The Definitive History

Last week Ed Gross’s newest project Superman: the Definitive History arrived. This book can best be described as a tome. It’s very different than Ed’s last book Voices from Krypton—which I also loved.

Brown cardboard box on a desk. The box has the Superman symbol in black on the front

The first thing I’ll note is the striking packaging. Inside the shipping box the book had it’s own Superman cardboard box. I’m trying to think of how I can repurpose this box for something in my collection. Dear reader, if you have any ideas please let me know.

Brown cardboard box open on a desk. The contents are a large blue book titled Superman: the Definitive History. There is a big red and yellow Superman shield in the middle.

The book is contained in a thick blue die-cut slipcase. They’ve got silver foil inlaid into the slipcase along with a metal medalion in the spine. They spared no expense in the presentation. It’s far and away the nicest hardcover I have in my collection. I expected it to be more like an Absolute Edition hardcover or the 80 years of Action Comics hardcover they put out, but this is a step above. Definitive is a good descriptor.

Large blue book titled Superman: the Definitive History. There is a big red and yellow Superman shield in the middle. The book is standing next to a Bizarro Action Figure from the Super Powers line in the blue and yellow packaging. The action figure serves as scale to see how large the book is.

Next to a Super Powers toy you can see how big this is! Taller than any of my Absolute Edition hardcover collections and thicker than Voices from Krypton! It’s taller than all the spaces in my bookshelves!

Throughout we are treated to a lavishly illustrated history of our favorite Action Ace. It touches on comics, television, movies, animation, music, and everything in between. Each of the sections is further enhanced by these pasted in replicas of historical ephemera. For example early on in the book there is a recreation of a pitch letter for Superman that Jerry Siegel put together. It’s not just printed on the page, but recreated as if someone slipped the original in the book there for you. There are further examples of this with things like animation cells, vellum transparencies, and cartoon storyboards. You can spend hours just looking at these inserts. They are by far my favorite part of this book and will bring me joy for years to come. I kept calling my partner into my office to show them off!

This book is highly recommended for everyone that loves Superman. It takes the work Ed did last year and brings it to a new level. His work on the unofficial guide already eared him a place of honor among Superman fans and made him the perfect guy for this book. Ed’s made some great podcast appearances on the usual shows, but this new video has a focus on this book. Check it out and check out Superman: the Definitive History. Someone in the Man of Steel collectors group asked if they should open it. Yes!