I recently read a 75th anniversary collection of Superman comics,

>>84849887
Love the story myself. It's an issue i think most people should read if they want to understand Superman, like reading Arkham Asylum for Batman in my opinion

One of my favorite Superman stories after Superman beyond.

I think that its flawed in a way that Supes essentially proves Manchester's tenet of might makes right. But it also highlights Superman's personality that he has all that power and he would still not bend to breaking his code.

This is one of my favorite Supes story

>>84849887
He proves the villains wrong by... making appear as if he's using their methods?

>>84849887
I never understood why it is so praised. Superman wins by pretending he's being as bad as his enemies. He doesn't prove anything at the end other than "see? I could kill you if I wanted, but I chose not to"

>>84849887
THE greatest Superman story of all time, IMO. Maybe there's something in the Silver Age that tops it, haven't read all of that yet, but this is probably the best.

>>84850012
Ironically, this is God's method in the Bible. Especially in the story of Abraham and Isaac.

>>84850031
I kind of get what you mean here. The comic fails to prove the point despite being a great story. It only answers half of the argument, I think. The argument being that HEROES shouldn't kill villains because that's not what heroes do.

A story I'm writing in which the majority of Batman's villains are reformed better reflects the other half of this argument: the reason why heroes shouldn't kill. Personally I think that people like Batman and Superman don't kill because they still see the goodness in others, and wish to give them a chance to change their ways. But also, obviously, because we wouldn't get any more stories with those villains.

>>84850012
Through the whole story Manchester arguse that Superman would be better off acting like him and the moment Superman actually appears to do that Manchester can't cope with it and breaks down because its fucking terrifying.

Also its worth remembering that this is part of a longer story line and not the resolution of the Elite arc.

>>84850099
It's not a one off story, the Elite has quite a few more appearances and Manchester Black continues as a Superman villain for a few years.

>>84850163
But the story is self contained and so is the message the author was trying to convey.

File: Action Comics (1938-2011) 775-024.jpg (683KB, 1988x3056px) Image search: [Google]

683KB, 1988x3056px

>>84849887
Just read it, meh
some of the art was nice thought

>>84850163
It was a one off att the time. None of those appearances by Manchester Black were planned at the moment of writing that story. It was supposed to be a standalone single issue.

>>84849975

I get what it was going for. Superman was basically rubbing their faces in their own shit and making them see what a shitshow their philosophy was, without letting them jjust have a buffer for consequences, just straight up "so this is what you've been selling, let's extrapolate from it and what happens to you if we do what you suggest, then". It's easy to preach "might makes right" when you're the mightiest guy around, less so when you find it boomeranging back at you. It's a bit paternalistic, but not out of character.

>>84850012
Superman's point is to handle the Elite like they handled things: like a bully. The story makes that clear, but doesn't really show how his way is better.