Superman origin stories

[Vakanai]

I know Superman has several origin stories, can anyone list them all and tell me what you thought of them (want to buy a couple)?

[Cipher]

I'm a newer reader, so I can only give you my take on ones I've encountered:

Grant Morrison's Action Comics run: (New 52 #1-18, available in three trades): Absolutely excellent. One long arc that includes an origin story for the modern Superman. Sold me on the character.

Action Comics #1 and early Golden Age work: I can't remember where/if we even get a full origin in the early material, but I recommend obtaining it anyway, especially in the form of the "Archive" hardcovers, if you can.

John Byrne's Man of Steel mini-series (available in one volume; Post-Crisis Superman collections continue in other numbered "Man of Steel" volumes): The origin of Post-Crisis Superman, and one I think you can skip. It's a series of six isolated stories that introduce different elements to Superman's world. I don't find the writing compelling here and the character it sets up is exactly the kind of anachronistic super-heavy interpretation that put me off Superman for years. Byrne's material does become more playful in later issues, but I can't say I enjoyed reading this.

Superman for All Seasons by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale: Not exactly an origin story, but it does tell stories from within the first year of (presumably Byrne's, or one very similar) Superman's activities. It's a beautiful mini-series I can easily recommend if you don't mind its quieter tone. Wonderful art, too.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Here's more-or-less the master list:

Action Comics #1: Superman's first appearance by Siegel and Shuster, though it only provides minimal background before jumping into the adventure.

It was expanded into a two-page story for Superman #1, which included a bit of his childhood with the Kents.

The Origin of Superman: Printed in Superman #53 in 1948 by Bill Finger and Wayne Boring, the first comprehensive take on his origin and childhood. This included differences from the 'classic' take such as everyone on Krypton being superhuman (including X-ray vision), the Kents taking him to an orphanage before deciding to adopt him - as well as the orphanage having to deal with the super-baby's shenanigans - and Jonathan Kent on his deathbed telling Clark to fight crime "in cooperation with the law". This is the origin of the Earth-Two Superman, but probably not the actual Superman that showed up in Action #1, who most certainly wasn't cooperating with the law; it can be found collected in Superman From The 30s to the 70s, the Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told, Superman in the 40s and Superman A Celebration of 75 Years. Finger and Al Plastino later did a follow-up titled "Superman's Return to Krypton", also collected in Superman in the 40s and which can be read HERE, in which Superman deals with Kryptonite for the first time in the comics and finally learns about his Kryptonian origins over 10 years after his first appearance.

Superboy's First Public Appearance: Siegel and Plastino did the story of young Clark first revealing himself to the world in 1961 with Superman #144, with elements that might seem odd now, such as his first collar being a pair of bank robbers trying to escape via diving suits, that in fact endured for decades. It's reprinted in Superman 30s through the 70s, and I believe Showcase Presents Superman Volume 2.

The Story of Superman's Life: Printed in Superman #146 by Otto Binder and Plastino in 1961 just two issues after the last entry, this was the definitive origin of Superman for 25 years, rolling in elements since the last major telling like Superboy's debut, the presence of Supergirl and Krypto, the yellow sun playing a role in his powers, and the "Super-Cake" that Superboy left for Smallville upon moving for Metropolis that was kept on display by most of its citizens, as well as keeping the Golden Age idea of Jonathan telling Clark to fight against crime on his deathbed (a story that would be expanded on in 1963 by Leo Dorfman and Plastino in Superman #161's "The Last Days of Ma and Pa Kent", collected in Superman in the 60s and I believe Showcase Presents Superman Volume 4). It was reprinted in Superman in the 60s and Showcase Presents Superman Volume 3 and can be read HERE, and retold near-verbatim by E. Nelson Bridwell, Carmine Infantino and Curt Swan in "The Origin of Superman", which you can read HERE.

All of those are fun and interesting stuff, but unless you're an enthusiast or really interested in the subject, probably not worth going out of your way to hunt down. From here on out is probably more what you had in mind.

The Man of Steel: John Byrne's total revamp of the character in 1986 after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Parts of it haven't aged well, and plenty of us - frankly, myself included - don't like how it redefined Superman in terms of removing many of the more wondrous aspects of his backstory and significantly altering his character and motivations. But it's titanically influential, brought in a lot of things people did love like the refocusing on Clark Kent and Luthor as corporate sociopath rather than conflicted sci-fi villain, and had a huge influence on its namesake movie.

Superman For All Seasons: Not exactly a full-fledged new origin - it's just building off of Byrne's take - but a very intimate, character-focused take on Superman and his world by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale in 1998. Frankly, I think it's overly sappy even for a Superman story and the harbinger of a lot of eye-rolling "Superman is sad because he can't save everyone" stuff that would dominate a lot of his worst adventures over the next decade or so, but there's no denying there's also plenty of great material in here, especially the note-perfect first issue. Definitely worth a look-see.

Birthright: Mark Waid and Lenil Francis Yu's 2004 revamp of the character is the gold standard; I might personally prefer the last story on this list in some ways, but this is the best of the bunch in terms of placing him in a modern context, solidifying his character and motivations (as well as his relationships with the likes of Lois Lane and Lex Luthor), and is definitely the one I'd recommend to a new reader. Unfortunately, it took about a year for the rest of the Superman books to get that this was Superman's new canonical origin over Man of Steel (even its writer, Mark Waid, wrote it under the impression that it was an independent "Ultimate Superman"-style revamp), and the year after that Infinite Crisis took it off the board.

