All-Star Superman (2005-2008, Morrison/Quitely)

A comic character with a 70 year history is bound to lose some appeal after nearly every story imaginable about him has been told set in every possible situation. All-Star Superman understands this and does something no other comic book about Superman has ever done, make the hero and his stories incredible beyond belief. To cite an example, in the very second issue, after Superman has finally revealed to Lois Lane that he really is Clark Kent in disguise (and she refuses to believe him), he takes her to the fortress of solitude, picks up the key lying outside the door and walks in. When asked how he could just leave the key outside, he mentions that its made out of "super dense dwarf star material" and weighs half a ton. The issue goes on and on with original, dare I say extremely ingenious ways to make superman look out worldly and full of awe – the space 'flowers' he picked for Lois from Alpha Centauri, a baby sun eater as a pet who eats miniature pieces of the sun, many other references to the superman mythology take make their presence felt during the course of the 12 issue run.

By now, the limited series, which began as a re-imagining of the classic superman who left Kent farm as an adult to work in bustling Metropolis, never revealed his identity to Lois and never met a Doomsday who nearly killed him, has become one of the most accomplished and acclaimed graphic novels of all time. This reputation is well deserved. In the short time that I've owned the complete series, I've read it twice already and I still can't believe how packed with originality it is. The way Lex Luthor, a character already established in DC lore by way of our familiarity with him, devises a way to kill Superman - by enhancing his cellular growth during a battle at the heart of the sun, so that Superman not only becomes more powerful, but also too strong for his natural bodily state to handle, triggering a collapse of his life systems. Or even the single issue (number eight) where Superman meets Bizzaro (an imperfect Superman clone from the Underverse) on planet Htrae (Earth spelled backwards...) and finds out that one in 5 million Bizarro's is flawed and therefore a perfect replica of Superman called Zibarro, with a father called El-Jor. It's enough to make your head dizzy with both excitement and just trying to keep up with the multitude of idea after idea after idea thrown at you as a reader. When, in this same issue, Superman calls upon the Injustice League of the Bizzaro world for help and meets a version of Flash who is so slow, his voice doesn't even reach Superman till after Flash has passed him in person, he learns that the Bizzaro world Batman was never born because his parents shot him as a child. I could go on and on citing how brilliant just this one single issue is.

What would compel anyone though to pick up the limited series? What initially appealed to me was the art. Frank Quitely is known for his sprawling minimalism and here his work is outstanding. I've seen his work on New X-men before, but it was never this sublime. It is so in tune with the writing that the synergy between him and writer Grant Morrison (more on him later) is one of the best I've ever, ever seen between a penciller and an author (and believe me, I've read a LOT of comics to know about this!). Reading the book a second time, there were numerous graphical cues that I picked which I hadn't noticed the first time, much the way you would while watching a good, layered movie. Adding to the appeal is the fact that this is a story written as if it were a continuation of the classic superman, not the modern day equivalent, but this isn't an elseworld tale nor a complete re-imagination, of which there are far too many. It feels modern with its references, its verbiage, its meticulousness. The crux of the story deals with the fact that Superman may finally have met his match and may now be dying. There may be a way for him to save his life, but if all else fails, he needs to come up with an alternative way to keep the people of his beloved Earth safe if he is to no longer be with them.

Writer Grant Morrison has always been considered one of the best writers of what is now referred to as the British new wave of comics, along with Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Neil Gaiman etc. He did wonders with JLA in the 90's, a title no one was able to revive because of how daunting it was to make a superteam consisting of all the DC greats and also with the acclaimed run on Batman Arkham Asylum (which is a complete letdown of a book). Here his writing and the intelligence he brings to the story is impeccable. It reads like a breeze, yet there is so much to absorb. The best thing about the book is how each issue of the 12 part series can be considered and read as stand alone. There are plot turns that I've already mentioned, such as Bizzaro's attack (the single best issue of the series) and the one where Lois visits the fortress of solitude, but also one where Clark visits Lex in prison to interview him before his impending execution, or another where Jimmy Olson becomes the director of a government funded scientific initiative called P.R.O.J.E.C.T. and has to fight Superman as Doomsday or even the head spinner where Superman is visited by 3 versions of himself from the future!. Yet, all of these books are connected in subtle ways and end in an almost perfect manner. I could go on and on and on about how brilliant this book is but if I cannot convince you then just look up the praise showered on it by Time, Variety or any other major publication. This book is a classic, it is a must read and an absolutely delight from start to finish.

Rating: 5/5 (and more if I could)....