Comics All-Star Superman Question...

[spark627]

Is All-Star Superman in continuity (does that even exist with DC anymore?). I want to get a Superman book with his current origin and I heard this was a good book. Any recommendations?

 

[Spike_x1]

ASS is certainly not in continuity with any other DC book, but it's still a good, fun read. It may very well be one of the 52 other earths in the DC multiverse, but it's not in the same continuity as the main DC titles.

You will be very hard pressed to find any material with a concrete origin for Superman in the current continuity (I don't believe DC's Editorialship, themselves have a firm stance on that). However, my guess is that the closest thing to his modern origin would probably be "Superman: Birthright." If you read that, then you should have all of the basic details that you need to understand how things are currently set up in the DCU regarding Superman.

 

[Andy C.]

All-Star Supes isn't an origin story (in fact, it's supposed to be pretty late in Superman's career), but it's an absolutely phenomenal book. Easily the most fun comic I've read in years.

And to back up what Spike said, Birthright is pretty much the closest you'll get to an "official" Superman origin right now. The current continuity is pretty retro-Silver Age, and there was never one definitive Silver Age origin. BR is fairly close, though, and in my opinion it's the best version of the origin.

 

[Stallion9979]

BR was horrendous from start to finish...there are so many flaws with that story it would take forever to list them here...

I hated that story and it ruined all the work Byrne did on what was a simple clear origin...

of course now neither are considered canon and DC has chosen instead an even crapier origin in which Supes was actually a legion member in his early days...

DC which was going in such a great direction with their stories took a 20 year step back with IC and everything thats followed since...hopefully FC cancels out all the nonsense post IC...

 

[dr collossus]

You know I'm not sure I like that acronym...

 

[Andy C.]

it ruined all the work Byrne did on what was a simple clear origin...

Which is why I loved Birthright. I can't stand MoS. You want to talk about BR taking a step back? How about Byrne completely screwing over 50 years' worth of Superman stories by changing every single facet of the mythos for no good reason and turning Superman into a Marvel-style shell of himself?

 

[Spike_x1]

How was he a shell of his former self? Aside from expanding on and humanizing Clark Kent (whereas Clark was just a dead weight character before CoIE), Superman was the exact same character as before; he had the same self-sacrificing personality, steely determination, and flashy smile that he had always had. It was the things around the character of Superman that Byrne had changed (Lex, Krypton, his relationship with Batman, etc).

 

[Stallion9979]

Which is why I loved Birthright. I can't stand MoS. You want to talk about BR taking a step back? How about Byrne completely screwing over 50 years' worth of Superman stories by changing every single facet of the mythos for no good reason and turning Superman into a Marvel-style shell of himself?

MoS was meant to be the reboot of canon post Crisis...the older stories were no longer considered canon...so this was an effective reboot of DC's Flagship Icon...

How do you figure...he took out all the ridiculous power levels to make him more accessible...I mean how do you beat a guy that can juggle planets...

He gave a explanation of how superman's powers could work instead of just he's an alien there ya go...

He humanized and gave substance not only to superman but to Clark Kent as well by giving him an actual personality...and gave us what should be THE Lex Luthor...

He set a solid foundation in a simple way so that anyone could pick it up and know all they need to know about what was going on with him...

Birthright was terrible from start to finish...there are so many inconsistencies in that story that if you read it again it wont be til 2018 that we would be caught up to that story....

 

[Andy C.]

MoS was meant to be the reboot of canon post Crisis...the older stories were no longer considered canon...so this was an effective reboot of DC's Flagship Icon...

...which is almost exactly what you're bashing Birthright for: discounting decades' worth of stories for the sake of a new continuity. Pot. Kettle.

How do you figure...he took out all the ridiculous power levels to make him more accessible...I mean how do you beat a guy that can juggle planets...

Plenty of folks managed to give him a good fight before. Not to mention all of Superman's villains got watered-down too (especially Brainiac ) Taking away all the ridiculous power takes away one of the crucial things that keeps Superman unique. Byrne took Superman and made him just Slightly-Above-Average-Man. Snore.

He gave a explanation of how superman's powers could work instead of just he's an alien there ya go...

He humanized and gave substance not only to superman but to Clark Kent as well by giving him an actual personality...and gave us what should be THE Lex Luthor...

I'll give Byrne points on the characterization of Clark and Superman (though I will argue to the end of time that Superman should be the real guy and Clark the disguise, not the other way around). His Luthor, though, was a second-rate Kingpin. At least the Lex that showed up in BR was an active villain.

He set a solid foundation in a simple way so that anyone could pick it up and know all they need to know about what was going on with him...

Birthright was terrible from start to finish...there are so many inconsistencies in that story that if you read it again it wont be til 2018 that we would be caught up to that story....

Birthright does the exact same thing as Man of Steel in setting up a solid premise for the mythos; praising MoS and bashing BR for doing the same thing doesn't make sense.

And I've read BR from start to finish many times, and I really don't see any "inconsistencies" in it, other than the fact that it's not Man of Steel.

(Also, it wasn't originally intended to be the official origin, but more along the lines of an 'Ultimate Superman' franchise. So that's really more DC's fault for putting it into the canon rather than Waid's.)

Anyway, I've said my piece. I like BR, you like MoS. We could keep going back and forth on this, or just let it be and get back on topic.

 

[Stallion9979]

lol then let's agree to disagree...

ive heard alot about AS Supes but I havent read it yet...from what i know the all star series are supposed to be DCs answer to Marvel's Ultimate line...

 

[dr collossus]

All Star Superman is very good. It's a liberated tip of the hat to the Silver Age with an intelligent modern perspective.

And, it's Morrison - do you really need to know any more than that?

 

[Andy C.]

ive heard alot about AS Supes but I havent read it yet...from what i know the all star series are supposed to be DCs answer to Marvel's Ultimate line...

Well, it is and it isn't. AS-Superman and AS-Batman & Robin are separate from the main DC storyline, but also separate from each other. The All-Star line are different stand-alone stories, instead of one big new universe like Ultimate Marvel, which is good in some ways and bad in others. Mainly good because it keeps the undeniably awesome AS-Supes apart from the godawful AS-Batman.

 

[Stallion9979]

ah gotcha...I thought they were connected in the AS universe...so basically its like its own self contained universe where they can do whatever they want with Superman then...

 

[Andy C.]

Pretty much. Which is why they're able to have him do all the insane stuff he does in it. It might not be up your alley if you're not a fan of the pre-Crisis style, but I still highly recommend it.

 

[Stallion9979]

do they have anything collected in TPB that I could check out?

 

[Andy C.]

Volume 1 is out, but I've only found it in hard-cover right now.