“Folks tend to call him ‘The Man of Steel’ nowadays. I guess that he’s the most famous person in the world… not that he was ever interested in being famous in the first place.”
Welcome to another week of the Storied Arcs podcast as Mike and Alex continue their look into the works of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, this time diving in Superman For All Seasons (issues #1-4), Loeb and Sale’s retelling of the earliest years of the Man of Steel. The guys discuss how they feel this comic captures the essence of Superman and try and parse out why that essence has been so hard to translate on to the big screen (small screen, less of a problem, though). They also talk about some of the differences in presentation between For All Seasons and the book they covered last week, Batman: The Long Halloween, such as the warmer color palette and story narration. What follows is an examination into the core of who Batman and Superman are as characters (as they see them) and how those cores are expertly reflected in these two stories from Loeb and Sale. This is the Superman story to give to someone who says they don’t “get” Superman.
Next week, we’re jumping across the proverbial publishing street as Loeb and Sale begin their Color Series over at Marvel with Daredevil: Yellow (issues #1-6). This one might be a little harder to track down (in a physical copy, at least) because it hasn’t been reprinted as much, but we’re confident it’s out there to be found. Go read it and join us back here again next week to break it all down!