All-Star Superman

AUTHOR: Morrison, Grant

ARTIST: Frank Quitely (pseudonym of Vincent Deighan; illustrator); Jamie Grant (colorist and inker); Phil Balsman (letterer); Travis Lanham (letterer)

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 2005-2008

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2007, 2009

Publication History

All-Star Superman was conceived by Grant Morrison as a way to revitalize and to simplify DC Comics’ oldest and most renowned superhero. Morrison was already a popular author for both Marvel Comics and DC Comics, part of the “British wave” of writers, which included Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore, who made a collective splash in American comics starting in the 1980’s. For DC, Morrison had already revitalized such minor characters as Animal Man and Doom Patrol before reviving the moribund Justice League of America. He also created and wrote the acclaimed series The Invisibles, a mature comic book for DC’s Vertigo imprint.

All-Star Superman was originally published as a twelve-issue, ongoing comic by DC Comics as part of its All-Star project. For that imprint, DC hired the finest writers and artists to reconstruct its most iconic heroes, by eliminating considerable baggage that had accumulated in those heroes’ various comics over many decades of publication, and give those creators free rein to tell out-of-continuity stories. The intent was for readers who were unfamiliar with the heroes’ entire history, or perhaps those who had never read them at all, to appreciate them as much as long-established readers of Superman had.

The series was later collected in two volumes by DC Comics in 2007 and 2009. A one-volume compilation, entitled Absolute All-Star Superman, was published in 2010.

Plot

The series begins with Superman rescuing Earth from an attempt by Lex Luthor to implant a high-powered nuclear bomb in the sun, which would have dire effects on the planet. In doing so, Superman enters the outskirts of the sun itself. Since Superman was born on a planet under a red sun, many of his powers come from exposure to the yellow sun. He experiences two side effects as the result of such close contact: his superpowers have increased at least threefold, but also that his exposure to such high levels of solar radiation is slowly killing him.

Superman decides to temporarily keep the latter information private, and he immediately pursues his relationship with Lois Lane before he dies, a relationship that he had shunned previously out of fear for Lois’s life at the hands of his enemies. He brings Lois to his Fortress of Solitude for a private dinner and a birthday gift of artificial Superman-like powers, which she will possess for only twenty-four hours. During this episode, hindrances to their relationship become apparent—Lois is intimidated by Superman, and she is insecure being in his fortress alone with him.

Immediately upon their return to Metropolis, Superman and Lois encounter a series of emergencies that require Superman’s help. First is an invasion of subterranean reptiles. Their attempts to overcome the reptiles are hindered by Samson and Atlas, two strongmen who are also attracted to Lois Lane and who encourage a competition with Superman for her affection. Samson is a time traveler who tells Superman that he (Superman) will be remembered by future generations for successfully handling twelve legendary challenges before he dies. These challenges provide the structure for the remaining chapters in the series.

Although All-Star Superman was designed in part to streamline the Superman legend, Morrison still introduces many of the familiar characters who had become part of the Superman mythology over the previous seven decades. Within the series, Superman shares an adventure with his pal Jimmy Olsen; spends time at his childhood home with his adoptive parents Jonathan and Martha Kent, and attends his father’s funeral after his sudden heart attack; visits with his superdog Krypto, who returns from his frequent travels in space; becomes trapped on the Bizarro world, a square planet filled with beings who are the opposite of their counterparts on Earth; and finally frees the miniaturized inhabitants of Kandor, the last surviving city from his home planet of Krypton. Throughout the story, Superman performs the twelve heroic feats that had been predicted by Samson: saving the manned mission to the sun, brewing an elixir that gives Lois Lane temporary superpowers, answering the Ultrasphinx’s “unanswerable” question, chaining the Chronovore, saving Earth from the inhabitants of the Bizarro world, returning alive from the Ultraverse, creating life, freeing the inhabitants of Kandor, defeating Solaris, conquering death, building an artificial heart for the sun, and inventing a formula to create a second Superman.

Volumes

•All-Star Superman, Volume 1 (2007). Collects issues 1-6, in which Superman first learns of his impending death and strives to cope with it by solidifying his relationship with Lois Lane.

•All-Star Superman, Volume 2 (2009). Collects issues 7-12, featuring Superman’s last legendary challenges, his final encounter with his nemesis Lex Luthor, and his inevitable death.

