So what is your favorite Post-Crisis and New 52 Story Arcs?

[The Dork Knight]

There very few truly "great" Superman stories that are not elseworlds or pre crisis . Of them

5.The infinite crisis tie across the 3 books . If ever there was a book to show how pre crisis and post crisis superman were differnet , this was it. Also infinite crisis as a whole

4.Byrne's Superman reboot (from MoS to him killing the pocket universe Kryptonians )

3.Morrison's new 52 action comics run

3.(tie)Superman Beyond /Final Crisis( finally a post crisis story on a "Superman" scale . "In superman we trust" )

2.Johns' pre Flashpoint arcs (everything , including Secret Identity and the beginning of New Krypton)

1.Action comics 775

Honourable mentions to the Kelly,Waid, Morrison era JLA

Edit: of course the very best Superman run after 1986 is Alan Moore's Supreme How 90s Superman SHOULD have been written .........

[Kuwagaton]

Pfft, the johns arcs certainly deserve a nod but there were plenty of comics at least at that level in the nearly twenty years before him.

[The Dork Knight]

Pfft, the johns arcs certainly deserve a nod but there were plenty of comics at least at that level in the nearly twenty years before him.

Such as...... ?

[manofsteel1979]

Post-Crisis:

Exile
Krisis Of The Krimson Kryptonite
Panic in the Sky
The Death and Return of Superman trilogy
The Battle and Fall of Metropolis
The Death Of Clark Kent
The Trial of Superman
The 60th anniversary/Dominus/King of the World saga
SUPERMAN: End Of the Century
SUPERMAN:Y2K
Return to Krypton
Our Worlds at War
Joe Casey's Adventures of Superman run.
Infinite Crisis
Up Up and Away
Last Son
Camelot Falls
Escape from Bizarro World
SUPERMAN and the Legion of Superheroes
BRAINIAC
First half of NEW KRYPTON
LEX LUTHOR and The Black Ring

NEW 52

Grant Morrison's ACTION run (#0-19)
Superman #1-6
Superman#0
SUPERMAN UNCHAINED
Greg Pak's non crossover issues of ACTION and BATMAN/SUPERMAN
Superman #39 (best single Geoff Johns penned issue of Superman IMO)
SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #1-6
SUPERMAN #51

[StrikeJP]

Post-Crisis
Birthright
For All Seasons
Time and Time Again
Death and Return of Superman
The Death of Clark Kent
The Trial of Superman
Superman Vs. Aliens
Emperor Joker
Action #775
Up, Up, and Away
Last Son
Brainiac

(I wonder if I could read these in this order and the continuity would still make sense...)

New 52
Action Comic #01-09 (Morrison)
Action Comics #25-30 (Pak&Kuder)
Superman #39 (Johns)
Most of Super League so far...

[manofsteel1979]

Post-Crisis
Birthright
For All Seasons
Time and Time Again
Death and Return of Superman
The Death of Clark Kent
The Trial of Superman
Superman Vs. Aliens
Emperor Joker
Action #775
Up, Up, and Away
Last Son
Brainiac

(I wonder if I could read these in this order and the continuity would still make sense...)

I have done it awhile ago, and it sort of does. The only hic-ups are reconciling BIRTHRIGHT and FOR ALL SEASONS (especially when it comes to Luthor and The Kents ages) but it works pretty well. The only thing you have to really hand wave is the changes in how Krypton looked from the start of the Post-Crisis and how it was by the end.

[StrikeJP]

I have done it awhile ago, and it sort of does. The only hic-ups are reconciling BIRTHRIGHT and FOR ALL SEASONS (especially when it comes to Luthor and The Kents ages) but it works pretty well. The only thing you have to really hand wave is the changes in how Krypton looked from the start of the Post-Crisis and how it was by the end.

Good to know. One of these days I'd like to make a "History of Superman" taking all of the best Superman comics of Post-Crisis and edit them slightly so they all mostly make sense when put together.

[andersonh1]

Just to throw a pre-Crisis, Golden Age storyline: one of my favorites is "Superman's Service to Servicemen" that IDW has collected as part of their Superman newspaper strip reprints. It's a bunch of loosely connected episodes that shows Superman answering mail and helping the troops out as they fight in WW2. Good stuff.

Post-Crisis:
Exile
Day of the Krypton Man
Panic in the Sky
Death of Superman/World without Superman/Reign of the Supermen/Return of Superman - I love that whole story arc
The Wedding

Really, the whole triangle era has so many great characters and subplots that weave in and out of the books. It remains my favorite stretch of Superman comics.

New 52
I liked the first few issues of Grant Morrison's Action Comics, and that's it. I really haven't enjoyed any other New 52 Superman. It's never even felt like Superman to me.

[Kuwagaton]

Such as...... ?

Sorry. I meant to go back in and edit my post because it sounds so snobby. It's all just opinions regardless.

But what I mean is that while I did enjoy Johns immensely on Action, the run was pretty shallow. Ultra new reader friendly, but because it was written for trade and focused so much on (Donnerized) itself that it had its own origin series. From the departure of Byrne to the Triangle era, and up to the Fall of Metropolis (I never gave Michelinie a chance, tbh) there were solid comics that built the entire world of post crisis Superman, as different from the hero of the prior 40 years. There was pretty amazing creator consistency and collaboration. Stern, Ordway, Jurgens, simonson, and kesel. Highlights include: Panic in the Sky, Krimson Kryptonite, Dark Knight Over Metropolis, Time and Time Again, and the Death and Return saga. 1994 was one good year.

