All-Star Superman is allegedly one of James Gunn’s influences in creating his Superman movie. It could be true or he could have just looked up popular Superman stories. I’m not going to pretend I know. What I do know is that YouTube has it up free with ads and embeddable, so I get to share it with you.
I’m not usually a fan of Grant Morrison’s work, and I’ve only read the first issue, but this is actually a pretty good story. In it, Lex Luthor tricks Superman into flying so close to the sun that his body is overcharged. He’s dying, and the story follows the last tasks he wants to perform before he burns up. This is actually not the first time there was a Superman story with him dying and performing some final feats. I think it was a Silver Age or early Bronze Age tale, but that was either changed at the last minute or an alternate timeline. Still, it’s the execution–a sort of “12 tasks of Hercules” approach–that makes the story work.
The adaptation was done by another comics legend, Dwayne McDuffie. They couldn’t fit all 12 issues into the movie but they chose some pretty good ones. I wish they had gone with an art style closer to Frank Quietly’s art and Jimmy Grant’s inks in the miniseries, but at least the bulk isn’t as bad there as it was in Superman Vs. The Elite or some other adaptations. Overall it’s a really good story and one I’m happy to be able to highlight for as long as its available. Hopefully it’s available in your area. Enjoy if it is, but if not I do recommend looking for it. I have the DVD.
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