Superman comic book reading guide for beginners

The Man of Steel, the first superhero. In his 86 years of publication, since Action Comics #1, he's remained relevant and set the course for superhero comics. But in his "can do anything" era, as the comic became more complex and featured more adult scripts, Superman became a difficult character to write because his endless responses and solutions make it difficult to present worthy challenges. Added to the social/political weight he represents in his "American Dream" format, from our perspective as Argentinians (a country that loves Batman), he always seemed a bit of a fan of the cap and the establishment.

That's why, unlike other characters that are easier to love, it's very likely that you haven't read much about the Kryptonian. But, hey, don't worry. His name is Kal-El, he has some great stories, and we're going to give you a little push toward the comics you should start reading.

Who is Superman?

In 1938, in the first 13 pages of Action Comics #1, the character of Superman was born, created by the duo of Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. While pulp characters were already beginning to become adventure favorites, such as The Phantom and Zorro, the concept of the "superhero" was born with our friend from Krypton.

Kal-El was sent to Earth by his parents from the planet Krypton, before it exploded and was destroyed. Upon falling to our planet, he was found and adopted by the Kent family of Smallville, USA, who renamed him Clark. As he grew up under the Kents' tutelage in that small rural town in the USA, his powers began to emerge, reacting to the sun of our galaxy, which activated his Kryptonian lineage. Clark, whose kindness, thanks to the Kents, was insurmountable, decided to use these new powers to help and protect the inhabitants of his new home.

Superman is the blueprint of superheroes, and not only of the genre but also of the "Superman" archetype that today we see reflected in parodies and characters like Homelander and Invincible, and crossing the great ocean there are many parallels with the beloved Son Goku, another alien who falls into the earth and is adopted by a man who teaches him kindness.

In his 86 years, Superman lived everything, died, he came back and died again... These are – for me – the comics that you should start reading to get into the character, but then there is much more to explore.

Secret Origin (Superman #650-655 - 2009)

We have to start at the beginning, but, as you might imagine, just like Batman, our beloved Clark has an origin that has been told thousands of times over the years. Geoff Johns—a hardworking writer, if ever there was one, with his hits and misses—and artist Gary Frank bring us a Superman origin that served as a foundation not only for what came later in comics but also for organizing the cinematic universes and series.

After the Infinite Crisis saga, which Johns also wrote, several characters needed to be organized and their origins revisited. In the case of the Man of Steel, Johns manages to construct a story that maintains the pillars and icons of the myth, but adapts it to more modern times and makes it more accessible to new readers.

In the 6 issues that Secret Origin contains, Johns allows us to add more to what we already know about the life and destruction of Krypton, Kal-El's home planet, the relationship of his real parents, his education and family relationship on Earth, the first confrontations with his nemesis Lex Luthor and the origin of the decision to fight to protect his new home.

The Man who has everything (Superman Annual #11- 1985)

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, responsible for Watchmen –and in Moore's case also for thousands of goals but above all for Batman's Killing Joke–, bring us this short but spectacular adventure story that not only features a story that adds lore but also shows how Superman relates to his personal fantasies.

Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman descend upon Superman's "Batcave"—the Fortress of Solitude—on his birthday, bearing gifts. But they find him being controlled by an alien plant called Black Mercy, delivered by Mongul, a space-conquering villain whom Superman has repeatedly beaten up. This plant induces a dream with hallucinations of what his life would be like if Krypton hadn't been destroyed, but what starts out as pleasant gradually turns into torture. Meanwhile, Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman confront Mongul and try to figure out how to disconnect this plant from Clark. One of my favorite comics: short, to the point, super effective.

Superman: For All Seasons (Mini series - 1998)

Hay duplas creativas que ganan siempre. Antes hablamos de Moore y Gibbons, pero lo de Jeph Loeb y Tim Sale en los '90 no tiene nombre. Estos muchachos que venían de hacer Un largo Halloween en Batman deciden hacer algo super diferente a lo que le estaba pasando a Superman.

