Some years back I became fixated on CBR’s Top Ten lists curated by Brian Cronin. These fun lists ranged from greatest artists to storylines to best stories by specific creators, and they were compiled a few times each year to much fanfare.

Perhaps my favorite type of list was comic book “runs,” aka a sustained tenure on a book by the same creative team. Instead of singular storylines, original graphic novels or one-offs, a run of stories really does deserve recognition, given how difficult it is to sustain such a level of work. Superman’s long history lends itself perfectly to this type of post, so let’s get to it!

10. Robert Venditti’s Superman: The Man of Tomorrow

I think my affection for this series, which is just on the cusp of being a “run,” comes in part from the context in which it was released. Rebirth had just been waved aside in favor of the Bendis material, and I know many fans were ready for some traditional Superman stories again.

Venditti wrote this series of books (11 issues in total, collected in a nice TPB in its entirety, for those interested) to be sold exclusively at Walmarts, so they needed to show a Superman that the casual fan could recognize. As such, the central components of all the stories are Clark and Lois’ married life and work as reporters… and that’s fine with me!

Along the way we got a nice little romp through Supes’ rogues gallery- Lex, Toyman, Parasite, etc- ably drawn by Paul Pelletier and others, with woven subplots through every 1-2 issues.  Solid stuff.  This is a run that any fan of Superman can enjoy, whether you’re a longtime reader or just someone looking for a little sample size of the character and his world. I do admit that its historical context might elevate it a tad, but it still belongs on this list.

9. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman

I have often talked about how difficult it is to rank Siegel and Shuster’s work on the character, given that they well, kind of invented everything. They really could be at the top of this list just because of their contribution to the world that is the Man of Steel himself.

With that said, their stories are enjoyable on their own merit as well, so I will go ahead and slot them in. The dynamic creative team of these two young boys from Cleveland invented the character and then wrote countless Superman stories across many different formats for several years- Action Comics, World’s Finest, Superman, and the Superman newspaper strip.

What I enjoyed most was Jerry and Joe’s run on the newspaper strip, which was more for an adult audience and of a higher quality than a lot of books (at least in the beginning). We finally got to see Superman directly fighting Nazis and the Japanese, not analogues for both as in the comics. There was a weight to the books that was really cool, with Lois and Clark directly involved with submarines, air raids, and problems on the home front. I don’t know what it is, but superheroes during WWII just work so well, and I am here for it!

Even though much of the character’s world was still being built out in the Golden Age, much of the Superman we know is there from the beginning- Krypton, the Daily Planet, Lois, Luthor, Perry and Jimmy, the dual identity, and more. It should also be noted that Jerry Siegel, from what we can tell, wrote all of his own stories, and even after Joe Shuster started losing his eyesight, he was still involved in overseeing the eventual studio of artists from 1938-1945ish. So the same creative team was on the books for a long time, producing hundreds of stories along the way.

See my past reviews on the newspaper strips here, here, and here.

8. The Adventures of Superman (Digital)

I loved this anthology series and wonder why I don’t see it talked about a whole lot. Although generally anthologies are hit or miss (with often a lot of miss), these were great and had some solid creative teams working on them! Like Venditti’s Man of Tomorrow, their status may be elevated just a bit given that they felt like finding water in an oasis while wandering through the desert of New 52. But still, they are solidly put together and are stories that new or longtime fans could appreciate.

Originally released as a digital first series, they eventually were printed as three trade paperbacks as well. Definitely check them out if you haven’t gotten the chance!

7. John Byrne’s Superman

In an interview he did with SYFY Wire some years ago, John Byrne was asked what he would do differently if he could go back and approach the character again. His answer essentially was that he would not have agreed to do the books.

I’ve read a lot about the problems Byrne had with taking on Superman, which were mainly issues with editorial interference and the character’s branding. Byrne was told his version of Superman would be everywhere from then on, and yet older versions of the character persisted in merchandising, which rankled him quite a bit. That piece of it has been well documented, but I must say I haven’t been able to find what he disagreed with editorial about, specifically (if anyone has any info, let me know).

I recently finished a reread of Byrne’s entire run on Superman, and there is still a LOT here that is really great. His Man of Steel mini series was a wonderful, daring reboot, I adored his World of Krypton miniseries with Mike Mignola, and a smattering of other issues were really solid too. Superman’s Legends crossover, in particular, in which he is brainwashed by Darkseid and lives on Apokalips for a period of time, was a highlight.

