Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 2 [Paperback]

John Byrne (Author), Terry Austin (Author), Marv Wolfman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marv Wolfman is the former Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Comics. He is a longtime comic writer who had long runs on Tomb of Dracula for Marvel, which is where Blade the Vampire Hunter made his first appearance and New Teen Titans for DC Comics. Blade was later adapted to film form with Wesley Snipes in the starring role. Wrote the landmark DC Comic series Crisis on Infinite Earths. Created the character 'Bullseye' for Daredevil comics. Created the current iteration of Robin (Robin III/Tim Drake) for DC comics. The character has remained popular for nearly twenty years and has its own self-titled long-running series

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401200052
• ISBN-13: 978-1401200053
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.6 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #358,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Start For The Post-Crisis Superman Titles!, May 29, 2004

By 

Edmund Lau Kok Ming (Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

What you need to know before reading this book:
1) Superman stories published from 1938 to 1986 (commonly called "Pre-Crisis Superman") were wiped out of continuity and is no longer part of the Superman Canon.
2) An event called "Crisis on Infinite Earths" cleaned up DC Comics continuity and recreated the DC Universe in 1985/6. All comics from that point to the present are referred to as the "Post-Crisis" stories.
3) The "Post-Crisis" Superman began with 1986's "The Man of Steel" miniseries by John Byrne (collected as Volume One)
4) This volume (Vol. 2) collects the first three issues of the normal Superman comics immediately following "The Man of Steel" miniseries - therefore giving us a good representation of the "New" Superman and how it all began (again).

The majority of the stories collected in this volume are written and drawn by John Byrne, who was also responsible for the revamp in the first place. The rest of the stories are written by Marv Wolfman (who also provided the "Intro" to this volume) and beautifully drawn by Jerry Ordway. The stories read like a continuation of "The Man of Steel". While the previous volume gave us the new Krypton, the new Pa/Ma Kent, Brainiac, Luthor, etc., this volume gives us Cat Grant, the new Metallo, Prof. Emil Hamilton and further fleshes out the malicious character of Lex Luthor. In addition to that, we have three issues of Superman in Apokolips (actually part of the "Legends" crossover but it can very well stand alone by itself) with a superb rendition of Darkseid, Orion, Lightray and the rest of the classic Kirby creations by John Byrne.

This volume is highly recommended to all Superman historians (like me!) and all fans of John Byrne (the man was at his very best here).

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A renewed beginning, April 2, 2008

By 

"extreme_dig_cm" (Chicago, Il USA, Amazon.com Fan!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

Having established his origin in volume 1, this is where Byrne's Superman interpretation really begins again.

Highlights here for me...
*Superman 1- Superman vs. Metallo- the power of Kryptonite established. Pretty good for a 1st issue. Pencils and inks by Byrne & Austin- the famous X-Men team!
*Action 584- Teen Titans! One of my favorite issues in Byrne's entire run. I've seen a little bit of Byrne's original pencils for this issue, and it amazes me how Dick Giordano took his pretty sketchy layouts and made them into what we see here. Byrne was fortunate to get Terry Austin, Dick Giordano, and then later Karl Kesel on inks- a comics "dream team"(!). Giordano is *great* here.
*Superman 2- Clark Kent exposed? Visually impressive, I like this just as much as Action 584. Here Terry Austin's inks are sporadic though: sometimes crisp, sometimes blurry. Frustrating, seeing as how Byrne's pencils are so *great* here. And Lex Luthor is hilarious.

To me, these three issues by themselves are worth the entire price of the book! This is actually the pattern throughout the entire Man of Steel series- I buy each volume just to get a few of Byrne's great issues.

Included in this volume:
*Superman #1- John Byrne writes & pencils; Terry Austin inks
*Action Comics #584- John Byrne writes & pencils; Dick Giordano inks
*Superman #2- John Byrne writes & pencils; Terry Austin inks
*Adv. of Superman #424- Marv Wolfman writes; Jerry Ordway pencils; Mike Machlan inks
*Adv. of Superman #425- Marv Wolfman writes; Jerry Ordway pencils & inks
*Action Comics #585- John Byrne writes & pencils; Dick Giordano inks
*Superman #3- John Byrne writes & pencils; Terry Austin inks
*Adv. of Superman #426- Marv Wolfman writes; Jerry Ordway pencils & inks
*Action Comics #586- John Byrne writes & pencils; Dick Giordano inks
*and Who's Who Update '87- a few excerpts

P.S. People in-the-know say "Dick Giordano's" inks here were really done by a member of his studio using his name. True or not, I still love these inks.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner by Byrne!, January 9, 2007

By 

Patrick D. Preston "LobVolley" (Lexington, KY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 2 (Paperback)

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.