All Star Superman #12

All-Star Superman

by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely (Penciller), Jamie Grant (Inker)

The Man of Steel has faced twelve super-challenges. Now, as Lex Luthor's brilliant criminal machinations come together, what fate awaits the doomed Superman? This is the final, dramatic chapter of the series--don't miss it!

Genres: Comics, Superman, Dc Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

23 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 17, 2008

About the author

Grant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.

In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.

Reviews

[Vyshakh Aravindan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Issue #12
He doesn't die — he becomes light.
Superman sacrifices his body to save the sun and becomes a myth incarnate. He literally becomes the heart of our solar system — a glowing metaphor for hope, warmth, and endurance. His death is his transfiguration, not his end.

[Zara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so average.

[Geraldo Gallardo Trujillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

All-Star Superman ends with emotion and whimpers, but not in a bad way, not at all. Superman faces a powered-up Lex Luthor right as his own health deteriorates; this is Superman's finest moment.
Morrison always finds a way to make a climax without being too dependent on punching, instead other sorts of action: planning, strategy and tactics. One of my favorite comic book moments happens in the final issue of Final Crisis, also written by Morrison, where the Man of Steel himself and Darkseid's essence are the only things in existence as time and space die around them, closing-in on them. How does Superman defeat Darkseid? Does he punch so hard it somehow crushes an essence? Does he uses his heat vision to defeat said essence? No, he sings. Not kidding, Superman shatters Darkseid's essence with a counter-frequency in the form of a song (not an specific song, just music) because according to Superman, all dimensions live in the same space on different frequencies, and thus there are counter-frequencies to stop them. Brilliant, truly brilliant. It's plausible enough science but it's still something only a Superman can do, a perfect combination. Morrison again ends the story this time with Superman executing his plan and hoping to have the necessary health left to do it, getting knocked around by Lex here and there, but in the mean time moving the pieces to his plan.
The way everything climaxes is brilliant as well, and Superman's final moments are so effective you can "hear" some epic music while you read and see it. There's quite a number of clues on what happens later, ironically in some of the previous issues, so it's kind of a self-fulfilling story and I love it. Maybe the final pages did explain everything and closed everything a little too quickly for my taste, but as a whole, the work of art is complete. I can safely say, All-Star Superman is quite possibly my favorite Superman story of all. It has literally everything that's great about The Man of Steel in 12 issues, telling its own story with it and becoming another great thing about Superman in the way. The art by Frank Quitely and coloring by Jaime Grant is at its peak, flowing perfectly from one panel to the other and telling the story visually just as strongly as it is written. A great finale for debatably Superman's best story ever.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an ending!

[Pat Blades · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't awful not the biggest fan of the art but the story wasn't bad I did like how it was multiple mini stories leading up to it

[Vikas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last volume of the series was average but I liked the series over all. I believe this is better to be reading as the individual issues rather than a single volume as some stories jump from place to place so the issue structure was better for me. So I finally finished this series now on to other books and series and let's Keep on Reading.

I have always loved comics, and I have I can. I love comics to bits, may the comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and hope always to love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics, Diamond Comics, or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I just want to Keep on Reading.

[zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

a wonderful ending to such a crazy story.

[Katherine (Kat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 Stars - "Superman in Excelsis"

[mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[OinkFish Pigs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant finale and this may be one of my favorite books.

