While their previous stories focused on the transcendent nature of the character, often using the hero as a reference point for what humankind can become, Morrison uses Action Comics to explore the failings of a Superman untethered to his home on Earth. (From Action Comics #1 by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales) As a result, the story’s first issues depict a Superman who’s closer to Batman in terms of personality: stern, fiercely dedicated to his cause, and uncompromising in his methods. In sharp contrast to their previous works on the character, like the incorruptible figure of All Star Superman, Morrison introduces the hero in Action Comics as a rougher, more conflicted figure, isolated from his friends at The Daily Planet as well as the memories of Ma and Pa Kent.

Like many of the new origins told in The New 52, Action Comics starts 5 years before the present day, treating readers to a Superman still finding his footing in the world. While the run was widely regarded as a misfire, characterized by the many production and creative struggles that would define the rest of The New 52, it’s also a coda to all of Morrison’s thoughts on Superman, pulling from every iteration of the character to forge an all-new future for the Man of Tomorrow. It was here that superstar writer Grant Morrison–fresh off a 7-year run on Batman–and artist Rags Morales would collaborate to bring this new version of Superman to life, crafting a story that celebrates the character’s place in fiction while introducing a more modern, conflicted take on the hero. Spearheaded by then-Chief-Creative-Officer Geoff Johns and Co-Publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio, the initiative was meant to both streamline the company’s superhero line for new readers and give a roster of all-star creatives the opportunity to reshape and modernize the characters as they saw fit. In 2011, DC Comics announced The New 52, a publisher-wide initiative that reset its ongoing continuity and relaunched every title set in the fictional DC Universe.

But what happens when someone takes this icon and its countless forms, and breaks it down to its base elements? And how do those base elements change when they collide with other conflicting plans?

He’s been a champion of the oppressed, a reporter, an alien, an immigrant countless forms that have coalesced over the years into an image that’s practically synonymous with the American myth itself. For over 80 years and a thousand issues, Superman has held a titanic legacy in fiction, using his incredible powers to fight a never-ending battle for truth and justice.

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