Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "greatest"

Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, Vol. 2 by Jerry Siegel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This second Volume of DC's new Superman Greatest stories collect tales spread out between 1944 and 2005.

It begins with style with the first appearance of Mr. Mxyztplk in Superman #30 (1944).

Next up is the Imaginary Tale, "Superman's Other Life," (1959) which examines what Kal-El's life on Krypton would have been like had Krypton not exploded. What kills this one for me is the really unnecessary framing device of Batman and Robin having set this up on computer so that Superman could see what his life would be like if Krypton hadn't exploded. Who thinks that's a good gift. The only appropriate response, "Hey Bruce, let me program it to see what your life would have been like if the robber hadn't been carrying a gun. Plus, Superman's own commentary on his "other life" just slowed down the tale. Still, it's not too bad if you can get past the framing.


"Superman Returns to Kypton" (1960) was a necessary inclusion particularly after Volume 1 included John Byrne's far darker re-imagining. Anyone who think Superman during the Silver Age was just goofy fun hasn't read, Superman Returns to Krypton which finds Superman crashing back through time and crashlanding on Kyrpton without powers and facing the possibility of dying of Kyrpton. He meets his parents and finds love-love for him not for his powers from a wonderful woman. Yeah, there's some silly parts but this is also a very moving and poignant story.

"The Team of Luthor and Brainiac" (1964) was a watershed issue that brought together two of Superman's most powerful foes battling Superman (and each other). For a romp with great supervillains, this one was to beat.

"Superman Breaks Loose" (1971) was Denny O'Neil's first Superman story. It sees Superman's strength changing and him gaining invulnerability to Green K while losing some power so he can't move planets any more, and Clark Kent being made a TV reporter. This is certainly an important story that would signal a new direction for the series but it doesn't really do much on its own. Like many stories after the Silver Age, the enjoyment of "Superman Breaks Loose" is hurt because its tied into a much larger story and doesn't stand up as well on its own.

As Volume 1 contained a story by Jim Steranko that wasn't the greatest but was noteworthy for him working on it, Volume 2 features, "The Legend from Earth Prime" (1984) drawn by Frank Miller. This was actually an interesting story based on the idea of people from the DC Universe looking in on our universe and discovering Superman's secret identity through that with their actions. It's actually a fun concept.

"The Secret Revealed" (1987) is an oft-repeated reprint of John Byrne's run on Superman that shows the new Luthor's ruthless and psychopathic nature. It's a well-written story, moreso if you really enjoy Byrne's intepretation of Superman. It's only really lessened by the fact that this comes from a long story arch that we don't really get here.

The same problem plagues "Life after Death" (1993) from Adventures of Superman #500 which finds Jonathan Kent in between life and death and trying to bring Clark back but is there a Clark to bring back. It's a somewhat metapyhiscal tale but entertaining.

The book began with Mxyztplk and ends with Mxyztplk in "Narrative Interruptus Tertiarius" which finds a married Lois Lane thinking about having a baby after having been shot while Clark is hesitant as if he couldn't protect Lois, how could he protect a child. This cues Mxyztplk's extraordinary visitation as he shows them a future that might be and has one of his best moments. It's beautiful.

Overall, this book lives up to its name, delivering some fascinating stories and great emotion.





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