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Monday, 27 February 2006 14:34

Grant Morrison, showing himself to be in top form, tosses brilliant ideas around like a crazed lumberjack at ESPN’s Outdoor Games.

All Star Superman #1-2
(DC Comics; 32pgs FC; $2.99 ea.)
(W: Grant Morrison, A: Frank Quitely)

Superman is dying.

Back from a rescue mission on the surface of the sun, Superman’s solar-powered cells have become supersaturated, expanding at such a rapid pace that they will eventually get too big and explode. Ironically, it is the source of his alien power, the Earth’s yellow sun, that has finally done what Lex Luthor and kryptonite could never do: Superman, the man of steel, faster than a speeding bullet and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, is face to face with his own mortality.

This is the premise behind Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s 12-issue run on All Star Superman. The second title in DC comics’ All Star line, which pairs the top creators in the comics field with some of DC comics most iconic characters, All Star Superman has lived up to the hype surrounding it.

Grant Morrison, showing himself to be in top form, tosses brilliant ideas around like a crazed lumberjack at ESPN’s Outdoor Games. In the first two issues alone, Superman has faced a radioactive suicide bomber on the surface of the sun, found out he was dying, saved a kid from being run over by a truck, revealed himself as Clark Kent to Lois Lane, flown to his fortress of solitude in Antarctica with Lois, and designed a 24-hour Superwoman suit as a birthday present for Lois. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor, fresh off a stint in jail and now working for Uncle Sam, attempts to blow up the sun so that he can make a fortune selling bottled water, tries to kill a Pentagon general, and asks to be arrested before he does “something really terrible to Superman.”

Likewise, Frank Quitely’s Superman looks very much like a younger, Mr. Olympia–era version of California’s current governor. The scope and depth of his pages leave the reader’s jaw gaping in awe.

Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely own this book. With them at the helm, Superman is the ultimate All Star.