All-Star Superman was published by DC Comics in twelve issues from 2005 to 2008, with art by Frank Quitely and colors by Jamie Grant, and it is Morrison’s masterpiece — the work in which their enormous ambition and their deep love of superhero comics achieve perfect synthesis.
The premise is simple: Superman is dying. Lex Luthor has tricked him into absorbing a fatal overdose of solar radiation, and he has months to live. Instead of raging against his fate, Superman uses his remaining time to complete twelve labors — each issue is one labor — that will ensure the survival of Earth after he is gone. He rescues Lois Lane from the Parasite, creates a miniature Earth in a bottle, arms Jimmy Olsen with superpowers for a day, defeats Solaris the Tyrant Sun, and in his final act, enters the Sun itself to repair it from within.
The series is remarkable for its emotional range. Morrison’s Superman is not the grim, tortured hero of contemporary comics but the warm, compassionate, essentially hopeful figure of the Silver Age — a man who saves people not because of trauma or obligation but because it is the right thing to do. The famous two-page sequence in which Superman saves a suicidal girl — “You’re much stronger than you think you are. Trust me.” — has become one of the most referenced panels in comics history.
Quitely’s art is essential to the achievement: his clean, luminous pages give the story a visual grandeur that matches its mythic ambitions, and his Superman — solid, serene, radiating kindness — is the definitive visual interpretation of the character.
Collecting All-Star Superman
Key issues: #1 (2005), #10 (“Neverending,” the suicide scene).
Market values:
- All-Star Superman #1, NM: $15–$50
- Complete run #1–12: $60–$200
- Absolute edition (oversized hardcover): $50–$100
- Trade paperback collections (2 volumes): $15–$20 each