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A review by ponch22
All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison
2.0
After [a:Max Landis|6688803|Max Landis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1462207813p2/6688803.jpg]'s excellent [b:American Alien|26152411|Superman American Alien|Max Landis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473157654s/26152411.jpg|46108699] series, I was interested in reading some more Superman stories, so I picked up [b:All Star Superman|10871782|All-Star Superman|Grant Morrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356470700s/10871782.jpg|10465171] a few months ago based on a recommendation from Will Hines on his Don't Get Me Started podcast.
Unfortunately, I don't think [a:Grant Morrison|12732|Grant Morrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1311378308p2/12732.jpg] was writing this graphic novel for the likes of me. The story seems littered with references to stories and Superman lore that I'm unfamiliar with (e.g. Samson and Atlas who show up to have a dick-measuring contest). From what little I've heard, Morrison tends to be a very cerebral author—which doesn't exactly make it easy for a novice reader to follow. It's as if every issue has a few decades of history behind it, but I'm completely unaware of it all.
[a:Frank Quitely|21709|Frank Quitely|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1265722375p2/21709.jpg]'s art is beautiful to look at—at times. At other times, you wonder how Clark Kent got so fat.
I actually had to go back and listen to the podcast episodes where this book was mentioned (a Superman-themed ep, a Grant Morrison-themed ep, and a third ep where the recommendation actually came from) to see if I misunderstood their rave reviews. Sadly, no—they all seemed to enjoy it.
And what's not to love? I mean the story starts out with Superman getting overexposed to our yellow sun which causes his cells to begin breaking down. Superman finds out he only has a year to live! This should be exciting and wonderful.
But Morrison's writing is so pretentious and hard to follow (I literally checked my copy to see if any pages were missing on several occasions), I just couldn't enjoy it. Bizarro World seemed like it could be fun, but I couldn't get past the backwards talking... I tried to reverse every sentence to understand, but it just made my brain hurt.
That's not to say the whole thing sucked. I really enjoyed the issue that didn't even feature Supes—Clark visits Lex in prison and accidentally sets off Parasite—and the flashback issue that shows (is this really a SPOILER?). But beyond those small moments of clever writing, there was just too much I didn't/couldn't follow.
Maybe I'm too new to the whole Superman world to really appreciate this book the way others have. But if it's written for just die-hard fans, is it my fault for reading it before knowing the decades of history and storylines, or is it Morrison's fault for creating a piece of fan-fiction that got huge?
Unfortunately, I don't think [a:Grant Morrison|12732|Grant Morrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1311378308p2/12732.jpg] was writing this graphic novel for the likes of me. The story seems littered with references to stories and Superman lore that I'm unfamiliar with (e.g. Samson and Atlas who show up to have a dick-measuring contest). From what little I've heard, Morrison tends to be a very cerebral author—which doesn't exactly make it easy for a novice reader to follow. It's as if every issue has a few decades of history behind it, but I'm completely unaware of it all.
[a:Frank Quitely|21709|Frank Quitely|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1265722375p2/21709.jpg]'s art is beautiful to look at—at times. At other times, you wonder how Clark Kent got so fat.
I actually had to go back and listen to the podcast episodes where this book was mentioned (a Superman-themed ep, a Grant Morrison-themed ep, and a third ep where the recommendation actually came from) to see if I misunderstood their rave reviews. Sadly, no—they all seemed to enjoy it.
And what's not to love? I mean the story starts out with Superman getting overexposed to our yellow sun which causes his cells to begin breaking down. Superman finds out he only has a year to live! This should be exciting and wonderful.
But Morrison's writing is so pretentious and hard to follow (I literally checked my copy to see if any pages were missing on several occasions), I just couldn't enjoy it. Bizarro World seemed like it could be fun, but I couldn't get past the backwards talking... I tried to reverse every sentence to understand, but it just made my brain hurt.
That's not to say the whole thing sucked. I really enjoyed the issue that didn't even feature Supes—Clark visits Lex in prison and accidentally sets off Parasite—and the flashback issue that shows (is this really a SPOILER?)
Spoiler
Jonathan Kent's deathMaybe I'm too new to the whole Superman world to really appreciate this book the way others have. But if it's written for just die-hard fans, is it my fault for reading it before knowing the decades of history and storylines, or is it Morrison's fault for creating a piece of fan-fiction that got huge?