SUPERDUPERMAN, ALL STAR SUPERMAN
The parody comic was fun to read; Superman is so ditzy and goofy looking, acting as a total dramatization of the already clumsy Clark Kent. The panel where he accidentally went into the phone booth with the girl in it and had to run out holding his clothes had me laughing, imagining how funny and embarrassing it would be for the actualy hero Superman to do that. Even though Clark is depicted as the coffee-dropping, pedestrian-bumping, slipping-and-falling type guy in the actual comics, he is much more exaggerated even in the art form in this comic that makes it truly fun and enjoyable. The characters Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen were exaggerated as well, with Lois’s curves and body being over accentuated.
All-Star Superman was something I was already looking forward to reading, and the ambition was matched with satisfaction. The differences between this comic and the originals that we’ve seen in Action Comics are dramatic in the way it is presented, drawn, and written. The older comics seemed much cheesier, with corny dialogue, obvious moral implications, and a Superman that is constantly doing episode-type adventures to help humanity, even with the smallest of deeds like working at a carnival to bring it popularity or tearing down apartment complexes so that the city can build new ones for the poor. In All-Star, I felt as though it managed to conjure much of the vibe that the old comics possessed and regurgitate it, in my opinion, with less cheesiness and more seriousness and believability.
The reason I feel it is more believable is simply because Superman and the characters are already so developed in this comic; we already know that Lois and Superman have a history, we already get a sense of who Jimmy is, that Lex is a terrible, mad scientist who is manipulative, and that he works for Daily Planet under the secret alias of Clark. In this comic, none of that needs to really be established, but it is rather furthered and broadened and hashed out. Lois now knows Clark is Superman, but instead of a cheesy “I am Superman!” and Lois saying “Oh, Clark! I knew it was you!” type scenario (total hypothetical example), there was a cliffhanger at the end, then a discussion scene in the beginning of the next comic with her and Superman. It just felt so much more real, even though so many of the same elements taken from the original comics remained intact.
Elements that remained intact that kept the Superman vibe for me was the small introduction of his origin in the beginning—except this origin story was really short— and the constant scientific explanations, such as the sun being a source of energy that made him die within a year. The episode-type vibe made it also feel like the old comics because each one had its own, individual adventure. I extremely enjoyed when he gave Lois his powers for a day—it really focused on Superman, the man, rather than just the hero. Such a good read! Loved being able to compare and contrast the differences between this comic, an already fleshed-out, fully understood Superman, in comparison to the older ones, which had a Superman that seemed less of a man and more of a character or an extraordinary concept.