Does anyone else dislike All Star Superman?

[Blacksun]

funny that other fday I saw a complain that there's always batman and wonder woman on superman stories.

[manduck37]

Wasn't it Waid who wrote Tower of Babel?

Yeah, Waid wrote Tower of Babel.

I can see where someone wouldn't like All Star Superman. Particularly if you don't care for the Silver Age stuff. All Star is one of my personal favorite Superman stories. I enjoy the nod to the Silver Age and all the strange ideas Morrison played with. The scene with the girl about to commit suicide still gets me a little choked up.

Though Morrison isn't for everyone. There are plenty of his stories that I don't care for. Superman is one character that I always felt he understood. Though I do see your point about Superman's death not having as much of an emotional impact. I think that's because it's a very kind of "closed" story. We don't see the world mourn Superman or even really get a tearful good-bye. What we do get is an introspective Superman dealing with his last days and his legacy. The one big idea is that Superman is out of time, literally. So we don't get a chance to say good-bye or have an emotional response. It's deal with the problem and he's gone. What really resonated with me, emotionally, was Superman dealing with everyday people, like the girl on the ledge, or how Lex's perspective changes when he finally gets to see the world as Superman does. All Star is more about Superman's legacy than Superman himself. We get to see how that legacy impacts his world.

It does feel a little isolated in that we don't get other heroes' reactions. Though I'm not sure if Morrison had a limited number of issues to work with. The impact on the hero community would likely take up a lot of page space and we already saw it with Funeral for a Friend. Side note, I really liked Funeral for a Friend and the way it showed Superman's impact on the world.

Morrison is a very polarizing writer though. Some love him, some hate him, and some are a little of both. So if All Star didn't do it for you, don't worry about it. Different things resonate with different people. Not liking Morrison or A-SS isn't a crime.

I will agree with you about the art. I'm not a big fan of Quitely over all (though the art in the latest Mulitversity: Pax Americana was pretty great). I remember reading A-SS and thinking that it looked like everyone's clothes didn't fit them right. Superman's face kind of reminded me of a toad too. So that didn't help. Like Morrison, I find I like about half of what Quitely does. So I guess this was an oddly appropriate pairing for the story.

[daBronzeBomma]

Wasn't it Waid who wrote Tower of Babel?

You're right. My bad. Waid wrote Babel.

[Gaelforce]

Okay, guys, there's 'discussion' and there's 'pointless, argumentative statements.'

"X is the only Superman" and "If you don't like this version you're wrong" are not conductive to civil discourse.

Be polite and don't proclaim that all other people who hold opinions other than yours are wrong.

[Flash Gordon]

ALL STAR SUPERMAN is one of the greatest Superman stories of all time, not THE greatest but it's up there.

It works as a time capsule. Morrison tossing all his love for Superman and his world into one book.

[Cypher]

This really has nothing to do with me hating it because it's not "dark, realistic or ubber srs" or some such crap. The book could've been good despite it being a love letter & shrine of all things I dislike with Superman (and some for comics in general) if the writing was good enough to make me not care and just enjoy what was happening, this absolutely failed at doing that. There've been many other storylines that either sound moronic or are based around tropes I hate (like a lot of the recent Marvel books such as All-New X-Men, Superior Spider-Man, Hickman's Civil War 2.0 and Superior Iron Man) all of which managed to make me not care about that stuff simply thanks to strong writing, All Star Superman doesn't.

I've read Ed Brubaker comic that managed to elicit more interest and emotion on my part than All Star Superman, the book never had a moment where it sucked me into what's happening, never managed engage me on any level and most importantly failed to make me care that Superman is dying. All of which could've been avoided if Morrison spent more time ironing out the actual writing instead of being "Look at me! I'm so Silver Age-y and all you guys love that don't ya!?" Well congrats Grant, you did make a modern day Silver Age comic, interesting ideas destroyed by horrible art and bland writing.

