Superman Earth one
Review by Munawar Mobin
After 72 years of the Man of Steel, flying in to save the day, beating the cartoon daylights out of crooks and standing tall in his underwear over pants and saviour of the world posture, the world wouldn't possibly need to know anything more about Superman. However, in Superman Earth One, J. Michael Straczynski writes a Superman origin story which turned out to be so brilliantly distinguishable from the original that its quite surprising. It still managed to hold the essence that was the Man of Steel when he was first thought up so long ago, which is admirable.
The characters are all recognizable in mind but not so much in physical appearance. The talented Shane Davis gives the age old characters a modern mix to make then resemble ordinary every day people; he does so with marvellous depth as the characters still look the same, but with just enough of different details to make them stand apart from the original.
Clark is seen as a young man of twenty something years, with a lot on his mind and a different approach to tackling Metropolis. Straczynski's story hits a different tune than the original in the sense that Lex Luthor, the main villain of every Superman story, has been replaced with an alien army turning Earth into a wasteland in search of the last son of Krypton.
Of course, Superman will swoop in and save the day, but this novel is more than just a modern realization of the old tales. It's a completely new twist to the Superman saga and J. Michael Straczynski has done it with superb story telling.
