When it comes to iconic Superman stories, few of them rise to the level of All-Star Superman. First published in 2005, the Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely twelve-issue limited series is one of the most celebrated Superman stories of all time. It’s won multiple Eisner Awards and is one of the comics that inspired James Gunn’s Superman. Now the seminal comic book has been faithfully adapted into a full-cast audiobook by Penguin Random House Audio.
Morrison and Quitely’s story was adapted for this new medium by Meghan Fitzmartin. As the writer of the 2022 Tim Drake: Robin comic book series and the Justice Society: World War II animated movie, Fitzmartin is no stranger to the DC Universe. Still, the All-Star Superman audiobook presented her with new obstacles to overcome.
“Adapting the visual elements is my favorite kind of challenge—creating an auditory language to translate the comic’s breathtaking art,” Fitzmartin explains. “I ended up writing a key for sound motifs (like Superman’s flying, heat vision or superhearing abilities) and a key for music motifs (like Krypton, Hopeful or Ominous) to help create a consistent mental image.”
Because the story was being retold in a non-visual medium, Penguin Random House Audio had to find ways to fill in the gaps left by the absence of Quitely’s artwork.
“When creating an audiobook out of a graphic novel, one challenge is figuring out how to include the artwork,” says producer Nick Martorelli. “We knew that someone would have to become our narrator—someone who could describe the visual elements of the story, while also making sure to set the mood and make the action clear. To make that decision, we looked to the original comic. Issue #2 of the comic book is narrated by Lois Lane, and issue #10 is narrated by Superman. With those two narrators established by Grant, we explored the idea of having the narrator change with every issue. What if, instead of turning to an all-knowing voice outside of the story, the people in the universe would tell their own stories—and in so doing, explore and contrast their own relationship to Superman.”
“We wanted the characters to tell the audience what it was they were seeing…but more importantly what Frank Quitely’s art makes them feel,” adds Fitzmartin. “Art is such an emotional, provoking, personal part of comics. A fun way to translate that into audio is by expressing that emotion through the character.”
With the script in place, it was time to find the perfect cast. During the casting process, Martorelli included Frank Quitely’s art with the audition material.
“We have twenty-five actors on this audiobook, so it was an intense process,” he recalls. “Casting the voices of Superman, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor is a big responsibility! We held auditions for every major role. We sent a scene from the script, and we also sent the artwork.
“We really wanted the performances and the audio to be guided by the art, and we had copies of the graphic novel in the studio while recording. We’d turn to a page and look at facial expressions and take cues from them: ‘Lois is smiling in this moment. Can you give her a little more humor?’”
The role of Superman went to Marc Thompson, a voice actor who is known for his roles in Daria, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and as the narrator for numerous Star Wars audiobooks. For Thompson, becoming Superman was a dream come true.
“Superman was my favorite superhero growing up,” he says. “I have pictures of me playing with Superman action figures, getting a Superman birthday cake from my amazing mom, dressing up as Superman for Halloween. I am a super fan.”
Thompson worked with Martorelli and director Kevin Thompson to find the perfect voice for the Man of Steel.
“During the casting process, Nick encouraged me to not put on a voice, but rather, try to tap into the spirit of Superman, his mindset,” he shares. “I think all of us knew he needed to have a sense of strength, but also a sense of warmth and kindness. There were a few times during the recording when we were doing action scenes where I would maybe lean too heavily on the strength side of the coin, and Kevin would have to pull me back and remind me to not make him too angry or too vengeful.”
Thompson also found an interesting way to differentiate his Clark Kent voice from his Superman voice.
“When Superman is being Clark Kent, he’s trying to cover up how strong and competent he is by being incompetent,” he says. “So I pitched my voice up ever so slightly and tried to embody bumbling awkwardness. I hunched over a bit. I actually got some prop glasses and brought them into the booth with me. It helped me feel more like Clark when I wore them during his scenes.”
Throughout the audiobook’s production, the original Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely comic was always nearby, so the team never lost sight of why the original story worked.
“I feel like I’ve taken a master’s class in All-Star Superman,” shares Fitzmartin. “It’s certainly given me more of an appreciation for the story (which was high to begin with!). One of the things I did at the very beginning of the project was to read as many interviews with Morrison as I could find, to get a sense of the intention behind story choices. I’ve always been a massive Grant Morrison fan, and adapting the comic for audio has given me a greater appreciation for how Morrison structures comics, balances panels and, frankly, comes up with ideas. Writing the script and studying the comic has made me a better writer.”
“I feel like I walked away from this reading of All-Star Superman understanding the idea that Superman is an ideal that needs to be imitated,” Thompson says.
“All-Star Superman is a sweeping, sprawling story, but I always think of it as a focused character story, giving us the chance to see and explore how Superman relates to everyone in his life around him,” Martorelli acknowledges. “Grant Morrison brings an amazing scope to the adventure, and yet he and artist Frank Quitely anchor everything with a very grounded, very human Superman.”
Thompson believes that the story not only gets to the core of who Superman is, but who we are as human beings.
“I think it’s this amazing mixture of the deep philosophy of Superman, but also the weird quirky adventures of Superman and the characters he encounters,” Thompson says. “I think it shows what’s really important to Superman because we’re slowly seeing him wrestle with his own mortality. And as we see what’s important to Superman, it’s perhaps a reminder of what should be important to us. Plus, you get to see (or in our case hear), a Sun-Eater, a Jimmy Olsen Doomsday and Bizarros singing the national anthem! What more could you want?”
Are you going to San Diego Comic-Con? Learn more about the All-Star Superman audiobook and what went into its production at the “Making of the All-Star Superman Audiobook” panel, featuring Marc Thompson, Nick Martorelli and Meghan Fitzmartin, on Friday, July 25 at 2:30 p.m. in Room 29CD.
All-Star Superman is now available wherever audiobooks are sold.
