Reading List: "Why Superman Actually Doesn't Suck"

[thehefner]

Speaking of bitemetechie, I'm compiling a "Why Superman Actually Doesn't Suck" mix of graphic novels for her to read during out mad twelve-day excursion to Orlando Fringe Festival.

And really, I've needed to make this collection for some time now. After all the years of hearing people complain about how they hate Superman, it's only in the past year or two that I think we finally have some amazing Superman comics that can finally depict what we fans have always known in our hearts and seen between the bright colors, boy-scout heroics, and lack of grimdark angst.

Therefore, on the "musts" list for this "Why Superman Actually Doesn't Suck" collection, I think it's essential to have the first part of Geoff Johns' current ACTION COMICS run. Start with ACTION COMICS ANNUAL # 10, which for some reason is idiotically not collected anywhere*, even though it contains crucial material.

And then, go on to SUPERMAN: LAST SON (which I didn't love at first, but it leads to get stuff later with Zod), skip the BIZARRO WORLD story (unless anyone here thinks it's awesome/essential), go right to the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES story (the book that finally helped me get the Legion, and features three heart-stopping Clark moments), and finally, SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC (I dislike Brainy 1.0's new muscle-bound look, but it's better than the bony 90's-esque monstrosity he's been sporting recently).

Besides that, ALL-STAR SUPERMAN. I mean, duh. I think that should go after the Johns stuff. Let that be the grand finale of Superman. I hate, hate, hate what Morrison's done with BATMAN and FINAL CRISIS, but after rereading ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, I'm just in awe of this book's elegant power and joy. Throughout, he and Quitely are able to say so much with so little, making it tempting to breeze through the stories as if they were light little trifles, and thereby miss out on all the incredible detail they cram into each panel. Like a Sergio Leone movie, no one says a word of dialogue unless it's absolutely essential to the story.

Plus, Mark Waid's introduction to Vol. 2 really helped me better get what Morrison is showing here with this perfect portrait of who Superman is and why does what he does. He particularly nails it at the end:

But the big moment is the perfect line of dialogue. It comes in Chapter Ten, when Superman, without a second's hesitation, takes time from his world-building feats to embrace and comfort a suicidal young girl. When he tells her, "You're much stronger than you think you are," they become the most moving words we have ever read in a Superman story. And they are perfect because they reveal, in one sentence, the fundamental secret of Superman and why we love him so:

Gods achieve their power by encouraging us to believe in them.

Superman achieves his power by believing in us.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Besides the Johns and Morrison essentials, I was thinking of including maybe the two Excellent Superman Comics That Don't Actually Feature Superman: IT'S A BIRD, by Steven T. Seagle and Terry Kristiansen, and SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen (which is criminally out of print now! WTF?), not to mention SUPERMAN: RED SON, which is the one truly great thing Mark Millar has ever written.

I've considered SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT, but I didn't get it for the same reason I didn't pick up Geoff Johns' "One Year Later" arc, UP UP AND AWAY, because it just seemed a little too been there, done that. Good stories, but nothing that'll really persuade somebody who doesn't like Superman. Maybe I'm wrong?

Meantime, I'm reading Alan Moore's two SUPREME collections. I'm not sure I'd put them on the list, as they're more about superheroes and comics in general rather than Superman himself. But damn if they aren't fun. Anyone who thinks Moore is too grim and serious should check these out, if they're even still in print. Cracktacular meta superheroics galore!

So yeah, to sum up my list, in the following order:

The Essentials

ACTION COMICS ANNUAL # 10
SUPERMAN: LAST SON
SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES
SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC
ALL-STAR SUPERMAN VOL. 1
ALL-STAR SUPERMAN VOL. 2

Other possibilities

IT'S A BIRD
SECRET IDENTITY
BIRTHRIGHT
UP UP AND AWAY
RED SON


What think you, Super-fans? Any other suggestions? If nothing else, do assure Techie that these books are actually good, because I suspect getting her to read 'em will take some persuasion.




*More and more, I'm trying to figure out some way to campaign against Bob Joy, the editor of collected editions at DC. I've noticed so many problems in DC's graphic novels, such a drop in quality compared to previous editors like Robert Greenberger, that I feel like something seriously needs to be done. Who else is the blame for putting all the tie-in issues of SINESTRO CORPS in a separate volume, rather than integrating them into the actual story as they're SUPPOSED to be read?

But the one sternly polite letter I'd written him regarding my displeasure of the BATMAN VS. TWO-FACE collection went unanswered, and I feel like there's nothing I can do to voice my frustrations to any powers-that-be. It's seriously hindering my interest in buying trade paperbacks from DC.

