Customer Reviews

Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 1

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In 1986, DC Comics commissioned writers to create "reboot" stories for their three largest properties: Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Two of those reboots became some of the most famous comics ever written: Frank Miller's BATMAN: YEAR ONE, and John Byrne's SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL.

THE MAN OF STEEL was originally a 6-issue miniseries. Issue 1 dealt with the destruction of Krypton, Clark's discovery that he was adopted, and Clark's invention of his alter-ego, "Superman". Issue 2 involved Superman's first rescues in Metropolis, the appearance of mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, and the beginning of Lois Lane's infatuation with the Man of Steel. In Issue 3, Superman travels to Gotham City to arrest Batman, but instead comes to accept Batman's vigilante methods as the two battle the villainous Magpie. Billionaire Lex Luthor tests Superman's abilities in Issue 4, ultimately being arrested by Superman at the Metropolis mayor's command ("You can't arrest me," Luthor says. "I'm Lex Luthor!"); Luthor vows to take down Superman. In Issue 5, Luthor's attempts at cloning Superman fail as they discover that he is not a mutation, but an alien lifeform; the result is the deformed Bizarro. In the final issue, Issue 6, Superman is haunted by a hologram of his father, Jor-El; he learns his otherwordly origins while dealing with the pain he inflicted on Lana Lang by telling her his secret and then disappearing after high school.

THE MAN OF STEEL is notable for many reasons besides being the Superman reboot. For one thing, here Superman is not born on Krypton and then sent to Earth; he travels through space in a "birthing matrix", where he develops before finally being born on Earth. The most important change of Byrne's comics is that Clark Kent becomes the real person, while Superman is the alter-ego; almost always Superman is shown as being the true person with Clark Kent as the alter-ego. Using Clark Kent as Kal-El's true identity was also used on the hit TV series LOIS & CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN in the 1990s. The final major change is Lex Luthor, who previously was no more than a brilliant evil scientist, but here becomes the third richest man in the world, a ruthless businessman.

John Byrne's writing is great. It moves fast, it's exciting, and it lets us feel how Superman feels. He uses each character and situation to further the story, and in the end it all works extremely well. My only complaint would be the dialogue. While Frank Miller revolutionized comic book dialogue with his realistic, straightforward, 40s noir-style dialogue, Byrne's dialogue is like that of old: hokey and unbelievable. Some of the characters are incredibly outspoken. Byrne makes Superman explain each and every move to the fullest; Batman rambles on in the campy fashion of his 60s TV series, coming across as a far nicer and more chatty character than the Batman who appeared in works like BATMAN: YEAR ONE and BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.

Byrne's artwork, inked by Dick Giordano and colored by Tom Ziuko, is excellent. Not excellent in a film-quality, panoramic sort of way, a la SIN CITY or WATCHMEN, but excellent in an above-average, classic comic sort of way. The artwork isn't extraodinarily complex, but it is colorful, vivid, and pronounced. Byrne's drawings of Superman/Clark Kent are especially wonderful.

All in all, SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL is great. The writing's great, save for the campy dialogue, but even that just seems to add to the charm of the comic. The artwork's great. It's not an incredible comic, but it's interesting, fun, and well-made, a fitting reboot for the ultimate superhero. If you're trying to decide between the 2004 reboot, SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT, and this 1986 reboot, I'd recommend the '86 reboot. A superb re-telling of the Man of Steel's origins.

I missed this run when it initially came out (I was 6) and didn't really know about it until I started to dig back into comic histroy a bit. This is the post-crisis reboot of Superman. And it changed up alot of the status quo.

Superman wasn't concieved by standard "relations", he is basically a test tube baby. He was never actually exposed to his own planet - he was inside a "Birthing Matrix". This is my major issue with the story.

Krypton is a cold a sterile place - all science no love... It works, but the hand is a bit too forced. I prefer the basic origin story.

The story is a series of minor tweaks: His father lives, He isn't great friends with Batman (they fight and then respect each other - but they aren't Super-friends (hehe)), Lex Luthor is a fat business man who STILL has no reason to hate superman so much...

There is a great debate on which origin is better - the almost 20 year old Man of Steel or the recent Birthright. Having read them both in the last year - my opinion is that Birthright is by far a better story.

But this is good superman history. The art and dialog are great for the time and it is an overall satisfying story.

John Byrne's strength as a writer/artist is that he sees clearly to the heart of the character. Here, as he did with the Fantastic Four, he not so much re-invents as clarifies the character. All of the fat and foolishness is stripped away, and new details are added that fit so well that you wonder how the feature went fifty years without them. Byrne is totally respectful of what has come before, and yet makes it all fresh and new. This is truly Superman reborn and reinvigorated. Landmark comics, and also a great "starter" book for the fledgeling comics reader.

