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ritzoreo Since: Feb, 2011
09/11/2017 19:48:10 •••

An incredibly good story

Frank Quitely and Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman is perhaps the best non-canonical Superman story written Post-Crisis.

It touches every important aspect of Silver Age Superman with style and grace. Absent is any effort to bring the Superman mythos down to earth, embracing the zanyness and wackyness of its most glorious period with gusto and intelligence. It's almost a Refuge in Audacity script, embracing the camp so much that it becomes cool in the process: Superman becomes ridiculously strong even by his own standards; Jimmy Olsen must mutate into something crazy to help Superman; Luthor is pure awesome ham; Clark Kent tries to convince Lois that he's Superman; Kryptonian attire includes antennae... the works for a comic book from The '50s or The '60s but made in The Noughties.

Morrison not only gives us a sense of awe and wonder but he does it with the traditional Good Is Old-Fashioned Superman. Our hero is in his classic uber-kindness mode, being nice to everyone by default and not giving up hope even on Luthor. And it works.

Frank Quitely's art is technically very good and impressively detailed, but his warts and all approach can be a bit distracting. Superman's Adam's apple is too noticeable and sometimes it seems that he was modeled after Jay Leno when we take their chin into consideration. Lois Lane, Lana Lang and Lilo resemble one another. All of the characters faces tend to be rather inexpressive. Quitely also seems to think that being muscular = being puffy.

Jamie Grant's digital coloring is also distracting. Skin colors look unnatural, everyone seems to have a weird suntan or a mild case of argyria. Even with Quitely's crisp and precise skin details, the coloring gives every face a sheen that makes one wonder if the characters are supposed to be wearing some plastic masks.

Still a recommendable purchase, read and keep. The script alone is worth it.


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