• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

What is the best Superman story arc?

Started by Fedoraman,

71 posts in this topic

Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

Posted
Posted

- 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?'

 

- All-Star Superman. I'm not much of a Grant Morrison fan, but this really was excellent, from beginning to end.

 

- I also enjoyed the recent Geoff Johns / Gary Frank 'Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes' and 'Brainiac' storylines in Action Comics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
thecollectron

thecollectron

Posted
Posted

I liked "Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?", Man of Steel #1-6, and Kingdom Come.

I grew up with Silver Age Superman comics and treasure everything from that era, but a particular story arc that I remember is the Virus-X tale that ran through Action #362-366. Pretty grim for S.A. books and I really wondered how Superman would survive it. I thought the Red K that the Bizarros threw at him in Action #365 would have something to do with it. I wasn't too far off.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Aman619

Aman619

Posted
Posted

I agree with the candidates mentioned. but, anyone else think its a bit sad that in 73 years there are only a small handful of truly great Superman stories? Maybe that true for all titles though. Which begs the larger question --- why do we love a medium of near total mediocre storytelling?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Claudio

Claudio

Posted
Posted
I agree with the candidates mentioned. but, anyone else think its a bit sad that in 73 years there are only a small handful of truly great Superman stories? Maybe that true for all titles though. Which begs the larger question --- why do we love a medium of near total mediocre storytelling?

Nostalgia. The stories were better when we read them as kids.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nocutename

nocutename

Posted
Posted
I agree with the candidates mentioned. but, anyone else think its a bit sad that in 73 years there are only a small handful of truly great Superman stories? Maybe that true for all titles though. Which begs the larger question --- why do we love a medium of near total mediocre storytelling?

 

Switch to Batman/Tec. Those titles were great in the 70's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lazyboy

Lazyboy

Posted
Posted
I agree with the candidates mentioned. but, anyone else think its a bit sad that in 73 years there are only a small handful of truly great Superman stories? Maybe that true for all titles though. Which begs the larger question --- why do we love a medium of near total mediocre storytelling?

 

This is why.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Comicopolis

Comicopolis

Posted
Posted
I agree with the candidates mentioned. but, anyone else think its a bit sad that in 73 years there are only a small handful of truly great Superman stories? Maybe that true for all titles though. Which begs the larger question --- why do we love a medium of near total mediocre storytelling?

 

This is why.

 

'Tis true.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PBU-migration

PBU-migration

Posted
Posted
I agree with the candidates mentioned. but, anyone else think its a bit sad that in 73 years there are only a small handful of truly great Superman stories?

 

Superman has always been lame (shrug) so it's expected, not sad.

 

Maybe that true for all titles though. Which begs the larger question --- why do we love a medium of near total mediocre storytelling?

 

Because people like Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, Mark Waid, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, Kurt Busiek, Geoff Johns, Peter David, etc, come along once and a while and make it all worth it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Davenport

Davenport

Posted
Posted
What is the best Superman story from any age?

 

Please include titles and issue numbers.

I'll toss in an arc that hasn't been mentioned. "Superman: Exile". Here's a list of the individual issues - CLICK

It's epic in scope, sort of a bizarre "hero's journey", and introduced both Mongul and Warworld to the DCU. Also collected in a tpb.

 

It's a re-read arc every so often and the type of tale that comes to mind when I think "Superman". (thumbs u Probably the antithesis of a Superman that just walks around town flippin' spit. :eyeroll:

 

519Y76F8EPL._bL160_.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JuliusSeizure

JuliusSeizure

Posted
Posted
I agree with the candidates mentioned. but, anyone else think its a bit sad that in 73 years there are only a small handful of truly great Superman stories? Maybe that true for all titles though. Which begs the larger question --- why do we love a medium of near total mediocre storytelling?

Nostalgia. The stories were better when we read them as kids.

 

This is definitely true. I also think Superman suffers from the fact that the character is so powerful and that a lot of the supporting cast/milieu are valuable corporate properties so it is difficult to do anything shocking with them.

 

I'm familiar with a lot of Superman stories from, say, the mid-60s through the mid-80s and I think the majority of them are quality, entertaining, well-told stories. There are few really "high highs", but few lows, too. I don't disagree that there are few "truly great" stories, but I think the titles were consistently good for a very long time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
40sJohn

40sJohn

Posted
Posted

Superman lame? Only if Truth, Justice and the American Way are lame! He is iconic.

 

:grin:

 

 

However, reading and thinking through this thread, I couldn't recall any multi issue story arcs that stood out, but then I couldn't with any major DC title. For some reason, I draw a blank. Guess it's more reflective of the publishing thoughts of DC vs. Marvel.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing