CSBG Archive
Tell All Star Superman #1-11 in Eleven Panels!
August 28, 2008 @ 09:29 AM
- by Brian Cronin
- in General
- 16 Comments
Sandy Bilus is running an intriguing experiment over at his blog here, where he attempts to tell the entire story of All Star Superman #1-11 via strictly one panel from each issue, in order.
I do not know if he is successful, but it’s damned impressive on his part, I think. Can anyone do any better? Someone should also set up his panels as a YouTube thing – that’d be awesome to see!






16 Comments
matthew.
August 28, 2008 at 10:48 am
Seems the experiment is sort of a success. It tells a disjointed story, but a story nonetheless.
Jean Yates
August 28, 2008 at 11:06 am
I went, I saw, and … it was great! Thanks for pointing it out.
Derek Rogers
August 28, 2008 at 11:21 am
Awesome. If anything, this is like the trailer to All-Star Superman!
Sandy
August 28, 2008 at 11:40 am
Thanks for the shoutout, Brian!
dhole
August 28, 2008 at 11:48 am
I’ve only read a couple of issues of this series, but this made me want to read more (particularly panel no. 11). So I think it works very well.
So when can we see similar “trailers” for Watchmen? Squadron Supreme? Secret Wars?
Sandy
August 28, 2008 at 12:03 pm
dhole – I just posted a note on my blog about that – I plan on making a series of posts like this one, and I’ll put the next up early next week. Thanks for the compliment!
Matt Algren
August 28, 2008 at 12:22 pm
That’s amazingly effective. Maybe I wouldn’t get it if I hadn’t read the issues first, but at the very least it’s a good recap before the 12th issue comes out.
Well done, Sandy!
(I’m not sure how well this would work with stories from less skilled storytellers, though.)
Blackjak
August 28, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I don’t know what’s more impressive:
That you managed to find a panel in each issue that summed everything up;
Or, that Morrison and Quitely structured and wrote the comic so well that you were able to do so!
Kudos to you all!
Jeff Ryan
August 28, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Probably a benefit of Morrison’s full-throttle embrace of the single-issue story in All-Star Superman: the greater story creeps in there in important individual panels, often when you’d least expect them. Cut and paste them, and there’s your narrative thread.
I love watching the recaps for a show like 24, which not only tells you what’s happened in the episode right before this, but also bring sup any old storylines from episodes (or entire seaons’ past) so viewers aren’t as in left-field when an old storyline comes back. Often you cna predict the whole episode just bys eeing what’s in the “previously on 24.”
jazzbo
August 28, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I haven’t read a single issue of this title, and still this does a pretty good job as a “Previously on ASS…” Great work, Sandy. It’ll be cool to see some others.
Paperghost
August 28, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I can’t wait to see how he tackles Lex stealing 40 cakes in issue 12.
John Trumbull
August 28, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Man, warn a fella before you send him over to blog with that title, will ya?
Neat experiment, though. Worked pretty well.
I triple dog dare someone to try it with ALL-STAR BATMAN & ROBIN.
Thomas C (Cap'n Yesterday)
August 29, 2008 at 12:39 am
I like his choice for #7, it sums up All Star Superman perfectly.
I’m not certain this would tell a new reader everything they need to know, especially since Leo Quintum doesn’t appear. If Quintum is just a red herring, then this works perfectly.
This kind of thing should replace recap pages.
Sandy
August 29, 2008 at 5:22 am
Yeah, Quintum was the only character that I couldn’t fit in. I tried to make sure all of the other secondary characters showed up.
Annoyed Grunt
August 29, 2008 at 4:25 pm
As someone who’s never read the book or even paid much attention to what’s being said online, the story I get from that is both Superman and Lex are dying. In his final days/months Clark wants closure on his life while Lex wants revenge. Along the way there are fisticuffs with villains.
I’m sure there’s a lot more to it, but that makes a pretty good trailer. I’d buy the trade after reading that.
Blackjak
August 29, 2008 at 4:55 pm
@Annoyed Grunt
Yup!
Summed it up nicely, don’t it?