The Best Superman/Wonder Woman Reading Materials?

[JC]

Well, I've never been a comic book or graphic novel reader, but recently been thinking I should look into it and give it a try...My fav Superhero characters are Superman and Wonder Woman, but still not sure if I will enjoy reading the comics...I know there aren't too many novels/graphic novels out there, but I still want to see if there's anything like that, or any other reading materials for these characters...

So my question is...What are the best Superman and Wonder Woman reading materials out there besides the comics? Thanks in advance guys.

 

[Bardoon]

I can't speak for Wonder Woman but usually the "Elseworld" stuff is pretty good. The best Superman one I think is Superman: Red Son which tells the story if Superman crashed in the USSR instead of the USA.

 

[JediFirefly]

All Star Superman is Really good
Also the earlier issues of superman/batman.

 

[devilof76]

The Greg Rucka Wonder Woman is awesome. So is the Gail Simone stuff. Haven't made it to George Perez, but I expect good things.

 

[LoneWolf]

Try 'Identity Crisis' and 'Justice'.. Those Graphic novels have both Superman and Wonder Woman playing vital roles.

 

[Jair]

For Superman the best non-comic book I think is "It's Superman" by Tom De Haven, read it a few years ago and have fond memories of it, it has a bit of an origin story in it but really deals with his early years. Eliot S Maggin has also written a few really good Superman novels, "Last Son of Krypton" comes to mind as a really good one. If you want to stick to Graphic Novels, the best one I can recommend is Kurt Busiek's "Superman: Secret Identity" it's a fantastic read and would be considered an elseworlds story since it is not set in the DC universe.


Wonder Woman has considerably less in the way of stand alone novels or graphic novels that are not part of the actual series. Best one I could recommend would be Greg Rucka's "Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia" it has Batman in it as well, but it is really well written. "Wonder Woman, Spirit of Truth" by Paul Dini is really nice, it's an oversized graphic novel with art by Alex Ross, but it's out of print and hard to find but recommended as well.


Evan

 

[JC]

Thanks for the recommendations so far guys, I'll definately look into those...

So now what would be the best origin story books for Superman and Wonder Woman?

 

[Jair]

We'll Superman's origin has been rebooted a couple of times, some of the more recent collections of his origin have been John Byrne's "The Man of Steel" which got rid of quite a bit of Superman's early years...basically no Superboy. I think there are trades of pretty much his whole run on Superman.

More recently Mark Waid redid Superman's origins again with "Superman: Birthright" which added back the silver age stuff and incorporated some of Smallville and the Superman movie (Donner version). Think it came out around 2003, it's also collected in trade.

Most recent is Geoff Johns "Superman: Secret Origin" which again changes some things around but so far it's much closer to Waid's Birthright than Byrne's Man of Steel.

I enjoyed Waids version to some degree and it looks like Johns version is pretty close, I think a trade will be available sometime this summer.

Honestly Superman's origin has been redone so many times it's hard to keep count but I'd go with Johns version for now since it will be canon for the meantime.


Wonder Woman..... good luck hehe. Her origin has not been rebooted as much as Superman but there is much fewer in the way of "origin" books on her unless you want to go back into the orginal stuff. George Perez (who is considered by some to be the best author of her in the past 30 years) had a tremendous run from 1987 to 1992 and his run has a very good origin story, it's all available in trade as well. There have been a few good authors in the past few years, Greg Rucka and Gail Simone but her origin has basically stayed the same. If your really interested in her early years, they just put out a trade called "Wonder Woman Chronicles," it's pretty much her origin and her first adventures from the 1940's. I'd also recommend the animated movie that came out last year I thought it was pretty good.

If you need any more recommendations let me know.


Evan

 

[Ryu]

Honestly Superman's origin has been redone so many times it's hard to keep count but I'd go with Johns version for now since it will be canon for the meantime.

This is where I get confused. I'm also not a big comic reader myself (I just pick up a Batman graphic novel here and there, but I want to read some Superman stuff too), but I get so confused on which origin story goes with which Superman universe. What's considered to be the current main Superman storyline and where do I start? While I'm at it I might as well ask the same for Batman.

 

[Animal Mother.]

In case it hasn't been mentioned yet, I highly recommend Superman For All Seasons by Loeb and Sale. I've never cared much for secret identity.....it read too much like a comic writers ultimate fantasy/wet dream for me to get into.

Also, if you don't mind some early 90's cheese, I always enjoy the Doomsday saga, from death to Hunter/Prey.

 

[jediknight120]

In case it hasn't been mentioned yet, I highly recommend Superman For All Seasons by Loeb and Sale.

 

[JC]

I'd also recommend the animated movie that came out last year I thought it was pretty good.

Thanks for that great info Evan...Speaking of the animated movie which I saw and loved...Has anyone read the Wonder Woman novel by S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison? They say it's an adaptation of the movie...