John Byrne does not reinvent Superman in this collection. He returns the character to what he originally was. He strips away much of the mythos which only came into Superman's life after Siegel and Shuster left DC (Superboy, Supergirl, Krypto, multi-colored Kryptonite, god-like power levels, and Kryptonian heritage), and leaves us with the character as he was meant to be when he was created.

the past few years superman has been written so poorly, the art has tried to make him more manga or just trying weird styles, people have written superman as everything but superman.

but in this book from 1986 we see superman, simple yet oh so effective, we believe he is superman, you see the man in the superman, the man who loves his parents, they love ihim, a lois who is strong but not the annoying lois we so a lot today.

superman was bogged down by being overpowerful, too alien and not very human, then Byrne come along and give us the human superman, the man who was clark kent first and superman second.

sadly dc comics is changing it back with a superman who is more wrapped up in being an alien, his father is not helping his son create a costume but becoming upset over it.

so if you want the great superman, get this and leave the newest books alone, and i assume the birthright story will become a trade soon, if you see it leave it be and let this be the only origin of supermans you read.

John Byrne does the best Superman ever!

In the mid-eighties, DC asked John Byrne, who had written a long run of The Fantastic Four, to revamp Superman, who was about fifty years old at the time. In what I would consider typical "Marvel style," Byrne added characterization and scientific explanation to the Superman mythos as he reinvented classic characters and retold their stories. His beautiful art work and excellent story-telling ability make these comics a JOY to read!

I would STRONGLY recommend that you purchase all FOUR volumes of John Byrne's Superman; each one picks up right where the last one left off. When I was finished reading them, I purchased the rest of Byrne's run on the Superman comics; they were that good.

After Crisis On Infinite Earths, the modern-day Superman of Earth-One could have continued on without a reboot, but DC Comics decided to bring him back to basics, and John Byrne's retelling does a great job of it. Its Krypton made me think of Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie, only colder and sterile. Superman wasn't born on Krypton, but conceived in a gestation matrix and sent to Earth so that he could be born there, and for a time was the only survivor of Krypton. His adopted parents, the Kents, live onward to their son's adulthood instead of dying. Superman developed his powers slowly and had no history as Superboy, which would annoy Legion of Super Heroes fans but made his debut as a costumed adult superhero a whole lot more sensible. However, this change in history also required a change in Lex Luthor's history, and not only was his history changed, but so also was his occupation: Luthor is a powerful and yet corrupt billionaire whose grudge against Superman is that he can't put the Kryptonian under his employ and that someone like him would dare to bring Luthor to justice. Despite these changes, everything else like Superman's first meeting with Lois Lane and the staff of the Daily Planet, his first encounter with Batman, and his dealing with a Bizarro version of himself were fresh retellings that were worth mixing in with the new stuff. It's sad to see this origin now being supplanted with his more modern origin which brings back his history as Superboy and his first encounter with a teenage Lex Luthor, but I still think this is one of the best, if not the overall best, Superman origin stories ever told.

John Byrne has done to Superman what he needed to have done. All of the anoying, cheesy parts of the Superman Legend have been removed, while essential new parts (such as leaving his parents alive and a millionaire Lex Luthor) are so good, I don't see how they had been left out. John Byrne has given everyone a personality, and a likable one at that. He draws Superman the way he is meant to be drawn. Finally, a believable Superman.

With the end of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, D.C. comics taps John Byrne to re-invent their greatest creation for a new era. Man of Steel displays Superman as a truly human being, only trapped within this infinitely powered alien. Finally, we see that Clark Kent is not the disguise, but Superman is. A true comics milestone.

Byrne, Byrne, Byrne. He went from hit to miss. Throughout his entire career, he's been known for changing character's origins (Doom Patrol, Spider-Man, part of Batman's, part of Wonder Woman's), but his first one was the Man of Steel, where he redefined Superman for a new Generation of readers. It was also one of the best written books by John Byrne.

Let's start with the good things about this book-
*Superman is the secret identity, and Clark Kent is the real person. Why on Earth was this not done in the first place? I mean would Superman (the real personality) be a man who's to scared to do anything but laugh at his own foolishness? Because that's what Superman's personality in the Silver Age basically did
*Pa and Ma Kent still being alive when Superman's alive. Superman now has people to talk with when he's troubled, instead of just thinking about it for hours by himself. It also gives Clark Kent the ability to go to the farm and help his parents when he needs to, or at least that's a really good excuse when Superman and Clark Kent are nowhere near each other.
*The start of the new Superman and Batman relationship. In one of the issues Superman has learned about the vigilante Batman and believes that he needs to be taken to jail. The two are forced to work together on a mission to capture the villainness Magpie. Even though the two heroes aren't entirely friends by the end, a bond is beginning to form.
*Lex Luther as the kingpin. I know this may seem weird because I'm saying a rip off is a good thing, but really all Lex Luthor was before this: mad scientist who hates Superman. That was all his personality was. Now he still has a mad scientist personality (creating robots that are meant to fight) but is a cuning person able to evade capture in believable way.

What I don't like:
*The background and color of nearly every page. There is no background whatsoever on nearly every page, but the colorist tries to make up for this by have dark colors all across one page which LOOKS like a background. This is just laziness of Byrne and at times laziness of the artist.

So even though the background really got on my nerves I still love everything else that was added to the Superman mythos.