Broken Frontier

It all comes down to this… Superman vs. Lex Luthor and the fate of the world hanging in the balance… in more ways than one!

Grant Morrison has dared to do what few comic book creators do these days – He has wrapped up a story with a beautiful and satisfying finish. Certainly, he leaves himself a small "out" for a sequel if he wants one but, in the end, All-Star Superman #’s 1-12 can be read and enjoyed on their own.

Clark Kent is dead but, as the saying goes, you can’t keep a good man down. He fights his way back to life in order to stop Lex’s super powered rampage. The only problem is this is merely a reprieve. Superman’s body is still breaking down from the solar radiation poisoning and Solaris the Tyrant Sun has left the Earth one final act of treachery – he has poisoned the sun and it is dying. This is Superman’s last effort – can he stop Lex and restore the sun?

First things first… Yes, Morrison touches back in this series to some of the same themes, ideas, and characters as in his DC 1,000,000 event series several years ago. He also hints around at his usual metatexutal commentaries but this time around his stories seem to be far more coherent and far more fully realized. This truly is the Silver Age Superman as filtered through a modern lens to create a character that is timeless and yet fresh and new. This is Superman distilled to everything that has ever made the character work and everything that people love about him. This is Superman with a heart and with a brain – as contrasted with the callous and power-mad Lex. Even better, within twelve issues of this series Morrison gave readers many individual stories that could stand alone as single issues or two-issue story arcs and yet, in the end, they all meshed together to form one, coherent whole. How many comics can brag such a feat?

The artist for this entire series, Frank Quitely, is definitely an acquired taste. His characters tend to be very soft, in some ways doughy-looking, but they also have a quality of reality to them. People’s faces have lines and creases and body shapes are not beyond all human possibility. Even aside from his figure work, Quitely manages to produce epic scope, grandeur, and incredible destruction all without resorting to a lot of splash pages. He also often throws in some cute, little visual gags that enhance the story. This title has been, arguably, some of the best work of his career – ably abetted by Jamie Grant’s bright, primary based, digital colors which compliment the tone of the story as well as the art.

The only thing bad about this title is the fact that is has ended. Certainly there seems to be a wealth of other stories which could be told and hopefully, someday, Morrison will be able to return for another long run. While the schedule has been fraught with delays, it has been worth the wait to reach this point. You say you don’t like Superman? Give this run a try and you just might change your mind. In the meantime, fans can read and re-read this series and each time catch something they missed the first time through. This is a story that can be enjoyed for years to come.