All that said, while I don’t know specifics about what he took exception with in the books, I do know there were a lot of things that did not work. For one, Steve Englehart’s Millenium crossover across the DCU in 1988 forced Byrne to wreck decades of Superman’s history in Smallville. The story claimed that Lana Lang was a Manhunter plant to get near Superman (a theme for every hero in the DCU during this story), the Manhunters were present during Krypton’s destruction, and that they had caused the blizzard that forced the Kents to live at home for months after they discovered Superman’s crashed rocket. All this also happened to take place during the unfortunate period when Byrne just seemed to be finding his footing.

If there is one thing that NEVER works for any well established superhero book, and certainly not Superman, it is changing a character’s origin story. Leave it alone, find something else to do. If the character has been around for decades, it must be working for a reason.

Byrne seemed to find his footing again by the end of his run, with the pocket universe Zod/Supergirl stories somewhat, but even this had been influenced by the stories happening in the Legion of Superheroes, which shoehorned Superboy into the picture again when Byrne clearly did not want that character as part of the status quo.

I should write a post about Byrne’s run on its own some time to go into more, but lest you wonder why I put the run on the list at all, I’ll just conclude with a few more positives. 😁 For one, the art was always great, which makes sense given a creator of Byrne’s caliber.  More than anything though, the revamped, Byrne status quo was a gift to Superman that gave us years of great stories, elements of which are still being used today, and that says something.

6. Jeph Loeb’s Superman/Batman

A couple of stories from this series are often included in the conversation for all time Superman stories, most notably “Public Enemies” and “Supergirl.” I would include “Absolute Power” on that list as well, and refer to the first twenty-six issues of the book, all of which were written by Jeph Loeb, as a run that deserves a spot on this list (even though Loeb’s final arc, “Vengeance,” landed with a thud). And yes, those first two stories are very good.

Jeph Loeb really understands Superman and has written him well across several media (including the Smallville TV show). Here, however, the strength of the book is Superman’s back and forth with Batman, another character who Loeb is intimately familiar with. The stories all do a great job juxtaposing the different thought processes of both characters, clearly the strength of the book.

The stories themselves are high stakes and make for Justice League level action in their corner of the DCU.  The first arc, “Public Enemies,” deals with the fall of President Luthor, the second deals with the true Kara Zor-El coming from Krypton and all the questions that raises about Kal-El’s identity, and “Absolute Power” is a universe-spanning alternate timeline story. The one-shots Loeb writes with other artists along the way- issues 7, 19, and 26- are very strong as well.  Although I’ve never been a big fan of Ed McGuinness, Loeb and he do have a connection dating back to their time in the Superman monthly book, so it flows well.

Any one of the aforementioned three arcs would make a great Superman movie, in my opinion. The material has been released in Absolute and Omnibus formats in recent years, so it clearly sells, and can be found pretty easily.  We’ll see if anyone decides to go that route one day.

5. Peter Tomasi and Pat Gleason’s Superman

I wrote quite a bit on Tomasi and Gleason’s Rebirth books a few years ago, so I’ll just summarize here, but essentially what this run gets so right is the Kents as a family. There are some wonderful adventures in this, most notably “Imperius Lex,” when the Kents and Lex Luthor get stranded on Apokalips and have to find their way home.  Another strength are the fantastic downtime issues, including “County Fair” and Tomasi and Gleason’s very last on the book, “Truth, Justice, and Family.” There is a LOT of heart in these stories, and I just eat it up.

It’s so great to see Superman and Lois Lane’s lives evolve as time passes. DC recently published an omnibus of all of it, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find as this run has become a new fan favorite. Definitely worth checking out.

4. Geoff Johns’ Action Comics

Is there any writer who gets the DCU as well as Geoff Johns?

Rather than use this space to sing Geoff’s praises (and I could easily, believe me), I’ll simply say that he loves and understands the character of Superman, and it shows. Every story that Johns wrote on Action Comics is solid on its own, but when read altogether as a run it is even more impressive.

Geoff Johns joined the Superman books immediately following Infinite Crisis- another stellar epic that he wrote which featured Superman extensively- and began by co-writing the nice “Up, Up, and Away” story with Kurt Busiek, about Superman getting his powers back. He then continues with “Last Son,” an excellent story in its own right, with epic action sequences and (to my knowledge) the first story of Clark and Lois as parents, albeit adoptive ones. Both of these have really great character moments in Superman’s personal life, which give the stories more layers that keep reader interest.

