How many times have you heard the story of Superman? I’m sure that everybody in the world knows of young Kal-El’s journey from infancy on Krypton and manhood on Earth (with an explosion and rocket ship in-between) just as much as Batman’s or Spiderman’s origin. DC have published a countless number of Superman origin stories or miniseries. Whether it be John Byrne’s Man of Steel, Grant Morrison’s Action Comics, or the thousand-odd flashbacks to the destruction of Krypton, it’s fair to say that the Man of Steel’s origin is well-documented. So, why is Superman for All Seasons, a story that defines Superman’s character and backstory, different from all the others? It feels corny to think about what the meaning or purpose of Superman is, but For All Seasons is the story that defines the character’s morals and beliefs. Without revealing too much, All Seasons is essentially Superman in a purely human world. It’s not an Elseworlds, but a different take on Superman’s past and basically, how he learns to be both man and Superman…
Superman For All Seasons was published from September to December 1998 as a four-issue miniseries written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale. I’ve read the miniseries in its trade paperback.
Like most other miniseries, Superman for All Seasons is split into four. But, unlike most others, each part has got a different narrator telling a different story in the four
different seasons. Think of it as a third person and more experimental version of Byrne’s Man of Steel. Our story begins in Spring, with a late-teenage Clark Kent (the narrator) helping his family around the farm and still struggling to admit his superpowers to girlfriend Lana Lang. Later at night, Jonathan and Martha Kent speak about their adopted son and how he has changed since they both revealed to him that he is a superpowered being from outer space. Clark having his all-powerful abilities, hears their every word. Although it’s just the start, this is a moment that stuck with me when I originally read the series. It’s because Clark can hear, whether he wants to or not, every conversation about him and what people think about him. Clark listens to their conversation just sitting on his bed, sad and worried about his future after high school. The next day, Clark, Lana, and their friend Pete Ross are at a restaurant, only for Clark to suddenly disappear and fail to get a haircut once the scissors snap in two upon contact with his hair. As he does so, he continues to hear all the voices about him from his friends before heading home. Clark admits his worries to his human father and as Martha watches them, they stand in the wheat fields for hours comforting one another. However, when it comes to night, the weather becomes stormy and a tornado form over Smallville. Clark commits his first heroic act in his long-life when he rescues the people of the town, despite his belief that he could have done more. As the days pass and Clark celebrates his graduation, he finally reveals his powers to Lana when he flies her over Smallville. In that moment, he tells her that he wants to help people and she tells him that he must leave Smallville to live his dreams. Clark tells her that he will be back. As time passes, Clark says his farewell (for the time being) to his foster parents and he heads for Metropolis, the big city. Despite the lack of training, Clark becomes a journalist for the Daily Planet, meeting new friends in Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White. He debuts himself in the skies of Metropolis as Superman, his first heroic act saving a child from falling off a building. Although the city celebrates the arrival of Superman, one angered businessman hears the news and says that it is going to be a long summer. He is Lex Luthor. Before I continue into the heat of Summer, I do still question why they decided to tell this story using seasons. I guess, when I think about it, it gives Superman the formula of a regular life as, with Christmas, he returns to Smallville to see his parents. But so far, using Clark as the narrator gives him a more human character than in any other story and it stresses that although his powers define him and give him the power he needs, they often make him into an insecure person who is constantly worried about what everyone thinks of him. With Summer, Superman protects the people of Metropolis by rescuing them from a missile attack and sending it into the depths of space. Superman then finds the culprit to be a LexCorp submarine off the coast of Metropolis. Upon presenting the submarine and the hired terrorists inside to Lex Luthor, one of the villains takes Lois Lane (the narrator of this part who smuggled herself onboard the sub) hostage. Despite a feeble attempt from Luthor to negotiate Lois back, Superman takes out the terrorist in seconds and the businessman is humiliated. With that, the balding villain swears revenge on Superman. Like Superman’s, the origin for Lex’s hatred of Superman has always remained the same as he despises Superman’s fame and attention. Anyway, the hero then returns to his foster parents and tells them of
