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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

NPR's Weldon on Alan Moore's Superman story

In "Sleep Well, Superman: A Classic Reissued," by Glen Weldon, National Public Radio's Books We Like (July 28, 2009), he reviews Alan Moore and Curt Swan's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? which was one of the best Superman stories ever written, largely because Moore and Swan obviously loved and respected the previous 50 years of stories and Superman's iconic status. As Weldon notes, "Moore penned a sweeping, surprisingly tender elegy to Superman's rich, primary-colored history, superdog and all. The character had died previously (and since, famously, in 1992), but the superhero comic is a land of dream sequences, clones and regeneration where death is not so much an ending as a plot point. Moore's story, in contrast, is a culmination; even 23 years later, it stands as a moving farewell to the Superman most of us grew up with."

Moore's throw-away story of Superman meeting Swamp Thing from DC Comics Presents is included, and along with the Mongul story, present three excellent interpretations of the Superman mythos.

It took another 22 years, and another writer from Great Britain, Grant (All-Star Superman) Morrison, to even come close to the tenor of Moore's work.

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