Sunday, February 28, 2010

All-Star Superman Vol #1


Of all the superheroes, prior to me getting back to be interested in comics, Superman is probably the one guy I'd read about the most - through the series where he "died" and then Kingdom Come. But what's done here is truly interesting. I mean, the problem with Superman to begin with is that it's kind of a hard character to make interesting in that you can't hurt or kill him. And that's where this series flips that on it's head. Instead of putting the threat for Superman's life through a massive super villain, they make it internal. I won't ruin the specifics, but essentially this series is about Superman having to come to terms with her own mortality. He's dying from the inside, and there's nothing he can do about it. And what they do with his alter-ego Clark Kent is very very clever. They make him such a bumbling oaf that, when he tries to tell Lois Lane who he really is, she sees it as a giant practical joke. He's done such a good job of convincing the world otherwise. And it's painful to him.
I think my only issue with this series so far is that it seems to lack a strong through-line. It feels a bit episodic - or more so than I would like it to. Although each issue feels like it's dealing with a variation on a theme/idea so perhaps I'm complaining unnecessarily.
As far as I know there's only one more volume in this series. I look forward to it!

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