his experience in the big city, while learning from Pete Ross that Lana Lang has left. Clark finds sadness in the fact that Smallville has changed and most of his friends have now gone. As ever, he finds comfort in his mother’s reassurance. Despite being the Man of Steel, Clark is a far softer character. Loeb writes him as a slightly introverted and nervous man who wants desperately to blend in with humanity, but he feels as if he can’t due to his powers. Although it’s far from the end, this isn’t really a Superman story at all. It’s Clark Kent’s story. That being said, we now have a scene that completely disregards that as Superman takes out a group of LexCorp minions after they set fire to a block of apartments. However, Superman rescues a woman trapped, Jenny Vaughn, and she gives an interview to the Daily Planet, proclaiming (continued)
that Superman is her angel. But Lex being Lex, gives her an offer to help Superman, but not in the way she was expecting. With Summer and half of the story complete, it’s only now that I’ve realised how short this story is. Sure, it’s four issues and each part is around fifty pages long. But, with the style of Tim Sale, there isn’t much dialogue and there’s numerous splash-pages or double pages. It’s very cinematic, but more on that later when it comes to the art. Also, unlike the first part, Lois’s narration for the second part does feel somewhat out of place. It’s essentially how her life has changed since Superman appeared and her thoughts about how he really is. It’s all very interesting, but perhaps it would have worked better if she actually appeared in the second part for more than ten pages. Just a thought. Autumn, or Fall as Americans rather stupidly call it, is from Lex’s perspective and how Superman has effectively destroyed his relationship with Metropolis. After spending one night in prison after another failure to kill the Man of Steel, Lex heads back to his apartment and lives his deluxe life, while planning another attempt to defeat his immortal enemy with the help of Jenny. Well, I say help, more like forced aid as she is being mentally tortured as she is forced to watch footage of Superman 24/7. The next day, Clark reports to work and confronts Lois Lane, who is found searching his notes. Suddenly, she and everyone else in the Daily Planet building, faints. Clark knows what to do. At speed, he becomes Superman and finds the whole city with the same problem. After saving the obligatory train from crashing, the hero reports to Star Labs and learns that the virus has been present since the previous night. With that, Superman responds to his hunch and confronts Luthor, who is protecting himself in his tall resistant building. Luthor notes that Superman is unaffected, and he concludes that the hero isn’t human. Despite his wariness, Superman gives in and asks Luthor for help. He is more than pleased as he presents Superman with Jenny, now costumed up as Toxin with her chemical weaponry. Although Superman aids Toxin by flying her into the sky to save the people of Metropolis with the antidote, upon completion, her heart stops due to exposure to the virus. With her death, Luthor lectures Superman about not knowing anything about humanity, and he uses her death to force him out of Metropolis before he fails the people of the city. He does just that. With Autumn’s end, Loeb does his best in making Luthor into an incredibly cruel villain. It’s probably the evillest it’s been as his plan of effectively using a woman to mentally torture Superman is incredibly wicked. To me however, this is when Luthor works at his best. Instead of just being a somewhat dull businessman who attacks Superman using bizarre experiments and science fiction devices, he should be cruel, and he should stop at nothing to defeat Superman. It isn’t so much about killing him, but more about tainting the hero’s reputation and making him appear weak in public. Once again, it’s all about humiliation and this time, it is Superman who has been defeated. With Superman gone, LexCorp has created its own army to protect the people of Metropolis. At the same time, Lois realises that Clark Kent is away too, and she begins to wonder whether there is a connection between the two of them. She quickly dismisses the idea as stupid. Meanwhile, Clark Kent and Lana Lang (the narrator of this final part) play around in the snow and wander around Smallville once again, finding the same old faces and Clark realises that as he has been spending time in the city leading a good life, the people of Smallville like Pete Ross are still living the same old boring lives. Later at night, Clark has dinner with his parents and Lana before learning that the reservoir nearby is overflowing and causing huge floods. As it gets worse, Jonathan and Martha decide to leave Smallville with Lana, leaving Superman to save the town and its people once again from a natural disaster. However, the power of the water becomes to much and the Kents are swept away. That is, until Superman finds them and rescues them both. But there still remains someone else missing. But Superman easily finds the companion who he’s been with for several years on a small rock in the water: his dog. Despite the flood, there’s no sad ending. Everybody lives and the community comes to together to comfort one another. Afterwards, Clark heads back to Metropolis and annoys Lois by reporting on Superman stopping the flood in Smallville, while Lex becomes angry when Superman reinstates himself as the city’s hero once again. I said earlier that this story is about (continued)
