All Star Superman #12

And so the great Superman classic of the modern age comes to a close...

What should have been a year-long maxi-series becoming a book that saw the Earth loop the sun thrice before ending.  But that doesn't matter right now.  It should, but it doesn't.  Despite all the delays and delays, hardly any ever seemed to complain it.  Great stories tend to do that.  When all is said and done, this is definitely one of my favorite books and is certainly the best Superman story I have ever read.  With a mixture of Silver Age wackiness, Morrison's own imagination, Quitely's sublime pencils, modern wit, and a little Greek mythology mixed in for good measure, All-Star Superman is a true masterpiece of the comic book superhero.

This issue starts as only this book really could: with Superman in the afterlife having died of cancer-enhanced exhaustion last issue.  His father Jor-El explains that Kryptonians upon death convert their consciousness into energy used to erect "thought-palaces" though Superman can use it to re-enter the mortal world once last time to save Earth from a superpowered Lex Luthor.  Between bliss and duty, Superman's choice is obviously clear...

Meanwhile, Lex is assaulting the Daily Planet staff, lashing out from the claim that he let Solaris trick him by poisoning the sun.  Soon, Clark's mind returns to the land of the living and fires at Lex with a "gravity gun."  While somewhat de-powered, Superman needs to reverse the tables of the classic dynamic with his oldest foe: he needs to use brain against Lex's brawn.  Using the gravity gun, Superman forces Lex's metabolism to speed to compensate for the enormous force, effectively burning out Lex's serum.  Just before the last of his powers slip away, Lex sees the world with all of Superman's senses.  He sees all the interconnections of the world, all the mechanics of reality.  Finally understanding the great empathy his foe has, Lex breaks down in tears... before Superman punches him out.  Lex screams how he knows how to save the world now, Superman knows better: Lex always did... and just didn't care.

With Lex incapacitated, Superman kisses Lois, exchanges "I love you"s and launches forward into the sun, energy crackling as his cells degenerate away.  With his last gasp of life, Superman's combusting frame re-engerizing the sun in true Greek mythological fashion.  With that, Superman is gone.  His disappearance spurs the world to press forward if Jimmy's new gear is any indication.  Even Lex has found closure, sadly complete over the loss of his greatest foe and inspiration.  However, this may only be the beginning if the indication can be made by the lab of a certain Professor Leo Quintum...

And so here we are at the end of things.  Honestly, despite all the delays, this book was always the highlight of my week.  The care with which both Frank and Grant crafted these issues is so clear with every page.  Superman is the best of us and Grant wasn't afraid to show that in all it's selfless, lantern-jawed glory.  Lex is arrogance and insecurity incarnate wrapped in an implausible ball of amorality and impossible genius and I loved it.  Every issue showed how much these two guys not only cared about Superman, but superheroes and comics in general.  In a time where many like Ellis and Ennis feel the need to distance themselves from that which built the comic, Grant and Frank showed you could show it in all its bombastic and spectacular glory and still manage to create a masterpiece.  To some, this last issue may have felt a little like "that's it?" but, honestly, what great series doesn't feel like that at the end?  How else could this have ended?  I personally thought this was a great way to end it, with the memory of Superman showing the light to the way to greatness that humanity wishes to be, from lowly Jimmy Olsen to somber Lex Luthor.  The emotion from Clark to Lois to even Lex was palpable here.  The themes were big and as vast as Morrison can make them.  The art was lovely and terrific from the red skies of the Kryptonian afterlife to that final altered "S" shield at the end.  I wouldn't have the right to ask of anything greater out of this story.

Superman might not be the biggest or most popular of superheroes these days, but for twelve seminal issues, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely showed the world why he's the most super of them all.