Here’s a comic chosen at random from my collection.
All Star Superman #10 by Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils & cover), Jamie Grant (digital inks and colors), Travis Lanham (letterer), Brandon Montclare (editorial assists), and Bob Schreck (editor)
Grant Morrison has called this series his magnum opus on the Man of Steel, and I can see that. Part of me doesn’t want to accept it because I want MORE so he can’t possibly be finished (it’s how I feel about the Kingdom Come story, too). Many bloggers referred to this story as Morrison’s love letter to the character or the Silver Age or both, and I certainly agree with the sentiment. Morrison did say, however, that All Star Superman #10 “was set aside to be the one-off story that would sum up anything anyone needed to know about Superman in 22 pages”.
In this issue, Superman enlists the aide of Dr. Quintum to address the Bottle City of Kandor problem once and for all, creates our Earth in an infant universe in an experiment to see how the people of his adopted world will do without him, talks with Lois about the inevitability of his death, cures the cancer of many sick children he visits on a regular basis (through the help of the Kandor Emergency Corps), fails to win Luthor over, and writes his last will and testament. That’s a lot to fit in one issue, but Morrison and Quitely do a masterful job regardless. The issue ends with that alternate Earth developing into what is supposed to be ours (or something very similar) because we’re shown Joe Shuster drawing the Golden Age Superman.
But it is this page that got to me (and does every time I read this series) in this issue, and remains one of my favorite sequences of any Superman story. In just a few short panels, we are shown what Superman is all about, what he inspires in us–I get choked up every time I read this page. Mission accomplished, Misters Morrison, Quitely, and Grant.
I don’t care if you don’t like the “Big Blue Boy Scout”, you will love this series.
Longbox Review 