•Absolute All-Star Superman (2010). Collects issues 1-12.

Characters

•Superman (original name, Kal-El; secret identity, Clark Kent) was born on the planet Krypton but was sent to Earth by his parents shortly before Krypton exploded. Because of Earth’s lower gravity and yellow sun, Superman has superpowers such as invulnerability, the ability to fly, super strength, and X-ray vision. He devotes his life to fighting crime and saving people from disasters on his adopted planet.

•Lois Lane is the ace reporter for The Daily Planet, where Superman works in the guise of Clark Kent. Lois is in love with Superman, who has mixed feelings toward her, being fearful that his enemies might attack her to get at him.

•Lex Luthor is an unstable genius who seeks to be the most powerful person on Earth. He hates Superman intensely for having usurped that position. He regularly devises schemes to kill Superman. As many of the schemes fail, Luthor spends considerable time in prison.

•Jimmy Olsen is a junior reporter and photographer for The Daily Planet. A naïve young man, he is one of Superman’s only friends. Because Olsen’s public image as a friend of Superman might cause Superman’s numerous enemies to strike at him, Superman gave him a “signal watch” that summons Superman in an emergency.

•Dr. Leo Quintum is Superman’s confidant and serves as his sounding board. He examines Superman after his return from the sun and determines that he is dying. Ultimately, he holds the secret for the formula that can create another Superman.

•The Superman Squad is a group of superpowered supermen from future eras who time travel to Superman’s era to help him in his battle with the Chronovore as part of their mission to protect space-time.

•Bizarro is a strange opposite of Superman. Bizarro’s thought processes are backward from those of normal humans, as everything he says and does is the reverse of the truth. While his actions often seem evil, he actually believes he is doing good. When Superman is trapped on the Bizzaro world, he must speak in reverse logic in order to elicit Bizarro’s help.

•Bar-El and Lilo, were Krypton’s first astronauts. The couple survived the planet’s destruction as they were in space when the planet exploded. They consider all humans inferior and think Superman is a failure for mourning the destruction of Krypton. They are determined to make Krypton’s culture live again. Like Superman, they possess superpowers. While Superman was trapped on the Bizarro world, Bar-El and Lilo take over the Fortress of Solitude. When he returns to Earth, weakened by his exposure to solar radiation, they use his weakness to their advantage and hurl him at the moon, which breaks in two from the impact. Later, Superman shows compassion toward the two when he saves them and places them in the Phantom Zone.

Artistic Style

Many artists have contributed to the Superman continuity since the character was first introduced in 1938, each bringing his or her own personal style to it. During the 1970’s, DC Comics made a deliberate effort to raise its literary standards by emphasizing characterization and thematic plots, which had been a successful approach for Marvel Comics the previous decade. This affected the art as well, which was heavily influenced by Neal Adams’s style, in which the main characters were more realistic. The background of the frames became nearly as important as the foreground. Since All-Star Superman was partly an attempt to simplify the Superman legend, artist Frank Quitely opted to simplify the art as well. His work recalls the Superman artists of the 1950’s, such as Curt Swan and Wayne Boring, who emphasized the action in the panel foregrounds (the backgrounds were considerably less important). In All-Star Superman, the panel backgrounds are often blank or are filled with complementary colors so that the figures in the foreground stand out. At times, the foreground is brightly colored while the background is darker by contrast. Overall, the panels are considerably less crowded than had become the norm, with an open, vibrant feel to them.

The characters are drawn in the traditional, simple, comic style reminiscent of the 1950’s and 1960’s versions. While Superman is square-jawed and an imposing figure, he is never particularly detailed or well-muscled. His hair has the recognizable curl over his forehead and is combed in a more traditional style when he is disguised as Clark Kent.

The series chronicles the heroic feats and eventual death of Superman, and as the series progresses, Quitely shows Superman’s physical deterioration. His features become less clearly defined, which gives him a slightly unkempt appearance, and facial markings mar the clean features that defined Superman earlier in the series.

Captions and splash panels have become common techniques in graphic storytelling. However, Morrison and Quitely avoid virtually all captions, opting instead to tell their story exclusively through pictures and cartoon balloons. This simplification, along with the less cluttered panels, speeds up the pacing of the story while adding to an open, free-flowing feel.

