Superman is who Americans think of when they hear the word "superhero." DC Comics has recently been allowing their classic characters to be remolded with new stories that fall outside of the existing set of histories created for them.

This first volume is a collection of the first 5 issues of the comic book line of the same title. Each issue focuses on one of the major characters surrounding superman such as Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Lex Luthor. To make things more interesting, the first issue starts by showing that Lex has poisoned Superman with an overdose of yellow star energy, the source of the Kryptonian's strength.

In the course of the tales, we get to see Lois Lane gifted with the strength of Superman for a single day. Jimmy Olsen also finds himself the hero when he is forced to take on Superman who has been warped by coming into contact with black Kryptonite.

In some ways, these tales make good use of the naivete of the earlier years of comics. As a result they differ greatly from more traditional modern comics in the fact that they preserve the idea of an unflawed superhero and avoid darker storylines. The heroes are heroes.

The stories are fun and interesting while the illustrations are more classic in the sense that they have stepped back from today's modern realism in favor of a more cartoonish look. I enjoyed reading this one a lot.