be themselves. Meanwhile, Superman fans have tried to convince me that Kal'El is the very same. Certainly he wants that, but how can he ever have that when he is completely alien? Yes, he has moments of weakness thanks to kryptonite where he gets to experience life as a weak little human being for a few days, but he always gets his powers back so he can save the day. That's not quite a mile in my shoes, Clark.
But All-Star Superman addresses many of my concerns, sometimes in very amusing ways. Most notably, the concept of no one recognizing Clark as Superman. I like that Morrison and Quitely actually change his physical appearance beyond hair and glasses. Here, Clark is a little bit overweight, to go along with his cowardly, clutzy demeanor. And when he reveals himself to Lois, the Pulitzer prize winning investigative report, and even Lex, the most brilliant mind in the world, no one can fathom that they are one and the same, even if there is a striking resemblance. I love the way Morrison/Quitely really play up the concept of mind over matter, letting even the most intuitive minds only see what they want to see.
All-Star Superman tells the story of a dying hero who has ironically being killed by the very thing that gives him his power: the sun.
I keep saying that I want a well-written Superman story that helps me to appreciate the character, even though I may never like him. This is it. In fact, it is the Superman story I should have read first and just skipped all of these origin stories that try to tell a "new" story despite being forever forced into the Superman standards of Daily Planet, Krypton, Ma and Pa Kent, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, etc etc. By shedding the need for these chains, while still working on the assumption that I am fully aware of them, Morrison/Quitely just give me a look at the Man of Steel. The lonely man who is loved and hated by those around him, and appreciates that, but knows he can never be one of them. Morrison and Quitely aren't asking me to love him too, or even respect him. They are just presenting him as he is and it's up to me to take him or leave him.
At the end of the day, I don't like the character, but I can accept this "just shut up and Superman" story as a fine example of who and what he is.
www.BiblioSanctum.com -
В который раз убеждаюсь, что мы с Грантом Моррисоном не на одной волне. Он постоянно попрекает своего заклятого врага Алана Мура в чрезмерной серьёзности и мрачном реализме, а мне как раз вот эта традиционная супергеройская дурашливость и мельтешение кажется детским баловством. Впрочем, возможно, я просто чего-то иного ожидал от книги, которую многие называют "лучшим комиксом про Супермена".
Супермен слишком близко подлетает к солнцу, опаляет свои восковые крылья и начинает умирать. Но вместо того чтобы распорядиться своими последними днями на Земле каким-то вдумчивым, ответственным образом, он пускается в свои обычные легкомысленные приключения то тут, то там. Вместо цельного романа по типу
Kingdom Come мы имеем здесь сборник коротких историй, едва связанных друг с другом.
При этом нельзя сказать, что Моррисон — плохой писатель. Напротив, дело начинает смелый
одностраничный ориджин. Ну или вот ещё прекрасная
одностраничная же мини-история, где Супермен предотвращает самоубийство подростка. Совершенно гениально была показана
трансформация героя в невзрачного деревенского олуха Кларка Кента, который своей неуклюжестью то и дело незаметно спасает кому-то жизнь (пусть этот образ и не очень-то вяжется с успешным репортёром).
С другой стороны меня выбешивали те немногие женские персонажи, что есть в книге. Взбалмошная дура Лоис Лейн, которую натурально как корову в одной главе разыгрывают три здоровяка, состязаясь друг с другом в армреслинге. Другие женские помощницы то тут то там используются лишь как говорящие головы, чтобы их начальникам было перед кем покрасоваться. И что это за
чудовищные ногти? Художников-комиксистов стоило бы в принудительном порядке первым делом подписывать на любой приличный женский журнал, чтобы они могли усвоить человеческие стандарты красоты вместо этого цыганского wannabe-pornstar. А
градиентная покраска будто бы намекает, что тогда само время было другое.
В общем, из двенадцати глав мне понравилась, может быть,
парочка, остальное — только как фансервис для людей, которые постоянно читают супергероику (и специалистов по Серебряному веку).
Впрочем, вот Алексей Замский на "Спайдермедии", как всегда, талантливо объясняет,
почему комикс на самом деле очень и очень хороший. -
2.75 stars
I enjoyed the first couple of issues in this more than the ending ones. The artwork was pretty good but not exactly my cup of tea. The dialogue was good, and the characters were somewhat interesting. There was some action, but not an overbearing amount. Like it didn't distract from the plot.
I don't really have much to say about this because it didn't stand out to me. I don't find Superman a compelling character, but I can see how Superman fans would be into this. The contrast between Clark and Superman was very striking in this volume, which I found interesting. I guess this is classic Superman. If you're a Superman fan, I'm pretty sure you will like this. -
An absolutely fantastic read as Grant Morrison takes the character back to his roots and 50's nostalgia.
-
I don't get it. It's alright, both conceptually and visually. Bogged down by a myriad of backstories I didn't know. Everybody looks too doughnutty.
-
I have a friend who's trying to convince me that I'm giving short shrift to Supes over...a lot of other superhero characters. This despite the fact that I am, to those who know me, more of a horror/noir/crime reader. I don't *love* uplifting stories. I barely *like* them, unless the uplift comes up out of some verifiable muck. The one Supes story that I *love* is the Judd Winick story, Superman/Shazam: First Thunder--which fits the bill exactly, IMO.
So I can't say that I *love* this book. It was all right. In fact it was a bit cheesy for me, or rather the wrong kind of cheesy for me. I didn't care for the art and I thought the plots were meh (and insulting toward Lois SHE IS NOT AN IDIOT and saying she isn't an idiot and then making her act like one just tells me that this comic was never meant for me). -
This is so good. SO GOOD.
When Morrison and Quitely are together, they really are masterful storytellers. Morrison is a wordsmith in his dialogue and plots out each issue so they're perfectly paced. Each having their own moments of quiet and action. Quitely is one of those artists whose work you have to spend that little extra time looking at to fully appreciate it. Morrison doesn't restrain him. He lets him do his best work.
Side Note:If the Man of Steel film left you with a bad taste in your mouth, and you need a good Superman story to get over the shock: this is what you need to read. You'll feel better about yourself and everything after. -
Take seat and refresh your mind with all does punching and kicking superheroes and take a look at the different side of the story. About a god who live among men that we all known as Superman. In my opinion, this probably one of the best comic book story ever printed.
Recommended to both superman fans or no. -
I found this one really underwhelming relative to all the hype.
-
Not only easily the best superman story ever told, but one of the most human, touching, and heartfelt comics ever written. It is everything that makes the character of Superman so great, and more, starting out as a bitter sweet, romantic, and tragic slice of life, and eventually turning into this surreal, Evangelion-esque story about death and finding peace in the world. It's a story that makes this god-like character a human- a human who tries their best to help people and to be selfless, and eventually turns into something greater: this diety that represents the best of humanity and heroism. "For him, from all of us. In remembrance of all that we are. And all that we will be." Past, future, life, death. All that matters is that we try to be good to each other. All-Star Superman is everything a superman and a superhero story should try to be. Magnificent.
-
[3/5]
The only good issues were the ones with Jonathan Kent dying and the issue where Superman saved the girl from jumping off of the roof. The rest were wacky Grant Morrison things which I did not vibe with at all. I don't know if it's their writing or the way they portray interactions, but other than those two moments I didn't feel anything while reading this book. I also didn't like Frank Quietly's art. Everyone he draws just looks really fuzzy to me.