You said in your OP that you find the Sci-Fi and eccentricities rather trite, along with the funny/interesting things such as Bizarro world, how Clark behaves on his act, and the dialog. That took up a big bulk and those are all personal things pertaining to you.


Followed by what you dont like about the writer and saying you dont care about the character.

To which I replied my original reply, which seemed fitting. If you largely dont like the characteristics of the book or character, simply dont read it, no ones going to judge you over that or make a hassle.

[Deniz Camp]

Out of curiousity, which stories do people (those who hate and those who love All Star) feel rate above All Star Superman?

I suspect I'll see a lot of Moore in there.

[Johnny Thunders!]

And not just Superman stories, what other major character has had such a definitive re-interpretation, even if you don't like it, as ASS? The Darks Knight Returns? I want to read all these better stories about Superman. I have my list, but as far modern stories? I dont see that many other books? For Tomorrow? I don't think so, nevermind Unchained. Both great but, not as good. Morrison takes power out of the equation, give Superman unlimited power and the question then becomes, okay what next? The comparisons with Neil Gaimans Sandman work for me. Supermans world is just as fanciful and bizarre as Gaimans Sandman and Moores Swamp Thing.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Okay, I'm straight-up starting to feel bad for ekrolo2. Where are all the people who genuinely dislike, hate, or at least have no interest in All-Star? I KNOW there are people on here who fit into those categories.

[Lexrules]

Okay, I'm straight-up starting to feel bad for ekrolo2. Where are all the people who genuinely dislike, hate, or at least have no interest in All-Star? I KNOW there are people on here who fit into those categories.

Not going to find to many on this board. It's a Amazing love letter to the Silver Age of the character, When the character was at his mightest and most Super done in a way that couldn't be done in the 50's.

How Superman would look today if the Silver Age had never ended.

[Jim Kelly]

I was sure some folks would say they didn't like ALL STAR.

One thing about the series is that it took a lot longer than we first expected. I got very impatient with the creators and always wondered if maybe the story they started to tell had changed over that time and that was why they were taking so long to finish it.

Reading it that way, I wasn't so swept up by the story. Although I appreciated each individual issue whenever it happened to come out. As such, in my memory it's more a collection of episodes than one long story. I've yet to go back and read the whole thing through from beginning to end to see how it works as a self-contained story.

[Flash Gordon]

I was sure some folks would say they didn't like ALL STAR.

One thing about the series is that it took a lot longer than we first expected. I got very impatient with the creators and always wondered if maybe the story they started to tell had changed over that time and that was why they were taking so long to finish it.

Reading it that way, I wasn't so swept up by the story. Although I appreciated each individual issue whenever it happened to come out. As such, in my memory it's more a collection of episodes than one long story. I've yet to go back and read the whole thing through from beginning to end to see how it works as a self-contained story.

I felt the same way when the individual issues were coming out. I remember enjoying a few of them but largely found them underwhelming. Once I read them all together- I was blown away.

The book as a whole is magnificent.

[Johnny Thunders!]

It's not just a Silver Age homage either. The Luthor bit, down to the robes/clothes he's wearing, that's taken from Jerry Siegel's "When Titan's Clash" from 1942. The book gets written off as just a silver age riff, and it is, but it's also a homage to the golden and bronze age as well.

Despite looking backwards at the character, it presented the most forward thinking take on Superman in decades. Doomsday makes the book. The golden Superman that's been living in the sun looks just like the gold statue of Superman from the cover to Superman 16. That's Jerry Siegel's Superman in All Star Superman.

[Joker Venom]

I don't care for Frank Quitely's art, and never have. I don't think his style is well suited to superheroes. I felt more like I was reading some indie publisher's parody of a Superman story, instead of a Superman story.

Beyond that, I enjoyed All Star Superman.

[Cmbmool]

I must say it's funny how All-star reminds us of what Superman should be like, but the regular comics don't.

I have to say I agree with the OP, as I would have loved to see some cameo by the rest of the DCU and a reminder of how Superman influence them to be better.

At least compare how Morrison does Batman with his work in Superman even if it's for a limited time.