all-star superman

posts about #allstarsuperman more →
10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
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Must Read: All-Star Superman

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Perhaps Not
10/06/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
Great list. I certainly wouldn't subtract any but I might add a couple:

-"For All Season" - Maybe Tim Sale's finest hour. Gorgeous watercolors, nice ruminative story by Jeph Loeb, great characterization, too.

-"Superman Adventures" #1-12 - "Zot" and "Understanding Comcs" writer Scott McCloud's gorgeous take on the Man of Steel, complete with retro-style visuals from the animation team. A little ironic, since the "Batman" show that originated the look was aping the style of the original Fleischer Studios cartoons, btw.

Also of note: there's one more terrific story in that "Whatever Happened...?" hardcover: "The Jungle Line," a great team-up between Swamp Thing and Superman, written by Moore and penciled by the incredible Rick Veitch.
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Soupytwist
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
I think that I've established my love for Superman on these boards... I have to say, I don't think I could come up with only 10 essential stories.

I'd have to do Hits, Misses, and Deep Cuts with at least 10 entries each.

Love this article.
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fatetwister64
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
No All Star Superman!?! For shame!!!
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Aidan_
10/05/09

@fatetwister64: Obviously didn't read the article. Awesome.
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jedidotflow
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
This is gonna sound a bit weird, but All-Star Superman #10 prevented me from committing suicide.

[www.cincity2000.com]
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edosan
10/06/09

@jedidotflow: Not weird at all. Good to have you here.
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Brian St. Claire
10/06/09

@jedidotflow: That isn't the least bit weird.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
10/06/09

@jedidotflow: I have something in my eyes now. *blinks rapidly*
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IDesigner loves himself some car
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
Superman: Secret Identity was an amazing comic. One of the best I've read in a long time.
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van_line
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
for good cheap superman stories, go to the dollar bin and buy all the superman adventures, based on the cartoon but had so talented writers and the stripped down artworks help drive the stories.
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Xicer
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
Hey now, I liked Superman Returns...
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twDarkflame
10/06/09

@Xicer: Me too. Was great fun and fitted in quite nicely if you watched 1+2 before hand.

Cant say the same about enjoying Smallville though. Last two episodes were just astonishingly bad. Its like they are terrified of spending any screen time on anything remotely interesting.

And home comes they are allowed to kill Jimmy Olsen, but Clark cant fly yet?
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LauraAnnT
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
Superman Returns at least tried to be good. Bryan Singer actually cared about the end product. The showrunners of Smallville? They don't seem to care anymore what kind of product they put out. It's like they know they're a dog food factory, so it doesn't matter what it tastes like.
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Bill-Lee
10/05/09

@LauraAnnT: The problem with Superman Returns were all problems of excess. How many scenes did we really need of Superman flying in front of the sun? How many allusions to the Christ story did we need? I wanted to shout at Bryan Singer, "We're not stupid! We get it! Superman is a solar powered messiah figure/demi-god. We get it!"
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omgwtflolbbqbye
10/05/09

@Bill-Lee: Also it was boring...
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van_line
10/05/09

@omgwtflolbbqbye: that was it's biggest sin, that and the idea that people want to see superman depowered.

If you are making a superman movie make a superman movie, have him move planets around, etc.
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omgwtflolbbqbye
10/05/09

@van_line: My boredom was partly due to the lack of spectacle, but more from it feeling like a $200,000,000 fanfilm/tribute to the the Donner movies, which I don't think are that great to begin with.

Ah shit. I'm gonna get flamed for that aren't I?
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Edited by omgwtflolbbqbye at 10/05/09 5:21 PM omgwtflolbbqbye was starred omgwtflolbbqbye was unstarred

van_line
10/05/09

@omgwtflolbbqbye: I agree completely with you, while I am happy that singer didn't discard donner work, I wish it hadn't been such a love letter. fine line.
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TickMan
10/05/09

@Bill-Lee: I actually liked the cinematography, but it certainly was excess and it certainly gave the film a feeling that it was dragging along.

