What's your favorite (or least favorite) origin story?
Having recently read [I]Birthright [/I]for the first time and having finished Morrison's run on [I]Action Comics[/I], I was thinking about how many origin/"Year One" style stories there are for the Man of Tomorrow. I wondered what people's thoughts were on those different origins. I haven't read all of them ([I]Man of Steel[/I], [I]Secret Origin[/I], etc.) but of the ones I have:
- It's been a while since I've read [I]All-Star[/I], but famous condensation of the origin is rightly famous. Not much more to add.
- [I]Birthright[/I], imo, is probably my favorite of the ones I've read. It's comprehensive, has a good character arc for Clark, and has some interesting ideas of its own (vegetarian Superman, Martha as a UFO enthusiast).
- Morrison's [I]Action Comics[/I] isn't completely an origin, but reworking Golden Age sensibilities in a modern context is definitely an interesting idea; if nothing else the T shirt and jeans look is pretty great.
- [I]American Alien[/I], if you can stomach talking about it given its author, is definitely an alternative take and has some sharp deviations from more traditional versions, like the proto-Superman suit being inspired by Batman. I think it works as its own thing but I don't know how good it would be if Landis got to do his whole "Kryptonian epic" thing.