Time for another All-Star

[JackDaw]

I've thought for sometime that best Superman stories in last 20/30 years are out of main continuity...Red Son, Secret Identity, All Star, etc. Heck..even the long Mark Millar run in Superman Adventures created and used its own continuity and was excellent.

The main continuity stuff just has "too many cooks spoiling the broth"...several writers and artists working on too many issues to unrelenting monthly deadlines...it's not a recipe for excellence. Add constant involvement in "big events" and ever increasingly muddled back story, it's really not easy.

So given success at all sorts of levels of All Star, I thought it would be something DC would repeat from time to time.

Give an outstanding writer and artist team a good editor, plenty of space (say 12 to 60 issues, depending on ideas of artist/writer team)...and let them tell a long Superman story, from beginning to end.

Given that Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely set bar so high..I can sort of see why DC didn't ask another team to take on challenge immediately afterwards.

But is there really a strong argument not to do it periodically?

[Grim Ghost]

Totally agree. Fingers crossed.

[DragonPiece]

Would love it..isn't Mark Millar(or waid, can't remember) working on a new Superman story? I doubt it'll be in continuity if they are.

[Superlad93]

Well just about the strongest argument ever for not doing another book called All Star Superman is because Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely just happened to create one of the greatest superhero books of all time, and neither DC or any other writer wants to follow up that act. The Earth shattering expectations behind it on the fan side are enough to turn off any creative team.

Hell, Morrison's Action Comics run suffered do to the sheer name association of him and Superman. Other the fact that Morrison doesn't have to say another sentence about Superman for the rest of his life, I gotta imagine that the shadow of All Star Superman is a part of why he doesn't want to work on the character again for a long, long time. And you know what? I can't blame him one bit.

But what's discribed in the OP desn't actually have to be called "All Star Superman." I mean, why do that to a creative team? Red Son, Secret Identity, and American Alien are all critically aclimed and beloved by most fans without being called All Star.

What you're simply looking for is an out of continuity maxi Superman run. I'd be all for that. There are loads of creative teams that I think would have something great to say about Superman.

But in all honesty, I think something closer to Synder's current "All Star" Batman would be the best option right now. You basically have a book that is in this nebulous sorta in continuity state, and the mission statement is simply to tell strong Batman stories centered around his most recognizable elements (namely his foes). With each story we are treated to a super star artist.

I think a similar idea could work for Superman. You could do it with one constant writer, and a new artist every time. Or you could do it with multiple teams. Have the arcs range from 1 to 12 issues long, and make it so the continuity is mostly unimportant. The only caveats being he has to wear whatever the current suit is if the story is set in the present.

Call it something evocative of its more lax structure. It basically gives you a steady stream of slightly out of continuity Superman stories.

[Maxi]

Well you could make a strong case for American Alien, it was one of the most acclaimed Superman stories of the last years.

Anyway, the definitive Mark Millar Superman story is coming, and I suspect this will be pretty big. He promises to top Red Son.

http://forums.millarworld.tv/t/a-spe...next-year/7028

The only argument against it is that there is not enough authors with a story to tell, I think. But Max Landis is already preparing his sequel to American Alien, so there's that.

[JackDaw]

Would love it..isn't Mark Millar(or waid, can't remember) working on a new Superman story? I doubt it'll be in continuity if they are.

I think Mark Millar said sometime ago that he had a sixty issue run, but would only do it if he was given full control.

It was partly thinking about that that led me to make first post. ( Although a fair slug of his stuff can be a wee bit stereo-typed over the top violent...pretty sure given full range of his output that he could produce an exceptional Superman run.)

[JackDaw]

Call it something evocative of its more lax structure. It basically gives you a steady stream of slightly out of continuity Superman stories.

Yes, agree with that. (And the line of argument you used to reach conclusion.)

[JackDaw]

Well you could make a strong case for American Alien, it was one of the most acclaimed Superman stories of the last years.

Anyway, the definitive Mark Millar Superman story is coming, and I suspect this will be pretty big. He promises to top Red Son.

http://forums.millarworld.tv/t/a-spe...next-year/7028

The only argument against it is that there is not enough authors with a story to tell, I think. But Max Landis is already preparing his sequel to American Alien, so there's that.

I bet you're right about American Alien (simply not read it yet).

Hope you are right about Mark Millar Superman story coming.

[Adekis]

Personally I think that DC needs to give less editorial interference to the writers on their main books and encourage excellence that way. I'm just tired of half the books on any given "Recommended Reading" list for Superman being outside of continuity. I do in fact think that most in-continuity Superman stories are perfectly good, could be great without much tweaking, and in fact that far more of them are truly great as-is than get credit for it. DC just muddles things up with "events" and poor marketing.

