SuperHeroBooks - Superman: Secret Identity
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List Price: $19.99
Our Price: $69.99
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Manufacturer: DC Comics
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9781401204518
ISBN: 1401204511
Label: DC Comics
Manufacturer: DC Comics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: 2005-01-01
Studio: DC Comics
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: One Of The Best
Comment: This is one of the finest comic series, and graphic novels, I have read. Right there with Batman:Year One. After seeing Superman grow into such a powerful being I found the stories got rather boring. I applaude any writer who can write an interesting Superman tale.
By placing this story in an alternate universe and working with such an interesting theme the writer has created a comic that should appeal to adult readers. Especially those who, like me, have been reading comics since the 1940s. Or any long time comic fan. Always nice to see an old hero in a new light.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This book is NOT about having super-powers; it's about LIFE.
Comment: What previous reviewers don't seem to have picked up on is the book's THEME. Believe me, I'm no lit-crit guy who goes around looking for the symbolism in everything...but even _I_ can see that Busiek is using his Clark Kent to dramatize the challenges that ALL of us (well, at least all of us men; maybe things are somewhat different for women) face as we go through the stages of life: finding our identity in adolescence, establishing ourselves in the world and finding love as a young adult, providing for a family, accepting one's mortality in later life.
At his best, Superman is always an example to us of doing the right thing--and this is indeed (a) Superman at his best. The difference is that here, the focus of "the right thing" is not promoting truth and justice, but simply facing up to the challenges of your life. The universality of those challenges is what makes the book powerful; it(along with Immonen's GORGEOUS art) is what makes it beautiful.
p.s. In my 2006 holiday letter, I gave my family and friends a money-back guarantee on this book, promising to buy the copy from anyone who bought it and didn't like it. THAT'S how good it is.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: I Hated It
Comment: This is not even the Superman that we all know and love. The character looks nothing like Superman because he's not supposed to be the Superman we know. But yet he happens to have the same name, Clark Kent? Gimme a break. I think it's fine if this is a story of some random kid that finds he has identical powers as Superman but then they shouldn't title this comic, "Superman"? Seriously. And he happens to have a girl friend named Lois but thank goodness her last name is at least different. There is a lot of talking and wondering where he came from or his history and also about consequences of telling his loved one his true identity and everything that comes with being a superhero. It's supposed to be a more insightful story in the problems of a superhero other than battling evil villains and the sort, but I'm more bored of the ridiculous plot that some kid happen to be named Clark Kent and just so happen to have these powers. Also, if you're a fan of the Ultimate Spider-Man series, you will not be impressed by this story because USM does a better job and it's more fun and interesting. Sadly, the new artist for the more recent USM is same artist of this book and reading this you get a sense of why they chose him - the story style is very similar in both books - lots of thinking and pondering as opposed to just non-stop comic book action. The artwork is nice and stylish but I feel it does not convey excitement and makes the characters feel very static.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Up, up, and far away one of the most delightful comics ever
Comment: "Superman: Secret Identity" was originally published in four issues, running about 48 pages each, from January to April 2004. "Secret Identity" begins with Clark Kent, a teenage boy in Picketsville, Kansas, who has to deal with the fact that his parents named him after the mythic superhero as sort of a light joke. Of course, it's not a joke for Clark, who has to endure the incessant mockery of his peers as well as a slew of Superman-related gifts for each of his birthdays. But then, one night, completely by accident, Picketsville's Clark Kent discovers that he has the powers of Superman. Through the rest of the comic, Clark journeys to New York, where he becomes a writer for the New Yorker (but not a reporter, mind you) and meets a girl named Lois -- who he just happens to fall head-over-heels in love with. Kent becomes the world's true Superman, living his superlife secretively so the world never becomes aware that the "Superman" is anything more than a story for Weekly World News.
Kurt Busiek's script is brilliant. Busiek has written what is truly one of the most clever, accessible, and downright fun comics in the history of medium. "Secret Identity" is easily the most charming comic I've ever come across. The story is non-canonical, a rarity when dealing with major characters like Superman. But that makes it no less relevant. It's a wonderful, wonderful idea, brought to life by Stuart Immonen's beautiful artwork. Immonen's art begins impressively with issue 1, and it only gets more bright and beautiful with each successive issue.
There isn't a lot to be said about "Secret Identity" -- it's one of those things that doesn't need a lot of talking and does need a lot of reading. What a pleasure. Unfortunately, it's currently out of print. It might be easier to find the individual issues than the collected work. One thing's for sure: it's worth searching for. Busiek and Immonen deserved a lot more attention than they received for this baby, a pure romantic fantasy gem. Comics don't get much more delightful.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Stunning but slow
Comment: I never would have known this was illustrated by Stuart Immonen if the cover hadn't told me. Acclimatized to Immonen's streamlined, cartoony images, the unique, rotoscoped style of Secret Identity came as a shock.
Busiek has definitely buttered his bread with stories about the real-life burdens of being a superhero (see: Astro City), and, in Secret Identity, he's proven that he's up to the task of giving a bit of emotional gravitas to the two-dimensional Superman. In fact, he occasionally skids dangerously close to making the World's Greatest Superhero too whiny.
Although each chapter is good, the whole package feels a bit jumpy - I'm not sure it could have been fleshed out more without becoming boring, but the transitions through Superman's life felt a bit abrupt.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Many graphic novels have attempted to ground in reality the notion of superheroes living in the real world, but very few have done so with such finesse and skill. Named after the famous comics character by his parents, Laura and David Kent, Clark has grown up detached and alienated by his stupid moniker. Then one night, life imitates art and Clark, like the bane of his life, can fly. Suddenly he has superpowers. Suddenly he is Superman! And suddenly the small boy from a small town is thrown into a big, big world that may be far more demanding than even he can handle. Heaped with praise, this new and brilliant alternate reality for the Man of Steel takes all that has gone before, throws it in the blender and creates something beautiful.
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