All-Star Superman Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

This is being collected in one TPB in a few months.
 
Yes, there is a thread and as for whether or not it finished...I'm curious as to the status of the book as well because as far as I know it was never formally cancelled, and Jim Lee has definitely moved on to different things.
 
Just read the whole series on my iPad b/c the whole series was on sale.

I think I just don't really get Morrison. I think he came up with a really cool idea: what If Luthor won and Superman was dying but only he and Supes knew? What would they do? But then there wasn't really a story, just a bunch of bizarre happenings that were tied together with threads from the overarching plot. Which is okay, I guess, or it would have been if i ever knew what was going on. Maybe I just don't know enough about Superman to know what the underverse was or to understand why Superman travelled back in time with other Supermen from to future to fight a time-eating monster with his younger self. Or maybe I don't need to know that stuff and just don't enjoy Morrison's gift for the bizzare. Or maybe I'm just not a Superman guy.

I liked how Clark was constantly saving people through his clumsiness. I liked that Lois didn't believe that Clark was Superman. And I liked the concept of it. But besides that I feel like I wasted $12 and an hour-and-a-half of my life.

My favourite Superman story is still Birthright.
 
Captain Canuck said:
Just read the whole series on my iPad b/c the whole series was on sale.

I think I just don't really get Morrison. I think he came up with a really cool idea: what If Luthor won and Superman was dying but only he and Supes knew? What would they do? But then there wasn't really a story, just a bunch of bizarre happenings that were tied together with threads from the overarching plot. Which is okay, I guess, or it would have been if i ever knew what was going on. Maybe I just don't know enough about Superman to know what the underverse was or to understand why Superman travelled back in time with other Supermen from to future to fight a time-eating monster with his younger self. Or maybe I don't need to know that stuff and just don't enjoy Morrison's gift for the bizzare. Or maybe I'm just not a Superman guy.

I liked how Clark was constantly saving people through his clumsiness. I liked that Lois didn't believe that Clark was Superman. And I liked the concept of it. But besides that I feel like I wasted $12 and an hour-and-a-half of my life.

My favourite Superman story is still Birthright.
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Well, you like Dan Slott's Amazing Spider-Man, sooo...

:-D

All-Star is one of the simplest big stories I've ever read, so I'm a little surprised to see someone say it was confusing. I'm comparing it especially to Morrison's Batman and Seven Soldiers...those are pretty complex and complicated. I always thought the story progressed perfectly, and addressed pretty much every facet of the character of Superman in a series of 12 individual stories.

And I knew next to nothing going into it as well. I've never even read Birthright. The only real complete Superman story I think I'd read going into this was Death and Return.

I do agree about the "clumsiness" of Clark. That is such an entertaining feature of the character and it was done so well that I would enjoy Superman a lot more if other writers could use that trait better.

Sorry you didn't like it. It's one of those things that I always thought was so well done that no one could possibly not like it. But obviously everyone has stories they believe that about.
 
Yeah, I hate it when everyone else likes something and I don't. I feel like I missing something.

But it's probably just Grant Morrison. I don't love his writing ever. I was okay with his run on New X-Men b/c it was a pivotal story for the X-Men and has really redefined what X-Men is about. I didn't like his run on Batman as much as it just blew my mind when I was finished. The way EVERYTHING came together was ridiculous. Final Crisis was completely unenjoyable, his run on Flash in the 90s was okay, and I never read 7 Soldiers.

I don't like the way he tells stories. All his stuff is always weird and I usually feel like there are pages missing explaining stuff that he assumes I was able to follow or understand without it being spelled out.

And I never said that Slott's run on ASM was the pinnacle of comic writing, just that it was fun. :) (until recently...)

Slott has dumb ideas and makes them fun, Morrison has amazing ideas, but doesn't write them in a way that I find enjoyable.
 
I can't understand thinking you wasted $12 on All Star Superman. $12 for one of the greatest comics ever made is a bargain. There's not much better.
 
Captain Canuck said:
Slott has dumb ideas and makes them fun, Morrison has amazing ideas, but doesn't write them in a way that I find enjoyable.
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I guess it doesn't make sense to recommend this if you just flat out didn't like it, but I've never read a Grant Morrison story that didn't require MULTIPLE read-throughs in order to not only get it but really appreciate it. All-Star Superman might be the exception because it's not as intricate as Batman, New-X-Men, or Seven Soldiers, but there are still tons of little things to pick back up on in subsequent rereads.

