I never got into superman but I want to start reading superman

I never got into superman but I want to start reading superman.
Where to start? I'd rather read something more recent, in the last 10 years, something post comics code. Other than injustice what are some of the darker story arcs with superman? I don't like the whole mary-sue trope.

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Injustice is fucking garbage.

All Star Superman.

Try American Alien or Earth One

Ask for one of those Sup Forums recommended lists.

Superman For All Seasons is pretty good.

All Star and For all Seasons are top tier Superman stories but for something darker
these are probably the best

Try Lex Luthor Man of Steel

Superman Red Son is both a great starting point for those looking to get into Superman but also one of his darkest stories so I'd say read that one.

I still think 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow' and 'Vs Muhammad Ali' are great introductory comics though neither is particularly dark and they're both fairly old

What are the best Superman comics to read prior to 1970?

I can storytime For the Man Who Has Everything, one of my all-time favorites. Interested?

No.

I don't actually know.
I've read some old Batman, but the only old Superman I've read is the obligatory Action Comics #1.

Not OP but I say go for it. Great intro plus kinda edges on the darker side a bit

Cool.

60's Superman was a bad time. It was definitely a kids' comic. I guess not "bad" but "boring". I'd only really recommend Shooter's LoSH stories from that time, or Siegel's Superboy.

I have a soft spot for it but Weisenger-era Superman is hard to read for most people.

Elliot S! Maggin.

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I still say the best story in action #1 was scoop scanlon 5 star reporter.

He's 70's. Though definitely quite classic and highly recommended.

Oh, and can't forget Wondie teasing young Jason.

>I don't like the whole mary-sue trope.
You're beyond help.
>but it's not relatable if he doesn't rape women and murder people like me

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what tbp are theee pages from?

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That's why I don't like reccing All-Star to people who don't know much about Superman. It may reinforce their idea of him being a "Mary Sue".

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The "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" paperback that also includes this and the Swamp Thing/Superman crossover.

a.co/6fvdcA5

Real cheap and a great present I've given to many prospective DC fans.

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thanks sir. Ill get this

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>the best descriptions he could think of for superman are dark and mary-sue
How about you go back to reading batman?

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This was before Wondie was made Superman-level strength, which was around 2006.

I know it's not actually the same guy, but it's a damn shame Mongul doesn't behave like this these days.

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Superman: Birthright is good, but it's not canon. Probably my favorite origin story for Superman.
It's one of the comics that said that Superman's symbol wasn't an S, and while it is your basic Man of Tommorrow fare, it is definitely a good start. All Star Superman is another noncanon series that basically serves as a Superman finale story--this is Superman at his strongest, though, so not a good start. Superman for All Seasons shows a more human side of the character as he goes through life growing as a character, and it's a great read.

Then you have the darker stories. Red Son is what would've happened if Superman landed in Moscow during Stalin's reign. Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow and For the Man Who Has Everything were Alan Moore's takes on Superman, but don't expect something quite as bleak as Miracleman or Watchmen. What's So Funny about Truth, Justice, and the American Way is a look at Superman being pitted against his greatest meta threat: flawed Ellis-style antiheroes. Then there's American Alien, which I've only heard was dark. Anybody know how good it was?

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>What's So Funny about Truth, Justice, and the American Way is a look at Superman being pitted against his greatest meta threat: flawed Ellis-style antiheroes
It's also the biggest offender of abusing a strawman I've ever seen in capeshit.

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Isn't Birthright the one where he's a vegetarian because he can see the auras of living creatures?

American Alien isn't really dark, just kind of weird. It's about Superman growing up and encountering the kind of random adventures most people get into in their early 20's when they're still finding themselves.

However it's one of the two comics Landis has done that I did like, I like when Landis writes characters that clearly come from some part of himself.

To be fair Superman at the time was probably the most strawman'd character in all of comics.

It is. Not a fan of that element, doesn't really make any sense. Take it from a Texan that anyone who grew up on a farm has an understanding of man's relationship with animals and the reality of the food chain.

It drew out a side of Superman we rarely ever see, and I can't not recommend that.
And to be fair those strawmen weren't exactly inaccurate, nor did they represent actual people or groups, so it wasn't a big deal. We've all seen edgy characters that laid it on too thick. Mostly by Ellis.

>batman's hand
gay

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Ah shit I forgot about that completely. I never said it was flawless.
Also a Texan and now that it's back in my head, it's irking me like it irked me back then.

>not liking the World's Finest ship

He is reverting back.

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I love Moore's Krypton. It's more like a retro-future, 50's vision of Blade Runner than the ultra advanced scifi world we usually see.

Or I guess I should say Gibbons' Krypton, since he drew it.

Grant Morrison's New52 run on Action Comics - Origin of New52 Superman
Superman Secret Origin - Origin of Classic Superman retold for modern era

These are both short, fun stories that'll help you understand a little bit about the current run of Superman comics that began a year ago in Rebirth

The current run of Superman in Rebirth is pretty good, check out Action Comics too

Lex Luthor Man of Steel
Superman Secret Origin
Superman and the Legion of Superheroes
All-Star Superman
Superman The Men of Tomorrow

This is just off the top of my head, there's other shit from the last twenty years that's good

The famous page.

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I get chills every time.

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Remember when Waid said if he ever wrote Superman again, he'd retcon his origin so the Kents lived in the city?

>The famous page.
For good reason, that scream is so primal.

I thought Last Son of Krypton was pretty good intro to Superman.

