nobody asked for this, nobody wanted this,
but I'm doing it anyway. hey guys, welcome
back to my channel, or welcome if you are
new. my name is Jena aka Bibliofilth,
and today we're going to talk about some
comics. I have already talked about
two-thirds of DC's Trinity here on my
channel in this series where I talk
about comic recommendations for people
who are new to comics wanting to get
into a certain character. I've already
covered batman, and i've already covered
Wonder Woman, and so I wanted to talk
about Superman today. and I know a bunch of
you are not gonna watch this video,
because there is this idea floating
around that Superman is boring and that
he sucks, and his character is just that
he has powers. I don't want this to
turn into a 9-hour superman defense
squad video, so all I'm gonna say is that
I disagree completely and wholeheartedly
with that assessment of his character.
that is based mostly on false
assumptions derived from only seen one
or two movies starring Superman.
he is actually one of my favorite DC
characters. I'm not trying to tell you
that he has to be one of your favorite
characters either, but I am hoping that
by giving some recommendations you can
go check him out and decide for yourself,
because I think that he has a lot more
depth to him than a lot of people realize.
That piece said, we're gonna
launch into the recommendations and I'm
actually gonna start with a 0.5,
recommendation which is Superman: Birthright.
the reason why I'm calling
this 0.5 recommendation, is that this is
an origin story, and I have quite a few
comics on this list that cover that
period of time and Superman's life. but I
wanted to mention this one specifically,
because if you do need a refresher on
Superman's origin and history, this is
the best origin story in my opinion. it's
the tightest.
it is the most focused for people who
have not really read a ton of Superman.
so I highly recommend that you start
with this, but if you are like a longtime
fan of Smallville or
the animated series or other TV shows, and
you're kind of origin'd out, you can just
skip this one. the first comic I'm gonna
recommend is the one that I always
recommend to people who dislike Superman
because they feel like he's an outdated
character in a modern society. and that
is Superman:
secret identity. Superman: secret identity
is a sort of alternate reality story
that takes place in a world like our
world, where there aren't superheroes but
there are comic books and there are
specific comics like we have in our
world about Superma,n Lois Lane, and Clark Kent.
and in this backdrop we have our
main character, who is named Clark Kent
as kind of a joke by his parents, and he
grows up his entire life resenting the
hell out of Superman because he was
named after this fictional character.
then it turns out that he starts
developing powers similar to Superman's.
this is a fantastic comic
overall, but the reason why I recommend
this specifically to people who cite
Superman is outdated as a reason why
they don't like him, is because it does
have at that cynical sort of backdrop of
Superman comics existing. and the main
character in this story starts off the
story with a very similar mindset of
disliking Superman and thinking that
he's irrelevant, and he slowly becomes
more of a Superman-like figure.
the second comic that I have on my list is
Superman: red Sun, and I would recommend
this specifically for people who don't
like Superman because they think that he
is boring. this is an alternate reality
storyline asking the simple question:
what if instead of landing in Kansas
circa 1940s, Superman that landed in the
heart of the Soviet Union instead? this
is a Superman that is completely
different from the Superman that we know.
I think that this comic is very amenable
to people who don't normally go for
Superman, based on what I have heard,
because of that different premise and
because we are not dealing with exactly
the same character. and I recommend it
for that reason, but I also recommend it
just because it is an absolutely
fantastic comic. the writing is
well done and it gets into very
interesting themes and questions: the
whole concept of nurture versus nature.
I find all of that very fascinating and
this is an absolutely fantastic comic
for exploring those themes.
the third recommendation I have for you is
all-star Superman. all-star Superman
finds Superman returning from an
adventure in space where he learns that
exposure to the Sun has actually damaged
him beyond repair and that he is slowly dying.
Superman decides in true
superhero fashion to keep this
information to himself, but to live out
his last days on earth in the way that
he wants to. it's really hard to describe
this comic in a way that's gonna make it
sound interesting and unique, like
secret identity or red Sun, but all I can
say about this comic is that this really
strips Superman down to his core being.
it really gets into what makes him, him.
and why he is a character that people
resonate with and identify with.
speaking of, number four on my list is Superman for all seasons.
which is sort of like an
origin story for Superman. it follows him
from childhood through adulthood, but the
interesting thing about this comic is
that it frames each stage of Superman's
life as a season and it also frames it
from the perspective of various
characters that are close to Superman.
I think this comic makes a very
interesting read because of that
perspective, and you get to learn how
Superman is important to people, not just
as a giant icon, but as an actual person.
and also the effect that one person has
on another person. this is a very
fantastic read, no matter what stage you
are in the Superman jury. whether you're
very, very familiar with this character
or whether you're just starting off.
finally for my list, number five I would
recommend Superman: peace on earth. I
could not do a Superman video and not at
least recommend one comic that is
illustrated by Alex Ross, who is
basically the king of drawing Superman.
he just does such a fantastic job with him,
I think that this book, of the Alex
Ross stories I've read, is the most
palatable to new readers, and is also
just a very good self-contained story.
like I said, this is a self-contained story. so it is just one adventure in
Superman's life, and it is Superman
seriously asking himself the question of
"if I am so powerful why can't I solve
broad issues like world hunger?"
this story follows Superman trying to do just
that: trying to solve world hunger with
his powers. I recommend this because I
think that the story it tells is very
strong and it does get into some
questions that people ask while they're
reading superhero comics.
alright, and those are all of these Superman comics
that I would recommend to new readers.
let me know in the comments below, what
your favorite piece of Superman media
is? I really have a soft spot for the
original Superman movie from the 70s
starring Christopher Reeve. I watched
that obsessively as a child. let me know
what yours is.
thanks for watching and take care now, bye.
