I was old school Superman. In my closet I have hundreds of Superman comics. I saw the first 2 Superman movies in theaters. I was there for the Death of Superman and even the All New 52, which rebooted all of the DC titles. However, shortly after the All New 52 I gave up on Superman.
All of the stories were the same and that darn Lex Luthor kept appearing. Really, another story line with Lex?
I state all of that because Superman: Earth One Volume Two really IS refreshing. It’s an origin story of sorts and is the follow up to Superman: Earth One by J. Michael Straczynski. In Earth One Superman is a more relaxed super hero that has more of the day to day worries and personal interactions that real people have.
A Superman story where Clark Kent is having a date with a buxom redhead? He’s talking about his virginity? Is not interested in Lois Lane? Has people dying of a drug overdose around him?
Having said that, this is still a story that’s good for most ages, it’s not like Superman has gone all erotica or blue on us. But this is as much of a story about Clark Kent as it is about Superman. The people at The Daily Planet are still trying to figure him out, Clark’s personal life is taking shape and he’s dealing with the rigors of living in the big city.
Of course at the end of the day he’s still Superman and there are some nice battle scenes between him and an energy sucking monster. This book isn’t about the villain though, it’s about Superman and how he relates, in a more real sense to the world. The villain puts up a good fight, but is dispatched about 75% through the book.
Bottom line
They say that modeling of this incarnation of Superman will be a jumping off point for the soon to be released movie. That would be a good, fresh start for the character. Superman: Earth One, Volume Two proves that there’s still some creative, fun life to the man in tights after all.
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Hey Mojo. Great post. I read a rant on another dad’s blog about the poster for the upcoming Man of Steel was outright blasphemy. Not sure if I’d go that far. Seems like you enjoy the same stuff I do, and enjoy for the sake of enjoying. I’ve not seen anything ruined, like the quick decline in the Alien franchise. I remember reading The Death and Life of Superman by Roger Stern, back around ’95. I read all 415 pages in a single night if I remember correctly. I was CRAZY into it.
Thanks for the memories.
Big thanks. We too got sucked into the ‘Death’ line when it came out. If you liked that you should also read Maximum Carnage with Spider Man or Knightfall with Batman, two stories that are really fabulous.