Superman: Getting the most.

CylonYoda

Hi all

I'm looking to get into reading Superman but am not really sure were to start. I was checking out the collections of the daily and Sunday strips from 1939-43 on Amazon. Would this be a good place to start? I'm looking to basically read as much as I can, I'm in no rush to jump right into the newer stuff and want to really get a good grip and the basics and enjoy where it all came from.

If these are a good way to start, where would I go from that? Or if there's a better place to begin feel free to throw any ideas at me.

Cheers

Fysh

It's important to bear in mind that there is, at this point, an awful lot of Superman material out there.

Personally, I reckon that the best starting point for Superman is the Max Fleischer cartoons, but that's not really useful in terms of comics.

All-Star Superman is pretty good as an accessible interpretation that's fairly recent, with great art. You can easily jump from there to any of the higher-profile storylines (there are some like For All Seasons or Birthright that are sort-of-not-exactly updated origin stories and work by themsleves, and others like The Death And Return Of Superman that are, er, less so).

If you want to go way back, you might also want to check out DC's Superman Archives collections. They're pricey but pretty definitive.

niall mc cann

Wow, it'll be tough to start from the 30s and read straight through, but there are collected editions that cover stories from each decade of his existence; you can get collections of Superman in the Forties, Fifties, Sixties and so on that would give you a good feel for how Superman changed in each period (and he changed quite a bit over the years).

The DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore have his two great Superman stories Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow and For The Man who has Everthing, both worth a read.

Totally second Fysh's suggestion of All Star Superman; and thinking of that, Morrison writes a great Superman; he wrote a great Superman in his run on JLA. There's something about seeing the guy wrestling a renegade angel to defend his fallen JLA comrades that makes you go "Oh... You know, he is really cool...".

Mr. K

It's quite silly and 90s, but the Death and Return of Superman arc is fun and accessible. It consists of the Death of Superman, A World Without A Superman and The Return of Superman; it's available as three separate collections or a single omnibus.

CylonYoda

Thanks for the info. Ive been looking around at what yous have reccomended. Superman really is extensive to get to grips with bit should be fun.