The Maximortal soars both as a heady exploration of how the genre has continued to swing back and forth along the continuum of shit and sublime, and a damning testament to how the comics business can chew up and spit out the very talent responsible for its success. Superheroes started as disposable cheap thrills but became something more valuable than anyone could have predicted.

He has worked on 'The Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles' and 'Swamp Thing', as well as creating many of his own exciting comic book series.

The collected edition’s epigraph is a quote from philosopher Paracelsus: “In the shit, the gold.” Veitch threads the metaphor all throughout The Maximortal in a way that constantly reminds readers of the humble, pulpy beginnings of the superhero idea and the more crassly mercenary executions of the genre. Rick Veitch has been one of the most prolific comic book writers and artists of the last few decades. Nods at the terrible turns that Siegel and Shuster’s lives took – a dead-end office courier job for one, blindness for the other – get at the truth behind Superman’s origins. SHINY BEASTS A spell-binding showcase of Rick Veitch’s innovative EPIC Magazine stories that seared the minds of a generation of Marvelites. The exploitative nature of old-school work-for-hire contracts get alluded to in slimy fashion, right alongside references to the meteoric rise of Wesley True-Man/Superman as a cultural icon.

Until legendary artist Neal Adams started a campaign for Siegel and Shuster to get recognised and compensated for their legacy and work – tied to the first big Superman movie – the two men suffered destitute lives in near-total obscurity. The Maximortal 1 - by Rick Veitch - and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. The Maximortal is, in the main, broad, polemic caricature but there are cutting edges of truth to much of it. DC Comics, 12.95 (128pp) ISBN 978-1-4012-0088-6 Aquaman, DC's underwater hero, gets an overcomplicated revamp inspired by Arthurian legend in this collection.

The Maximortal by Rick Veitch