Rating:  -
I'm not really a hardcore superman fan nor do I really write reviews unless its completely awesome or disgustingly awful. This one is the latter. I am a plot driven fan and this one doesn't really have one. The dialog and character interaction is so cheesy that I'm surprised that I didn't see a Kraft advertisement anywhere in the book. The more I read through the pages, the more I got disappointed. Almost zero character development. What I did like about the book is the use of color for each panel and the way they wrote superman on the cover. Other than that, it sucked. If all star Superman is suppose to be a new line that allows for redefinition of the story, they're doing a really awful job at the moment.
Rating:  -
Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely are like a superhero team themselves. Add in their amazing inker and colorist Jamie Grant and you have real life all stars.
First off, the show is stolen by an empowered Lois Lane, a colorful and adventurous Jimmy Olsen, and a Lex Luthor that gives history's greatest evil masterminds a run for their money. Quitely's quirky art is top notch and I can't say enough about the colors. The vibrant colors are fantastic and they need to be in a world where "rainbow coats" are the fashion.
Morrison writes great dialogue and Jimmy Olsen and Lex Luthor get the best lines. However, Superman's story is interesting as well. The man of steel is coming to grips with the fact that he is going to be dead a lot sooner that he imagined. His relationships with Lane, Olsen, and Luthor in his final days are rather fun.
It's a great spin on Superman in this odd, futuristic Metropolis. Even casual fans of Superman like me well get a great read.
Rating:  -
Being more of a Batman fan than Superman, I had initially read Morrison's Bat stuff first. I wasn't overly impressed with it but thought I'd see how he handled Supes, and to my delight, I found his style was very well suited for big blue. It's a fresh approach to the character with a storyline all it's own.
Morrison isn't rewritting the character's history or anything, he's just telling it free from the shackles of current continuity. Because it's self contained, it gives Morrison creative liscense to do pretty much whatever he wants. But all the characters remain true to their roots.
My favorite issues involved Luthor in prison (not the president here, just a criminal mastermind), with Clark there to interview him. There's also a Jimmy-centric story that turned out to be better than expected. Also my favorite would probably have to be the tragic story of Clark losing his dad. It's got a great ending that you won't see coming. My least favorite was Lois with Superman's powers for a day. I don't care how it's pulled off, the concept is still cheesy.
Never read anything Frank Quitely had worked on before, a frequent Morrison collaborator, but looking at his older artwork from JLA Earth 2 and what he's done here I can definitely see the improvement, especially when it comes to drawing women attractively. His Wonder Woman from before looks like a dude in a wig but in these pages Lois is quite fetching.
A good start to what has been awarded the Eisner for best new series and after reading on past this book, I can see that the quality hasn't diminished yet. This book made a fan out of me.
Rating: -
This book was a total surprise for me, reading the reviews I thought it might be too naïve, too smarmy. And... it is, Superman is portrayed as a simple, shy, innocent man, almost too innocent for the dangers that surround him. But, on the other hand, the guy is amidst the most difficult moment of his live, time is running out on him and still he lives for others, with almost no regard for himself, even posed in front of the man responsible for his ordeal, alienated Lex Luthor, he seeks no revenge but is driven to rage when seeing such a genius waste his vast intellect in an ego trip, while, at the same time, saving his life. In this great book, Superman is shown as a simple but powerful and selfless hero, exactly how he should be. This is a moving, deep and thought-provoking read disguised as a comic book. Give yourself the chance to be mesmerized.
Rating:  -
Read Morrison's "All-Star Superman" today, and it just doesn't work for me. It's yet another reinvention of the Man of Steel, but like Bryan Singer's dismall 'Superman Returns' remake, this Superman just doesn't feel right. The stories all seem hurried and undeveloped, and after all of these messy mini-stories, the book still leaves you with Superman and his unresolved terminal illness. How about some resolution Grant?
Frank Quitely offers some exceptional artwork, however, and his artwork, combined with excellent color work, really stands out. I just wish there was a little more substance to this book, but it was just page after page of retelling of the same old establish framework.
Also, for the casual reader, who doesn't pour over Wizard each month, it would help if there was a little background established at the beginnning of this trade paperback. So this is a tabula rasa Superman, apparently? He isn't married to Lois anymore? And Luther is just another villian, and not president? Having these details established at the beginning, you know, something like "We're hosing the established continuity AGAIN and starting over" would help. And, for what it's worth, John Byrne did a much better job of the reinvention.
All-Star Superman was passable but nothing spectacular. And as a side-note, I was somewhat taken aback by the comment made on page 67, as "Samson", offering time traveling adventures to Lois, glibly makes the comment that they could travel through time and "end the evening with drinks at the crucifixion." Give me a break. Talk about a low-taste, bigoted remark. So much for Christians reading this book: let's just take a stab at your faith. Imagine if Morrison had written "end the evening with drinks at ground zero on 9/11". Would Morrison have found that humorous too? For DC comics, I guess there's nothing wrong with making a casual jab at the expense of the death of Jesus Christ.
|
