Superman: True Brit

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

I found this for four bucks at Half Price Books and thought I'd give it a try.

Bottom line: I LOVED IT.

I remember this was universally panned when it came out. The only thing I can imagine is that, when people read it, they took it to be a normal Superman, straight-laced, Elseworlds comic book. When I read it, I read it as a quirky British comedy with the dry British humor. With main writer Kim "Howard" Johnson with a bit of help from John Cleese, I have to imagine that's how it was meant.

The art was by John Byrne, but it was inked by Mark Farmer, so it looked quite different from any Byrne art I've ever seen. Also, it looked far cartoonier than Byrne's usual fare.

Did anybody else read this? It came out originally in 2004.

[ClarkKent_DC]

This wasn't a miniseries; it was a one-shot graphic novel. It came out in 2004 so it's not surprising it's out of print, but cheap used copies are available. Hit me up offline if you want and we can arrange for me to see if the store where I got mine still has any.

[Richard Willis]

I just looked. Amazon.com has copies available for both the Superman True Brit TPB and the collections of the "Brit" title, which is not the same thing. They are available.

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

I found my copy of Superman: True Brit at Half Price Books for four bucks.

[Captain Comics]

Those Grecian hootenannies can get pretty wild, I hear ...

[Richard Willis]

I haven't read Superman True Brit. From the reviews I'm not sure I'd enjoy it. Maybe I'll try to get a cheap copy.

I have thought of myself as an American since I was four years old, but my family's heritage is English, as are all of my blood relatives. I hope I'm wrong, but some of the comments seem to imply that Clark learned to be a good guy only because his adoptive parents were American. Certainly the Kents were fine people and his adoptive parents in this story were not. If the True Brit Clark didn't get his values from his parents, where did they come from? From the Kryptonian parents he didn't remember? From his DNA?

I have always thought that Clark is the real guy and Superman is the disguise. Everything he does is informed by his upbringing. I just don't like the implication that British values are inferior.

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

I never once got that out of this book. There are some "baddies", like the Perry White analog, but no more than you'd have in the American version of Superman (Morgan Edge, Steve Lombard, etc.).

Richard Willis said:

I have always thought that Clark is the real guy and Superman is the disguise. Everything he does is informed by his upbringing. I just don't like the implication that British values are inferior.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Thank you, Alexandra. Those are insights I did not pick up on when reading this story.