Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Superman Related A Superman reading club...

I was just wondering if anyone would be interested in reading a few comics and discussing them with me? I know I don't have many of the new ones (and I'm sure other than Smallville and Adventures of Superman, not many of us are reading the recent stuff) but maybe there may be one or two of the back-issues a few of us have in common. I'll look through my inventory and post a couple of options if others are interested. I do know one that I suspect a decent number of people probably have but I want to see if there's an interest in this first.

I would love to, but things are starting to get a lot busier at work and I'm not sure I would have the time.

FWIW, my favourite comics are from the John Byrne era. The Clark/Superman in them is most like his L&C counterpart. (Or, to be temporally correct, I should say hat the L&C version of the character is quite like Byrne's vision.)

Joy,
Lynn

I'll enjoy reading the discussion but I have a total of 5 Superman comics (okay, one is a collection, but still...). Unfortunately, with the comic store in town closed down (*and* the one bookstore which had been picking up where the comic store left off having closed down...), there's not much options for me to get them other than renting (when available) Superman Showcase books from the library.

These are the ones, I have:

- Superman: The Wedding Album, No. 1, Dec. '96 Special
- Superman: The Man of Steel: Honeymoon Horror, #63 (1996 #50?) - Sadly, I'm missing the other two honeymoon comics from the series
- Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? - (collection of: #423 (Sept '86), #583 (Sept '86), #85 (Sept '85), Annual #11 (1985) - aka "For the Man who has Everything" )
- RetroActive 1970s: Superman - 1 shot - Sept 2011.
And then #3 and #4 of the Superman Family Adventures I was able to pick up before they discontinued the series and my comic book store closed.

Okay, I guess, that's technically 6 comic books.

I did ask for more Showcase Presents: Superman books for my birthday. I've read the first 2 (which covers many of the early years and alt-verse where Lois and Clark get married in the 50's/60's, when Clark gets amnesia) - I highly recommend them for anyone looking to learn a bunch of backstory quickly. (they're only a couple of inches thick each and originally ran $6.99).

I thought the Wedding Album might be the best starting point considering how it was tied so tightly to the LnC (actual) wedding and might be the one we'd be the most likely to have. I'll have to see if any of mine match the ones you mentioned. Anyone have suggestions along these lines? I know I have (almost) all of the Superman Family Adventures. I'm not sure of the rest so far.

I have the comics from 1990 (when Lois and Clark started dating) to 1998 (Superman, Adventures of Superman, Action Comics, Man of Steel and Man of Tomorrow). I think the most important storylines from that time are the Wedding arc and the Death of Superman. And I also have Superman: For Tomorrow, from 2004-2005.

Andreia

I'm in. I've got quite a lot of Superman comics.

I've got:
- Superman Chronicles (reprints of all the Action Comics and Superman issues from 1938 through the early '40s)
- sporadic issues of Action Comics, Superman, Adventure Comics, Superboy, Supergirl, Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane, and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, mostly from the late '50s to early '70s
- Showcase: Superman ('60s comics)
- Showcase: Superman Family (Lois Lane and Jimmy comics)
- Showcase: World's Finest (Featuring your two favorite Superheroes: Superman and Batman and Robin)
- The Death of Superman
- Funeral for a Friend / A World Without Superman
- The Return of Superman
- All-Star Superman
- Superman vs. Muhammad Ali
- Under A Yellow Sun: A Novel by Clark Kent (which is a comic, not a novel)
- Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
- Tales of the Bizarro World
- all the Superman Family Adventures
- Superman: Peace on Earth
- Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
- Superman/Batman: Supergirl
- Superman Vol. 1: What Price Tomorrow?
- Last Son of Krypton
- Superman for all Seasons
- The Man of Steel
- Superman: The World of Krypton
- Superman Foverver
- Superman: President Luthor Secret Files
- Superman: The Sunday Classics, 1939–1943
- Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told vol. 2
- Newstime Magazine Special Issue (The Life and Death of the Man of Steel: World Without A Superman)
- Superman: Past and Future
- Superman: The Bottle City of Kandor
- Superman: The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen
- Superman: The Secrets Of The Fortress Of Solitude
- Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (a collection of late '80s / early '90s comics that would have inspired the show)
- Superman/Doomsday Omnibus
- Superman: Escape from Bizarro World
- Superman: The Wedding Album

