Superman: Birthright
Plot Summary and Credits
When his home planet is destroyed, infant alien Kal-El is sent across the universe to a new world, where he finds a new family and extraordinary powers. In the persona of young journalist Clark Kent, he travels the world and helps wherever he can, but isn’t always able to save everyone. When Clark takes on a new job in the city of Metropolis, his activities as Superman attracts the attention of fellow reporter Lois Lane and scheming billionaire Lex Luthor, a childhood friend who claims to not remember him. Lex discovers Superman’s alien heritage and uses it to turn the public against him, framing him as a conquerer sent to enslave the planet. After uncovering Lex’s plot and discovering his true heritage, Superman emerges victorious, with the world seeing him as a hero once again.
Mark Waid (writer’, Lenil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan (artists), Dave McCaig (colourist), Comicraft (letterer), Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, by special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.
Collects Superman: Birthright #1-12
My Copy
I ordered this book before going on a trip with some friends from college to give me something to occupy myself during downtime. And I needed it. We slept on air mattresses that had spent months in a shed and deflated overnight, we had to queue for half an hour for a freezing shower and the food made me wish for cheap-as-dirt supermarket sandwiches. One of the things that helped me get through it was this book, a nice little escape when I really needed it.
Before Reading
I’d recently finished the Court of Owls Saga, another entry in the Compact Comics line, and wanted to see what else it had to offer. I saw that one of them covered Superman’s origin story, which I figured would be a good addition to my collection.
After Reading
Like with Court of Owls, my enjoyment of this story largely came from the format. The books are pretty small and have a lot packed into them, so they’re good for taking on the go to have a completed storyline in your backpack.
I think it’s a safe bet to say that we’ve seen this story before. If you’ve seen any Superman movie, you could probably guess the plot of Birthright and not be too far off. This is by no means a bad thing, since Kal-El’s story is one of the most iconic of any superhero, but I had a fairly good idea of how it would unfold.
To remedy this predictability, Birthright takes what we already know about Superman’s origin and builds on it, taking us through the little details of his preparation for either side of his identity. One detail I liked was when his parents are helping him out together his Clark Kent persona, and he is given a pair of his dad’s thick glasses that slightly mute his eye colour, using his x-ray vision to counter the strong prescription. It shows the thought put into his double life and how he maintains it, making himself as inconspicuous as possible.
I found Superman’s relationship with Lex to be a standout of this storyline, because it shows just how petty and self-righteous Luthor can be. We see them meet as teenagers in Smallville, a time that Lex apparently blocks out because of his failed inventions and lack of intellectual challenge, all while Clark tries to be Clark and be nice to him. Having the villain and hero’s backstories interwoven like this makes their confrontation all the more impactful after seeing how they got to where they are, and how easily it could have been avoided.
When it comes to characters as powerful and otherworldly as Superman, it can be difficult to give them a believable connection to the people they protect. We all know that the Man of Steel gets around this issue by being raised by humans and living among them, and Birthright represents this well. When he’s beaten down by bad guys, a crowd of normal people come to help him, even though they probably know there isn’t much they can do besides throwing some rocks. To me, this is the most essential aspect of Superman as a character, the way he inspires the people he protects and in turn is inspired by them to keep on fighting.
The comic features all the hallmarks of a Superman story. Catching a helicopter? Check. Mistrust from the government? Check. Infecting him with kryptonite so that the final battle doesn’t end in two seconds? Check. The story performs as expected and doesn’t break the mould, but that’s the whole point. Its goal is to follow a definitive origin story for one of the most iconic characters in fiction, so it stays true to the character and builds on what we already know about him without undermining the core elements of his established lore.
My favourite part of the story is probably the ending, where Superman uses Lex’s attempt to contact Krypton through time to let his parents know that he made it to Earth. This aspect of his backstory feels like its often overlooked, since his parents would have been unaware of anything happening to the rocket on its journey, so hearing from their son in the future and learning that he’s not only alive but thriving must have been quite uplifting in their final moments.
Closing Thoughts
Birthright is a pretty conventional but enjoyable Superman story, reminding me if everything I love about the Man of Steel and showing his connection to the people he protects.
Next week I’ll be looking at yet another Superman origin story, it’s a very different tale than we’re used to.
