Just a really solid, wholesome origin story for Superman. Not a "gritty reboot" or a "what if it was in our real world, with cell phones and whatnot" type story. Just the origin, the rocket, the kents, the glasses, everything.

This is, I believe, the "official" canonical origin for Superman as it stands today, though I'm sure if that's true post New 52. But at least, that was the intent, and Geoff Johns tries to incorporate everything good and pure, everything that has been absorbed into popular culture about Superman. Most notably, Clark's time as Superboy has been re-introduced. It's also worthy of note, Superman is constantly drawn to look like Christopher Reeves.

Not a lot to say here, this book doesn't really challenge anything, or give us a "different take" on the character. It's intention is the opposite, it's more like when someone takes a composite average of a thousand different faces and ends up with one single, generally very attractive face. Superman: Secret Origin is the average pretty face of everything that everyone knows about Superman, bundled into a neat little package. It's well-written and well-drawn, it's definitely worth a read. ( )

Yet another Superman/Superboy retcon by DC. I think that there have been at least one or two others, and that's just in my lifetime.

Still, I'm not sure if it's because I really liked the art, or if it was the story and how it was both new and yet also familiar, but I liked this TPB. It was a bit of Smallville (the TV Show) and a little bit Superman: The Movie, and it was balanced with a little original Geoff Johns.

There was a story with the Legion of Superheroes, one with Metallo and Parasite. I thought that the lead up to the origin of the Parasite was the best that I've ever read, and usually, I don't even like that particular villain of Superman's. And, of course, the Lois/Jimmy/Clark stuff was great too (plus, they got the helicopter and phone booth in there). ( )

Superman: Secret Origin reads almost as a 'best of', mashing up Christopher Reeves' Superman with elements from the Smallville TV series and no doubt other classic moments from the comic books. I really liked the explanation for why Clark wears glasses (cut from Kryptonian crystal, they help keep his hormone frenzied heat ray under control as a teen).

Rendering Clark/Supes as Christopher Reeve is an interesting choice. It plants the story firmly in the Reeves universe, making a bold claim for canon. Reeve is the most human Superman we've ever known (we never really got to see Smallville's Tom Welling in the suit) so the comic immediately feels familiar. Yet unsettlingly so. None of the other characters closely resemble their on screen counterparts, which makes for a disconcerting clash of the hitherto separate movie and comic book worlds.

It's a straight forward telling, with the requisite dose of kryptonite. But hey, it's Superman, whaddaya expect? On balance probably one of the better versions of the origin story. ( )

A re-telling of Superman's origins and early career. It's not particularly original, and there's a lot of cribbing (homage?) from the first Christopher Reeve movie. But the boyhood treatment is particularly appealing; it reminds me of when there was a Superboy comic book, and they started humanizing the character in the late '60's. The whole book is pretty well-done, although I'm not terribly enamored of the artwork. It just doesn't bring anything new to the table. At this point, there's not a lot of reason to re-tell such an iconic origin tale unless you can make it fresh and find a new angle - which this mostly doesn't. ( )