DC Comics
Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, George Perez and Roger Stern, writers
Kerry Gammill, Dan Jurgens, Mike Mignola, Jerry Ordway, George Perez and Curt Swan, artists
This Superman collection is one that was never really on my radar before.
I tried a lot of the new books that started up in the wake of DC's Crisis On Infinite Earths in 1986. The revamped Wonder Woman by George Perez drew my attention when it debuted in 1987, and I enjoyed it for a couple years before moving on. I followed the Bat-books -- still just Batman and Detective Comics at that time -- following the Dark Knight's soft reboot that same year. There were many others, including The Man of Steel miniseries wherein John Byrne rewrote Superman's history.
I thought that six-issue miniseries was great at the time -- still do except for Byrne's sterile interpretation of Krypton -- and followed Superman's adventures into the relaunched Superman, the renamed Adventures of Superman and the retooled Action Comics. But my interest waned after only a few months of following the Superman titles.
I've still never read the three part "Supergirl Saga" that led into the "Exile" story line, although I have long been mildly curious about it. In Byrne's reboot, Superman is truly the last son of Krypton; there were no other surviving Kryptonians in a bottle city of Kandor, no Supergirl, not even Krypto, Superman's dog. But in this arc, a mysterious female version of Superman shows up and leads the Man of Steel back to the pocket universe where she came from. She is an artificial being sent to seek out Superman to help save this pocket reality in which three Kryptonian criminals are wreaking havoc. The criminals manage to wipe out all life in that pocket dimension before Superman stops them. Then they threaten to find a way to travel to Superman's reality and repeat their heinous acts. Superman sees no alternative but to rob them of their superpowers and then execute them.
For months after this tale, Superman suffers mental anguish over taking these three lives. The emotional and psychological toll is so great, that Superman begins dressing up as another hero and apprehending criminals in much more brutal fashion than usual. He finally decides that he can no longer safely stay among humans and takes off, exiling himself to space.
"How do you know all of that lead-up if you've never read those issues?" you might be wondering. "From listening to podcasts," I would answer. To be specific, by listening to a podcast named From Crisis To Crisis, a podcast by Michael Bailey and Jeffrey Taylor. Part of the content offered through the Superman Homepage, this podcast concentrates on Superman comics published between 1985-1986's Crisis On Infinite Earths to 2005-2006's Infinite Crisis. That would include everything from Man of Steel No. 1 to Adventures of Superman No. 649. Each episode, these two gentlemen look at a month's worth of Superman issues from this period, taking them in chronological order. They provide a synopsis of the issues and then their own brand of commentary, and the show is very well-done and quite entertaining.
Through listening to this podcast, I have relived some great Superman stories I haven't read in quite a while and gotten to get a taste of the many stories that I've never read. Listening to this podcast has spurred me to buy a few single issues here and there because I want to read them for myself after hearing Michael and Jeffrey talk about them. Their description of the "Supergirl Saga" has made me curious to finally buy and read that tale, but so far I haven't found that it has ever been collected in trade format, the way I would prefer to find it. DC's Superman: The Man of Steel series of trades collecting the 1980s and 1990s Superman stories in chronological order might be my best bet, but so far that series hasn't quite gotten to the "Supergirl Saga" yet.
However, the aftermath of that "Supergirl Saga" -- Superman's self-imposed exile into outer space -- was collected shortly after its initial publication, and I managed to find a copy of that trade in great shape for a not terribly steep price for sale online. Now that I've finally read the issues collected in Exile (and listened to the corresponding episodes of From Crisis To Crisis), I'm surprised I didn't know more about this story line before. This collection introduces characters and concepts that were used again and proved very important to the 1990s and early 2000s Superman mythology. Much of what is explored here would be built upon for a number of stories and developments. If you're a Superman fan, these are pretty key stories introducing the Kryptonian Eradicator, various historical elements from Krypton's past, Warworld and recurring characters like Draaga and Mongul. In fact, Draaga, Mongul and Warworld were such popular concepts, they were adapted into the DC Animated Universe in episodes of "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited."
I'm sorry I missed these comics the first time around, but I'm very proud to have this volume in my collection now. In case you couldn't guess this on your own, I recommend checking this trade out!
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