 

[Jair]

This is where I get confused. I'm also not a big comic reader myself (I just pick up a Batman graphic novel here and there, but I want to read some Superman stuff too), but I get so confused on which origin story goes with which Superman universe. What's considered to be the current main Superman storyline and where do I start? While I'm at it I might as well ask the same for Batman.

Superman's pretty difficult to navigate these days honestly for someone just coming in to comics... the primary storyline is New Krypton (yes I know it exploded... I don't understand it either) by James Robinson. The basics of his current origin is, came to smallville, met Lex Luthor in smallville, became Superboy, went to 31st century with Legion of Superheros, gets job as adult with Daily Planet, marries Lois Lane. He currently also has a son in the comics which happened during the Donner/Johns storyline from about 2 years ago. JMS (john Michael Straczynski) is coming on to Superman as the writer, which may be a good time to pick it up. I have no idea whats going on in Action comics.

Saw a few others mention it..."Superman for All Seasons" by Loeb and Sale is good and "All Star Superman" by Morrison and Quietly is also highly recommended.


Currently Batman (Bruce Wayne) is dead and Nightwing (Robin-____ Grayson) has taken up the mantle. There are about 10000 Bat books and I pretty much ignore most of them atm but Detective Comics (which is starring Batwoman and the Question). Bruce Wayne is slated to come back from the dead sometime soon (he was killed by Darkseid in Final Crisis) and I have no idea if ____ Grayson is going back to Nightwing. You'd really need someone who pays attention to the bat books to explain it all.

There are a lot of very good Batman books from Loeb and Sales "Dark Victory" to Millers "Batman Year One" to "Batman Bride of the Demon". if you enjoyed the past two Nolan movies I'd recommend reading the first two I previous mentioned along with Loeb and Sales "Long Halloween" and "Haunted Knight", they all seem to be the inspiration for Nolan's Bat films.


Evan

 

[DCfan]

Superman Birthright is a fun, unpretentious read, and Red Son is very good too - you won't have wasted your money if you buy either of those. I also like Donner's Last Son which is supposedly what Donner's third Superman movie would have been.

Someone mentioned Superman/ Batman, I only read the first tpb but I found it boring as hell - fight after fight after fight, yawn.

 

[JC]

Well guys I've narrowed my choices down to these titles that are available thru my library, I thought I would read them first to see if I like them before buying them...

So for Superman, my list is:

Superman: New Krypton, Vol. 1
Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 1
The Death and Life of Superman: A Novel



For Wonder Woman:

Wonder Woman: Down to Earth
Wonder Woman :The Hiketeia
Wonder Woman: Bitter Rivals
Wonder Woman: The Circle
Wonder Woman: Rise of the Olympian

So out of those lists, which book, or books should I start reading first for Superman and Wonder Woman? Thanks again guys...

 

[devilof76]

(he was killed by Darkseid in Final Crisis)

Ow.

Spoiler tags are your friend.

 

[Jair]

Ow.

Spoiler tags are your friend.

Sorry about that it was pretty long ago in comic time, almost 2 years I figured everyone knew.



Evan

 

[Jair]

Well guys I've narrowed my choices down to these titles that are available thru my library, I thought I would read them first to see if I like them before buying them...

So for Superman, my list is:

Superman: New Krypton, Vol. 1
Superman: The Man of Steel, Vol. 1
The Death and Life of Superman: A Novel



For Wonder Woman:

Wonder Woman: Down to Earth
Wonder Woman :The Hiketeia
Wonder Woman: Bitter Rivals
Wonder Woman: The Circle
Wonder Woman: Rise of the Olympian

So out of those lists, which book, or books should I start reading first for Superman and Wonder Woman? Thanks again guys...

Superman wise if you want to go in chronological order would be "Man of Steel", then "Death and Life" then "New Kyrpton" but they are all three very different takes on Superman.

Wonder Woman "Hiketeia" is a stand alone book and one of the best. "Down to Earth" and "Bitter Rivals" are both Greg Rucka's work, so recommened as well in that order. The "Circle" and "Rise of the Olympian" would be last to read, they are by the current WW writer Gail Simone who is excellent as well.


Evan

 

[devilof76]

Sorry about that it was pretty long ago in comic time, almost 2 years I figured everyone knew.



Evan

I know, I did the same thing to Darklord Dave a couple weeks ago with the new Batgirl. But if you consider how slow trades come out (especially softcover) two years isn't all that long. I've actually been waiting to pick up Superman: Brainiac and Wonder Woman: Ends of the Earth before reading Final Crisis.

 

[**16k**]

Funny how sobebody can't even write ____ Grayson without being censored!

Now, I've read most of the Superman material spoken of here and love them all.

However, I don't know about you Supes fans, but I don't think I like any of the origins proposed whether in serials, films, comics or series. I often find myself saying: this is cool! this should be canon!... thing is I like a bit of all of them while there are others I particularly dislike (I particularly hate the African storyline and Pa's attitude in Birthright, among others). I end up having my own "definitive" origin in my head and in no other media!