The Daily Planet Review Section

SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT

Credits: Mark Waid (w); Lenil Francis Yu (a); Gerry Alanguilan (i)

Collects Superman: Birthright #1 to #12

Every few years the Superman comics seem to hit the point where there is a need, possibly at an editorial level, to retell the origin story of the Man of Steel for a new generation. In 2003/4 DC turned to one of the top creators, DC encyclopedia and Superman fan, Mark Waid to craft a new origin tale for, presumably, the Smallville crowd.

Given the time of the release of the mini series, and various interviews with Waid, it would seem that DC was setting up Birthright to be the cannon origin of Kal-El of the 21st Century, replacing John Byrne's 1986 Man of Steel post-crisis reboot. But this wasn't to be the case and the monthly comics that cam after this story alternated between embracing or ignoring Birthright as the current accepted origin tale.

The series follows a young Clark Kent has he comes to embrace his Superman persona, whilst introducing us to "new" takes on the established supporting cast -- such as making Ma and Pa Kent younger to bring them more in line with Smallville.

Whilst I have not read all of Mark Waid's work, personally I have always found it to be hit and miss. I love Kingdom Come yet find his JLA run to be a little bit tedious. However, I have always found his character work very well done, and Birthright is no exception.

What Waid crafts with Birthright is an original, yet classic, retelling of the universally well known Superman origin. He takes bit and pieces of the many Superman stories from the last 75 years and smashes them it his version of Superman, making the comic read like how the movie version of Superman should be (it is not surprising that rumours that Snyder's Man of Steel relaunch flick follows the Birthright template).

Yes, there are problems in that some of the dialogue, at times, can be ropey and there is a scene towards the end that parallels the 2002 Spider-Man movie. However, the problems with the book, for me, is not with the writing but to with the art.

Lenil Francus Yu is not a bad artist, far from it in fact. That said, some artists are not "Superman artists" and Yu is one of them. Whilst I have no problem with non-traditional, Curt Swan-esque, artists working on the Last Son of Krypton (as evidenced by Doug Mahnke being in my top five Superman artists) in this book the art does not fit. Yu would be perfect to tackle the Dark Knight, but does not get the right grasp on Kal-El and his world. I will say, however, from a design and panel layout, Yu is excellent.

Superman: Birthright is a fresh take on a pop culture icon and kudos goes out to all involved for producing a wonderfully engaging origin story that is simultaneously modern and timeless.