Ah, Superman. Boring old whitebread, big blue boy scout Superman. He's so uncool, right? Just...helping people. Being nice. It gets so tedious. Plus he has pretty much every superpower going, so you can never tell any interesting stories with him, cos you know he's never gonna get hurt or die (except for that one time where he did). We've grown a little complacent with the Man of Steel over the nearly eighty years of his existence. We want a bit of a change. The character and his origins have become such an ingrained part of modern culture that he's practically a modern myth. We know all about the doomed planet Krypton, his being sent to Earth, his double life as reporter Clark Kent, his being faster than a speeding bullet/more powerful than a locomotive/able to leap tall buildings in a single bound/having laser eyes. What if we could offer you something different, though? A Superman who wasn't raised to be an American good old boy, a Superman who decided to use his powers for evil, even a Superman who never became a superhero? Guess what, nerd: we totally can do that, because DC Comics have a treasure trove of imaginary stories, Elseworlds tales and crossovers with the multiverse full of weird, wonderful, and totally insane alternate versions of the Man of Steel which will blow your mind. Or at least question the decision making of the editorial teams.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
