Lobdell on Superman: be afraid

Keith Giffen has thus far done a pretty good job with Superman 52. He seems to understand what makes the character and his supporting cast work and aided by fellow co-plotter and penciler Dan Jurgens (who has also shown an affinity for Kal-El and the Daily Planet crew) has been putting out stories that almost make willing to accept this unnecessary reboot. They’re fun stories, yet with the right amount of action and drama to make for good storytelling.

So naturally they’re being replaced by the guy who has shown little respect for Starfire. I can’t judge his Titans too harshly because a lot of the problem with that title comes from the mandates of the marketing “genius” who put this together in the first place.  I also can’t blame him for Jason Todd getting his own comic, although who the spotted heck thought we needed Jason Todd back anyway? While I wasn’t looking forward to his take on Superman, especially with such a good run, I had to read this interview at Big Shiny Robot that confirmed I won’t be reading it at all.

Just sticking to the highlights is going to be tough because really everything he said requires a comment. So read the article first to confirm the context and let’s get into this thing.

BY: So you have long term plans for the book?

SL: I don’t work that way. Just like I could not have imagined a year ago that I’d be writing the world’s most famous super hero… I like the stories of the characters to mirror the same sense spontaneity and unpredictability that define us in “real life”.

Yes, I turned in a twenty-five page pitch for the series that examined every aspect of Superman, his friends, his enemies, and over a dozen story ideas… but I’ve found over the years that the series often takes on a life of its own once the characters and the conflicts and the interactions start to show up on the page.

Just imagine how boring it would be if you sat down and told me exactly how your life was going to play out every month for the next twelve months — who you were going to meet, what you were going to say, how they were going to act, what super powers you were going to use to defeat them? Then imagine the likelihood that your life would play out exactly the way you predicted it would over the course of the next twelve months.

If I had an ego I would say that every time I read one of these interviews there’s a law in place that they have to say something that I agree with. That’s was Lobdell’s requirement fulfilled early.

BY: Will you be carrying on the continuity, or pulling a new New 52 and tweaking things slightly?

SL: “Pulling a new New 52!? I love your questions, Bryan!

Let me say that there will be tweaking aplenty — but I think it is going to be in terms of tone and attitude and not in history or continuity. We have no plans to reveal Lois is Superman’s daughter from an alternate future or that Perry White is actually an amnesic Jonathon Kent who has been in witness protection.

But yes, you’ll see from the very first issue — in fact, even in the Annual and the Zero issue before it — a Superman that is going to feel very of the moment.

After seeing what they’ve been doing to Wonder Woman (I would be surprised if I didn’t see an issue solicit announcing some new secret was going to be revealed) I wouldn’t be surprised to see that. Heck, I’ve seen stranger ideas in the years I’ve been reading comics. When a writer wants a character gone/back, he will go to some of the stupidest lengths possible to do it.

SL: I like the sheer uniqueness of Superman. The fact he is stuck on a planet of six billion people — that he is the self appointed champion of those people — but that he will never be one of them? How awesome is that? If it were me I would probably take a deep breath and fly into space and find a planet where people were more like me (could you imagine what that would look like) — maybe a planet that wasn’t so reliant on what I did every day. But not Kal El. He’s there day in and day out putting his life on the line for a people that alternately put him on a pedestal or steer clear of the most famous alien on Earth.

And the bus to Fallingapartville has finally arrived. I remember the powers that be (doing stupid things) wanted to make a more alien, outcast-feeling Superman. You know, except that he has NEVER BEEN THAT! EVER! Even on Smallville Clark was withdrawn but still outgoing. He had friends even while hiding his powers. And Smallville was the show that got so much wrong I started looking at Lois & Clark in a more favorable light. There’s even a line by Clark in that series that sums him up nicely: “Superman is what I can do, Clark Kent is who I am”. Clark has friends and a is not ostracized because of his heritage.

I hated the years when Superman would spout out “Great Rao”, a Kryptonian god he should have little ties to. I hated when he would talk about Krypton as if he grew up there rather than just being from there. Clark grew up on Earth and should be more influenced by our culture and values. This is why Supergirl, who wasn’t born on Earth, being more Kryptonian in personality, kind of works in the New 52. This is why he doesn’t fly off to Daxam or somewhere to be with people “more like him” or headed home with his cousin Kara. This is his home. These are his people. It doesn’t matter where he came from.

That said, too often SUPERMAN is seen by readers as “too perfect” — that he always makes the right choice. But the truth is, every choice has consequences and when all the choices you make are super choices you have super consequences. The very first issue is going to see the results of several choices which are going to have ramifications for months to come!

I could get behind this if I thought he could handle it well, something too many contemporary writers can’t. Instead we get stuff like “Grounded”.

BY: What villain are you itching to dust off and introduce to the new 52?

SL: All of them! Seriously, there are so many amazing characters in Superman’s rogue’s gallery and we’ve barely scratched the surface of them in the first ten months of the New 52!

That said, most of the tweaking you’ll see will probably be in those villains. We want to update them, but not in a “here, put on this quantum powered costume!” or “You would look scarier in leather” — but more in a way that “What does this particular villain represent to Superman? How would he or she be imagined if we created them today and not twenty or sixty years ago.”

I would get behind that if not for how Captain Cold was “improved” over in the Flash’s comic, and not for what he says after:

The idea of an insane Superman should be the most horrifying thing anyone of us can imagine, for example, but when that person winds up being a cute and cuddly Bizarro, it takes the villain out of super villain.

We plan to change that.

When Superman puts on his cape it is only because it is a job for Superman. The days of bank robbers and men tossing toys at him are behind us!

“Men tossing toys”. If you mean Toyman, those “toys” were deadly and the result of a mind best left to Batman’s neck of the wood. Remember when he killed Cat Grant’s young son, which was later retconned to be a robot Toyman? As for Bizarro, please tell me you’re going to go to Superman: The Animated Series for your idea, or you’re just making The Plutonian, The Sentry, and ever other “we can’t believe anyone with Superman’s powers would be a normal, good person” knockoff we’ve had lately. Seriously, people, stop writing that character for a while, please?

Even when I was writing the pitch I would laugh at myself for pitching a particular idea — knowing full well they would never let me do this to Clark. But then they said “Congratulations” without ever adding a “…but, of course, we’re not going to let you do that, Scott!”

There are so many ways this could go wrong and thus far the Bad Fanfic Brigade has gone out there way to make me sorry at pretty much every turn. Somehow I don’t see this having the same kind of fun as Giffen’s run, or the Superman stories I grew up with. I’m just not seeing anything to convince me to continue this series once Giffen/Jurgens’ stories are all published.

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• In 2012, Superman doesn’t have a job or a secret identity (rexriepe.com)
• DC Comics Makes Changes in September (ign.com)