Comics Graphic Novels of Supes that you need to own

[matrix_ghost]

I'm more of a graphic novel guy as opposed to buying hundreds of comics. SImply because i like the complete archs of characters. And recently with SR , i began to buy some other graphic novels of supes.


What in your opinion are the Graphic Novels of superman that each person should own ?

So far i have Death and Return of Superman , Superman: The Doomsday Wars and Superman : Day Of Doom.
I do feel there are more out there and KingDom Come is definately on my list to buy

 

[mathhater]

"Superman: For All Seasons" is a definite must, and any of the "Man of Steel" volumes...there's four or five of those I believe. And I'd highly recommend "The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told."

And I also have to recommend "It's a Bird!" It's a Vertigo book that takes place in the real world, and over the course of the story it looks at and evaluates several aspects of the Superman mythos, and it tells how a fictional character can affect the lives of people in the real world. It's really heavy and really good.

 

[Andy C.]

Aside from Man of Steel, Birthright is also a great take on the origin story. I prefer it over MoS myself, but since MoS is a bit more fleshed out and has more villains than just Lex, I'd say get both.

Most of Superman's Elseworlds comics are outstanding, too. I'd highly, highly recommend Kingdom Come (as well as its sequel The Kingdom), Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, Speeding Bullets, and Red Sun.

 

[matrix_ghost]

Gotcha , thnx guys. Really appreciate . KingDom Come is the enxt item i'll but , simply because i really like the premise and i really really like Alex Ross'art t:

So far the list is :
Superman: For All Seasons]
Man Of Steel Volumes
The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told
It's a Bird!"
Birthright
Kingdom Come
The Kingdom
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?,
Speeding Bullets
Red Sun

Any more suggestions from other people ?

 

[nite-owl]

Secret Idenity is a must.

 

[Arach Knight]

JLA Elseworlds: Another Nail

I know it is a JLA book, but the bulk of the story revolves around Apokolips, and Kal-El being a new member of the justice leauge. It's a really great alternative take on Superman. In fact, the entire idea that he is almish in this world, just cracks me up.

Our World is at War:

Some of these stories took place in Superman books. It's a really good story in terms of being a super hero book. Sometimes, comic books loose track of that, and many stories told these days revolve around the human side of super beings. But every now and then, you just want to see a cape come in and bust heads and save the day. That is mostly what you get with this story.

Superman/Batman:

Any volume or issue of this on going, is absolutely fantastic.

The Dark Knight Returns:

This book is a politicl satire/cyber-punk story. I think the book has enough recogntion to be known to DC or Marvel or any comic fan, alike. It is debatably the greatest Batman story ever told (though I personally think that vote goes to The Long Halloween and Dark Victory)...but it also tells a pretty good story about Superman. No other story does as impressive a job, of illustrating just how different Clark and Bruce are, even though they have the same general agenda as super heroes.

 

[Thespiralgoeson]

DKR is one of my favorite takes on Superman. He's really a complex dude, torn between his loyalty to his friend, and his job to maintain world order. Miller beautifully depicts the clash between Superman's and Batman's ideologies, as well as their friendship.

 

[The Question]

Secret Identity is a must. It's not about Superman exactly. It's about Clark Kent, a kid in the real world who's parents have a very bad sense of humor. Add to that the fact that he's of a slender frame, has black hair and blue eyes, lives in a small Kansas farm town, and his only real talant is writing, and just guess who people constantly compare him to. No, really, guess. I bet you'll never get it.


Anyway, he's made fun of alot on school, and all of his relatives give him Superman comics and action figures and other merchendise because they think it's cute. He sucks it up as best he can, and lives a relatively normal life.


Until he gets actual super powers, that is. Then, things get rather interesting.

 

[Motown Marvel]

kingdom come is a defenite must, one of the greatest comics of all time. for the love of god though, skip 'the kingdom'...you really dont want to waste your money on that.

 

[Superman: Idols]

Death of Superman
World Without a Superman
Return of the Superman

Fantastic books--the art is "old school" 90s, witha dramatic tale to boot (especially "World Without".)

 

[Bruce_Wayne29]

Superman For All Seasons
Superman Peace On Earth
Superman Secret Identity
Superman Godfall
Superman Unconventional Warfare
Whatever Happaned To The Man Of Tomorrow ?

