Superman for All Seasons

AUTHOR: Loeb, Jeph

ARTIST: Tim Sale (illustrator); Bjarne Hansen (colorist); Richard Starkings (letterer); Alex Jay (cover artist)

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1998

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1999

Publication History

Jeph Loeb earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in film from Columbia University, where one of his instructors was film director and screenwriter Paul Schrader (whose screenwriting credits include Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ). Loeb had already written screenplays for films such as Teen Wolf (1985) and Commando (1985) prior to writing a screenplay for a film adaptation of The Flash, a superhero character owned by DC Comics. Although the film was never made, Jenette Kahn, the publisher of DC, invited Loeb to write comic books for DC. His first work for DC, in 1991, was for the series Challengers of the Unknown, which had been originally created in 1957. This was also his first collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who had attended the University of Washington, the School of Visual Arts in New York, and a comics workshop run by artist John Buscema. Sale had begun his career in comics in 1983 for the comic book versions of Robert Asprin’s Myth Adventures and Thieves’ World novels (both first published in 1978) before going to work for DC Comics. Loeb and Sale’s graphic novels featuring Batman, especially Batman: The Long Halloween (1996-1997), were so successful that DC gave them the opportunity to repeat that success with one of the company’s other iconic characters, Superman. Superman for All Seasons was originally published in 1998 in magazine format in four parts. Hardcover and softcover first printings of the book version were released in 1999.

Plot

Superman for All Seasons is a four-issue series, in which each part takes place during a season that is narrated by a different character. The story begins in the spring, when Superman is known only as Clark Kent. Clark is a high school senior in Smallville, Kansas, living on a farm with his adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent. His best friend is Pete Ross, and his girlfriend is Lana Lang. Clark begins to discover that he has superpowers: First, Clark and his father realize that Clark has superstrength; then, Clark’s barber breaks a pair of scissors while attempting to cut his hair. Clark finds out by chance that he can outrun a speeding locomotive, and, finally, discovers he can fly when he is sucked up into a tornado. The tornado severely damages Smallville, and Clark has a spiritual crisis when he realizes that he could have done something to help. Consequently, Clark leaves Smallville.

The story continues about ten years later, when Clark has settled in the city of Metropolis, where he works as a reporter for the newspaper the Daily Planet. He has also established a second identity for himself as a hero named Superman. In his personal life, Clark and Superman are two parts of a love triangle with Lois Lane, another reporter for the Daily Planet. He has also made an enemy of a billionaire named Lex Luthor. When Luthor secretly arranges for a biological virus to infect the population of Metropolis, Superman finds that he is not prepared for such an emergency. Luthor anticipates this and already has a cure prepared in the form of a superhero named Toxin. Unfortunately, Toxin dies in the process.

Superman has another spiritual crisis and returns to Smallville. When the local river floods, Superman saves the lives of the people in peril. He then returns to Metropolis, ready to do battle with Luthor and anyone else who threatens the lives and well-being of the innocent.

Characters

•Superman, a.k.a. Clark Kent, is the last survivor of the planet Krypton. His parents sent him to Earth just before Krypton exploded. The ship lands on the Kansas farm of Jonathan and Martha Kent, and they adopt him. As a teenager, he discovers that he has superpowers, including superstrength, superspeed, physical invulnerability, supervision, and the ability to fly. Fortunately for the people of Earth, he is not interested in power, money, or status but rather wants to do good deeds. As Clark Kent, he is a star reporter.

•Jonathan Kent is Superman’s adoptive father, a farmer.

•Martha Kent is Superman’s adoptive mother, a farm wife and the person who created Superman’s costume.

•Pete Ross is Superman’s best friend as a boy and teenager. As a teenager, he wants to escape Smallville to become rich and famous, but he never leaves.

•Lana Lang is Superman’s girlfriend as a teenager. When Clark left Smallville to become Superman, she traveled around the world. She returned to Smallville at the same time Clark was there resolving his second spiritual crisis.

•Lois Lane is Superman’s girlfriend as an adult. She is a star reporter and the person who gave Superman his name.

•Lex Luthor is Superman’s arch enemy. His public persona is that of a respectable billionaire businessman, but he secretly hopes to be loved by the people of Metropolis in the same way people idolize rock stars and sports figures. Instead, they have given their admiration to Superman. He is also Superman’s rival for the affections of Lois Lane.

•Toxin, a.k.a. Jenny Vaughn, is a brilliant chemist whose life Superman saves, but he then comes under the control of Luthor and becomes the superhero Toxin.

Artistic Style

Sale’s depiction of Smallville was influenced by American artist Norman Rockwell. Smallville is an idealized version of rural, small-town life and is intentionally filled with anachronisms. The automobile styles, especially the tail fins, are more appropriate to the 1950’s than the 1970’s, and the train Clark outruns is pulled by a steam locomotive rather than a diesel. Smallville features a general store with a soda fountain and a diner but no bars. When Clark and Lana take a walk in one scene, they stroll through a covered, wooden bridge.

