Some Brief Thoughts On: "Superman: Birthright"

This is a comic that I've been wanting to get my hands on for a while now, and I'm glad I did. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that out of the three post-Crisis Superman origin stories, this one is by far my favorite, Secret Origin and John Byrne's Man of Steel miniseries coming in second and third place respectively.

There's a lot that I love about this story. First off, I like how Jor-El and Lara, but mostly the former, are more understandably fearful about sending little Kal-El off into the darkness of space in the chance that it might save his life. I liked the section of a young, freelancing Clark Kent covering an African civil rights movement, and how it also runs with the idea of his vast array of vision powers being partially responsible towards his dedication to protecting life. Lois Lane has a great introduction, standing up for Jimmy Olsen while he's being harassed by a superior, and pretty well establishing why Clark falls for her; she's a crusader for justice, just like him. And while I've never been too big a fan of the "Clark and Lex were friends" thing, I like how this story reinvents it in a way. There's a lot more that I could unpack, but I won't spoil it all.

If I had one big complaint, it's that the art is kinda hit or miss sometimes. The characters look weird on occasion, and I feel like there are certain moments when Superman looks a bit more intimidating than he should. Sometimes it works, like in the infamous scene where he spooks a black-market gun seller with one of his own wares, but sometimes it doesn't.

Other than that, I think this is a solid Superman origin story, and I definitely recommend it.