High 10

[Cybernex007 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I decided to finish reading this series after so much time by reading and listening to the newly released audiobook…and right before the day I am watching the Superman movie! I’m so excited and this has been such an amazing read and experience by itself. As we left the last issue the article was written, Clark lay on the brink of death, and Lex flew over him with his temporary super powers he stole from the fortress. As we jump into this issue we find Clark grown up on the world of Kyrpton, riding in a spacecraft alongside his father: Jor-El. But as Jor-El immediately makes clear…none of this is real. This entire world is just the last fleeting moments of his consciousness before death and he has two options. To continue in this facade, or go back and face down evil one final time. As you can expect, we already know what choice Superman made. Back in the real world, Luthor stands before the daily planet…the people he deems responsible for his execution even though it was his only actions that sent him to the chair. But the joke is still on Lex, Solaris betrayed him and now the world is ending once again because of him because Solaris poisoned their Sun. Steve works hard and finally Clark wakes up just in time to put himself between Lex and the daily planet crew. Just in time to pull out his carefully placed gravity gun and blast Lex down to the street! You see that wasn’t Clark at all, it’s been Superman in disguise since he got here. I am astounded that the daily planet crew hasn’t pieced that together even after this, but at this point it’s probably more because they don’t want to see it…just like it always has been. Jimmy has a suit storied in the office for Superman just for situations like this, and as the fight is taken to the street Superman has to be careful to avoid Lex and avoid using the last dwindling bits of his power. You see Superman knew Lex has been involved all the way back to the malfunctions with SuperBot 7, so he has planned this encounter down to a tee, which is why that gravity gun was so perfectly placed at the ready. Unfortunately using it to increase Lex’s gravity and drag him to the subway system without sunlight puts Superman at quite a disadvantage. But as Lex drags Superman back to the surface to put on one huge show…suddenly Lex starts to break down in front of everyone. Superman chose the gravity gun for its specific ability to increase metabolism and force Lex to run through the 24 hour serum…and now his time is up. Finally on equal levels of power, Superman gives Lex a punch down he will never forget. If Lex really wanted to save the world he would have done it ages ago. And now as Superman’s skin flakes and he succumbs to the poisoning it’s time for his final challenge. He wishes and kisses Lois goodbye, as he makes way for the Sun! Flying into the poisoned sun to repair it from within! We jump one year in the future where a Superman memorial is being held, Lois refuses to go because she knows he is still out there…working away on the Sun…unable to return until it is completely fixed. But even if Superman spends the rest of his days in the sun, Lex has still not won. From everything we have seen in this book the one thing that should stand firm is Superman’s ideals. Those will always prevail. It may take the form of a comic book…or even the genetic experiments of Quintum now that he has Superman’s DNA! Hahahaha!

[Max Solis · Rating 5 out of 5]

En una visión, Jor-El le dice a Superman que se encuentra en el umbral de la vida y la muerte mientras su consciencia se transforma en energía solar pura. Le dice que, tras completar su mayor tarea (mostrar al mundo un ideal de lo que podría ser capaz), su única razón para regresar es detener el mal una última vez, decisión que Superman, a regañadientes, decide tomar.

Mientras un Luthor superpoderoso amenaza al personal del Daily Planet, Clark Kent despierta y usa una pistola de gravedad para derribar a Lex, salvando a sus amigos y poniéndose su uniforme. Tras una breve batalla donde Luthor derrota a Superman, Lex lo arrastra ante los medios para declarar su dominio sobre la Tierra.

[Kevin Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal stuff. Gorgeous artwork. A perfect balance of light and dark. The All-Star Superman series isn't quite as good as people say, certainly in the issues that feel less strongly connected to the main overarching storyline, but the 3 or 4 issues that deal with what may or may not be Superman's pending final hours are absolutely fantastic.

[Paul Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love so much about this series. The art's been spectacular and I was very satisfied with probably 75% of the issues, story-wise. Uber-super-ne'er-do-well Luthor done in partially due to not noting when his time was up? eh.

[Luigi Sposato · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I loved this series, I think #10 could’ve been the ending. 11 could have been too.

If you’re reading 12 and thinking it’s a bit flat, think of 12 as more of an epilogue. The real story ends after issue 10, but 11-12 are a send off for fans.

[Yohann Bunny]

I wanted to enjoy this book as much as everyone else seems to. I’m going to move onto some mainline Superman stories. I want to love Superman.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lex's realization was interesting, but...I don't know. The story felt average overall to me.

[Tiagoツ · Rating 5 out of 5]

uma obra incrível, eu te amo superman
ainda assim não acho a melhor como dizem
ainda assim é 5 estrelas e merecia mais se fosse possivel

[rocco · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You could have saved the world years ago if it mattered to you, Luthor.”

[Vijay Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Give me the sequel

[Mikey Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

brain beats brawn…

[faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY BABY

[Arkadiusz Frankowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storyline is not so special. Sometimes even boring.

[Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great Superman story! Go read it ASAP