a question about Superman back issues.

[babyblob]

I wanted to start reading Superman as I am a fan of him. I wanted to start new but I am confused by the new 52 rebirth and all that. Then I thought what about back issues? There are hundreds of back issues I can read and enjoy. I decided to start with issues 253 as that starts a price point I can afford. My question is are there any issues I should look out for? Any story lines that are must have? I have read the Death and Return of Superman already. Thanks for the advice.

[Kuwagaton]

When you say 253, do you mean the Superman issue from the mid seventies? I'm kind of a fanatic when it comes to collecting single issues, but if you just mean must have stories in general please refer to the sticky at the top of the forum.

[qwertyuiop1998]

just my personally advise:first,you should read superman man of steel TPB(1-9),and then read superman exile/other stories.because it is a reboot story include about post-crisis superman in byrne era most fameous story(like superman kills zod) and superman's origin(also some villains backstory also been reboot)

[babyblob]

When you say 253, do you mean the Superman issue from the mid seventies? I'm kind of a fanatic when it comes to collecting single issues, but if you just mean must have stories in general please refer to the sticky at the top of the forum.

Yes I mean the Superman issue from the Mid Seventies.

[Jim Kelly]

When I saw SUPERMAN 253, I thought that would be expensive--but looking at the prices, it turns out not. Which is sad for me--since it means my copies haven't risen in price--but great for anyone wanting to read the 1970s comics. Ordinarily, you don't need to know too much to read an issue from that period. But 253 happens to be continued in 254 (and wrapped up in 259).

The only thing you really need to know is that Clark is now working at WGBS, which is owned by Morgan Edge (who also owns the Daily Planet) and all the Kryptonite on Earth is turned to iron. More green K ends up on Earth later.

[Kuwagaton]

Oh, right on. Welcome.

The eponymous series is often considered the main series, since having his name in the cover and the lower issue number makes it easier to follow (probably amongst other things) they tend to put the bigger stories in it. Hopefully this isn't confusing: in 1987 Superman was retitled Adventures of Superman to keep the publication going, while a new book called Superman came out with a #1 to draw attention as the main title. So the original Superman #423 was followed by Adventures #424. Along with Action, they added a fourth book in 1991. When the line downsized in 2006, Superman spent the next five years with its original numbering (650-713) before the next major relaunch.

New 52 began new numbering and stories for Action Comics and Superman, later adding another two titles for teaming up with Batman and Wonder Woman separately. This Superman was technically a different character, all new, but after some decline in performance they brought back the older Superman in yet another relaunch. The biweekly Superman title resulted from this and ran 45 issues. So now we're on the fifth volume of Superman, issue 7 at a monthly pace.

Sticking to the issues of the eponymous title to make things simple, here's my list of recommendations. I've bolded the "significant" stories.

Superman volume 1
253-255, 257, 259,260, 263, 264, 265-268, 271, 276, 279-283, 286, 287, 292-302


.... And I can be back later and help others lay out the rest of pre crisis, some of the standalone and core post crisis, and beyond. Two unfortunate things: many people who sell this chunk of comics don't really know them, they kust charge a lot based on how old they look. So with some shopping around although these will be some of the priciest by far, it may not be bad. The second problem though is that the New 52 Superman takes a huge dive downward in quality when written outside of Morrison's year and a half om Action Comics.