The kid stuff. The Superkid could be seen a mile away. Revealing it at the end wasn't even a surprise, and he of all people should know comic book nerds don't like the idea of little kids in general because they threaten that the hero will become a buddy film or act as a replacement. At least the kid wasn't no Mutt.
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twDarkflame
10/06/09

@LauraAnnT: Agreed. Returns had a sense of =fun=. It had humour, and story, and it was faithfull to the original.

Smallville is just a mess. They kill Jimmy, but Clark cant fly. They try to be deadly serious with the most stupid premise's, and it almost completely lacks humour.

The only time I really enjoyed smallville was the eppisode "Justice". That had the -fun- element, apart from that its an angst fest.
Returns, on the other hand, wasnt scared not to take itself too seriously.
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twDarkflame
10/06/09

@van_line: Making a movie about a god doing god-like things would be a heck of a lot more boring then you think.

Then again, what do I know, I found the robot fighting scenes in the first transformers infinitely less entertaining then the rest.
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BigKenW
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
How could you have omitted the best Superman story of all time - Kingdom Come?
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omgwtflolbbqbye
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
Also, if nobody wants to go out and pick up any of those stories anytime soon, "Justice League Unlimited" did a mindblowingly awesome adaptation of Alan Moore's iconic Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything".

It provides nice look into the psyche of the Man of Steel, him being hurt in a way that no villain has before, and as a bonus includes Wonder Woman being an utter bad ass warrior princess and Batman being as tenacious as ever.
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van_line
10/05/09

@omgwtflolbbqbye: burn
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kingdom2000
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
Notable mentions that should be included:
Kingdom Come
Action Comics #775
Superman For All Seasons
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Cory Gross
10/05/09

@kingdom2000: And the oversized "Superman: Peace on Earth".
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Dunny0
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
Thanks for the list - and the suggestions in the comments (I'd like to toss my hat in the "Why no Kingdom Come" ring).

I'll be using this as a guide on what to buy to wash the horrid taste of Superman: Secret Origins away.
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Mudassir Chapra
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
You guys left out probably the only Superman story, besides Red Son, that matters: Action Comics #775, by Joe Kelly. I don't know the collections its in, but it is the best Superman story EVER!

It was a counter point Warren Ellis' Authority, where Superman is pited against a similar group of Superheroes, called the Elite.

I can write a 1000 word essay on it, but all I'll say is that before reading this I though Superman was lame, and now I love the character.

And the death of superman should only be read by OCD completionist, and not by people looking for a good story.
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reaper2k
10/05/09

@Mudassir Chapra: As long as we're talking about single issues, one of my favorites is Hitman #34.

Though it isn't -- strictly speaking -- a Superman comic, "Of Thee I Sing" is one of my favorite Superman stories. And it won an Eisner award in 1999, too. I guess I'm not the only one who liked it.
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Edited by reaper2k at 10/05/09 3:25 PM reaper2k was starred reaper2k was unstarred

spikespeigel
10/05/09

@reaper2k: I second this. Hitman #34 puts Superman as a person in a whole new light. Of course, that is the brilliance of Garth Ennis. Tommy! I miss you, man!
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omgwtflolbbqbye
10/05/09

@spikespeigel: Yea, you know Superman is cool when even Garth Ennis won't tear him down for ridicule within his own story.
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avidreader514
10/05/09

@omgwtflolbbqbye: Spot-on! I love that story - and it ruined me on Hitman and Garth Ennis forever. I loved Tommy, but nothing he could do would ever be that cool.
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Rasselas
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
Secret Identity is good, but a little too Mark Waid for me.

All-Star cannot be overpraised: "Batman's Batman."
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Darklighter
10/05/09

In reply to 10 Essential Superman Comics To Help You Forget Smallville
I cannot believe Kingdom Come is not on this list.
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