Comments

[beanie-platypus.livejournal.com]

I have mixed feelings about Superman. I think some of it clearly comes from being a comics-reader under (admittedly low-key) siege; I don't have any friends who read comics before I met them, and a number who still refuse/can't stand to read any book in comic form ("The pictures are distracting." "Duh.") When you have to justify any comic book you read, the ones that have the worst reputation as being "For Children Only" tend to get pushed aside for something sexier.

But when I do encounter Superman in any crossover.... I always seem to really love him. He's like Captain America without the creepy jingoistic overtones- he's just kind of sweet and charming and *good.* And he's faintly goofy as Clark Kent, which really works for him....

So, with that in mind, I will try to score some of these comics myself and see if they change my mind. I do want to lobby for RED SON- the conclusion is just perfect, and I love Lex Luthor as the arguable hero. Also some good Lois Lane moments where she clearly looks really cool.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

It's funny you bring up Captain America. He is often disliked for similar reasons by many, while others love him even though they hate Superman because they love Cap's inspiring asskicking nature (and the fact that he's actually not as jingoistic in the ways you might suspect--although have you read much Cap?--but that's a whole other discussion).

Cap and Clark are often lambasted for being boy scouts, which isn't exactly incorrect, but damn if I have a hard time trying to explain how even if that's true, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Yeah, with the way you describe Clark there, definitely do be on the lookout for the above comics, many of which are getting available at libraries! ALL-STAR tops the list!

[american-arcane.livejournal.com]

The thing about Captain America and, even more so, Superman that's always kept me interested was that they've managed to remain "good" even though it would be so easy for them to do whatever the heck they wanted.

Why do they stay on the straight and narrow? Because they actually value those ideals they were raised with... they believe that people can be good and those that aren't can sometimes be made better.

Yeah, that bit you quoted up top does, indeed, sum up what makes Superman really awesome. And something very similar applies to Cap... and Spiderman.

That simple truth could also be why kids love those characters so much and the cynical, jaded, stepped upon and broken adults they grow into turn up their noses at such concepts and slide into the anti-heroes and "dark and gritty" not-quite-villains.

Personally, I think there needs to be both. Just to keep up on our toes and to remind us that, no matter how dark or bright it gets, there's always a candle or a shadow somewhere to shake things up. :)

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Good point! I never considered that before: Superman is pretty much the embodiment of Absolute Power, yet he remains uncorrupted. And the reasons, as you note, are entirely within the ideals and values in which they were raised.

James Robinson recently wrote a Cap one-shot that came out a couple weeks ago that showed Steve Rogers before the super-serum, wherein we could see those attributes that would make him Captain America already present within the 98-pound-weakling that he was. It's an obvious idea really, but wonderfully effective nonetheless.

And yeah, you hit upon a very, very important point: there needs to be both. It drives me crazy when people start to argue who's better: Superman or Batman. They're two sides of the same coin, each fulfilling aspects that the other simply cannot! It's a shame more readers--and even more writers--don't understand this, and instead always favor Batman because he's grim and angry and "more human." Shit, I've always found Superman more humane than Batman.

[american-arcane.livejournal.com]

Aside from his origin, there are two wonderfully defining moments in my Captain American reading experience that completely nailed the character to the top of my list. The first is when he chose to turn in the Captain America identity rather than simply serve as the mouthpiece of the U.S. Government. The second was when, after having the Super Soldier serum removed from his system (due to it bonding with other drugs he'd been dosed with), he chose to keep being Captain America, even though there was nothing helping to enhance his abilities (so now he'd actually have to work to keep up the upper-level human stats and stuff).

Those moments of sacrifice, where decisions actually matter to the character's life, tend to stand out much more in the solid "good guy" characters than they do in the "dark and gritty" ones. Yeah, Batman and Wolverine have people and things they care about, but we don't expect them to seriously jeopardize themselves or their mission to protect those things. For them, the moments to watch for are when they do break for puppies or whatnot.

Humans are complex critters. We're also horribly inconsistent when it comes to our behavior. Everything is situational and modified by habits and instincts. We don't think things through more than half the time. The characters who lean heavily in one direction stir up that bit of envy in us... that "Gee, I wish I could be sure I'd do that" feeling.

The dark and gritty ones, though, also bring up the "Wow, I wish I could get away with that" feeling. Which, really, makes them more fun to the average person who feels trapped in any number of things. What most people don't realize is that both types of characters are equally trapped--constrained by their own normal bits of behavior... and the ones on the "pure good" side of things have a lot more to lose than the anti-hero does.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

he's just kind of sweet and charming and *good.* And he's faintly goofy as Clark Kent, which really works for him....

The more I think about this, the more I like it. It's really true! And he's (ideally, in the right writer's hands) all those things without being cheesy or saccharine. When he's done right, Superman can melt even the hardest cynic's heart with his genuine goodness and capacity to inspire change in others.