 

[Arach Knight]

Secret Identity sounds like a pretty good read then. I like the idea of ultra realism in some comic stories. I really enjoyed reading Marvels for instance, because it dealt more with the human side of the world. I also really love Gotham Central. Not just becaues I love Greg Rucka's writing, but because of the approach to crime and even supervillain activity, in a very real world setting. So if this Secret Identity is anything like those books, then looks like this thread has given me a new suggestion as well.

 

[Klor-El]

If you want to own superman novels heres a few:

Superman: Birthright
Death of Superman
A world without superman
Return of Superman

 

[Bruce_Wayne29]

Secret Identity sounds like a pretty good read then. I like the idea of ultra realism in some comic stories. So if this Secret Identity is anything like those books, then looks like this thread has given me a new suggestion as well.

I've been reading comics for 20 years now and I can tell you it was one of the best written comic books I've ever read in my life. It's a masterpiece.

 

[The Question]

Also, you should check out Greg Rucka's run on Adventures of Superman. One of the best Superman runs in years. Did a great job in showing how he has to balance his personal life as Clark and his responsibilities as Superman. If he concentraits on one too much, the other suffers greatly.

 

[nite-owl]

Secret Identity is a must. It's not about Superman exactly. It's about Clark Kent, a kid in the real world who's parents have a very bad sense of humor. Add to that the fact that he's of a slender frame, has black hair and blue eyes, lives in a small Kansas farm town, and his only real talant is writing, and just guess who people constantly compare him to. No, really, guess. I bet you'll never get it.


Anyway, he's made fun of alot on school, and all of his relatives give him Superman comics and action figures and other merchendise because they think it's cute. He sucks it up as best he can, and lives a relatively normal life.


Until he gets actual super powers, that is. Then, things get rather interesting.

Hey, I said that. One thing I love about secret idenity is that I truelly believed that Clark and lois were in love.

 

[The Leaguer]

For Tomorrow.

Anyone who says otherwise is wrong and an idiot.

 

[Agentdemon]

^It sucked! heh j/k, I actually never read that arc because I started reading comics in the middle of it.

-Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow?
-Red Son
-Secert Identity
-Death/Return
-Birthright
-MOS
-Action Comics #775
-For the man who has everything

 

[Bruce_Wayne29]

Also, you should check out Greg Rucka's run on Adventures of Superman. One of the best Superman runs in years. Did a great job in showing how he has to balance his personal life as Clark and his responsibilities as Superman. If he concentraits on one too much, the other suffers greatly.

Indeed.

 

[Captivated]

Hey, I said that. One thing I love about secret idenity is that I truelly believed that Clark and lois were in love.

As a Spider-Man fan who knows nothing about Superman comics, I'd love a GN recommendation that involves the "love story" with Lois. Any good stories that make that the main focus?

 

[Eddie Brock]

Birthright is AWESOME

 

[Arach Knight]

As a Spider-Man fan who knows nothing about Superman comics, I'd love a GN recommendation that involves the "love story" with Lois. Any good stories that make that the main focus?

You may want to pick up Showcase:Superman Family Vol.1 which includes a few stories from the old "Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane" book, which was before most of our times.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Superman For All Seasons
Superman Peace On Earth
Superman Secret Identity
Superman Godfall
Superman Unconventional Warfare
Whatever Happaned To The Man Of Tomorrow ?

Just finished reading this, and while it's well written with some memorable moments (Superman walking in on a woman in the bath and her attempts to seduce him, Supes hearing Lois being shot and flying around the world in three seconds to catch her), it's not really a standalone story. The villains are not charaterised properly and we don't see what happens to them, the whole sexual tension thing is not wrapped up, and it ends on a cliffhanger.

 

[Andy C.]

For Tomorrow.

Anyone who says otherwise is wrong and an idiot.

I'll second that. Supes got a little whiny at parts, but it's definitely worth seeing him and Zod throw down one more time.

 

[TheFalcon]

Just finished reading this, and while it's well written with some memorable moments (Superman walking in on a woman in the bath and her attempts to seduce him, Supes hearing Lois being shot and flying around the world in three seconds to catch her), it's not really a standalone story. The villains are not charaterised properly and we don't see what happens to them, the whole sexual tension thing is not wrapped up, and it ends on a cliffhanger.

That tpb holds the first part of Greg Ruckas Adventures of Superman run. The rest is collected in the tpbs called That Healing Touch and Ruin Revealed. Together they are stand alone, although there are some Infinite Crisis elements in the last one (Some OMACs and a little bit with Lex and the Secret Society IIRC).

I highly recommend picking them up, especially if you liked the first one.