WrestleMania X8 and All-Star Superman: Difference between pages
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{{Supercbbox| <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->
|title =All Star Superman
|comic_color = background:#8080ff
|image =[[Image:All Star Superman Cover.jpg|250px]]
|caption = ''All-Star Superman'' #1 cover art by Frank Quitely
|schedule = Bimonthly
|format = Ongoing
|publisher = [[DC Comics]]
|date = November 2005
|issues =
|main_char_team = [[Superman]]<BR>[[Lex Luthor]]<BR>[[Lois Lane]]
|past_current_color = background:#5be85b
|creators = [[Grant Morrison]]<BR>[[Frank Quitely]]<br>Jamie Grant
|}}
'''''All Star Superman''''', launched in November 2005, is an ongoing [[comic book]] series featuring [[Superman]], written by [[Grant Morrison]], drawn by [[Frank Quitely]], digitally inked by Jamie Grant and published by [[DC Comics]]. DC claims that this series will "strip down the Man of Steel to his timeless, essential elements."
This is the second series to be launched in 2005 under DC's '''''[[All Star DC Comics|All Star]]''''' [[imprint]], the first being ''[[All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder]]''. These series are attempts by DC to allow major comics creators a chance to tell stories showcasing these characters, without being restricted by [[DC Universe]] [[Continuity (fiction)|continuity]]. Both Morrison and Quitely have stated they will be leaving after issue 12.
'''''All Star Superman''''' won the [[Eisner Award]] for Best New Series in 2006.
==Story==
The first 12 issues will form the initial story arc of the series.
The series begins in issue 1 with the rescue of Dr. Leo Quintum (head of the P.R.O.J.E.C.T. agency) and his helionauts by Superman at the edge of the sun's surface. It appears that [[Lex Luthor]] orchestrated the near-disaster in order to cause havoc with Superman's powers by overwhelming his cells with solar radiation. The massive amount of solar radiation supercharges Superman, giving him at least one new power (extension and manipulation of his own bioelectric aura) and tripling his strength. (Superman is easily able to push against 200 [[quintillion]] tons of force, with one arm no less.) At the same time, this supercharge is causing cell death within his body, which will eventually be fatal to the Man of Steel. As Quintum shows Superman what P.R.O.J.E.C.T. has accomplished in creating (Bizarro Worker Drones, Photosynthetic Giants, and Voyager Titans), he vows to find a way to save Superman, or replace him if necessary. Superman returns to his Clark Kent persona, and, obviously shaken by his condition, reveals to reporter [[Lois Lane]] his dual identity.
In issue 2, Superman takes [[Lois Lane|Lois]] to his [[Fortress of Solitude]], where he seeks to help her adjust to the new information regarding his identity. A skeptical Lois becomes paranoid when accidentally exposed to certain alien chemicals. She believes that Superman is plotting to kill her. She recovers after attempting to kill Superman with a [[kryptonite]] [[laser]] that he kept on display in his armory. They discover that he is now immune to the effects of green [[kryptonite]]. Superman explains that Lois's paranoia is due to chemical exposure and presents Lois her birthday present: a supersuit and a chemical elixir that grants her powers like his for twenty four hours.
In issue 3, after Lois gains Superman's powers for 24 hours, Superman and Super-Lois meet [[Samson]], a time-traveler from the year 2061, and [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], another superman of myth. Together, the two defeat an evolved dinosaur dictator who is attacking Metropolis. After returning the dino-man to the center of the Earth, Samson gives Lois some radioactive jewelry that he "borrowed" from the Ultra-Sphinx. Samson shows Superman a Daily Planet paper with the headline "Superman Dead", taunting him while flirting with Lois. After the Ultra-Sphinx shows up demanding the return of the jewels, Lois is threatened with death unless the Sphinx's question is answered correctly: "What happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object?" After a moment, Superman correctly answers: "They surrender". After this incident, at Samson and Atlas' insistence on a feat of strength in order to "win" Lois, Superman arm-wrestles both strongmen, breaking their arms in the process. Superman and Lois later attend Lois' birthday party at the bottom of the sea, and, still later, the two kiss on the moon. By 3:30 MPT the super-powers leave Lois and she falls asleep, before Superman can ask his own, very important question. The newspaper headline "Superman Dead" is revealed to have none other than Metropolis' finest journalist on the byline: Clark Kent!
