Superman: Action Comics, Vol. 1: Superman and the Men of Steel (The New 52) Paperback – May 7, 2013

The Flashpoint Crisis Crossover event in DC Comics that "rebooted" the fictional DC Universe also brought the DCU back towards where it was in the beginning of the characters' stints as heroes. Most of the titles now begin five years after the advent of "the age of heroes", as the public in the DCU calls the current time frame. In these comics stories, the five years (or longer for some heroes, it's uncertain) the heroes have been active are periodically explored through the device of flashbacks. There is a case or two where the actual beginnings are shown in an ongoing story. The first story arc of Justice League (before it skipped ahead five years to the "present day" in the second arc) would be one example of this, and the "new 52" version of Superman: Action Comics would be another.In the case of AC, it is an ongoing series that tells the story of Superman's beginnings as a super-hero. This is a separate series from the Man of Steel's other title, called simply Superman, which takes place in the same "present day" (five years later) as the other titles. I have heard one person compare the current AC run to the now-classic Batman title Batman: Year One, and the comparison fits. In the hands of writer Grant Morrison, this is the type of ambitious re-imagining of the Superman mythos that John Byrne spear-headed for DC Comics with his seminal work, Superman: The Man of Steel, in 1986.As the story begins, Supes has appeared in the public eye in Metropolis, while as Clark Kent he works for a newspaper that is the competition for The Daily Planet where he will eventually work for a time. He is friends with Jimmy Olson, and - sort of - friends with Lois Lane. He and Lois are more like friendly adversaries in the journalism business. Also, at this point, Clark's powers are still in flux. He can't quite fly yet, and he is still very vulnerable to bruises and other injuries, though his healing factor is enough to make him recover quickly enough. He is able to pass off injuries as him being "roughed up" by the corrupt police or criminal elements he exposes in his articles. People believe him, because at this time, Metropolis is basically as crap-sack a world as Gotham City was when Batman first started.What's more, like Batman experiences in Gotham City at around the same time, Superman is distrusted and hounded by the police early on. He is feared, and labeled an "alien monster" and so on. There are moments that he apologizes to his dead parents' photo for failing them in using his powers for good. He tries, but no one seems to want his help. They fear him. But the status quo will not last. There is an enemy alien approaching who is going to become one of Superman's most memorable recurring adversaries. This enemy is allied with Lex Luthor, and the agenda (unbeknownst to Lex, to be fair) is to destroy the world. To make matters worse, Supes is given a choice between saving Earth or saving fellow Kryptonians. Will he submit to this sadistic choice? Or will he find a way to save everyone?Beyond the above story there are several "vignettes". They are divided between the origin of John Henry Irons' - who becomes the cybernetically suited hero Steel - career as a hero, an adventure of Superman with the Legion of Super-heroes, and the life of Clark and his parents pre-Superman. Morrison plays up the whole Moses and Christ-figure idea for all it's worth. Shortly after marriage, Clark's parents still can't conceive a child, due to medical reasons. In despair, they ask their pastor why God is "punishing them". The pastor alludes to figures of the Bible such as Moses and Samuel the Prophet, and tells the Kents that God has a purpose for them, so don't lose faith. The suggestion is that God sent Clark to earth. It's really rather bold to have this classic symbolism of the character made explicit once again, especially in our post-modern age where such notions as hope or faith are laughed at, but Morrison pulls it off nicely.If the reviews are any indication, there are some that hated the smaller stories. I loved them. They fleshed out the character, and told us more of who Superman really is. We have a story not just of incredible adventure and super-heroics, but one also of faith, family, coming-of-age, and service to others. This was an ambitious, but successfully executed, tale.One final part I liked about this first volume of AC was how they returned Clark's powers to the less game-breaking levels of the 1986 reboot, and away from the stupid Silver Age levels they were again approaching the past few years. It makes Superman struggle more, and makes him more "human" in a way. When he succeeds, the reaction isn't quite as "ho-hum" as before, but instead is one you really cheer for.I can't say enough how great a beginning to this new iteration of Superman this story was.Highly Recommended.

