Superman has rescued Leo Quintum, a colorful philanthropist who, among other things, is interested in mapping the sun after Lex Luthor attempts to sabotage Quintum's sunship the Ray Bradbury. But Quintum was not the target – the Man of Steel was. By flying into the sun, he's absorbed more solar radiation than even his cells can take, and it will eventually kill him. Quintum has many ideas about how to either save his life or, if it comes to that, replace him, but there's something Clark has to do first, and that's reveal his identity to the woman of his dreams…

No, All-Star Superman has no scenes of Lois Lane in panties and a bra – and it doesn't need them. All the appeal this book needs comes from Grant Morrison's crackingly smart script and Frank Quitely's glorious artwork, and any nudity would simply be extraneous: too much of a good thing. In its own way, this book is every bit an iconic re-imagining as Jeph Loeb's A Superman for All Seasons was about a decade ago. Yes, it's really that good.

Unlike Frank Miller's effort on Batman’s like-titled book, Morrison isn't out to redefine the Man of Steel or show a side we've never seen before. Instead, he gives Clark Kent the only real reason to tell Lois Lane who he truly is that makes sense: that he's facing death for the first time, and time is running out. Besides, we actually have seen this Superman before: He's the Superman II Man of Steel, the man willing to play a complete and utter fool in his daily life to maintain the fiction that he's human. If the scene when Clark enters Perry White's office doesn't remind you of Christopher Reeve in that movie, then you need to go back and watch it again – or perhaps you don't, since Morrison captures that Clark persona brilliantly. His Lex Luthor, on the other hand, is the logical outgrowth of Michael Rosenbaum's Smallville persona in that he's quiet, charismatic, and utterly ruthless. When he goes all out to kill the Man of Steel, he doesn't fool around. Even Jimmy's well-done. (The only character who hasn't hit her mark yet is Lois, but she's no doubt poised to have her moment next issue.) And that plot! An entrepreneur genetically altering humans to become space explorers, including nanonauts to explore the atom? Superman being killed by the very thing that gives him his strength? Pure genius – and pure Morrison.

And then there's the art, which should bring to mind Superman in the way the French would've envisioned him. Actually, our hero's the only one not touched in any serious way by Quitely's magic pen, except to make him look more super than usual. Everyone else, however, comes straight from the pages of some issue of Metal Hurlant, especially Quintum with his rainbow greatcoat and walking stick. It's not as odd a fit as it sounds – it simply goes to show how universal a character Supes is that, were he to walk into a European comic book world, he would fit in perfectly there, too. Can't wait to see what these guys do with our hero next. A-