Core Superman Graphic Novels?

[rZi]

after recently purchasing Infinite Crisis and really enjoying it..my appetite for superman has really grown and i wish to purchase more of these kinda books , if you guys could recommend me some core arcs which are popular id be very gretful. My only criteria is that it should be moderatley recent (last 20 years) and anything with superboy would be awesome!

Thanks in advance!

[Syphre Zero]

By definition, Superman: Birthright would be THE core Superman graphic novel, since it has replaced Byrne's The Man Of Steel as Superman's "official" origin story.

I can recommend a few recent trade paperbacks in my own collection:

Superman: Sacrifice
Superman: Ruin Revealed
Superman/Batman Vol. 2: Supergirl
Superman: The Wrath Of Gog
Superman: In The Name Of Gog

That should represent a fair example of what you're looking for; it's certainly a good place to start.

[dancj]

Don't just get Ruin Revealed on its own. It's actually the 3rd in a 3 part story, which starts with Unconventional Warfare and Thy Healing Touch (possibly not in that order though). The two I've read so far in that series are among the better Superman stories I've read in recent years - even if the plot is very similar to Hush.

Dan

[dupersuper]

Possibly thanks to Superman Returns and Smallville, alot of Superman stuff is getting collected. Off the top of my head, I recommend Man of Steel, (I know there are other collections of the regular Superman titles out collecting stories from the 80's, 90's and the past few years to, but I get the single issues, so I only know the names of some of the story arcs, like Krisis of The Krimson Kryptonite and Panic in the Sky, sorry), Birthright, For All Seasons, For Tomorrow, Morrisons' JLA (JLA collections after Morisson would be good to, but he REALLY kicks a$$), Crisis, Kingdom Come, The Kingdom, Our Worlds at War (has Superboy), JLA vs. Avengers, Red Son, Secret Identity, JLA: The Nail, whichever Superman Adventures collection has 11 and 12, Superman in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's, the Justice colections, All-Star Superman if it ever gets collected, Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told, Dark Night Returns, Superman cover-cover, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, Gaimans' Supes/GL special, the giant Dini/Ross Supes and Justice League books, and the Death/ WorldWithout/ Return story is where Superboy's introduced. I'm not sure if there are any Superboy stories from his book, the Superman books, Young Justice, or Titans collected before the whole Luthor/Braniac story that he was mind-controlled in though.

[Trademark]

Death of Superman - Some people like this story and some don't, but it doesn't get any more "core" than this. It's the most famous Superman story of the past several decades and current storylines constantly make references to it.

The Return of Superman - Continuation of Death of Superman. First appearances of Superboy, Steel, Eradicator, and Cyborg Superman.

[shadow of a madman]

Do Elseworlds stories count?
I really enjoyed Red Son.When you hear the plot (Instead of crashing in rural Kansas in the,what is it nowadays,70s?60s? Superman's ship crashes in cold war Russia) it seems like a cheap "what if?" gimmick.But it's very well executed and in the end struck me as a story of why Superman needs Clark Kent.