Superman! Superman! Superman! The world echoes with the iconic chant, set to John Williams' legendary guitar riff. The first trailer for James Gunn's Superman film unveils a hopeful new DC Cinematic Universe.

James Gunn's Superman, starring David Corensworth, blasts into theaters July 11, 2025. Gunn serves as both writer and director, a role he initially hesitated to take on, initially planning only to pen the script.

Gunn's script draws heavily from Grant Morrison's acclaimed All-Star Superman comic book miniseries. This 12-issue masterpiece sees Superman reveal his secrets to Lois Lane and confront his impending mortality. Gunn's long-standing fandom clearly influenced this choice.

Inspired by arguably the greatest Superman comic ever? Fantastic! But what can we expect from a film adaptation so closely tied to its source material?

Table of Contents

One of the greatest… Grant Morrison is a skilled and frugal storyteller The door to the Silver Age of superheroes This comic is an inventively told good story It's a comic book about people A story about our relationship with the past and the future This comic breaks down the boundaries between the narrative and the reader It's a story about boundless optimism

Image: ensigame.com… All-Star Superman, by Morrison and Quitely, stands as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Superman comics of the 21st century. For the uninitiated, let's explore its appeal, especially in the context of the new DCU. And for those who've shelved this classic, let's reignite your enthusiasm.

Warning: I won't shy away from discussing All-Star Superman's plot. The thrill isn't in the unexpected twists, but in the journey itself. While I'll avoid excessive plot recaps, accompanying images and examples span the entire series and may contain spoilers.

Here's why I adore All-Star Superman:

Grant Morrison: A Master of Concise Storytelling

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Morrison masterfully unfolds the narrative, humanizes characters, and even depicts Superman's sun-dive in the very first issue, all while encapsulating the core essence of the Superman mythos within a remarkably small page count. This alone warrants discussion.

The opening page of All-Star Superman uses just eight words and four illustrations to encapsulate Superman's origin, creating one of the most concise and powerful origin stories in modern comics. It's a potent image: love, a new home, hope, and faith in progress. Eight words, four images – a testament to the power of suggestion. The subsequent expansion adds depth and complexity to this foundation.

The film adaptation highlights the challenge of Morrison's light touch. One scene, for example, jarringly depicts Superman as indirectly responsible for deaths due to the merging of two short sequences.

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Morrison's minimalist style persists throughout. Issue #10's prison scene between Superman and Lex Luthor – "Lex, I know there's good in you" – is a masterpiece of brevity, encapsulating their decades-long conflict in a few panels.

Similarly, issue #9 masterfully contrasts Bar-El and Superman not through lengthy dialogue or action sequences, but through two panels showcasing Bar-El's careless handling of a key versus Superman's immediate aid to his injured companion.

Morrison's dialogue isn't always succinct, but at his best (as in All-Star), every word counts. He's particularly proud of the haiku on unified field theory in issue one and Lex Luthor's closing remarks in issue twelve.

A Gateway to the Silver Age

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Modern superhero comics have long strived to escape the shadow of the Silver Age, and the resulting struggles are evident. Maintaining a consistent chronology across decades is challenging, especially when navigating the quirks of the Silver Age.

The Silver Age Superman, under editor Mort Weisinger, faced absurd villains, acquired bizarre alien pets, and escaped ludicrous situations with improbable solutions. How do we reconcile this?

The answer is that we all stand on the shoulders of giants, regardless of how much we may initially scoff at their eccentricities. Understanding our foundations, whether personally or artistically, is crucial. While we don't need to fully appreciate Dostoevsky or Dickens in the 21st century, understanding their legacy helps us trace the evolution of art.

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But how do we approach the Silver Age? We can't simply return to it. Reading those old comics today won't be the same experience as it was for past generations. The art style and storytelling conventions are different. We'll see simplistic plots, naive morality, and outlandish characters.

