Superman is the big discussion this week, and it’s never good news, is it? Coming out of Comic-Con (I’m watching tweets but I figure this year why bother with G4’s coverage when comics get maybe 20 minutes total?) are reports about our new inhuman Superman.
http://twitter.com/#!/DC_NATION/status/94154460540051456
Don’t expect a whole lot of either. As I type this, Didio is running the New 52 panel, so there may be more before I’m done writing this. So here’s what we know thus far.
First, we finally learn who Lois is hooking up with instead of Clark or Superman, or the old love triangle.
This guy is Johnathan Carroll. Yeah, they gave him the same first name as Clark’s now dead in every continuity dad. That was stupid, but outside of his place disrupting a Clark/Lois relationship that I’ve come to know and love (be it the outdated triangle or the happy marriage/confidant) I can’t say anything about the guy touches a nerve, based on this new universe. So what else have we heard? From Grant Morrison’s personal panel:
Next Fan: “Really enjoyed All-Star Superman, any concepts from that you’re bringing into Action Comics? Also, are you working with George Perez at all in the Super family?”
Grant said “it’s the quintessential, basic, primal Superman.” I could kind of see it as the young version of All-Star. It’s big, probably bigger in its implications for Superman.”(He must not have caught the Perez part)
“Younger version of All-Star?” So does this mean Superman is going to get the wild powers of All-Star Superman or the “Superman 2000” proposal? No, I’m sure I’m reading too much into that, but considering he was part of the proposal, I wouldn’t be surprised. Not expecting it, though.
“The idea of an Iconic Superman” is kind of a myth, as the character has evolved each year, with a basic core.
Well wait, so he’s too iconic but he’s not iconic? I’m confused.
“Superman isn’t Batman. he can never be brooding and sitting on gargoyles. Batman, only two people died in his life and he’s been sad ever since. Superman lost billions and still has a smile on his face. So my Superman will be a pro-active, young, powerful guy. It’s Action Comics, so Superman has to be doing stuff! He’s only darker in the sense that he gets stuff done. he’s no longer a friend of the law, he stands for Justice, and that may conflict with the law sometimes”
That’s not “darker”. That’s kind of what Superman does, unless he out right killing people. Oh, right, this is a DCU that doesn’t look at superheroes the same way. People don’t take as big a shine to them. You know, the thing that sets them apart from pretty much EVERY OTHER SUPERHERO CONTINUITY BIG OR SMALL ON THE SHELVES RIGHT NOW! Especially the new ones. Someone needs to reread JLA/Avengers. We expect something different from the DC Universe compared to the Marvel Universe. That’s my problem with how DC (mis)used The Sentry.
Re: Action Comics “You’re harkening back to him being the Socialist Champion; does that conflict with him being more Kal-El from Krypton than Clark from Earth?”
Morrison “They’re playing up more of the Kryptonian stuff at the other title, but mine is about the farmboy in the city, and Clark Kent is doing as much work on fighting social injustice as Superman is.”
OK, so Morrison’s story takes place 7 years in the past compared to the Superman story. So you’re telling me he’s going to become MORE alien as his story goes on? How does that work? Oh, and by issue 7, they’re going to go back and forth between past and present, which is going to be even more confusing. Are they going to do it Highlander style?
By the way, what did the questioner mean by “Socialist Champion”? My conservatism aside, I always thought of him as a moderate, maybe leaning left-ish. Could just be me, though.
Admittedly (as I’m in another Twitter discussion with Kurt Busiek…why do I keep arguing with a writer I enjoy so much?) I am basing a lot of this on solicits and interviews. The comics themselves don’t come out until September, but here’s my problem. I’ve enjoyed the Superman I’ve seen for years. Not so much the years when he would give us Krypton’s life story, swear oaths to Rao, the Kryptonian god he was never exposed to, and had godlike power (although I don’t mind his being able to fly into space for certain distances), but actually a lot of the post-COIE versions that I came across. I liked Superman where he was, under the right writer and without big events like the whole “New Krypton” and “Grounded” events. I’m not seeing the Superman I know and love in this series.
Do the “Animated series” version (or even the Ruby-Spears version) and I may be totally on board. I can be convinced, but so far I have my problems with what I’m hearing, mostly because I don’t think Superman needed a reboot (Batman and Green Lantern really aren’t getting one) and what I DID like about his early years seems to be absent here.
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