Pre Flashpoint you have a change of pace at the very end of 1999, coming off of the great Dominus Effect story and smaller stories from 1998. Here and there you had Immonen and Millar, Kelly, Schultz, and even some good stories from Loeb. Adventures with Joe Casey was great when it wasn't stuck in a crossover, and Rucka followed up quite nicely. There were some good smaller stories aside from Y2K, Unconventional Warfare, the Ruin saga, For Tomorrow, Birthright, the many Lex and President Lex comics, and even Jimmy Olsen.

[Rod G]

Post-Crisis
Panic in the Sky
The Wedding Album

New 52
Men of Tomorrow

[The Dork Knight]

Sorry. I meant to go back in and edit my post because it sounds so snobby. It's all just opinions regardless.

But what I mean is that while I did enjoy Johns immensely on Action, the run was pretty shallow. Ultra new reader friendly, but because it was written for trade and focused so much on (Donnerized) itself that it had its own origin series. From the departure of Byrne to the Triangle era, and up to the Fall of Metropolis (I never gave Michelinie a chance, tbh) there were solid comics that built the entire world of post crisis Superman, as different from the hero of the prior 40 years. There was pretty amazing creator consistency and collaboration. Stern, Ordway, Jurgens, simonson, and kesel. Highlights include: Panic in the Sky, Krimson Kryptonite, Dark Knight Over Metropolis, Time and Time Again, and the Death and Return saga. 1994 was one good year.

Pre Flashpoint you have a change of pace at the very end of 1999, coming off of the great Dominus Effect story and smaller stories from 1998. Here and there you had Immonen and Millar, Kelly, Schultz, and even some good stories from Loeb. Adventures with Joe Casey was great when it wasn't stuck in a crossover, and Rucka followed up quite nicely. There were some good smaller stories aside from Y2K, Unconventional Warfare, the Ruin saga, For Tomorrow, Birthright, the many Lex and President Lex comics, and even Jimmy Olsen.

Hey as you said it's all opinions really so forgive me if I disagree with some of yours

I agree that the universe rebuilding was done well however I have to say that after the Byrne run the stories feel extremely dated when you read em again these days. I don't think we can honestly compare them to the Miller and Moore stories from the same time and not say " ha that's for kids that (some) adults and fans of Superman can enjoy (I did!) but THIS is something else , this is brilliant"

Now I'm not saying the Johns' stories are nearly as good but the best part about them , undoubtably because of the era in which they were written , is that don't feel nearly as dated and again strictly IMO you don't have to be a Superman fan to enjoy them .Plus they hold up well against all the other major comic stories from the same era . I'd say Last Son doesn't get outclassed by 52 for example

Something like Time and Time Again , is definitely an enjoyable story ....for one read but I wouldn't rank it among the 100 best stories I've read , myself . The Legion story on the other hand , or even Last Son, has so many more emotional moments despite purposedly using a more silver age-y tone to tell the story ,I'd say even a non fan would enjoy them

Everything you named in the prior to '94 section IMO are good but not great stories primarily because of the era in which they were written , they feel dated and also because compared to some of the other books from the same time , they feel like they are still in a time loop from the 80s and haven't progressed to the ultra realism in comics . Another thing they suffer from is using a Superman that's really not as Superman as he should be . Exploding stars and a legend corrupted to suit future propaganda is a lot more "Superman" than wrestling dinosaurs and nearly getting killed by Hitler and a gemstone to another dimension? I dunno for me , the pre death superman just does not capture the scale and scope of the character . I loved exile (I think it's the best of the bunch) but to see Superman using an oxygen tank was just silly imo

Of the writers named after '98 IMO only Kelly really "got" the character though even he wrote of endless filler and he suffers from being associated with the badly writte OWAW .Loeb wrote much better stories in Batman superman than he did in vol 2. Casey's run was one I missed and plan to recheck again . Rucka was downright terrible and the Ruin story was nonsense

For Tomorrow was all over the place in its depiction of nearly everything . Y2K was silly and incompetent

For me all those stories fall at best in the "good" category . Johns' stories were truly great - finally a Superman operating on a scale we want him to , and I don't mean just his powers or the story settings , it's just the depiction of the character as larger than life that I found so likeable . But as I said that's just me

Here's a test I suggest for checking if the stories are really great. Find a non superman (hopefully ) comics fan . Ask him to read Exile or something by Jurgens or something by Rucka or For Tomorrow and compare to that to say Legion or Braniac and give his unbiased opinion . I think you'll find more people enjoy the Johns' stories because the quality of the stories is good enough to engage the attention of even non super fans

Edit: this could well have to do less with their quality and more with their "Donner-isation " as you put it . A style more suited to film , and not requiring in depth knowledge of characters or earlier story arcs . Still I like em more

[Kuwagaton]

I think you'd have to define what a "non-fan" is, really.

[The Dork Knight]

I think you'd have to define what a "non-fan" is, really.

Anyone who doesn't follow superman comics . Preferably someone who reads other comics . Even someone whose favourite character is not someone from the super verse will do I suppose

[Kuwagaton]

I've given non fans Bronze Age, Death Of, For Tomorrow, Johns' Legion, Morrison's whole Action run, issues from Adventures volume two, Superman Beyond/Final Crisis, and All-Star Superman. I just listed them by the most enjoyed to least enjoyed. One friend really liked Legion best, but another thought it was kid glove storytelling.

Of course, none of those turned them into collectors, though.