Metropolis is idealized as well. Hansen portrays it with bright colors, and Sale does not show any slums. When Luthor looks over the city from his penthouse office, he is standing on the highest floor of the tallest building in the city, as befits someone who thinks of himself as a ruler. On the other hand, Clark Kent lives in a studio apartment only slightly larger than his bedroom in the Kent’s farmhouse, which emphasizes his lack of interest in material goods.

Sale makes extensive use of double-page spreads to show Superman in action, such as when he encounters a tornado, takes Lana flying, carries a terrorist submarine to an Air Force base, stops a missile headed for Metropolis, looks back at the Earth from outer space, or simply flies over the city. Superman himself is drawn with a square, featureless face, and his physique would be intimidating if his inherent gentleness was not known.

Sale differentiates between Lois Lane and Lana Lang with more than just hair color. Lane flaunts her beauty, always wearing tight-fitting blouses, high heels, and miniskirts, while Lang is just as pretty but wears loose-fitting blouses, long skirts, slacks or jeans, and sensible shoes.

Themes

The story is divided into four parts, one for each of the four seasons. In “Spring,” Clark Kent discovers his superpowers and becomes Superman, like a plant growing from a seed. During the “Summer,” he is at his peak, saving lives and foiling terrorist plots against the people of Metropolis. In the “Fall,” Lex Luthor gains the upper hand in his ongoing struggle with Superman, and in “Winter,” Superman becomes dormant, retreating to renew his spiritual resources. “Winter” ends with his return, like a perennial plant that blooms in the spring.

Superman undergoes two spiritual crises during this story. The first occurs when he is a teenager and discovers that he has superpowers. His solution is to abandon his dream of marrying Lana Lang and taking over the Kent farm. His second crisis takes place when he discovers that he has limits in the face of the biological virus that infects the population of Metropolis. His solution is to learn to live within his limitations.

Another theme is the conflict between the desire for an ordinary life and for an extraordinary one, as represented by Clark and Pete. Clark would have been perfectly happy to have become a farmer, marry Lana, and raise a family. However, this is not a choice allowed him because of his superpowers. Pete, on the other hand, wants to leave Smallville to seek his fortune. There is a specific reference in the story to the film It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), and in the last part, Pete resembles George Bailey, the film’s main character, in his darker moments.

Impact

The story does not break any new ground in the life story of Superman, but rather follows the lead of John Byrne’s The Man of Steel (1986). Byrne, unlike Loeb and Sales, was given the opportunity to reinvent the character, whose history the editors of DC Comics felt by that time had gotten too complicated. Nonetheless, even Byrne could not deviate too far from the template established by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who created the character during the 1930’s. However, Loeb and Sales did show that it was possible to dig deeper into the emotions of Superman and the people in his life than anyone else before. Loeb intentionally refrained from making Superman the narrator of his own story. All that the reader knows comes from Sales’s portrayal of Superman’s body language, the dialogue that Loeb wrote for him, and the descriptions by the four narrators as written by Loeb. Two of the narrators, Jonathan Kent and Lana Lang, love him; one, Lex Luthor, hates him; and the fourth, Lois Lane, does not realize that she will eventually fall in love with him. While the concept of character-driven superhero fiction is almost a contradiction in terms, Loeb and Sale show that characters in plot-driven fiction can still have motivations.

Television Series

Smallville. Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. Millar Gough Ink, 2001-2011. Superman for All Seasons was one of the inspirations for the television series Smallville, and Jeph Loeb was a consulting producer on the show from 2002 to 2004, supervising producer from 2004 to 2005, and writer of four episodes between 2002 and 2005. Like the first part of Superman for All Seasons, Smallville focuses on Clark Kent before he became Superman. However, there are significant differences. For example, Lex Luthor and Clark Kent are good friends in the early years of the show, and Lex is only a few years older than Clark. Lex’s father, Lionel Luthor, is instead the recurring villain.

Further Reading

Byrne, John, and Dick Giordano. Superman: The Man of Steel (1986).

Chaykin, Howard. Superman: Distant Fires (1998).

DeMatteis, J. M. Superman: Speeding Bullets (1993).

Dini, Paul, and Alex Ross. Superman: Peace on Earth (1999).

Bibliography

Flagg, Gordon. “Not Your Father’s Superheroes.” Booklist 99, no. 11 (February 1, 2003): 998.

Loeb, Jeph, et al. Superman: Our Worlds at War. New York: DC Comics, 2006.

McLean, Thomas J. “Hero Worship: Film, TV Talents Jump at Chance to Write Their Favorites.” Variety 395, no. 9 (July 19, 2004): A1.