Quitely first drew the panels in blue line, then used graphic pencils on top of that to achieve his desired line thickness. Inker Jamie Grant scanned the panels into Photoshop, which he used for the inking. This method enabled Grant to maintain the correct thickness throughout, which is sometimes lost in the manual inking process.

Themes

According to author Morrison, there are several themes flowing through All-Star Superman. Perhaps the most dominant is Superman’s optimistic outlook for the goodness and future of humanity, in spite of his own impending death. Morrison intended for Superman to be a Christlike figure in a way that was subtle and without religious undertones. Similar to Christ, Superman was sent to Earth by his father and uses his talents to try to save humanity from its own weaknesses. Morrison deliberately removes all traces of doubt and dark thoughts from Superman, which had become a popular trend, so that Superman’s only concern is for the good of others.

This leads to another important theme (and another similarity between Superman and Christ)—the tendency to “turn the other cheek.” No matter how cruel another person might be in the series, Superman never descends to a spiteful level, always showing respect and kindness to everybody he meets. This is most apparent in a scene involving Steve Lombard, an egotistical Daily Planet employee who constantly degrades Superman in front of other employees, including Clark Kent. When Superman encounters Lombard, he treats him with humility. In another demonstration of Superman’s benevolence, he shows respect to Lex Luthor, when, as Clark Kent, he interviews Luthor in prison, even though he knows Luthor is responsible for his impending death.

Another theme, which initially seems almost contradictory, is Morrison’s attempt to show that Superman is not “above” or “better than” humans but is, rather, a traditional everyman—a representative man rather than the ideal man. This is evident in Superman’s upbringing, as he was raised as Clark Kent, an average man with no spectacular talents. Kent’s clumsiness—a common aspect of his personality for many decades—is a frequent reminder of his humanity. Bar-El and Lilo recognize Superman’s humanity, which perhaps prompts their frustration with humans and Superman, who has embraced his adopted planet and its culture. Superman is not intended to be just a Christlike figure saving humanity; he also represents the potential of all humans to save themselves.

Impact

The vast majority of DC Comics have a regular continuity, with events in each comic having an impact on others. Although its All-Star line of comics was a deliberate departure from this tradition, intended to be outside DC’s regular continuity, the change is part of a continuing trend in that direction. Two of its influences were Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Moore’s Watchmen, both of which sought to create more realistic views of superheroes. Writers like Morrison, Moore, and Miller are all often concerned with treating their characters as people rather than as icons encumbered by all the trappings that have accumulated in the works of numerous writers and artists over the years.

An immediate influence on All-Star Superman is DC’s One Million, a crossover event that featured many of the company’s superheroes and villains. It was designed by Morrison in 1998 and showed the descendants of DC’s twentieth- and twenty-first-century heroes. Some critics have surmised that All-Star Superman was written as a prequel to One Million, which Morrison neither affirms nor denies.

All-Star Superman was an immediate critical and popular success; its most notable impact on comics was demonstrating that allowing writers and artists to alter the basic framework of even iconic characters did not alienate either longtime or new readers. In a similar vein, Morrison and Quitely later worked together on a new continuing series, Batman and Robin, which was not intended to mimic All-Star Superman, but took a similar approach in its willingness to discard much of the traditional baggage that had accumulated in previous Batman story lines.

Films

All-Star Superman. Directed by Sam Liu. DC Entertainment/Warner Bros. Animation, 2011. This direct-to-DVD animated film is based directly on Morrison and Quitely’s comic series.

Television Series

Smallville. Developed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. Warner Bros., 2001-2011. At the beginning, this series focused on Clark Kent as a high school student before he became Superman. In later seasons, the show shifted to Kent’s adult life.

Further Reading

Bendis, Brian Michael, and Mark Bagley. Ultimate Spider-Man (2002-2010).

Millar, Mike, and Brian Michael Bendis. Ultimate X-Men (2006-2010).

Miller, Frank, and Jim Lee. All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder (2009).

Morrison, Grant, Andy Clarke, and Cameron Stewart. Batman and Robin, Volume 2: Batman and Robin (2010).

Morrison, Grant, Frank Quitely, and Phillip Tan. Batman and Robin, Volume 1: Batman Reborn (2010).

Bibliography

Klaehn, Jeffrey. “Grant Morrison, Batman, and the Superhero Genre.” Publishers Weekly, January 13, 2009.