A museum isn't a time capsule; it's a tool for learning. We shouldn't avoid comic history; we should learn from it. Morrison understands and depicts the essence of the early superhero era. He and Quitely translate Silver Age comics into a language we understand today, using its tropes and techniques, either directly or through clever imitation.

An Inventively Told Story

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A key challenge in Superman comics, touched upon earlier, is that Superman doesn't need to fight.

Many superhero stories express conflict – social, political, philosophical – through physical confrontations. This is inherent to the visual medium and established conventions. But Superman's overwhelming power renders such battles anticlimactic.

This presents a significant challenge, and even Morrison doesn't always perfectly overcome it, partly due to his self-imposed limitations within the Silver Age framework. Most fights end quickly, and the most intense conflicts avoid physical combat, focusing instead on problem-solving and mystery. In the "new defenders of Earth" storyline, the test isn't Superman's ability to defeat Kryptonians, but his capacity to save them.

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In his confrontation with Lex Luthor, only Luthor desires Superman's demise. Superman aims to reform his nemesis. Solaris is the only opponent Superman simply defeats, because DC canon already establishes Solaris's eventual redemption and assistance to humanity, saving Morrison from unnecessary exposition.

This is the brilliance of Grant Morrison. All-Star Superman manages to capture the grandeur and classic elements of Superman's mythology within a concise narrative. Superman fights to save lives, competes with other heroes, and solves riddles to protect loved ones.

A Comic About People

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As Superman faces his mortality, what does he reflect upon? Not his accomplishments or travels, but his friends and loved ones. His farewell scene dedicates more space to these memories than to his extraordinary feats.

This focus on human relationships permeates All-Star Superman. The narrative often shifts away from Superman himself to explore the perspectives and emotions of Lois, Jimmy Olsen, and Lex Luthor. We witness Superman's inspiring influence and revisit recurring Daily Planet characters interacting with and protecting him. Notably, his friendship with Batman is only mentioned verbally, highlighting the story's focus on interpersonal dynamics.

Why this focus on non-Superman characters? Because it reflects our relationship with the character. We're less interested in his battles against villains; we know he'll win. The details of his powers or villains' gadgets are secondary. Superman stories are ultimately stories about people, and his actions only matter when they save lives. When not focused on his relationships, the story uses Superman as a springboard for exploring "what if" scenarios, a common trope in Silver Age comics.

A Story About Past and Future

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All-Star Superman explores the interplay between past and future. Superhero comics inherently offer a chronology; stories build upon previous events. Morrison demonstrates that neither escaping, denying, nor blindly adhering to the past truly conquers it. To break free, we must learn from the past and build upon its lessons.

Breaking the Fourth Wall

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The interaction with the reader starts on the first issue's cover, with Superman directly addressing the audience. Throughout the series, the text directly engages the reader. Lois's "Let's go!" is addressed to us, as is Jimmy's plea to not let Superman be seen in a certain state.

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The climax occurs in the final issue, where Lex Luthor, tearful, looks directly at the reader, revealing his understanding of the universe. "We are all we have," he says. Is he referring to Superman, or the reader? The answer is nuanced, as we repeatedly experience the world through Superman's eyes throughout the series. This immersive experience culminates in Luthor's final perspective, blurring the lines between character and reader.

Boundless Optimism

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How do we construct a character's canon from numerous stories? This process, undertaken by writers, editors, and fans, is often arbitrary. Only when creating a new canon does the inherent chaos become apparent.

Morrison, crafting a self-contained canon for All-Star Superman, reflects on this process philosophically. The story incorporates the very idea of canon formation; in issue three, future visitors inform Superman (and us) of his twelve upcoming feats.

While these feats aren't explicitly numbered or highlighted, we actively search for them as readers, unlike Superman, who prioritizes more immediate concerns.

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These twelve feats – conquering time, traveling to alternate universes, creating life, and even finding a cure for cancer – highlight Morrison's ambition beyond a simple story. He crafted an epic. Hopefully, Gunn's adaptation will capture this bold vision.