Un poco de contexto: en los '90, el mito del Hombre de Acero tuvo que ser reforjado después de que DC Comics tomara la decisión de matar a Superman. Luego de clones, robots, resurrecciones y transformaciones, el personaje entró en un mood raro tratando de adecuarse a la nueva era de los antihéroes. Bueno, Loeb y Sale hacen uno de los cómics más tiernos y humanos que pueden sacarse del alma y logran bajar por un ratito a Superman de su Olimpo, para traernos cuatro relatos de sus primeros años creciendo en Smallville y su llegada a Metrópolis.

And how do they do this? To begin, as the title suggests, we're going through the seasons here. We have four stories narrated by different characters (Clark Kent, Jonathan Kent, Lois Lane, and Lana Lang) in an introspective tone that focuses on Clark's humanity. Added to this is Sale's pencils and colors, which are very delicate in each chapter.

All-Star Superman (Limited series - 2005)

Obviously, the first superhero brought together the best writers in comics, and in All-Star, we have another creative team that is spectacular and very important to comics in this genre. Grant Morrison, responsible for Arkham Asylum and other great comics, teams up with one of his favorite artists, Frank Quitely, to bring you one of the definitive stories for understanding Superman.

All-Star Superman is built on a myth narrative, a word I've used several times to refer to this character, but it's because Morrison understands Superman as a god who masquerades as a human to take care of us, because this planet and its people gave him a home.

Morrison discussed the creation of All-Star Superman in an October 21, 2008, interview with Newsrama, in which he recounts what he realized after seeing a Superman cosplayer at San Diego Comic-Con: "He was sitting with one knee up, his chin resting on his arms. He looked totally relaxed... and I suddenly realized that this was how Superman should sit. He wouldn't puff out his chest or have a heroic posture, but he would be totally calm. If nothing can hurt you, you can afford to be calm. A man like Superman would never have to tense up in the cold; he would never flinch from a blow. He would be totally relaxed. With this image of Superman in my head, relaxing on a cloud and looking down at us, I ran to my room and filled dozens of pages in my notebook with notes and drawings."

After a confrontation where he receives extremely high levels of sunlight—which usually gives him his power—Superman eventually falls ill, contracting a kind of "super cancer." For this reason, and knowing his time is limited, he decides to put together a to-do list while he navigates the day-to-day life of being a superhero, facing iconic enemies, and accepting his destiny and legacy. This is a must-read.

The death of Superman (Superman #73-75, Adventures of Superman #496-497, Justice League America #69 - 1992)

Few stories had as much impact outside of comics as this one. Superman's death shocked the world at large and was an event that not only shook his status as an untouchable character—as many understood it—but also brought with it the repercussions of imagining a world without him. Conceived by DC editor Mike Carlin and a creative team including Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and Karl Kessel, The Death and Return of Superman, the full title of the saga, is a story that has aged and is somewhat difficult to read today, but it is a very important part of the character's history. It's not so much that it kills him, but the idea of ​​seeing him die and having to reconfigure the DC universe around it.

In The Death of Superman, a being created to be a weapon of mass destruction, Doomsday, manages to escape from his prison on Earth, where he had been entombed millions of years ago. This super-random and powerful character begins his destructive rampage like a force of nature, dispatching cities and superheroes like it's nothing. Until he runs into Superman and they begin the most violent beating we've ever seen Clark receive and give.

Of all the recommendations so far, this title has the significance of marking a decade and beginning another with Reign of the Supermen, and featuring a crossover with the entire DC universe in Funeral for a Friend. It may be the hardest of these recommendations to read, but I encourage you to enjoy some good punches.

"Hey, but you didn't mention Red Son," and no. While it's one of the most popular Superman comics of recent years, I didn't think it built the character itself. Rather, it's a distortion, which we'll discuss in another article, delving deeper into these "what ifs" and the "other" Supermen in the comic.