Oh Superman.  First of the superheroes, and all too often the dullest.  Being the most powerful being on the planet doesn’t make you the most interesting (just one of the reasons George Bush is low on most peoples’ fantasy dinner party lists).  It’s a conundrum that’s faced comics writers for decades now, and as time has gone on audiences have demanded more sophisticated answers.  Way back when, a flying alien who could zap bank robbers with his eye beams was all people wanted.  Today, the discriminating reader has probably read Watchmen and wants a side order of insight into the protagonist’s psyche along with the requisite fisticuffs.

That’s assuming the prospective reader is aware of comics at all.  Sales have plummeted over the last 20 years, and there’s a generation of kids more familiar with Superman through his appearance in cartoons and on t-shirts than in comics, which have grown more expensive and often inaccessible with it, serving the existing market of men over 30 rather than the kids that superheroes were first designed to entertain.

Faced with a diminishing market for one of its key properties, DC Comics opted to reinvent Superman for the 21st century, turning to established writer and Superman afficionado Mark Waid to do the job.  His new take on the man from Krypton is contained in Superman: Birthright, and he does an engrossing job at getting under the skin of his red-caped hero assisted by excellent art from penciller Leinil Francis Yu, inker Gerry Alanguilan, and colourist Dave McCaig.

Key to Waid’s take on the Man of Steel is the realisation that Clark Kent is the mask that Superman wears in the absence of an actual mask.  But getting to that point happens only in a masterful opening featuring Kent as an itinerant journalist in Ghana, who befriends a political leader offering hope to his tribe, only to be gunned down by powerful enemies.  The genius of this opening issue is the way it relates African tribalism and symbols to Clark’s own alien origins, inspiring the young journalist to take up a heroic role wearing the colours of his people, who were united under the flag that we read as an S on Superman’s chest.

After that master stroke, things feel slightly more calculated, especially where the rivalry between Kent and his arch enemy Lex Luthor is concerned.  It’s still cleverly done though, and owes as much to the Smallville tv series as to the comic’s history.  In fact, the whole story would make an excellent feature film, certainly after the utterly unimpressive Superman Returns.  Let’s hope that the creative talent behind the next Superman film takes a cue from this excellent series rather, as rumoured, than taking a darker turn in the wake of the success of Christopher Nolan’s recent Batman sequel.

Mark Waid clearly delineates credible relationships between Clark Kent, his adoptive parents, feisty reporter Lois Lane and Lex Luthor.  Whether succeeding writers have taken Waid’s lead I have no idea: I follow comic creators, almost always writers, rather than characters.  Which is why I’m looking forward to picking up the forthcoming anthology of Grant Morrison’s recent take on the hero from Krypton in his All Star Superman collaboration with art by fellow Scot Frank Quitely.  Rather than come up with a Superman for followers of the likes of Buffy, which is essentially what Waid has done with aplomb, Morrison has immersed himself in the sheer epic capacity of the character to tell truly fabulous tales, fantastic myths that are larger than life in every respect.  For anyone interested in the potential of this fascinating archetype, I’d recommend reading Waid’s take for a grounded approach to Superman, before losing yourself in the imaginative worlds that Morrison conjures.