10 Best Modern Superman Runs, Ranked

Superman is the hero that started it all. The character first appeared in 1938 and was immediately the standard bearer for this new kind of heroic character. The Man of Steel has been around for closer to a hundred years than fifty, and has often been the most important, popular character in superhero comics. The hero has had numerous different eras, with the current modern version of the character beginning with the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths. That’s 41 years, nearly half the character’s existence, and during these decades some of the greatest creators in comic history have worked on the Last Son of Krypton.

The modern era of the first superhero has given readers some of the most memorable stories starring the character. Numerous creative runs have made him into a better character than ever and many of these runs are among the best of all time. These are the ten best modern Superman creative runs, updating the greatest superhero of all time.

10) John Byrne

John Byrne became a superstar because of his time on Uncanny X-Men, Fantastic Four, and She-Hulk. After Crisis, he was given the reins of the Man of Steel and allowed to completely change his history. His time on the character ran through Action Comics #584-600 and Superman (Vol. 2) #1-22. Byrne did away with the other Kryptonian survivors like Supergirl, got rid of the Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes backstory, weakened the character’s powers, and made him into the ultimate All-American Reagan era yuppie. Byrne’s run has been re-evaluated and found wanting to an extent, but it’s impossible to deny just how good his run was. He was an old pro by this point and was able to create compelling Superman stories.

9) Pete Tomasi/Patrick Gleason

DC Rebirth made the publisher a contender again after the failures of the New 52. The Superman run by Pete Tomasi and Patrick Gleason was one of the flagships of the their new superhero books, becoming one of the most beloved books of the era. Tomasi and Gleason dealt with the returned pre-Flashpoint Superman and Lois Lane, joined by their son Jon, pitting them against the greatest threats as a family. Their time together ran through Superman (Vol. 4) #1-45 and is one of the most praised Superman runs of the 21st century. It has its problems, but it did everything it needed to do, giving readers amazing new adventures with the Kent family.

8) Dan Slott

The Superman comics are in an amazing place and have been for years now. 2025 was the character’s biggest year in ages, with his new movie driving interest in the hero. DC went into overdrive to push Big Blue and were able to snag writer Dan Slott, known for his long run on Spider-Man, for Superman Unlimited. This currently ongoing series introduced the Emerald Era of the hero, as a massive Kryptonite meteor hits Earth, making the mineral the newest cash crop and endangering every Kryptonian on the planet. Over the last 13 issues, Slott has done an outstanding job of telling Supes stories with an old school bent that still feel thoroughly modern. Slott is fantastic and the book’s latest story arc with the return of the young Jon Kent is shaping up to be outstanding.

7) Phillip Kennedy Johnson

Phillip Kennedy Johnson was given Superman after the Bendis run torpedoed everything fans loved about DC Rebirth’s Superman books. He immediately began building up the story that his run would become known for, the best of all time story “Warworld Saga”. Kennedy Johnson wrote Action Comics #1029-1060 and Superman (Vol. 5) #29-32, perfectly capturing the heroism of the Man of Steel. While his run is mostly praised for “Warworld Saga”, it’s fantastic from start to finish and gave Superman the buzz he would need to get back to the top of the comic industry.

6) Mark Waid

Mark Waid is one of DC’s greats and is basically the greatest living Superman scholar of all time, which makes his latest run with Superman so great. Waid came back to Action Comics in issue #1070, with the 12part story “Phantoms” that took Supes to the Phantom Zone for some retro-action, and would stay on the book after DC’s All-In publishing initiative began. The book went back in time, focusing on the Superboy years of the Man of Steel. Waid has been outstanding on the book for the last two years, modernizing the Superboy years with aplomb. The Superman titles are hitting on all cylinders lately and Waid is playing a key role in that.

5) Joshua Williamson

Joshua Williamson made his name on The Flash and has become one of the key architects of DC’s line nowadays. He got his start with the Man of Steel in 2023, launching Superman (Vol. 6) and writing it to this day. Williamson’s run has been fantastic since his beginning. He gave readers one of the best Superman/Lex stories of recent years over its first 25 issues, the outstanding “House of Brainiac”, helped build up DC K.O., and is currently doing a bang-up job of redeeming Superboy-Prime. It’s been one of the best superhero books on the market since for the last 38 issues and continues to wow readers.

4) Louise Simonson

Louise Simonson is one of the most underpraised creators in the history of the comic medium. She was one of the architects of the success of the X-Men, X-Factor, and the New Mutants in the ’80s and would eventually move over to DC. She was given Superman: Man of Steel, mostly working with artist Jon Bogdanove, and put out one of the best series of the decade of extreme. Simonson wrote the book for most of its first 86 issues, mostly working with Bogdanove. The two of them created Steel and gave readers some amazing Superman action, together working on some of the best Superman stories of the ’90s.

3) Dan Jurgens

Dan Jurgens is the most iconic Superman creator of the 1990s. After working on issue #29 of Superman (Vol. 2), he took over as writer/artist of the book with issue #57 and stayed on it until #150. He was part of the brain trust behind “Death of Superman” and his book was considered the flagship book of the Superman line. His art was just as great as his writing, perfectly capturing the power and majesty of the Man of Steel. Jurgens is one of the most important Superman creators of all time, returning to the character numerous times since his run ended to tell more amazing stories (his DC Rebirth run on Action Comics #957-1000 is also awesome, as was his first run in the book in 1988’s #650-657).

2) Geoff Johns

Geoff Johns wrote a little bit of everything in the ’00s and one of the best moments in his career came when he took over as writer of Action Comics in 2006 post-Infinite Crisis. His run kicked off co-writing Superman (Vol. 1) #650-653 and Action Comics #837-840 with Kurt Bursiek for the story “Up, Up and Away”, and stayed on Action until issue #873. Johns’ run brought a lot of pre-Crisis ideas back to the Man of Steel, and his four opening stories – “Last Son”, “Escape from Bizarro World”, “Superman and the Legion of Superheroes”, and “Brainiac” – is a near flawless run. He ended his time there writing the “New Krypton”, ending his run with his least awesome story, but overall it’s amazing.

1) Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison wrote All-Star Superman in 2006, but wouldn’t get their chance at a solo Superman ongoing until the tumults of the New 52. Morrison wrote Action Comics #1-18 and #0, working with Rags Morales and amazing fill-in artists like Andy Kubert, Talent Foreman, Gene Ha, and Ben Oliver. Morrison brought the character back to his Golden Age man of the people roots, using their run to tell one long, 19-issue story that’s vintage Morrison and one of the most amazing Superman narratives ever.

What’s your favorite modern Superman run? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

10 Superman Stories We Need to Talk About More