Are we ever going to get another story like All-Star? I don't know, I kind of doubt it. But there's no reason we couldn't get another story like Superman at the End of Days or Superman: Phantom Zone, or Exile!

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

Unless they get Gaiman, or impossibly, Moore, there's nowhere to go but down as far as writers are concerned.

DC would have to get a really big name to use the All-Star name again for Superman. Maybe Hickman, but even that I doubt.

[Superlad93]

Unless they get Gaiman, or impossibly, Moore, there's nowhere to go but down as far as writer's are concerned.

DC would have to get a really big name to use the All-Star name again for Superman. Maybe Hickman, but even that I doubt.

If in the extremely ill-advised and frankly unnecessary event that DC says "yeah, lets put an insurmountable amount of pressure and expectation on a creative team by calling a book All Star Superman 2," then Tom King is the only writer that DC currently has with the sheer talent to even think about approaching such a project. But I can only imagine King's response to the project being "nah, fam. I ain't bout that foolish life."

Gaiman's already done a follow up to Sandman in Overture, so he's gone above and beyond the call. Asking him for "All Star Superman 2" should be met with him being brought to tears from laughing as he walks away from the meeting. I can imagine Hickman's response being pretty similar.

Make as many out of continuity Superman stories as your heart wants, DC, but just don't call it All Star Superman. No reason to kneecap yourself.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

I maintain DC'll put out some kind of spinoff thing next year for the anniversaries, but a straight-up All-Star Superman title would be about as feasible as relaunching Watchmen as an ongoing with completely different versions of the characters (which to be fair we might actually get in the near future, but they at least will have waited a few decades). Even All-Star Batman is clearly banking on the name recognition that comes from this.

As for other prestige projects, Millar's said his probably isn't happening until 2019, so I guess Landis' Agent of the Bat is the only one we know of particularly likely for next year, with maybe Miller's proposed Superman book at some point.

[adkal]

I remember when the All Star books were first announced (and there was even a Wonder Woman one) and how the aim was to put together the best of the best who had stories to tell of Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman. That they wouldn't be tied to continuity and, while coming under the respective title, each collaboration would be a stand-alone.

Back then, there was so much excitement about which writers would want to work with which artists (and vice versa) and people came up with all sorts of dream teams.

Sadly, some of those who were named in the lists are no longer with us

[Jim Kelly]

Something I never understood, why is it ALL-STAR?

I know that DC published ALL-STAR COMICS, once (plus ALL-STAR WESTERN). But, as a title, it doesn't make sense to me. What's All-Star about the Superman in the comic? The star and the all of it never made sense in story.

Is it because the talent is All-Star producing the story? So there's an implied elipsis, " . . . All-Star . . . Superman" as in "an All-Star team of talented writers and artists presents their own take on Superman." But that applies to the people making the comic book and has nothing to do with the character of Superman or the story about him.

It might seem like I'm being picky, but this is something that always bugged me (and still does) about the "All-Star" titles. In story, there seems no reason to call Superman an All-Star. When I read the series, I was always hoping there would be some moment that brought out the All-Star aspect of Superman in the story. Like maybe he's using the energy from all the stars in the galaxy to increase the level and range of his abilities.

Or did I miss it? Was there something like that in the comic that explained why Superman was All-Star?

[adkal]

Something I never understood, why is it ALL-STAR?

I know that DC published ALL-STAR COMICS, once (plus ALL-STAR WESTERN). But, as a title, it doesn't make sense to me. What's All-Star about the Superman in the comic? The star and the all of it never made sense in story.

Is it because the talent is All-Star producing the story? So there's an implied elipsis, " . . . All-Star . . . Superman" as in "an All-Star team of talented writers and artists presents their own take on Superman." But that applies to the people making the comic book and has nothing to do with the character of Superman or the story about him.

Yeah, it's to do with the team producing the book.

It might seem like I'm being picky, but this is something that always bugged me (and still does) about the "All-Star" titles. In story, there seems no reason to call Superman an All-Star. When I read the series, I was always hoping there would be some moment that brought out the All-Star aspect of Superman in the story. Like maybe he's using the energy from all the stars in the galaxy to increase the level and range of his abilities.

Or did I miss it? Was there something like that in the comic that explained why Superman was All-Star?

Nope, just the writer(s) and artist(s) are 'the best of the best' or award-winning etc. They're the 'All Stars'.