In issue 4, Superman must once again come to the rescue of [[Jimmy Olsen]], who is running the [[Project Cadmus|D.N.A. P.R.O.J.E.C.T.]] as part of Jimmy's popular "For A Day" series. While exploring P.R.O.J.E.C.T. headquarters, his guide shows him the "Underverse," a newly-discovered layer of reality with extreme gravity fluctuations. However, the tables are turned when in the process of recovering P.R.O.J.E.C.T.'s equipment and a Bizarro worker drone, a piece of Black [[Kryptonite]] is discovered (Black Kryptonite was previously unknown in All-Star Superman continuity) instead. This Black Kryptonite, amongst other things, turns Superman evil, weakens all his superpowers, and removes any sense of [[grammar]] from his speech (essentially rendering him an ersatz [[Bizarro]]); Jimmy must find a way to stop him before the P.R.O.J.E.C.T. is forced to use on him the very Phantom Zone projector donated by Superman himself for just such an emergency; apparently, in the All-Star universe, it is not possible to retrieve criminals from the Phantom Zone. A major subplot throughout the issue is Jimmy's apparent struggle with a curse from "the Queen of the Gypsies" to suffer bad luck until the next full moon.
In issue 5, Lex Luthor is found guilty for crimes against humanity and sentenced to die in the [[electric chair]]. Clark Kent is given an exclusive interview with Lex on Stryker's Island, but an unlucky encounter with [[Parasite (comics)|The Parasite]] causes the villain to swell with power as he taps Superman's newly-enhanced abilities. Clark uses all the powers at his disposal to keep the ensuing riot under control without revealing his secret identity to Lex; he uses his super-speed, for example, to spirit the guards outside and freezes most of the prisoners with his breath. As all this happens, Lex Luthor spouts his philosophy about the world while he escorts Kent back to Lex's cell. Once the Parasite is under control (buried under a mound of concrete), Luthor reveals that he has a tunnel from his cell that would allow him to escape at any time, but he is content to die as long as Superman dies first.
In issue 6, the story opens with a time in Superman's past, where he is having a conversation with [[Ma and Pa Kent|Jonathan Kent]] and [[Krypto]] arrives. While Clark plays Super-fetch with Krypto, a stranger named Calvin Elder approaches Jonathan, and asks Kent about a harvest job for himself and his friends--a bandaged man and a short, old man with a derby. The next day, Clark has a discussion with Pete and Lana about his suspicions of the strangers. Unknown to them, a man seated behind them is aging rapidly, and is abducted by someone who appears to be Superman. Clark overhears and investigates as Superboy. Calvin Elder turns out to be Kal Kent, Superman from 85,300 AD, and his friends are the Unknown Superman of 4500 AD and Klyzyzk Klzntplkz, the Superman of the 5th Dimension. This team of Supermen are in Smallville's past in order to apprehend the Chronovore, a monster that ages everything it touches. Superboy is determined to help stop the Chronovore, but Kal Kent refuses to allow it. Regardless, Superboy and Krypto overpower him. Meanwhile, the Unknown Superman, quickly changed back to civilian clothes, walks toward Pa Kent and assures him that Superboy will be okay and that things will be all right at the end. While Superboy and Klyzyzk struggle against the Chronovore, Kal Kent reveals the reason he wanted to prevent Superboy from helping--the Chronovore would eat three precious minutes of Superboy's life.... the time in which Jonathan Kent suffers a fatal heart attack. Superboy hears his father's heart stop beating and rushes to save him but to no avail. A funeral is held, and young Clark is plagued with doubt. Meanwhile, the Superman Squad reconvenes far from the Kent farm, and it turns out that the Unknown Superman is actually the Superman of the current All-Star Superman timeline, in disguise. Before Superman returns to his home time, however, Superman-Prime from [[DC One Million]] arrives, telling him that he accomplished one of his twelve labors (teaming with three generations of Superman to chain the Chronovore) and offers a gift to Superman--an indestructible flower from New Krypton. Back in his own time, Superman places the indestructible flower on Jonathan Kent's grave.
In issue 7, Dr. Quintum explores through the Underverse, hoping to find the missing Bizarro technician from issue 4 (with no success), and noted that a giant lifeform was getting closer--Htrae, the Bizarro World. Meanwhile, Superman releases his pet Sun-Eater into the space as he is attacked by a group of Bizarros, one of which was starting to form a costume as a result of touching Superman. On Earth, the Daily Planet is having a late night Christmas party, as what appears to be meteors land down. The meteors are actually Bizarros, who now have the power to imperfectly replicate the person they touch, and turn the touched person into a Bizarro themselves. Superman arrives back on Earth in time to fight the Bizarro-Superman, and get the Daily Planet staff out of harm's way. Jimmy Olsen learns of the Bizarros' weakness--sunlight--and suggests to Superman a way to reflect sunlight over Metropolis and stop the invasion. At superspeed, Superman knocks the Bizarro World in place to reflect sunlight off its oceans and halt the Bizarros. However, as Htrae retreats, Superman's powers begin to fade as the sun's light on the Bizarro world changes to red and the gravitational pull increases. As Superman asks Bizarro for help, a new figure arrives.... Zibarro, the flawed copy of Bizarro.
