Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Superman Related Superman Comic Recommendations?

I've recently been reading up on Superman in the comics thanks to my Hoopla account. So far, I've read all of the Superman: Man of Steel trades that collected the John Byrne comics, the trades detailing the entire Death of Superman arc, a bit of the New 52 Superman, and everything they currently have of the Rebirth Superman comics. So that leads me to my question to those of you who are well-versed in Superman comics. Are there any Superman comics that are really good that I've missed? Anything you enjoyed that you would recommend?

I personally like the follow-on comics after the John Byrne series. Reading them properly would take a commitment, though, since they weave a single, almost never-ending, story throughout the different books. These books continue with the character and universe presented in the MoS series: Clark is the real person, Superman the disguise; Jonathan and Martha are still alive; Lex is a business man (when he isn't busy being Clark's nemesis), etc.

A brief, hugely oversimplified, guide to the different eras of Superman. (Note: There is debate about precisely when one age ends and the next begins. I am therefore leaving the cutoffs deliberately fuzzy.)

The Golden Age (1938 until some time in the 1950s): The true origin of Superman. The character is far more rough-and-tumble than he is in modern times. He has no compunction or remorse about killing bad guys or letting them die. This era also includes some cringe-worthy racist and misogynistic attitudes. Still, if you go into the stories with the understanding that they are not of the modern era and if you are willing to look at them as period pieces, they are worth a read.

The Silver Age (some time in the 1950s to ~1970): This is often disparaged as a time of silly stories. The comics in this era were, in general, clearly targeting a very young audience and often had outlandish and highly contrived plots. Superman is the main person, Clark the disguise. Superman becomes increasingly powerful, until he could juggle planets and travel in time by moving really fast (a la the Flash). Nevertheless, there are still some things to recommend the era: It saw many additions to Superman lore including, but by no means limited to, the bottled city of Kandor, Supergirl, and the Fortress of Solitude. It also had some very powerful stories (e.g., The Death of Superman). I enjoy even the silly stories in this age, but only in small doses when I am in the mood to set aside any semblance of logic or verisimilitude for the sake of a fun romp.

The Bronze Age (~1970-1986): Superman's powers were reigned in during the Kryptonite Nevermore series. Clark became a news reporter for Galaxy Broadcasting Company. The stories were often still quite fantastical, but seemed to target a somewhat older audience. It ended with the powerful and controversial two-part series "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" This ended the Golden/Silver/Bronze age Superman immediately preparatory to the first Superman reboot. (Byrne's "Man of Steel" series.) It's a story worth reading, but only after you are very familiar with the Bronze Age Status Quo.

The Byrnes and post-Byrnes Era (1986-2011): I highly recommend the books from the start of this era. The quality declined toward the end.

New 52 Era (2011-2016): I wouldn't recommend.

Rebirth Era (2016-last month): Highly recommend

Current era (starting with a new series, also titled "Man of Steel" that will start publishing later this month): ???

Sorry the ending here is so abrupt. I just realized I am late for work.

Happy Reading,
Lynn

p.s., A few specific, out-of-canon graphic novel suggestions for reading: All Star Superman, Superman for All Seasons, Superman Birthright, and Superman: Secret identity

I agree with Lynn's recommendations. I especially love All Star Superman. It's a great story. Another non-cannon story I really like is Superman: True Brit. It's a comedy co-written by John Cleese.

I don't know how readily available it is, but there is a collection of early '90s stories that's titled Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. It has a photo from the show on the cover. It has a few stories that are in a similar vein to the show. It's a fun read.

Most of my collection is Silver Age comics and collections of Sliver Age comics. I love the silly stuff. But, like Lynn mentioned, you have to take it in context. I love the Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane series that ran from the early '50s to the '70s, but it gets pretty sexist.

I really recommend Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. They made it into an animated movie, too, and it's a pretty good adaptation. I like the relationship between Superman and Batman in that story. They are best friends, and it feels genuine. (My signature is a quote from this story.)

Again, I don't know how available it is, but Under A Yellow Sun: A Novel by Clark Kent is a good story. It's a short trade, and it's very Clark-centric. He's writing a novel, and the novel parallels what he's doing as Superman and how he feels about it. It's fairly introspective, and it shows Clark thinking about the morality of what he's doing and the best way for Superman to act.

Hi Mrs. Mxy,

I've heard about true Brit and have wanted to read it, but have not found a reasonably-priced copy of it.

The "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" book is just a collection of the regular Byrnes/post-Byrnes comics. The only thing show-related about it is the cover photo. That's not to say that it is bad, just to emphasize that the stories were not written with the show in mind.

Joy,
Lynn

Lynn,

I guess I wasn't really clear about the L&C-titled book. Thanks for clarifying. I recommend it because the stories in it are a similar style to the show. I think the issues it collects are from the era when Lois and Clark were dating.

Thanks for all of the recommendations, Lynn and Mrs. Mxyzptlk. With the exception of that Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman book that has Dean and Teri on the cover, these are all new to me.

Ooh! I'll have to check out some of these. I love Public Enemies (the book and the movie), and Under a Yellow Sun sounds fascinating. So does Superman: Secret Identity. Thanks for the recs, guys!

I personally really like Kingdom Come, but it is an Elseworlds imprint, so not canonically relevant and also a little bit dark. But that's my style.

