Your All-Star Superman...

[Ontir]

From the ground up, what would it look like?

[NotSuper]

I'm surprised no one responded to this. Oh well. I suppose I will.

Setup: The first thing I'd need to know is how many issues I'm going to write. Since the current series seems to be going twelve issues I'll assume that I have twelve issues to work with.

Plot: After failing to convince the Science Council of Krypton's destruction, Jor-El is forced to send his three-year old son (Kal-El) to Earth in an experimental rocket. Before its destruction, Krypton was a hauntingly beautiful planet; there were cities and landscapes of crystal; gold regularly erupted from the ground; mountains made of jewels; and the majestic firefalls. All of this is destroyed due to groupthink of the Science Council. These vastly intelligent men that have developed a sense of invincibility will deem their greatest scientist "irrational" and dismiss him. Besides Kal-El, only a handful of Kryptonians survive the planet's destruction: the prisoners of the Phantom Zone, a city mysteriously stolen from the planet, and an animal that resembles a white Terran dog.

Kal-El's ship lands just outside of Smallville, Maryland where he's adopted by a couple in their mid forties--Jonathan and Martha Kent. They name the boy Clark and he grows up on their farm, until the age of eleven, when the Kents sell their farm and move into Smallville. Clark's first job is working at his father's General Store where he learns responsibility. Shortly after Clark's twelfth birthday he starts to develop his powers at an alarming rate. By age thirteen he starts to remember his birth place, Krypton, and even further back than that. He develops a resistance to injury, amazing strength, his senses are increased by a quantum level, and he even starts to fly! By age fourteen all of Clark's powers have manifested and he knows his true history--his parents even show him the rocket after he starts talking about his home. At first Clark doesn't know what to do with his abilities, but he soon decides to use them to help people as Superboy. Before his powers had fully developed, Clark had used glasses (his eyes had trouble adjusting to Earth's yellow sun) and although he doesn't need them now he keeps them to keep his identity a secret. Things from here happen as you'd expect, with Superboy meeting the Legion and all that. He doesn't encounter his major enemies until much later, though.

After his adoptive parents die due to a mysterious disease (we don't know what, which will be a mystery through the series) shortly after Clark reaches eighteen, he leaves Smallville to go to the biggest nearby city--Metropolis, Delaware. He attends college (and meets a mermaid) but doesn't act as Superboy during this time. The death of his parents is a turning point in Clark's life. He wonders whether he should continue "play-acting" as a hero or instead reveal to the world that Clark Kent IS Superman and go from there. At age twenty-five he makes the decision and Superman is born. Some of Clark's friends such as Lana Lang (who becomes a newscaster for WGBS) also head out to the big city once they finish school. Clark joins the Daily Planet, meets Lois, Jimmy, Perry, ect al and helps the world as Superman.

I'll do the villains in my next post.

[Jake V]

It would look exactly like the one Morrison and Quitely are doing.

[algertman]

It would look exactly like the one Morrison and Quitely are doing.


why change perfection?

But I had a story where Superman broke the fourth wall and had to get a kid to read comics, and enjoy them, if he didn't it would have destroyed DCU. It was an idea I had after I got back into comic and realized that your standard superhero comic wasn't written for kids. And charectors that should have always been easy for a kid to get into aren't anymore. Most of the issue would take place in a comicbook shop. At the end superman is running out of ideas, then runs across an old Silverge comic of Superman and becomes amazed by it. The DCU is saved.

[Ontir]

I'd like to do an All-Star Action Comics. I think the difference between "Action" and the eponymous title, is that it should be all action, all the time. In "Superman," you can have the conversations between Clark and Lois, but in "Action," this guy never stops, unless it's to lead into one of the slower moments in "Superman," or off to the "JLA." I'd also love to have JR, Jr draw it, because I'd love to see him do a DC Icon!

[PastePotPete]

I like Morrison's All-Star Superman.
Although, I'll quickly admit it is Morrison's All-Star Superman, just like you have Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. It's an auteur at work, and it's beautiful, but its resemblance to the original is superficial in many ways.

My All-Star Superman would probably resemble a modernized version of those old Fleischer cartoons. Those things are GREAT! I like it when Superman faces down death rays and rocket cars and regular criminals.
Lower Superman's power level and put him in actual physical danger from time to time. If a car hits Superman going full speed, it really hurts him. A big enough explosion can kill him. He's superhuman, but not god-like.
Up the importance of his supporting cast--Lois, Jimmy, Perry, Lana Lang. Have fun with the secret identity.
Re-tool the rogues gallery to give them lower power levels as well. Turn Brainiac back into a guy with a device on his head that makes him smarter. Luthor becomes a criminal again instead of a celebrity millionaire. Toy Man and Prankster become actual threats without always resorting to gigantic robots (although we could have a robot in there from time to time.) Have Superman spending whole issues dealing with threats like an exploding dam or intelligent missiles that fly around corners and go after city councilmen.
Keep the Morrison trend of done-in-one stories that make a larger story when put together.