I am partial to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's original, rough-and-tumble Superman, who waded into crime bosses, unscrupulous mine owners, and wife-beaters with equal gusto ... but the Superman of my childhood was George Reeves of the 1950s television show, and when I close my eyes and imagine a panel from some generic Superman story, I see Wayne Boring's unsmiling version hovering above the impressionistically rendered Metropolis skyline. Just this afternoon, in fact, I took up Superman: The Man of Tomorrow Archives Vol. 2 and re-read "Superman Vs. the Futuremen" and quite enjoyed it. But next I leafed appreciatively through the deluxe edtion of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? and re-read "The Jungle Line" and remarked, not for the first time, on what a wonderful writer Alan Moore is. I recall how much I liked what the teenaged Jim Shooter did with the Man of Steel in such stories as "The Four Element Enemies" and "The Power of the Parasite," both from the mid-1960s: got him meaningfully into scraps with opponents who could kick his butt, at least up to a point. I also liked that Superman/Challengers of the Unknown team-up in The Adventures of Superman # 508, cover-dated January 1994. I think I probably have to take Superman (as all other characters in comics) on a story-by-story basis.

Last Edited By: Steven Utley Dec 27 09 7:53 PM. Edited 1 times.