If it ’s been a while since you ’ve read a Superman comedian , now is belike the time to jump back in . get two months ago with the 41st issues of the flagshipSupermanandAction Comicstitles , there is a new status quo for the Man of Steel , who has just had his secret identity element come out to the public and his powers drastically cut . However , if you feel like you want a fuzee on the retiring few year of stories before you leap in , here ’s all you need to acknowledge .
There was a reboot.
In 2011 , DC Comics rebooted its whole demarcation of cartoon strip with an initiative dubbed “ The New 52 . ” The 52 is a reference to the telephone number of new titles they launched that reset the legacy enumeration they had been using since debutingAction Comics#1 in 1938 .
The rudiments of who Superman is , his origin , and the cast of support quality is fundamentally the same in the New 52 , but there are some small qualifying . He was lark a Kryptonian biotech version of his classic costume ( sans red underclothing ) , which has interchange a twosome of times but that may be gone for skilful now . In the past few months , DC has bear witness a surprising appetency for making swelled changes to some core aspects of the character .
Clark Kent Has Been Superman For About 5 Years.
start up with the newAction Comics#1 , Grant Morrison and Rags Morales show us Superman when he first pop out out , place about 5 years before the current continuity . In the beginning , he wear an unassuming t - shirt and jeans and campaign corrupt potbelly and politicians . This underpowered Man of Steel was a nod to the origins of the character from the Golden Age of the 1940s . He could n’t really fly but rather “ leaped marvelous building in a single bound , ” and was a virtuoso of the mass , not so much the entire macrocosm . This take on the fibre , down to the t - shirt , comes back in a big way later on .
Ma and Pa Kent Died When Clark Was a Teen
This new iteration of Superman is markedly more reserved , lonely , and even more alien than we ’ve realize previously . While he is driven to protect the people of his adopted home , he does n’t experience like he fits in . This is probable the result of a bountiful change to his backstory that we learned inAction Comics#17 — Jonathan and Martha Kent died in a automobile clang when Clark was a teenager . In previous continuity , Ma and Pa Kent were awake and well in Smallville whenever Clark necessitate to reconnect with the normalcy of his rural American youth . That Smallville link has at least been partially replaced by Lana Lang , Clark ’s childhood friend who shows up in present sidereal day stories quite often .
There is no ‘Lois & Clark.’
Lois Lane and Superman ’s decades - long romantic tenseness culminated in 1998 with a wedding that remained in canyon for over a decade . Now , post - reboot , Lois and Clark are just very competitive colleagues . To DC ’s acknowledgment , Lois is no longer define by her obsession with Superman and even rise in professional stature to become Vice President of New Media for Morgan Edge ’s news empire ( which own theDaily Planet ) , but longtime fans find the emotional distance between Lois and Clark to be disappointing . Lois has been in a kinship with another journalist named Jonathan Carroll , and the strain between Lois and Clark only gets tough now when Lois exposes the truth that Superman is Clark Kent to the entire public .
But there is this edition of Lois & Clark.
In the upcomingSuperman : Lois & Clarkseries , the marital Clark Kent and Lois Lane from the pre - New 52 continuity are back . They are now pin down and in hiding in this new Earth , trying to raise their 9 - year - old son Jon as if they are a normal house . " For Lois and Clark , it ’s a earth that they scantily spot … a place where they have to shroud their true identicalness , “ read series author Dan Jurgens , a veteran Superman writer who fans will remember from the classic “ Death of Superman ” story of the 1990s . " On the other hand , their son , Jon , embraces this world as his own . It ’s the only one he ’s ever lie with . In a way , it ’s a bit of a classic immigrant story where the parent — unlike their kids — are a morsel out of post . "
And Now We Have Diana & Clark.
Without his parents and without Lois in his living , Superman has found a kindred purport in Wonder Woman . The two most powerful member of the Justice League share a mutual feeling of disassociation from the people of Earth they have swear to protect . InJustice League#12 , their “ candy kiss heard round the earthly concern ” was captured on video recording and turned them into a renown power couple , making thing inept for their fellow League member . This relationship is explored on a monthly basis in the ongoingSuperman / Wonder Womanseries . It is one of the most significant changes in canon for both eccentric since the raw 52 relaunch .
Clark Kent Quit the Newspaper and Started Blogging.
Clark Kent ’s news media career start at aDaily Planetcompetitor calledThe Daily Star(this is a nod to where he worked back in the comics of the forties ) , but he would soon unite Lois and photographer Jimmy Olsen at thePlanet . However , inSuperman#13 , Clark becomes fed up with the way the media conglomeration was making the paper pore more on “ docudrama ” than real newsworthiness and quits in protest . From there he start a web log and ironically ends up partnering with formerDaily Planetentertainment reporter Cat Grant , which seems counter - productive to what he was taste to accomplish . The whole blogging affair terminate up being short - lived , and bySuperman#33 , Clark has returned to reporting for thePlanet .
Superman may be a loner, but he still has pals.
In this new continuity , Jimmy Olsen is Clark Kent ’s pal ( they were even roommates for a time ) , but Clark takes their friendly relationship to the next level inSuperman#38 when he confides his secret to an unsuspecting Jimmy .
As antecedently remark , Lana Lang remains Clark ’s close friend and has eff his mystery since they were kid . She is Clark ’s first love , but these days she is in a kinship with John Henry Irons — the bomber have it away as Steel — whom she met when the Kryptonian villain Doomsday spread a devastating computer virus through Smallville , bolt down her parents .
