Mark Waid’s Superman: Action Comics Vol. 1: Boy of Steel is pretty great. That’s high praise coming from me, an ardent Byrne Superman fan who still believes the best Superman is one who never thought himself a superhero for as long as possible.

If there are times that Waid’s young Superman story gets hokey, with Clark learning the lessons every young Superman learns every time, there’s also times I found it surprisingly sophisticated. A lot of this book follows familiar tropes, but the places where it’s unexpected, or suggests unexpected things to come, hold a lot of promise.