All Star Superman

I haven't bought a comic book in a long, long time. But I wanted a physical copy of the two-volume All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, so I picked them up yesterday at Pandemonium, a used book store in The Junction.

I'm not sure exactly why I love this comic so much. The pacing and tone of each page is pitch perfect. But it's not just that. It's as if the authors decided to explore the idea of Superman by distilling him to his essence and then retelling all the goofy classic stories from the history of Superman comics. So you have Lex Luthor trying to kill Superman, Bizzaro attacking Metropolis, Lois Lane getting super powers for a day, weirdly coloured kryptonite turning Superman evil, etc.

I think that Morrison and Quitely had a pretty clear idea of what they wanted to say about Superman, and they embed those ideas in every panel. In fact, it all comes together so perfectly that it is a bit shocking at times to realize that this was written and drawn by two different people.

Anyway, I have a feeling that the main theme of the comic is finally made explicit in one of the last chapters, as Superman makes a detour between saving the world and trying to romance Lois Lane to stop a random young woman from trying to commit suicide by throwing herself off a tall building.

"You're much stronger than you think you are. Trust me."