January 22nd, 2020
When Marv Wolfman puts his name to something, the work needs to be appreciated. His work on both the ground-breaking Crisis on Infinite Earths and The New Teen Titans are legendary and will go down in history as some of the most influential works in comics. While origin stories for the man of steel are remarkably common, this wasn’t even this first retelling this year, Wolfman once again proves his talent as a writer by making it seem fresh, original, and shows a remarkable amount of touching humanity to Clark Kent that feels timeless.
Man and Superman looks exclusively at Clark moving to Metropolis and his own struggles with just trying to be himself in the big city. Trying to prove himself a worthy enough writer to join the staff of the Daily Planet, figuring out if the city is right for him, and understanding his place in it all. Clark is amazingly sweet and sympathetic throughout, when he does begin to use his powers, things don’t go as smoothly as he’d hoped, and he has the same worries that a real person would. Being viewed the wrong way, causing destruction when he doesn’t mean to. Wolfman brings a tremendous amount of depth and sweetness to Clark, something that should come naturally to the character but is often overlooked.
The book compounds the notion that he is not above regular people, he is just as human as they are at his core. While struggling to get his foot in the door at the Daily Planet, he works a cleaning job and gets to know the people of the city. Clark is incredibly grounded and honourable. Working hard and paying back his co-workers for something they deemed to be a small matter. Even his interactions with Lois Lane feel genuine, the respect and rivalry between them bleeds through the pages.
Luthor’s appearance, though late into the book, is strong and gives off a commanding presence. We figure out his plan alongside Clark which makes it feel even more genuine. His design with a harsh purple and green suit harkens back to his Bronze Age appearances that truly makes him stand out among the cast.
It’s exceptionally hard for a Superman origin story to stand out without doing something massively wrong. The formula has been there for a long time, with little deviation. But Wolfman’s choice to focus in on an incredibly specific moment makes the book as a whole stand out. Put simply, it is one of the strongest outings Superman had in 2019.