>almost half a second
Even this angry, Superman was holding back.

Imagine the ringing in Jason's ears

Don't remind me.

Hell, the kid should be bleeding from them.
All throughout the rest of the story, even while they're cutting cake.

>Mongul gives Superman The Elder Scrolls IV.jpg

Wasn't that like a few months ago? After he became a giant fucking douche?

I hate to turn into one of those faggots who refuses to buy a product because of someone who works on it, but I used to like Waid and swore off buying his shit because of how he acts now.

I live in a city and the people are just as bigoted and idiotic as they are anywhere else.

These and anything by Alan Moore. Plus all the rest of Geoff Johns' Action Comics run.

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I've been so disappointed in Waid just because I've long been a fan of him, hate to see him being like this.

Also I'm an NYC > Texas transplant so I'm aware of how shitty city folks can be and how nice country people can be.

I'd just like to point out how genius Dave Gibbons is, as shown in pages like this at illustrating characters who can communicate their emotions and actions perfectly without any exposition or internal dialogue needed, something that was hard to come by at the time.

Most other artists at that time would have put a thought bubble in every one of those panels.

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Everytime I've been down South I've had a very pleasant experience. Other relatives of mine haven't, but it's amazing that Waid thinks that an entire group of people are bigots because of where they live. Superman'd be real fucking proud of him for thinking like that.

I can't believe a guy that has the imagination to write superhero comics doesn't grasp that the whoel "Small town upbringing/values" idea doesn't refer to actually growing up in a rural town, more the idea of tightknit, supporting families, having a work ethic, caring for your neighbor, etc.

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End.

Always a joy to post Moore's Superman stories.

Thanks Tex

She never should have Superman level strength, it degrades the uniqueness of it and causes contradictions in her own lore. Like why the bracers, an iconic part of her character, are even needed.

thanks sir!

he hides actual kandor to no disappoint Diana?

Why do you want to read 'darker' Superman? I mean, what do you think you're going to get with that.

Clark Kent isn't a Gary Stu in nearly all of his best stories. And he's not anyone's self-insets, albeit the golden age was full of fantasy fulfillment stories for kids (not the authors), who were viewed as the primary audience for all comic books.

Superman has ideals - that doesn't mean he's purely idealized. His better stories aren't full of plot armor where he can whip out whatever he needs from a utility belt or the nuclear missile conveniently comes right at the last minute, after most of the battle has been won, so that the non-heroic character can have his hero moment.

Any well-written Superman story should be something you find satisfying. Only a very few will be well-written and also satisfy whatever it is you think you want with 'darker arcs.'

May I suggest you consider reading Batman instead?

You can find a collection of 80 page giants from the 50s, 60s and 70s that reprint early really fun or interesting stories (like how Superman traveled to Krypton before he was even born, met his mother and father, found his first love and then lost it all).
You can easily find reasonably readable scans of those. There's also a Superman in the 50s and in the 60s books that are generally 50-60% good stories, since they are highlights from about 5-6 different monthly churning out anywhere from 2-3 stories each a month.

Well for one, Batman isn't allowed to stand around and let a villain do shit unless it's part of a keikaku. This type of scene just doesn't fit into modern capes post JLA/Authority

>I've only heard was dark

Dark is the wrong descriptor as this user states. It's not really random as Landis had a point, albeit the whole Oliver Queen and Cheetah (or whomever the girl was) and Bruce Wayne's yacht was way too extensive an issue to play off being a joke on the much better Superman/Batman Annual - Superman meets Batman and they discover each others secret identities on a cruise ship origin story, plus as one entire padded issue just to pay off in two tiny ways in a later issue.

>Plus all the rest of Geoff Johns' Action Comics run.

No. Superman and LoSH, which makes sense only if you know the Legion but that's about it.

I'm from Wisconsin and I can't stand the anti city mentality that people have here. I've lived in and outside the city and non city dwellers are always the ones to talk bad about the city. It's ridiculous and immature, and their anti-city commentary is always full of lies.

That's not true, it was much more of an editorial thing that changed in the bronze age, there had to be writing in every panel because there was an idea that the consumer felt it was a rip off otherwise

I like that Azz reconciled that by making her a god and making the bracers lock down her godmode

I moved to the south from growing up amongst hippies and Mormons in Arizona, but living my teen and college years in San Francisco. I spent three years in Atlanta and also traveling around the places nearby (New Orleans, Key West, Pennsacola, Saint Augustine, etc.) and drove from Atlanta towards NoLA at least four times and back so drove through and stopped for breakfast, or gas or what have you in Alabama, etc.

People are nice but they can say things without realizing they are saying something that someone could take offense. I don't think they are bigots, I think a lot of people in the USA, because they don't learn a second language, don't have passports (USA has the lowest of both of these of any industrialized Western Civilization) and don't even travel within the 48 states, that they have not so much bigoted views, as narrow and close-minded when it gets past certain thing.

But no one was unpleasant or not nice to me in those three years.

He's a douche, but honestly I grew up in a small town that was mostly well off and was constantly bullied for being one of the only poor kids in town. I was also in special ed, warranting even more torment. The few non-white kids were bullied even worse, which I myself was guilty of taking part. People saw this sort of thing as natural and acceptable there.

I moved to the city in my 20s. I noticed any type of biggotry you see in a small town exists here, but there's a big difference. You will be called out on it immediately by most people around you.

Geez, Kal. Be a dick to your own dad why don't you?