== Continuity differences ==
* While it may be due to the fact that Superman's cells became super-saturated with solar energy in the first issue, it seems that All Star Superman's powers are on the same level as Superman before Crisis on Infinite Earths as he can lift a key that weighs half of a million tons with no effort and can go to places like alpha centauri in little time.
* Clark Kent's "bumbling" demeanor is seen in this series, a throw-back to his early characterization, seen in particular prior to the [[retcon]] of the character in [[John Byrne|John Byrne's]] miniseries ''[[The Man of Steel (comic book)|The Man of Steel]]'', done after DC Comics' profound changes to its continuity in the [[limited series]] ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]''. As well, the specific manner in which Clark Kent reveals his dual identity to Lois Lane differs from the same occurrence (in 1993) in the regular [[DC Comics]] [[Continuity (fiction)|continuity]], which took place only after Clark and Lois were romantically involved. Another notable difference is that Lois refuses to believe that Clark and Superman are the same man, since Superman has been so convincing in his past efforts to make it appear the two are different people. (References are made to [[Bruce Wayne]] impersonating Clark, a ruse that was used numerous times during the [[Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] era of Superman.) Morrison, in a recent interview, describes the series as "the re-emergence of the original, pre-Crisis Superman but with 20 years of history we haven't seen."
* Comments made by Geoff Johns indicate that this comic and ''[[All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder]]'' (and the upcoming ''All Star Batgirl'' series he is creating) do not share a common continuity and take place in separate "universes". [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=82819] The setting and tone of this comic and those of ''All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder'' are indeed very different from one another.
* "[[Doomsday (comics)|Doomsday]]" is the third failsafe of P.R.O.J.E.C.T. if Superman goes rogue. It gave Jimmy Olsen the appearance of the mainstream Doomsday, although it is not explicitly said if its origins had anything to do with the creature.
* [[Ma and Pa Kent|Jonathan Kent]] has died, but [[Martha Kent]] is alive. (This is similar to the pre-Crisis continuity used in the Superman movies and the Smallville television series, which both have Jonathan's death as one of their greatest divergences from mainstream DC.) The day Pa Kent died is the day Superboy became a man.
* [[Cat Grant]], from the John Byrne ''Man of Steel'' era, and Steve Lombard, from the [[Elliot S! Maggin]] Bronze Age, both work at the Daily Planet. [[Ron Troupe]], who was introduced in the 90's, is shown as a background character in #1 and #7 (and referred to by name by Perry White in the latter).
* Lex Luthor has a well-known past as a life long criminal. Prior to the start of the first issue, Luthor had been working secretly with the American government on various projects for consideration on his prison sentence.
* Jimmy Olsen has been promoted. In addition to photographer, he writes the successful "A Day in the Life of..." feature for the Sunday edition of the Planet.
* Superman makes his first encounter with Black Kryptonite, originally appearing in ''Smallville'' and the first time in comics in the ''Supergirl'' series. The reaction is different than in its previous incarnations, in which it splits the personalities of Kryptonians into two separate beings. In ''All-Star'', it merely made Superman evil, and gave him a Bizarro-like voice pattern.
* There seems to be some shared continuity with [[DC One Million]], since the Superman of the 853rd century (Kal Kent), Superman-Prime, New Krypton, a 5th Dimensional Superman, Queen Gzntplzk and Solaris all show up or are mentioned in the series.
* The Bizarros have a zombie plague-like touch, where they take the form of those they touch, and also cause whomever they touch to become Bizarros themselves. This may also be related to DC One Million as that future history does include a Bizarro Plague in the 250th century.
* It appears that Superman has fought Bizarro before (since the character appears as a chess piece in #2) but the Bizarro workers and the Bizarro World don't appear to be that particular Bizarro (in #7, one Bizarro takes the form of the classic Bizarro only after touching Superman).
==Collections==
The first six issues are currently collected in hardcover format:
*Volume one (collects #1-6, hardcover, [[Titan Books|Titan]], 160 pages, January 2007, ISBN 1-84576-326-2, [[DC Comics|DC]], 144 pages, April 2007, ISBN 1-4012-0914-9) [http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=6774]
==External links==
* [http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/allstarsuperman/issue1_preview.htm Newsarama preview]
* [http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/features/112602239631900.htm Interview with Grant Morrison on series, including ''All Star Superman'']
* [http://www.newsarama.com/DC/AS/AllStarSuperman_Morrison.htm Grant Morrison: Talking All-Star Superman]
* [http://www.popimage.com/content/viewnews.cgi?newsid1177495938,98253, ALL STAR SUPERMAN VOLUME 1 Reviewed at PopImage]
* [http://www.supermandatabase.com/comics The Superman Database] - Full list of every issue of “All Star Superman” ever published w/ Cover Art and more.
[[Category:DC Comics titles]]
[[Category:Superman titles]]
[[Category:All Star DC Comics]]
[[Category:Comics by Grant Morrison]]
[[it:All Star Superman]]
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