More powerful than a locomotive

I grew up thinking that Superman was lame. I blame the Super Powers toys I had as a kid. I had a ton of these but I lost Superman's cape pretty early on and his figure just wasn't as cool without it. I ended up deciding that he was a guy pretending to be Superman and had Batman and Aquaman (for some reason Batman and Aquaman were total bff's in my childhood mind) beat him up most of the time.

By the time I was old enough to really get into comics, they were going through the Death of Superman crap and he came back with a mullet. Even then, I knew Superman would never have a mullet. They were trying to make Superman cool (or at least what comic book writers in the 90s thought was cool) and relevant. Except the comic book industry was stuck in it's god awful 'dark and gritty' phase. Who wants to read boring old Superman when you could be reading the 'totally mature ' adventures of DarkBlud (EXTREEEEEME misspelling!) The Stabinator? Superman was firmly entrenched in my mind as being pretty irrelevant.


In 1997, DC relaunched the Justice League as JLA and put all of it's big guns (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter) in one place, under the pen of Grant Morrison. It was amazing. Even when stuck with the stupid 'Electric Superman' phase, he managed to have him use his new powers in inventive ways. He showcased how Superman was the heart and soul of the DC Universe. But what really hammered home how awesome Superman is was All-Star Superman. It's a completely self-contained story that distills Superman down to his very essence. I won't spoil too much because you really should read it for yourself. The premise is that Superman is dying, he knows it and there's absolutely nothing he can do about it. The tenth issue is all about Superman doing everything he can to leave the world in good shape before he dies. In the midst of all this he comes upon a young girl about to jump from a building.

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Despite the fact that he's trying to tie up his loose ends before he dies, he takes the time to save one person's life. Nobody is too small and insignificant for the most important man in the universe to help.


Everybody wants to be Batman. Everyone can relate to Spider-Man. But Superman is who everyone should strive to be.