I bought the first volume of Seven Soldiers just after it came out and ended up returning it to the bookstore. It did absolutely nothing for me. Something (I can't remember exactly what) made me think I needed to give it another chance so I bought it again months later and it just clicked. The Barbolith annotations really sold it for me as well. It ended up being one of my all time favorite stories.

If you don't like him you don't like him, but I bought the whole series during a 99 cent sale a while back and was thrilled that I was able to get it for that price. I have all of the issues and the BEAUTIFUL Absolute edition as well. The All Star version of Superman might be my favorite comic character. I never liked Superman because I always thought the premise was ridiculous and it was too easy to make him win. All Star turned all of that upside down in the most charming way possible.
 
ProjectX2 said:
$12 for one of the greatest comics ever made is a bargain.
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Well of course, but in my opinion this isn't that comic. But I'm comfortable being in the minority. I couldn't even get through Watchmen (although for very different reasons.)

E said:
I guess it doesn't make sense to recommend this if you just flat out didn't like it, but I've never read a Grant Morrison story that didn't require MULTIPLE read-throughs in order to not only get it but really appreciate it. All-Star Superman might be the exception because it's not as intricate as Batman, New-X-Men, or Seven Soldiers, but there are still tons of little things to pick back up on in subsequent rereads.
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Yeah, I know that's true about his stuff. Maybe I'll give it another try at some point.
 
I finally re-read All-Star Superman. This time I read it with an eye to the character of Superman: who he is, how he cares about people (which I have been told is the highlight of the series). I liked it better than I did the first time I read it a few years back, but it still doesn't do much for me. Morrison is just too bizzare for my tastes.

Also, I'm not sure I understood the ending... Superman is not really dead, but rainbow coat guy is working on cloning him? Is that right? Why is he not dead? Because of that confusing scene with Jor-El?
 
Captain Canuck said:
I finally re-read All-Star Superman. This time I read it with an eye to the character of Superman: who he is, how he cares about people (which I have been told is the highlight of the series). I liked it better than I did the first time I read it a few years back, but it still doesn't do much for me. Morrison is just too bizzare for my tastes.

Also, I'm not sure I understood the ending... Superman is not really dead, but rainbow coat guy is working on cloning him? Is that right? Why is he not dead? Because of that confusing scene with Jor-El?
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I always thought that it didn't really mean anything other than that he can't die, and this is what he is now.
 
The biggest problem with Grant Morrison is to FULLY understand it you need to read everything. All Star Superman ties HEAVILY into DC One Million and at the end of All Star he goes into the sun for a million years and pops out as the Golden Superman we see in DC One Million and in the issue with all the Supermen. Project 2 is Superman Secundus, etc. Morrison has an over arching continuity with his own works, just like Hickman did at Marvel. That's why Final Crisis was so poorly received, you need to read not only Batman, but Seven Soldiers as well as have extensive knowledge of the DC universe as a whole.
 
wyokid said:
The biggest problem with Grant Morrison is to FULLY understand it you need to read everything. All Star Superman ties HEAVILY into DC One Million and at the end of All Star he goes into the sun for a million years and pops out as the Golden Superman we see in DC One Million and in the issue with all the Supermen. Project 2 is Superman Secundus, etc. Morrison has an over arching continuity with his own works, just like Hickman did at Marvel. That's why Final Crisis was so poorly received, you need to read not only Batman, but Seven Soldiers as well as have extensive knowledge of the DC universe as a whole.
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Normally I agree with this - it was certainly true with his Batman and Seven Soldiers runs - but I don't think that's the case with All Star Superman. I think you can read the main story and not that other stuff.

I didn't and I fully understood All Star and loved it.
 
E said:
Normally I agree with this - it was certainly true with his Batman and Seven Soldiers runs - but I don't think that's the case with All Star Superman. I think you can read the main story and not that other stuff.

I didn't and I fully understood All Star and loved it.
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I agree, it's an outstanding story all on its own. The tie-ins make it better, sure, but they're not needed.
 
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