All-Star Superman

This was so popular a read on the comics sites I occasion and it's been so roundly lauded on sites that aren't even about comics that I figured at the least this was some sure-fire entertainment. And I'm sure that for some, it was. I, unfortunately, am not a member of that particular Some.

Honestly,* All-Star Superman was kind of boring to me. It felt like a not-particularly necessary retread of Alan Moore's old bit, "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow." Time travel, final conflicts with old villains, revelation of identities, the end of Superman. Et cetera. I don't know, maybe that was the goal of the series.

In any case, if they were going to redo that story over twelve chapters instead of two (as in the original), I would have been happier to go along for the ride had only the art and writing been better. Morrison's text was alright but certainly nothing impressive. His dialogue was rather wooden and, at times, less readable than I'd like. Quitely's art though... [insert audible sigh] I don't know what it is about him that made him so popular but his people continue to look like mush monsters with too much space between the eyes. His women especially seem awkward and inhuman. I will grant that he is a superb designer. Some of his panel layouts are just fabulous. It's his figurework that poops on my eyes.

All told, there was nothing special about the book and by the time of Superman's swan song, I couldn't be bothered to care.

Clearly this book appeals to some people. For some, it seems to rank in their Top 5 of all time. This is a mystery I won't pretend to unravel. I won't even try to judge the reasons why someone might adore this book. We'll just leave it at All-Star Superman being a book I am incapable of appreciating, something that so little intersects with my tastes and sense of what's worthwhile that I found it utterly transcendent.

Note:
*I know... if you have to state something honestly it implies dishonesty (or at least a marked predisposition toward dishonesty) in everything else you say.

 

 

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