The best Superman stories of the modern era

[Slim Shady]

Emperor Joker
New 52 Action Comics

I love Emperor Joker. Bizarro, Mr. Myx, Joker, Batman, a bunch of crazy stuff. It might not have that deep impact like most of the other stories here, but as far as a big fun Superman story, it’s up there.

If anything gets picked from the new52 it has to be something from Morrison’s run.

[Kuwagaton]

The only reason I don't list Emperor Joker is because I never had the full story. I know there's the collection, but having Man of Steel's part and Action 770, I kinda feel content without the rest.

I think that era is probably the most underrated in the sense that Kelly and Loeb (later, Johns and Azzarello) had big, really "important' stories, but the 00s decade had generally much better work from Schultz, Casey, DeMatteis, Verheiden, and yes, totally Chuck Austen. That guy was buried under his own name.

Simone, Roberson, Seagle, Busiek, and Rucka had their moments but were disserviced by editorial pretty severely.

[KC]

All-Star Superman
Superman: Red Son
Secret Origin
Last Son
Brainiac
Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes
American Alien

[Ascended]

The only reason I don't list Emperor Joker is because I never had the full story. I know there's the collection, but having Man of Steel's part and Action 770, I kinda feel content without the rest.

Ha! Same. I dont remember which issues I have but I know I never finished the whole story, and while it was fun I've never felt the urge to complete it. But I wouldnt be against it being on a "must read" list either.

I think that era is probably the most underrated in the sense that Kelly and Loeb (later, Johns and Azzarello) had big, really "important' stories, but the 00s decade had generally much better work from Schultz, Casey, DeMatteis, Verheiden, and yes, totally Chuck Austen. That guy was buried under his own name.

I do think a lot of us tend to ignore that entire decade out of hand (myself included). There *was* good stuff there. I enjoyed Our Worlds At War, and I appreciated Loeb trying to bring the pre-Crisis toys home (though they never fit the post-Crisis character and felt tacked on). It might be arguably the worst decade Clark has ever seen but there *were* a few bright spots.

[Slim Shady]

That is an overlooked era. I tend to forget about it myself. Kelly and Loeb were both alright.

Ohhh DeMatteis, I’ve read so much by him that he’s one of my favorite writers by default. He’s kinda underrated himself. Speeding Bullets is a pretty cool elseworld story from the 90s.

[Kuwagaton]

If eight decades were excellent and someone had to pick a worst, I'm sure it would be the most common pick anyway. But aside from erratic management that seemed to overwrite the character bible to say "shiny and anxious" in big letters, and the hardly utilized creative productivity of very creative people, I'd say it's the easiest to recommend. The biggest complaint I ever actually hear from non comic readers is that before maybe 1998, the stories read in too old fashioned a manner. No matter how good it actually could be when you set that aside.

And yeah DeMatteis isn't one a lot of people seem to stop on. I actually really liked Kansas Sighting most from his Superman side projects.

[K7P5V]

I love Emperor Joker. Bizarro, Mr. Myx, Joker, Batman, a bunch of crazy stuff. It might not have that deep impact like most of the other stories here, but as far as a big fun Superman story, it’s up there.

Me too. Emperor Joker is one of my all-time favorites. I especially enjoyed the special bond shared between Superman & Batman.

That is an overlooked era. I tend to forget about it myself. Kelly and Loeb were both alright.

Ohhh DeMatteis, I’ve read so much by him that he’s one of my favorite writers by default. He’s kinda underrated himself. Speeding Bullets is a pretty cool elseworld story from the 90s.

Awesome. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks that Speeding Bullets is one of the coolest things from the '90s.

[Vordan]

If we’re restricting ourselves to the 21st century:
All-Star Superman
Brainiac
Red Son
World Against Superman
Mastermen
Son of Superman
Bizarroverse

Gotta be my top pics.

[Jim Kelly]

The biggest complaint I ever actually hear from non comic readers is that before maybe 1998, the stories read in too old fashioned a manner. No matter how good it actually could be when you set that aside.

You know more than me, but I wonder how that works. I can understand why comics readers of today are used to seeing comics written a certain way, so when they read something in a different style it's a hard adjustment. And maybe I'm set in my ways, because comics from yesteryear have a better flow and hold my attention more than modern comics. But if you're a non comics reader, you don't know how comics are supposed to work, so you have to learn how to read them and any comics would be difficult to process at first before you understood how they operate.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I think Joe Casey's pacifist Superman run during the mid-2000s is pretty impressive for the sheer balls of trying to pull off a mainstream superhero comic in which the star, who happens to be ground zero for the entire genre, never throws a punch or resorts to violence.

[Vordan]

I think Joe Casey's pacifist Superman run during the mid-2000s is pretty impressive for the sheer balls of trying to pull off a mainstream superhero comic in which the star, who happens to be ground zero for the entire genre, never throws a punch or resorts to violence.

