Grant Morrison’s beloved, Eisner Award-winning vision of Superman’s heroic final days on Earth is brought to exquisite, animated life in All-Star Superman. The film begins as the Man of Steel rescues an ill-fated mission to the Sun (sabotaged by Lex Luthor) but, in the process, is oversaturated by radiation – which accelerates his cell degeneration. Sensing even he will be unable to cheat death, Superman ventures into new realms – finally revealing his secret to Lois, confronting Lex Luthor’s perspective of humanity, and attempting to ensure Earth’s safety before his own impending end with one final, selfless act.

For thoughts on All-Star Superman, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/_8_-3VPsJtU?t=2841]

Video Quality

All-Star Superman comes to 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a 2160p transfer that is very vivid with great complexity throughout. This disc provides some notable improvements over the Blu-Ray in numerous areas including more dazzling, natural colors, more robust black levels and the elimination of any digital artifacting or banding. As opposed to your average Batman tale, this effort provides a vibrant palette which really leans into the lighter tone of the character. From the classic colors of his suit to the various locales we travel to throughout this journey, there is always something to visually feast upon. This presentation handles the subtle gradients of the artwork in a way that brings out the best in the animation. This disc provides firm line detail and more distinct shading, which gives the characters greater definition.

The use of HDR yields some very pleasing enhancements to the hues on display such as the fiery sun, and the disc provides deeper black levels for a cleaner viewing experience free of black crush. The Blu-Ray had a handful of minor issues that most audiences felt content to live with, but the team at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has given this one a fresh life. We are loving this trend of revisiting early DCAU efforts and giving them a fresh 4K presentation, and we hope it continues with more of our favorites.

Audio Quality

This release boasts the same DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track as the previous Blu-Ray release, but it is one we have never really had an issue with previously. Dialogue comes through clearly even when it is accompanied by a soaring score from Christopher Drake or an array of sound effects. The track engages all of the channels with panning effects and sounds of earth-shaking altercations and a few environmental flourishes that conjure these locations. There are no obvious sync issues or other anomalies present. There is an immense amount of activity in the low-end which digs deep when it needs to. Warner Bros. has delivered an effective track that showcases the impressive sound design of their DCAU films. This disc provides English SDH, French, Dutch and Spanish subtitles.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Bruce Timm and Grant Morrison provide a solid commentary track in which they discuss nearly every aspect of production including shaping the story down to a manageable runtime, the performances, the animation style, their interpretations of the material, embracing the non-gritty aspects of Superman and more.

An All-Star Adaptation: A new eight-minute featurette including insight from executive producer Bruce Timm, director Sam Liu, character designer Dusty Abell and composer Christopher Drake. There are discussions about the source material and the challenge of adapting it into a feature, the style of the animation, the score and more.

An All-Star Salute To The Silver Age: A new seven-minute featurette including most of the same talent talking about the inspiration of the Silver Age era of Superman comics on Grant Morrison’s tale.

The Creative Flow – Incubating The Idea with Grant Morrison: A nearly ten-minute archival piece in which Morrison discusses the process of developing the sketches for the character designs, costumes, villains, layouts, comic covers and more.

All-Star Superman Digital Comic: A 21-page digital comic is provided.

Superman Now: A 34-minute archival piece in which the creative team dive deep into the process of bringing this story to life from the original plans for the source material to the mythology, character designs, tone, villains and more. This is a terrific piece for fans that should not be passed up.

A Preview Of Green Lantern: Emerald Knights: A twelve-minute featurette which takes you inside the previously-released Green Lantern: Emerald Knights.

A Preview Of Superman/Batman: Apocalypse: A twelve-minute featurette which takes you inside the previously-released Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.

Bruce Timm’s Picks: Two episodes from Superman: The Animated Series are presented on the Blu-Ray disc in standard definition. If you want to see these in HD, be sure to pick up the complete series Blu-Ray set that was previously reviewed here.

- Blast From The Past, Part 1 (19:53)

- Blast From The Past, Part 2 (21:26)

Final Thoughts

All-Star Superman is a really entertaining film which harkens back to what made audiences fall in love with the title character so many decades ago. This story is not ashamed of the more noble or earnest aspects of the character, and when the story presents emotional stakes they are impactful because of this. The animation style is pleasant and the voice work brings out a lot in this tale. This is a great early effort from the animated DC line of films. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has newly released this on 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a great A/V presentation and a nice assortment of new and archival special features. If you are a fan of this version of this story, this is a solid improvement on the old disc in nearly every respect and you owe it to yourself to own it on the best format possible. Highly Recommended

All-Star Superman is currently available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.