Supergirl is still Kal ’s cousin from Krypton who wreck landed in Siberia as a teenager . Since she has n’t grown up on Earth like her cousin , she ’s had a punishing time adapting to her new home . Her frustration and difficulties in dealing with her madness lead to her connect the Red Lantern Corps , ring - bearing heroes like the Green Lanterns whose world power is driven by anger rather than fearlessness . Meanwhile , Superboy is not a young Kal - El but Kon - El , a knockoff of Lois and Clark ’s son from a succeeding timeline who is now a phallus of the Teen Titans .
Superman ’s other best pal is his dog Krypto . This version of the Kryptonian mutt is a little more like a horrendous wolf fromGame of Thrones . He was the detent of the El kinsfolk who got pin down in the Phantom geographical zone protect Jor - El , Lara , and baby Ka - El from the immure prisoners inside it . Kal - El and Krypto were reunited inAction Comics#13 when a portal to the Phantom Zone is opened and Superman is sucked inside . Krypto now tends to attend out with Kon - El .
Superman also has a pretty tight friendship with Batman despite have off on the wrong ft in their former encounter . They deal a title calledBatman / Supermanthat has showed us those early Day as well as current adventures .
Lex Luthor join the Justice League .
As far as Superman ’s villains go , the large change might be the recent addition of Lex Luthor to the Justice League roll . After save the world from the Crime Syndicate in theForever Evilmini - serial , Luthor took advantage of his public hero position to blackmail and manipulate his way into a League rank .
Another classical Superman villain , Doomsday , came back in a big way in an epic storyline call " Superman : Doomed"that be given through all the various Superman form of address for months . The Kryptonian villain is famous for kill Superman the 1992 “ Death of Superman ” comic , and is now on the open and infected with a computer virus that put down anything within a hundred yards of him . The Man of Steel has no choice but to not only down his enemy , but to also inspire the toxic virus so as to save the world . Superman is transform into a Doomsday - similar version of himself , and it all ends up being an luxuriant strategy devised by Braniac . Superman resolves it by immobilize them both in a black pickle , and it takes 60 day for Superman to eventually emerge computer virus - complimentary .
Superman Got a New Power, But it Comes With a Price.
In issue # 38 of the principal deed , Superman picks up his first Modern world power since DC gave him high temperature vision back in 1949 . The so - called Super Flare is less a power than an out - of - dominance by - product of tell warmth vision . After agitate it to its limits in a battle with a similarly super - powered being named Ulysses , Superman ’s entire body emit a solar flair that is so knock-down it have out everything around him and drains the ease of his index for the next 24 hour , leaving him effectively human during that period of time .
The Whole World Knows Clark Kent is Superman.
By far the big change to the Superman mythos in ten is go on right now . begin in bothSuperman#41 andAction Comics#41 , we ascertain Superman with greatly decreased mightiness having just had his secret identity exposed to the world by Lois Lane . How exactly we got to this point is something that is still spread .
What You Should Read.
Superman#41 / Action Comics#41Right now , this is the best the Superman line of comics has been in decades , and it ’s a great meter for new lecturer to jump on in . take up withSuperman#41 , award - come through graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang takes over as the new author for a groundbreaking story of how the world finds out that Clark Kent is Superman . Over inAction Comics , Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder are jumping ahead to what materialise next , with Superman sporting the old t - shirt and jeans wait we take in back in the first issue of the rebootedAction cartoon strip . In both books we ’re find out a very unlike , more human and even more furious Superman . " Our Superman looks different ” , Yang says . " The ness is run short , as are the spit curl and leotards . All that ’s left , really , is the atomic number 16 - shield . He ’s been depowered – he ’s back to his original power set . "
Superman , created by two Judaic Americans ( Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster ) , has always been an allegory for the second - generation immigrant experience . Now , he is being spell by two Asian - American writers ( Greg Pak , a third - generation Korean - American , and Yang , a 2nd - genesis Chinese - American ) . " I ’m planning to search Superman ’s role as American myth , ” Yang says . " Now that he ’s revealed to be Clark Kent , now that he ’s not as strong , can multitude still believe in him as myth ? "
Superman / Wonder Woman#18I know you ’re curious about how this wholeSuperman / Wonder Womanrelationship works , and it is well worth reading their series to find out . With number # 18 , Modern author Peter Tomasi and artist Doug Mahnke closely follow the event ofSupermanandActionbut dig into how Superman ’s decreased powers make for an interesting imbalance in Clark and Diana ’s human relationship ( e.g. , she has to carry him if they need to fly somewhere ) .
Action ComicsVol . 1Before this newfangled plot line , the quality of a tidy sum of the New 52 Superman cartoon strip has been fairly patched . However , the highlight probably is Grant Morrison ’s 18 - issue run onAction Comics . Exploring Clark ’s early twenty-four hour period as Superman , it could be a little hard to travel along at prison term , peculiarly if you ’re not used to Morrison ’s unusual style of authorship . In fact , much of it wo n’t even make signified until a 2d read - through when you actualise he was constitute seeds for some plot of ground twists that pay off at the end .
Zen : Secret OriginAs for pre - unexampled 52 comics , if your determinate version of Superman was the one play in the movies by Christopher Reeve , you ’ll want to take Geoff Johns and Gary Frank ’s retelling of Superman ’s origination . Frank cast an spookily gross Reeve Superman and Johns has one of the best handles on the grapheme of any writer in the mod eld .
All - StarSupermanGrant Morrison and Frank Quitely ’s 12 - issue mini - serial will go down in history as one of the estimable Superman comics ever made . sic outdoors of normal strip continuity , it is another try at a classical take on the story and it succeeds on so many levels . It embraces many of the wacky Silver Age tropes of Superman comedian from the 1960s and prove how keen this graphic symbol can be when surrounded by all that inventive marvel .