Some Elseworlds:
- Speeding Bullets
- Superman: True Brit
- Superman: Red Son
- I think I've got Superman: The Dark Side, but it's not very good.
- Superman: A Nation Divided
- Superman: Kal
- Superman and Batman: World's Funnest (it's mostly Mr. Mxy and Bat-Mite)
- Superman: Secret Identity

Some excellent Justice League stuff that's got a lot of Superman, but they don't make as much sense if you're not familiar with the other characters:
- Kingdom Come
- The Nail
- Another Nail
- New Frontier
- Justice

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure I've got other random Superman stuff as well.

If you guys pick something to read, I've probably got it. If you're looking for something funny, I'd recommend Superman: True Brit. In a more serious vein, I think that you guys would really like Under a Yellow Sun. It's very Clark-centric, rather than being Superman-centric. If you're looking for romance, All-Star Superman has some.

Awesome list there. Looks pretty much like mine.

I'm a firm believer that the John Byrne era is the definitive Clark/Superman.

Coincidentally I just started re-reading through my collection only last week. I started at Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite and have just finished Time and Time Again.

For the novice comic book reader, could you tell me which decade(or title line of books) this era is?

The Byrne era starts with the 1986 reboot. (That reboot was *much* better than the 2011 one.)

Joy,
Lynn

I like what they did with Clark post-Crisis, but I also miss Superman the super-scientist from the Silver Age.

There's some pretty decent 70s (i.e. pre-Crisis) stories that I might end up suggesting but I think starting with the Byrne era works just fine for me. What does everyone think about starting with "Man of Steel (i.e. Man of Steel #1-6 for those, like me that go get the individual comics from the .50 stacks).

Everyone who has been on this board for a while knows that I'm a comic book geek, and have been since I rediscovered them in college (early 70's).

I have all the Superman books back to the 1970's and many others from before that, and since I'm mostly a Lois Lane fan, I have the entire run of "Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane". Some of those books are really a hoot.

I too think that the Byrne reboot was well done and led to what many consider a mini golden age for the Superman titles. My involvement with over 26 years of belonging to a group that puts on our local comic book conventions has allowed me to meet many of my comic book 'idols' over the years.

I consider meeting and interacting with such giants as Curt Swan and Jose Luis Garcia Lopez as highlights of my comic book experiences. I can also call local artist/writer Dan Jurgens and artist Doug Mahnke friends. Both have worked on Superman through the years. In fact, I think no one has worked on more Superman books than Dan except Curt Swan.

I look forward to occasionally checking in on this little forey to see how others feel about one of my obsessions. It should be fun.

Tank (who says, that while he agrees that John Byrne did excellant work on the Superman reboot, it's really too bad that the man himself is a rude, arrogant tool)

Sounds good. Any objections? Who's in? Do people need time to track down a copy before we start? How do we want to handle this? Read an issue together at a time? Or just post our thoughts as we go at our own pace?

I know I don't have the full run of that particular arc (I think I have 1, 3 and 6, but I'm not 100% sure). *comes back dragging her feet* It turns out that (according to my inventory... which admittedly isn't completely up to date) I don't have it. I suspect I can get them by the end of March though (that's when my local con is.)

Oh my goodness. So jealous. Wish I had some way to shove my husband's comic art under their noses. But, living in England, there is no contact at all with people like that at our conventions (which themselves are small, few and very lacking in Comic stalls and guests).

That's such a shame.

While a lot of you are not reading the New52, there's going to be a Lois Lane One-shot coming up that delves into her past. What do you guys think of starting with this one (not that we'd read too many of the New52 after this one)?

I'm planning on getting that Lois Lane one-shot at my next trip to my local comic book shop, so I'd be up for joining in a discussion about it.