On the other hand though, that very feature might be why no one really remembers that run. There’s like a huge gap in the collective memory between Triangle Era/Loeb and when Johns/Busiek took over.

[Kuwagaton]

That's the problem I have with always seeing the same stuff recommended. Good stuff sure, but being good doesn't mean other stuff should fall through the cracks. I think for all the times something like All Star is recommended, people just read that and move on not reading more Superman. And opening up the recommendations to all eras, mostly you just get am additional vote for Alan Moore out of the 80 years.

You know more than me, but I wonder how that works. I can understand why comics readers of today are used to seeing comics written a certain way, so when they read something in a different style it's a hard adjustment. And maybe I'm set in my ways, because comics from yesteryear have a better flow and hold my attention more than modern comics. But if you're a non comics reader, you don't know how comics are supposed to work, so you have to learn how to read them and any comics would be difficult to process at first before you understood how they operate.

Personally, I got Stan Lee's Spider-Man in high school (around the time Spider-Man 2 was out) and totally loved it despite realizing it was very dated. I liked that there was a ton going on briskly due to compression but with a lot of text to keep my eyes scanning the page. But letting people borrow (and keep if they liked it), there were few comics I was able to impart for free that weren't in the informal tone of a Warren Ellis or Brian Bendis. Aside from generally wanting edgy, gritty things the best I've heard it said was that they wanted to defy their own expectations, with Batman 66 "Bam, Pow" action and the type of melodrama evoked in pop art.

[Ascended]

You know more than me, but I wonder how that works. I can understand why comics readers of today are used to seeing comics written a certain way, so when they read something in a different style it's a hard adjustment. And maybe I'm set in my ways, because comics from yesteryear have a better flow and hold my attention more than modern comics. But if you're a non comics reader, you don't know how comics are supposed to work, so you have to learn how to read them and any comics would be difficult to process at first before you understood how they operate.

No, they definitely read as being much older than they were. I mean, we had Superman saying "Great Scott!" in 1996, long after anyone had stopped using the phrase.

I remember in the early 90's when I started reading comics, the Superman books often felt more old fashioned than, say, Waid's Flash or Marz's GL or David's Aquaman. From the dialogue to the art, the Super titles usually felt more old timey than a lot of other stuff on the stands. Not everything, and the difference wasn't as pronounced as it'd be comparing it to today's stuff, but it was there and I noticed it.

It never stopped me from enjoying the books. Even as someone who now prefers many pre-Crisis elements, I never realized just how good I had it during the triangle era. But the titles definitely felt old school.

[Jim Kelly]

But that's just word stuff. I thought Kuwagaton was alluding to something in the structure of the story-telling and the sequential art form. And I don't think someone reading a comic for the first time would know how a page is supposed to be broken down or how the action is supposed to be paced, in order to see that something is not right with the times.

To me, I like more captions and more panels per page, because when I'm presented with a page that has few panels and few words, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it and I'm all at sea. So I think someone reading a comic book for the first time would appreciate having more text and a more conventional sequential order because it's like things you would see elsewhere--and you don't have to stare at the page to figure out what's going on.

When I've volunteered in the local school with kids that have reading problems, they often want to read the books that include pages broken down in a comic book page style. The Ninjago books were popular with some of the kids I worked with and those books had comic style pages included in them. And I had to bear with it--because the kids wanted to read them--but they always struggled with those pages, because it's not as easy as simple reading. Realistically, the best thing would be for the kid to go off and study the page on his own and figure it out. In the moment, with me, they couldn't work out how the pictures and words fit to tell the story. It was a tedious exercise and we only had so much time.

Reading comics is really like learning a new language. You think it should be easy because there's pictures, but you have to figure it all out first and then when you get it, you can read more of the same. But different writers and artists have different approaches to the language of visual storytelling. The one good thing about a 1955 comic book is that all the writers and artists are using the same visual language. Today's comics have a wide variety of different visual languages and you have to get to know the style of that writer and artist to see how their language works.

[Slim Shady]

Me too. Emperor Joker is one of my all-time favorites. I especially enjoyed the special bond shared between Superman & Batman.

Awesome. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks that Speeding Bullets is one of the coolest things from the '90s.

Another thing about Emperor Joker is, I'm a fan of someone's villain popping up somewhere else. It shouldn't be overdone, just every now and then. And the chemistry has to be there, which Superman and Joker have. When it works it can be really fun. I'm looking forward to the Leviathan stuff for that reason.

And yeah, Speeding Bullets is kinda one of those forgotten about stories. I always liked it.

Jumping on the overlooked/forgotten time period conversation, I'll throw Loeb's Superman/Batman run out there. I enjoyed that and it might actually be the standout for me from that little era. So I'm adding Public Enemies to my list.