All-Star Superman's First Page:


Secret Origin: This 2009 take, by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, was probably the most clearly intended as trying to create a definitive 'modern' origin for the character, pulling in elements from the likes of the 1978 movie, the 50s and 60s comics, Byrne's Man of Steel, and the 90s TV show, to Birthright and Smallville. As a result, a lot of it comes off as a soulless mish-mash, but there are several great bits in it, and Frank does some absolutely gorgeous work in here.

Earth One: 2010's abomination unto the Lord and all the creatures of the Earth, by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis, was a thankfully out-of-continuity take on an updated, modernized Superman, that in retrospect comes off as a test run for a lot of what they'd do the next year with the New 52. I would not recommend it, because it is garbage trash where Superman has to be forced to help people because he'd rather use his powers to make money, and the story doesn't treat this as a bad thing or something to learn from so much as just a natural stage of Special Snowflake Clark's growth.

Superman and The Men of Steel/Bulletproof/At The End Of Days: Grant Morrison and Rags Morales' (plus several other artists, and Sholly Fisch doing backups with more artists still including Chris Sprouse) 2011-2013 reboot of Superman for the New 52, rolling in a lot of the 30s/early 40s elements that had been discarded. Starting with an early-20 something low-powered Superman in the cape, a homemade t-**** and jeans fighting the corrupt powers that be with a smile before facing his first big threat, and ending in the modern day with him facing a transdimensional threat that's assembled all his greatest adversaries, it gives him a character arc that isn't usually present, and taken as a whole is the best of the bunch. Notably, only the "Men of Steel" arc directly deals with his origin, but it's only a part of a bigger story, which shows Clark's growth throughout. It's collected in Action Comics Volumes 1-3, or you can buy it in single issue format as Action Comics #1-18, as well as #0 and the first annual.

[Jim Kelly]

EDIT: You missed some. Yes, some pages/panels that were trimmed from the origin in ACTION COMICS No. 1 (June '38) were put back or replaced in SUPERMAN No. 1 (1939) And then the origin was retold and expanded on when the Superman dailies began (1939). There were also retellings/embellishments on the radio show, in the first Fleischer brothers cartoon, and in a prose book.

There was another origin story in the '50s comics. I'll have to look for the exact issue and date later, if someone else doesn't give it before me. EDIT: I think the one I'm thinking of is "The Kid from Krypton," ACTION COMICS 158 (July '51)--which recaps the origin; art by Boring and Kaye.

EDIT: The new telling of the origin story (by Infantino, Bridwell, Swan, Anderson) that appeared in THE AMAZING WORLD OF SUPERMAN (METROPOLIS EDITION) in 1973 was a retelling of the No. 53 origin (I think). I'd argue it was updated. A telling point is that the 1948 origin doesn't feature Superboy and Clark doesn't have glasses when Pa Kent dies--which is replicated in the 1973 origin.

And then in 1979, there was another and very detailed origin story in ACTION COMICS 500 (by Pasko, Swan, Chiaramonte). EDIT: This one has more in common with "The Story of Superman's Life," I'd say. Note that both go into more detail about Superman's life as Superboy.

Add also: In 1986, Earth-Two Superman's origin was retold for the first time in SECRET ORIGINS No. 1 (by Thomas, Boring, Ordway).

That's just off the top of my head without looking up exact details--there are probably others--I reserve the right to edit this if I come up with more exact information later.

[Darth Kal-el]

Earth One was not about Superman rather making money with his powers. He was exploring his options because he felt his mother deserved a good life. Like many people do. He is showed not to be satisfied with each interview and drawn to the daily planet. Once his mother lets him off the hook to find his own happiness and he steps up as Superman he sees the good Lois and Jimmy are able to do in the battle as reporters and it seals the deal for him. The book was a modern but true take on Superman and all three volumes make an amazing story. It was also immensely popular and sold as an OGN beyond DC's expectations so it has its fans. I feel all three volumes make up one of the best comic takes on Superman in awhile

[superduperman]

Earth One: 2010's abomination unto the Lord and all the creatures of the Earth, by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis, was a thankfully out-of-continuity take on an updated, modernized Superman, that in retrospect comes off as a test run for a lot of what they'd do the next year with the New 52. I would not recommend it, because it is garbage trash where Superman has to be forced to help people because he'd rather use his powers to make money, and the story doesn't treat this as a bad thing or something to learn from so much as just a natural stage of Special Snowflake Clark's growth.

.

So what you're saying is that you liked it.

[superduperman]

If you're looking for the modern Superman origin, it's the first one in Secret Origins vol. 1 that came out earlier this year. Has Batman on the cover (because of course it does). It's mostly an updated retelling of the golden age origin. Which, given how divisive Superman's origin can be, is probably the best way to go. My personal favorite is Birthright. Still sorry they didn't keep that one. Even though it's no longer canon, it's still a great story on it's own and I would recommend picking it up. Has all the best elements from all the different versions. Including a little bit of Smallville thrown in (which I think was the inspiration for it) depending upon what your opinion of the show was.

As for Earth One, I honestly think it's one of the main reasons we got the New 52. Keep in mind that it sold way better than SO a year earlier, for better or worse. That had to send some kind of wake up call to the PTB. So depending on what your opinion of the New 52 is, you might be able to thank or blame it on EO.

[JBatmanFan05]

EDIT: The new telling of the origin story (by Infantino, Bridwell, Swan, Anderson) that appeared in THE AMAZING WORLD OF SUPERMAN (METROPOLIS EDITION) in 1973 was a retelling of the No. 53 origin (I think). I'd argue it was updated. A telling point is that the 1948 origin doesn't feature Superboy and Clark doesn't have glasses when Pa Kent dies--which is replicated in the 1973 origin.

And The Amazing World of Superman telling is my favorite and definitive origin for Superman.

Can find it reprinted here:
Superman Returns:The Movie and Other Tales of the Man of Steel TPB (2006)