What then follows is his collaboration with superstar Gary Frank, and probably Johns’ best known Supes stories- “Superman and the Legion of Superheroes,” “Brainiac,” and I would add “Secret Origin,” even though that was published later as a mini. Each of these stories are modern classics that are continually in print because they are that good. The plots and details are too varied and many to get into here, but maybe I’ll dive deeper in a future post. Bottom line, few have a mastery of the character that Geoff Johns does, and he uses it to expand Superman’s world in a way that feels natural and respectful.

If you’re interested in reading these stories, some of the many jewels in Johns’ legendary DC Comics career, there is an absolute edition of the Johns/Frank collaborations coming later this year.

3. Dan Jurgens’ Action Comics

I’m not sure if there’s anything left to say about Dan Jurgens’ work, and I’ve shared my thoughts about his Rebirth stuff extensively here.

Was there ever a doubt that a story about the next stage of Superman’s life, by the man who has perhaps been the most prolific Superman writer of my lifetime (ever?) wouldn’t have been fantastic?  Jurgens’ Action Comics Rebirth run builds on his wonderful stories of Clark as a family man in  “Convergence” and “Lois and Clark,” and beautifully takes all the Kent family to the next chapter of their life.  It’s a run that I wish had continued for a lot longer, and gets better and better with every reading.  For me, this period of stories has yet to be equaled by anything that has come since.

2. Kurt Busiek’s Superman

I am a huge fan of Kurt Busiek. I have been blown away by his immense talent and ability over the years to seemingly pull fresh stories of out of a hat. Nothing ever feels old or stale, and everyone he writes “sounds” perfectly in character. His resume is up there with any of the greats, and his range as a writer is just off the scale.

In the mid-2000s I was reading everything from DC, which was publishing a lot of quality books at the time.  When Busiek’s hiring on the Superman ongoing series was announced, I figured it would just be part of the DC-wide “One Year Later” branding with the usual good stories.

WOW!!! Was I ever wrong!

I was blindsided by how much I enjoyed his Superman run.  There are a good 3-4 stories that came out of this that I would put on an all time Top 25 list (and I actually did, in two places), and although things trailed off a little bit at the end, overall the consistency of this run was just great.

For many creators, Superman seems to be a difficult character to write and take in new directions.  Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know, as I’m not a writer, but what I do know is that on this run Busiek made it look easy. Despite not utilizing Luthor, Zod, Kryptonite, or any of the other usual plot devices because of Geoff Johns using them in his concurrent run on Action Comics, Busiek came up with fresh stories with new villains and plot lines that worked.

I would absolutely love to see more done with Khyber, Arion, the Galactic Golem, and much more some day. In the meantime, I’m HUGELY excited about the upcoming hardcovers collecting his Superman work in its entirety for the first time.

1. Mike Carlin’s “Triangle Era”

If you’re talking about a sustained, consistent run of stories, this era of Superman delivered. So many memorable storylines came out during these years, including Exile, Panic in the Sky, the Krypton Man, and of course the Death and Return. I’d be hard pressed to find a stretch of Superman stories that contributed as much to the character’s mythos as this: Doomsday, the Eradicator, Steel, Con-El Superboy, Cat Grant, Bibbo, Ron Troupe, Clark revealing his secret identity to Lois, the engagement and eventual wedding, and so many more. The creative teams on the Superman books were just churning out great material which has shaped Superman’s world right down to the present day.

To be sure, not all the stories were masterpieces, which is hard to do for any run on a book, but especially when it was more or less a weekly comic for a good decade plus. But that is the brilliance of this period in a nutshell- a self contained, fleshed out journey through Superman’s life, which honored the past and added tons of new layers as well, all brought together by a host of comic creators.

If we’re getting specific, a fair question to ask is exactly what period are we talking about here?  Mike Carlin, the editor and shepherd of the Superman line often credited with much of the success of this period, started editing the books during John Byrne’s tenure.  By the same token, there were triangles on the Superman covers up through 2002, even though Carlin had left long before that.

Personally, the period I’d refer to is everything non-Byrne that Carlin edited up to his departure, roughly 1987-1994.  This includes the years where many of the Triangle Era creators- Ordway, Jurgens, Stern, Gammill, etc- were already on the books, even if the triangle numbering hadn’t started yet.  Since Carlin edited all of it, I’m fine calling this his run, even though it was very clearly a collaborative effort. 

SO glad we’re finally getting omnibuses of this era starting this fall!  If you’ve never read the Superman books of these years, they very much worth checking out, but definitely brace yourself for long form storytelling.

That’s the list!!  Thanks for being patient between posts, as these lists do take some time to write, but I have fun putting them together.  I hope you guys had fun reading it!