Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 1 by John ByrneMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Superman: The Man of Steel volume one collects Man of Steel #1-6, Superman #1-4, Action Comics #548-587, and Adventures of Superman #424-428.
John Byrne being wooed away from Marvel to revamp Superman for DC post-Crisis was a huge deal at the time but somehow I'd only managed to read a handful of issues contained in this omnibus before now.
The Man of Steel miniseries retells Superman's origin while the rest of the book sees him dealing with Luthor's machinations and battling Metallo, Bloodsport, Darkside, and others, as well as teaming with the Teen Titans, Phantom Stranger, and the Demon. Since Byrne couldn't write and draw three Superman titles a month, Jerry Ordway and Marv Wolfman did some pinch hitting, with Karl Kessel, Dick Giordano, and Mike Machlan on inks.
For 36 year old comics, these read very well. Byrne rearranges classic elements of Superman and ditches some of the goofier Silver Age concepts. I crap on Byrne for not inventing a lot of new things in his Fantastic Four run and he doesn't do a lot of new things here either apart from making Luthor a businessman rather than a scientist. Still, he works with the existing material and spinning straw into gold is an exaggeration but he makes good Superman comics.
Someone on my Twitter feed likened this to Ultimate Spider-Man and I think the comparison is apt. It's a greatest hits version of Superman featuring one of the hot creators of the time, cherry picking the character's long history and using the best bits.
The stories are self contained and almost seem rushed compared to today's tales. I knew some of what went down from Who's Who and thought some of the stories had to go multiple issues, like Superman being shot by Bloodsport's kryptonite needles. The Darkseid story could have gone longer too, I thought. Also, not that it matters 36 years later but it seemed odd to introduce Bizarro in the fifth issue of the Man of Steel miniseries when there were other Superman villains to play with.
Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 1 chronicles one of the most successful revamps in comics history. It's also great comics, even 36 years later. Four out of five stars.
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