It's been controversial, but I quite enjoyed it. It's taking liberties with canon, but that's because it's an alternate continuity for DC's Black Label imprint, set in the universe of The Dark Knight Returns (although you'd never guess that bit). What it definitely isn't is a Year One, because it covers a good two decades from Superman being sent to Earth as a baby to working as a reporter at the Daily Planet. (Sure, Frank Miller invented Year One with Batman in 1987, but he's still bastardising the term. Mind you, that's also a DC thing, with Year Ones for JLA, Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, Teen Titans, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, the Flash, etc.)

Incidentally, Black Label itself has meant various things. It was created for mature titles (often Elseworlds and out-of-continuity stories) and its first release was 2018's Batman: Damned (boring but controversial and got a bunch of future projects cancelled, including a Frank Miller crossover between Batman and Sin City). It then absorbed Vertigo when that closed in 2019, but the line's editors got sacked in the 2020 DC layoffs and I think the intention changed to be more family-friendly and in-continuity? But I could be wrong.

Anyway, this was a 3-issue mini-series, released every three months with roughly 64 pages each. That's the equivalent of a normal nine-issue monthly series. Issue 1 shows Clark growing up in Kansas and Smallville. Issue 2 shows him joining the military, being taught to kill and getting romantically involved with mermaids. Issue 3 unrolls the famous iconography, including the costume, his job as a journalist, Lois Lane and figures from both Superman's mythos and the DC universe in general. It's not perfect, but it's fine and I appreciated how Superman moderates Frank Miller's tone. These days, Miller's best known for writing gritty, scary street vigilantes and in real life having alcohol problems, extreme political views and possibly mental health issues. A quip I've heard is "he started writing Sin City and he never stopped".

However, Superman's NICE. That's the whole point of the character. He's adorable. He wouldn't know "edgy" if you stabbed him in the neck with it. He's a boy scout. How can you not love someone who does so much good? Miller certainly makes questionable choices, e.g. a different love interest in each of the three books and no thought given to previous ones. Superman promises to stay in touch, then doesn't. Fundamentally, though, Miller's Superman is still a lovable lump who makes the book so much more likeable than I'd been expecting. It's still not great. You'll read it, think it's okay at best and forget about it. The mobile phones and references to Donald Trump don't help. It's nowhere near the impact of Miller's iconic 1980s work... but that was a long time ago and no one expects that from him these days.

John Romita Jr.'s art is nothing special. His Superman looks kinda wrong. Romita's a big name who's worked in comics for decades and done classic work on X-Men, Daredevil, Spider-Man and Iron Man, but this book isn't playing to his strengths. It has almost no real fight scenes and surprisingly little dynamic movement. Superman vs. humans isn't a fight. It's Clark patting you on the head and making sure you don't get hurt.

Clark grows up. This can get a little dull and has a dodgy scene that initiates Clark's relationship with Lana Lane by having him rescue her from an attempted gang rape at the hands of their classmates. Really? Something like that in a Superman book? This is soon forgotten and I didn't notice anyone even calling the police. Nonetheless, I liked Clark's character journey of trying to understand the right way of using his powers and sometimes getting it all wrong. Mum says one thing and Dad says another. His friends at school are being bullied, but the obvious retaliation backfires and makes it worse.

This is the weirdest instalment, so it's also the most interesting. Clark joins the military, becomes a Navy SEAL and somehow never gets in trouble with blood tests, urine tests and hair needing to be shaved every week. What the hell? But I liked this. It's an interesting challenge for the character, in an environment where he's being trained to kill and screamed at if he's not savage enough. Obviously, he doesn't have the bloodlust and never will, but he needs to figure that out. Clark vs. his military responsibilities and his quietly observant superior officer was some of my favourite material in the book.

There are also mermaids. One of them wants to shag Clark, but has a possessive incestuous dad who's Poseidon, king of the sea. (I'm not joking about the incest, but it hasn't started yet.) Dad also has deep sea pets so monstrous that they could be mistaken for a fair fight for Superman.

At last, Clark becomes Superman. He gets the outfit, the glasses for when he's incognito, the job at the Daily Planet and everything. He starts by saving Lois Lane. All this iconography is cool.

Other superheroes show up and I got a kick from that too... but Batman's a dick. Years ago, Miller turned Superman into a government stooge in The Dark Knight Returns, then said he'd write Batman just as unflatteringly in a Superman story. Well, guess what. This Batman is a paranoid sadist who loves what he does and starts raving like a psycho when trying and failing to go one-on-one with Superman. (Mind you, this isn't entirely surprising given Miller's crazy and much-hated Batman in All Star Batman & Robin.)

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this. There's a happy payoff to seeing Miller finally tick all the Superman boxes.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Issue 1 can verge on "boring", but I like its school story. Issue 2 is different and strange. Issue 3 does everything we'd been waiting for. There are fans who hate this book and think its Superman is all wrong, but I liked this take on the character and I'd never get dogmatic about any character who's been published continuously for almost a century under a wild variety of creative teams and editorial directions. This book has its oddities, but it could have been far, far worse. Imagine a gritty Frank Miller dark parody version of Superman that made you want to gouge your eyes out. We avoided that. I enjoyed it.