/also quietly drops "Forever Evil" of the new 52 into the mix, and then because you can't read it alone, also "Trinity War". Read the opposite order of how I phrased it./

I love the multiverse.

I like the Convergence series as well as it’s followon series Superman: Lois and Clark which centres around the pre New 52 Lois and Clark and the birth and raising of Jon in a different universe to the one they knew. This is the Lois and Clark of the Byrne’s era and will help link into the current continuity

Mouserocks, I love Kingdom Come, too, but I hesitated to recommend it because it might be a bit harder to get through if the reader isn't familiar with some of the other characters. It does focus on Superman, though, and it's a great read.

Another Elseworld story that's really good is Superman: Red Son. It basically asks, "What if Kal-El landed in Russia instead of Kansas?"
True Brit, which I mentioned above, is, "What if he landed in England?" Actually, a lot of my favorite Elseworlds stories are, "What if he landed somewhere else or were picked up by someone else?"

Speeding Bullets = What if the Waynes found him?
The Nail = What if the Kents got a flat tire that day and didn't find him? This one is an excellent story, but Superman is barely in it, and it doesn't make nearly as much sense if you're not familiar with a large number of DC characters. The Kents are in it, though, and they're awesome. They end up doing just what you'd expect in the situation from people who would be willing to suddenly take in an alien baby.

I actually own a copy of Kingdom Come. I didn't find myself enjoying it that much when I read it years ago because, as mrsMxyzptlk suggested, it is a bit confusing when you aren't familiar with all of the characters. Back when I read it, I wasn't, but it might be worth me giving it a second read. I can't remember who all is in the story besides Superman and Wonder Woman, but I am now more familiar with the DC characters than I was back then. I might be able to put more things into the proper context now.

Superman: Peace on Earth is a good read.

Edit: This story is pretty heavy, so I recommend reading it when you're in a mood to be contemplative.

I agree with Mrx. Mxy about "Peace on Earth". I would also add that the illustrations are breathtaking. They were done by Alex Ross, whose works always seem more like fine art than comic book illustrations.

Joy,
Lynn

Lynn, would these be the stories between the last of the Man of Steel trades and the first of the Death of Superman stories with Doomsday? They don't have those available through the means I've been using to read them (Hoopla), but I see that comicbookherald.com lists five trades of collected stories available from this time... From what I can tell, these seem to skip certain issues, but they may still be worth me checking them out. I'd just have to be willing to buy them.

Also, I totally skipped over the wedding issues due to a lack of availability on Hoopla. Are they worth checking out?

That is, indeed, the time frame to which I was referring. I would even continue to a few years past the death arc. The quality started to deteriorate as the new millennium approached.

I wish my library system had a Hoopla subscription; I've made the request, but nothing has come of it so far.

The trades are better than nothing, but the original comics are definitely preferable. My understanding is that not only do the trades skip some issues, they also prune the included issues to try to present a single, unified story. Although that is necessary for the change in format, it loses the rich tapestry in the original comics. One of the things I loved about that time is that while one story is playing out, there might be some foreshadowing of and allusions to several other stories. As with real life, problems overlap, what becomes the focus of one's attention may change, but that doesn't mean that the everything else stands still. I suspect that if you only read the trades, you would miss the rich tapestry.

I would not read just the issues around the wedding by themselves. If you don't know what is leading up to the wedding, if you don't know the what the characters are like and what they have experienced recently, you would miss out on a lot.

Joy,
Lynn

I agree with a lot of the recommendations. I've only been reading comics for about a year and have enjoyed quite a few of the stories I've read.

Several that weren't mentioned are:
Superman: For Tomorrow - It's got beautiful art (Jim Lee) and a thoughtful and compelling story that gets a little odd, but I really enjoyed it.
Superman Unchained - New 52 era, so he and Lois aren't together but they are still friends. It deals with the issue of why Superman doesn't submit himself to earthly authority. Again, beautiful art and I enjoyed exploring that idea.
Superman: Mann and Superman - a great graphic novel about power and responsibility
The Adventures of Superman (2013) is a collection of small stories by tons of different authors. One of my favorite stories ever is in this volume, called 'Faster Than a Bullet". The art is mind boggling good, the story is about how Clark saves the world 5 times before breakfast, but his idea of a perfect morning is... (not gonna spoil it)
Superman/Shazam: First Thunder is outstanding
Superman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy is an elseworlds with a good story but I thought the art was kinda ugly But even with ugly art, the story was still good enough to make it to my favorites list.

A couple of things of note:
Superman: Peace on Earth is very good, but very hard to find right now because I don't think it's ever been reprinted. That's about to change. A trade is going to be released in December with it and it's 5 companion novels collected. It's called Justice League: World's Greatest Superheroes by Alex Ross and Paul Dining. The companion novels are quite good as well, so it should be worth the cost, and it might be available on your service too.

If you like digital comics and are looking for a good place to buy, Comixology.com, an Amazon site, runs sales every week on different stuff, and those sales usually transfer over to Amazon Kindle too. I buy everything usually for $5-6 on Kindle and it unlocks on comixology also. Kindle is convenient, the comixology version has better resolution though.

Also, I own the Lois and Clark collection that's mentioned here. It's got a great forward in it by John Byrne about his thought process when he was reimagining Superman. If people are interested, I could probably be convinced to scan the pages of the forward and share them