what it means to be Superman. And in the end, despite his power and reputation, what it means to be Superman is to be reasonable. It means being a human being, a compassionate one who believes strongly in justice and defeating evil. The powers may define the hero, but it’s his humanity which creates him and ultimately, this is a story about Clark Kent more than anyone else. Some of the most powerful scenes in this story are those which take place in Smallville as he sees how his friends like Pete Ross and Lana Lang change as the years pass, but he realises how his powers have made them appear smaller in the world. That is why his stopping of the flood at the end is a powerful moment as he repays something to the community where he grew up since childhood. Loeb writes a very human Superman and that is the appeal of For All Seasons over many other origin stories, even if this scarcely can be considered one. It may be about Superman in his first year, but I find the scenes with Clark Kent to be far more important in terms of character and the type of hero he becomes. The best Superman stories are the ones where he appears human. Whether it be the Man of Steel, Kryptonite Nevermore by Dennis O’Neil, or this, the stories where Superman is a normal person living a normal life and experiencing normal emotions are the best. Not only does it make him a more relatable character, but it proves that even anybody with power can have the worries of somebody with no power. Superman For All Seasons removes Superman from that tall pedestal and places him with everyone else. That is why it is so great. It’s purely a character piece of Clark Kent. It’s because of this approach to the story that all the other characters, like Luthor, Lois, Lana, or Toxin work. Each of them responds to a different aspect of Superman’s character, some make him into a more human and compassionate character, while others (like Lex) make him into the hero that he should be. For All Seasons isn’t a particularly quick read, despite its two-hundred-page length, but it’s pacing is flawless. Scenes with Superman feel fast-paced, quick and dynamic (in part due to the art), while the moments with Clark are slower, but calmer and far more emotional. As ever with the stories he writes, I never feel bored by a Jeph Loeb story. Even my least favourite of his works, like Batman: Dark Victory, for example, I still never found dull. For All Seasons is never boring and that is both because it’s fuelled by character but also because of the quick style of writing.
If you judge the art of Tim Sale in terms of both storytelling and appearance, then you get two very different conclusions. At least, I do. In terms of the storytelling, there’s no denying that Sale’s art is brilliant. It is fast-paced, experimental and very cinematic in the layouts and the way that the story is told. Loeb himself is very helpful in this by telling a story that is all three of those things I listed. But, when it comes to the appearance of the art and the way it looks, I’m sorry but I have to come out and say that it looks incredibly unattractive. I don’t know if it’s just the faces or the lack of detail in so many pages, but I just don’t think it looks particularly good. Sure, Superman looks strong and heroic, while Luthor looks darker and more malicious, but Sale’s finishes just look a bit freaky and often rather lacking in some areas. I repeat, the storytelling is great, but I’d the say the finishes are far from that.
VERDICT
Overall, Superman for All Seasons is undeniably a classic story and that is how it should be remembered. Above all, it’s a character study of Clark Kent and how the humanity within him is what creates the Superman we all know. In some regards, Clark Kent is the human that he aspires to be. Although we don’t have the fantastic powers that he possesses, Clark has a strong belief in justice, kindness and fair play. That is why he is Superman. Loeb identifies the difficulties of being man and Superman, an idea which was explored several times in the core comics, but here in a purely character piece, I think it works due to the great supporting cast. Sure, the narration factor of the story may be out of place at times and some characters’ narration doesn't add much to the story, but it’s still a great Superman story and one that the great storytelling of Tim Sale benefits from.
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 6/10
Next Week: Animal Man: Flesh and Blood (Animal Man (vol 1) 51-56). Written by Jamie Delano with art by Steve Pugh and Russell Braun.
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