I enjoyed reading this reboot on Superman. The stories in this text take place five years before the story in the Superman Comic #1. One thing I like about these stories is that Grant Morrison starts with Superman in action. There is no long story explaining how Superman came to earth. He will leave that for later in the back-up stories written by Jolly Fisch. Morrison pays tribute to the original Action Comics where Superman fights for the underdog. Seeing Superman carry Mr. Glenmorgan by his foot in the skies of Metropolis reminds us of a corrupt lobbyist, Alex Grier, who is carried in similar manner by an angry man of steel at the end of ACs 1 and the beginning of AC 2. In addition to this, the story arc involving Braniac, the collector of worlds, and his kidnapping of Metropolis in a small bottle, are borrowed from Action Comics 242, an issue way back from 1958. However, Morrison doesn't copy and paste, but he delivers his own doses of modern (or should I say post-modernist) outlook of how the duel between Braniac and Superman should have happened. The story also includes a rebellion of robots instigated by Braniac with the indirect help from Lex Luthor (who else?). This part of the story no doubt pays homage to the classic Sci-Fi film Metropolis, which is about robots taking over the world.Having said this, the new Superman wears a t-shirt with the S crest on it and denim jeans. He jumps (like in the early version), he lives in an apartment with lower income residents, and his landlady is Mrs. Nixly. He also works with the Daily Star as Clark Kent. Superman is also mistrusted by law enforcement officials and the army, represented by none other than General Lane, Lois Lane's father. Jimmy Olsen is a good friend of Clark, and Lois feels she is competing with young Clark Kent. Morrison does an excellent job at introducing all the characters that belong to the Superman myth, and incorporates a few new ones. The first six issues deal with Superman's fight with Braniac and the robot rebellion, and how Metropolis gets acquainted with its new hero. After this, there are 2 issues that narrates the destruction of Krypton and Superman's arrival to earth, and how he learned to fly. There are 2 back-up stories with Steel, and 2 back-up stories of the Kents (notice that while in Rocket Song, Martha Kent bemoans a miscarriage, in Baby Steps, this miscarriage does not occur) before they find Kal-El in their rocket, and of Clark's last day in Smallville.Morrison's narrative is quite interesting and yet, I think it may be too much influence by the soap opera qualities of Harry Potter stories. Mrs. Nixly turns out to be an alien that has to be there to protect Superman? There is also a struggle with the K-Men and a group of villains in When Superman Learned to Fly. Although attempting to explain the transition from jumping to flying, and adding importance to his spaceship to prevent further problems with robots on earth, the plot lacks luster entirely. And The Last Day seemed to fill up some space. I'm more afraid, however, of the Harry Potter-like phenomena that may appear in future stories. For these reasons, I find this volume likable.The artwork in these stories was commendable. It lives up to Superman.

I stopped to read DC for a few years after the disappointment of both Final Crisis and Flashpoint so this is my first meeting with the origin of the Superman for the New 52.I loved the stories made by Morrison... there are his usual themes (men as gods particularly) but in this case he is not the bad Morrison that goes uncontrolled and takes possession of the characters of avatars of himself, this is the good Morrison that makes amazing stories.This Superman has a bit of the Earth One's version (that looks a bit like Peter Parker) and has nods to classical versions of Superman, it is very well done and despite being set in a moder world it gets to conserve the feeling of the original first numbers; and I love him with the shirt and the pants! The stories until he gets his uniform are amazing, the more I read them the more I love them... but after the uniform I think I start to don't like much the character as he somehow stops to be human to start to be a kind of god. Also a normal uniform is part of what in my mind is a man to overcomes terrible feats. The idea of an unbreakable Kryptonian armor is not new, in 80's Superman had one and after a time he reverted to the normal one.So I changed mind and now I love new 52's Superman? no, I don't, I feel that Superman as an exiled. Also in the same way I despised the broken romance in Marvel's Peter Parker with Mary Jane I cannot bond with the idea of a Superman not only not with Lois Lane, at least not in love with her... There are some additional issues about Steel and they are just filler that don't add to the story.