Old-fashioned Superman? Here are three essential comics to renew the myth

Where did Superman go?

While Batman will offer himself a new film next year, that the Joker fascinates the crowds and that even the most minor of Marvel heroes are available endlessly in cinema and in series, the Man of Steel vegetates in the boxes from the Warner studio.

For lack of inspired screenwriters, the boss of superheroes is considered too old-fashioned for the big screen, no longer quite in tune with our time.

But that's no reason to relegate Superman to oblivion after 80 years of dedicated service.

Christic figure but not monolithic, he still shines in some inspired comics.

Europe 1 has selected three perfect stories to renew the myth.

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Kingdom Come

, save Superman to save humanity

Kingdom Come 

is a project led by screenwriter Mark Waid and designer Alex Ross, known for his techniques more similar to painting than to comics.

The duo stages a near future in which superheroes abound for the worst and especially for the best.

The young superhumans, far from being responsible for their elders, unleash their powers without worrying about the consequences and collateral victims.

A danger that pushes Batman and Wonder Woman to ask Superman to come out of retirement, against his will, in an attempt to reason with hotheads and avoid a devastating war for humanity.

Free rereading of the Apocalypse according to Saint John, told through the eyes of a pastor, 

places Superman in the rather conventional role of the savior.

With a side step that changes everything by opposing a bellicose new generation, Clark Kent looks his own past mistakes in the eye.

A model of all superheroes, he feels responsible for the excesses of his "children" but is initially unable to assume it.

A titanic confrontation that takes on biblical proportions thanks to the gouache paintings of Alex Ross, this comic, released in 1996 and reissued last year by Urban Comics in a splendid edition, is equally valid for the finesse of the reflection on the legacy of Superman.

Secret Identity

, when the costume is a burden

Superman: Secret Identity

is a newly re-released 2004 comic book written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by five-star duo Stuart Immonen.

It's the story of a boy named Clark Kent who lives in Kansas.

Superman?

Not at all, the story is set in a world where Superman exists but as a comic book hero, like ours.

This poor Clark Kent did not ask to be called after him, it is a joke of his parents which earns him the teasing of his comrades.

Except that one day, Clark starts… to fly!

Like Superman.

It's improbable, he doesn't believe it.

And yet, he gradually discovers that he has the same powers as this fictional hero.

With this unexpected concept, which amounts to placing Superman face to face with his own myth,

offers an original point of view on a character seen and reviewed.

Here, Clark Kent is just a boy scared of his powers.

Having become a man, he does not seek the light, hides himself from the press and only puts on the costume sparingly.

He's not a star, just a guy who wants to do good discreetly and start a family.

In short, a story all in sobriety for a hero more down-to-earth than usual.

Up in the sky

, hope as the only light

In

, published this summer, the Man of Steel is faced with a dilemma.

A little girl has been kidnapped and taken to the far reaches of space by her captors.

Until the end, witnesses to the attack heard her repeat "Superman will come".

Only he can save her.

But that means leaving Earth for months on end, leaving her helpless, time to investigate and find the little girl.

No matter how noble this cause, does it justify being away for so long?

Indeed, without Superman, natural disasters and alien attacks will kill more than one person, dramas that could be avoided if he remained on Earth.

Superman makes the difficult choice to leave.

The whole story parallels her journey in the footsteps of the little girl and her doubts, the fear that overwhelms her of leaving her beloved Lois Lane, her friends and all of humanity unprotected.

For him, it is an abandonment, a fault ... It requires a superhuman effort.

But Superman clings to a thought, that of this lonely and terrified little girl somewhere in space.

She doesn't have her strength or her powers.

All she has is hope.

And that's the powerful message of this comic book.

With Superman, the symbol takes precedence over powers

These three stories have in common a desire to get the Man of Steel out of the shackles of his notoriety and the clichés that stick to his costume, often through his alter ego Clark Kent.

By dint of making him face monsters and aliens, some authors have tended to forget his primary mission: to inspire.

The "S" on his chest stands for Superman of course, but also means "hope" in the language of his home planet.

And there is the key.

Superman as a superman is of limited interest.

To believe in the myth of the savior in 2020, in a world plagued by extremism, violence and global warming, is completely absurd.

On the other hand, Superman is the only superhero who exceeds his condition.

It is a symbol, the personification of hope.

Through him passes the idea that a better world is possible and that it is neither a question of money nor a question of muscles.

Simply a question of will, of struggle sometimes, of love often.

It may seem a little silly reading these three comics with this prism offers the best way to rediscover the myth of Superman.