Teen Lib.

Mark Waid, like many before him, has developed a new vision of the origins and beginning of superman.  In this world, Clark Kent is a young, traveling reporter who has been trying his best to hide his powers from the world.  After some startling events in Africa Clark decides it is time to use his powers for good.  He and his mother design his suit and alter identity so he can become the popular superman we all know and love.  This story takes many cues from the popular TV show Smallville.  One example of that is that in this story Lex Luthor also grew up in Smallville and was a good friend of Clarks.  The basic thrust of the story is the idea that Clark needs to find a way to come to grips with who he is, and once he does that, becoming superman, find a way to make the public accept him.  The story is fun and it moves at a nice fast pace.  There are some holes which make the story less plausible.  One is that it brings up the ever present hole in all superman comics of the glasses.   How does a simple set of glasses disguise who Clark Kent really is.  While this is always a problem with Superman, writers and readers alike are content to just ignore it usually, but in this story Mark Waid tried to explain it without much success. This explanation forces the reader to consider how ridiculous the concept of using only glasses as a disguise really is.   All in all Superman: Birthright is an enjoyable read which is appropriate for all ages, but it does not add anything particularly important to the superman story.   It does however come jam-packed with fantastic images which will keep you reading despite your feelings about the book.