Superman Through the Ages! Forum

I think EVERY Superman fan will want to read this: Superman's History "Post-Infinite Crisis" (http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/comics.php?topic=articles/continuity-bbr142)

ahhh so thats wots its like den..

it has apoint aobut the soft reboot thing, while characters like superman and wonder woman were completely written over, other characters like green lantern and flash hardly changed at all! (intil they, u know died)

still i guess that means the continuity will be clearing up in about ooh five years or so...

of course by then there will be a fifty year gap between the JSA disbanding and the silver age... but the new earth 2 concept will fix that
i think
maybe

okay so i havent been reading much post-ic stuff....

 I think Superman Homepage is letting Busiek and DC off the hook a little too easily, Busiek and DC aren't stupid, they know what fans want to know and it sounds like they are just trying to skirt the issue. I don't like this idea of "You'll find it all out later", it sounds like their trying to avoid something. I don't think it's unreasonable to want to know Superman's new backstory. For one thing, how long is this new backstory going to take to fill in? It could be years before we know his full history, and I'm not just talking about how his powers developed, I'm talking about which stories still count and which ones don't.   

I'm getting that pain between my eyebrows again.

I think it's too soon after Birthright to launch another origin story maxiseries. Also, I agree that they may even leave the books before answer theses questions of what is in continuity and what is not. Bu the confirmation is there: Iron Age continuity is gone for good, so we shoud be happy, right?

On the other hand, with Smallville TV series we have a new kind of Superman fanbase inspired on Iron Age with evil Krypton, Clark Kent killing kryptonian villains and so on on the mass media. Can we expect a ressurface of this in comics twenty years from now?

Well, let's thank DC for the "simplified universe" ::) that made the Crisis's necessary....

Dan Didio enjoys Year One minis.  ;)


You cannot expect, when "time is broken", for continuity questions to be answered. Since, most likely, the writers don't even know the answers yet! Post-IC Superman will be replaced by Post-Countdown-Post-Next Event Superman. So, sit back and watch the story unfold for another two years. 

They -are- trying to avoid something -- having to totally reinvent the past all at once just to be able to tell new stories.

I think DC is handling this the right way.

Every attempt to tell Superman's origin as a stand-alone story - from the World of Krypton and Krypton Chronicles mini-serieses, up through Man of Steel and even the pure genius of Birthright - has gone over like a lead balloon.  Sure, MOS was popular at the time, but we're still trying to recover from the fallout.

Yet the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s methods of just revealing it as backstory worked just fine.

Even in Superman's first appearance, his origin was just a one-page flashback.

If DC told Superman's new origin as some sort of mega-event, no matter how good or bad the resulting mini-series, one-shot, or graphic novel; no matter how old or new the continuity; I guarantee that hordes of people would object it, forcing DC to back-pedal yet again.

You've got to get people used to his new continuity, maybe even getting them to want to know more about it, before you tell what it is.

This is the question you must ask yourself: Does not knowing the complete life story of the Post-IC Superman take away from your enjoyment of the current books?

It doesn't bother me. The stories have all been a solid, enjoyable read. And there have been bits and pieces of information released.

Examples:

Superman had a prior career as an uncostumed Super-Boy.

Krypton is more like the one presented in the Donner films as is the current fortress with some Silver Age features added in.

Superman's previous Fortress of Solitude utilized a giant, golden key. (Put two and two together on that one)

Before Jor-El's time, Krypton was a galactic powerhouse and invaded and possibly colonized planets.

A young Clark Kent met Mon-El and placed him in the Phantom Zone.

Superman died at the hands of Doomsday and returned.

Superman has statues of the LOSH in his Fortress, has a flight ring, recognized the Karate Kid, and has files on him in the Fortress. (Again, put two and two together)

The Four Supermen are still in continuity.

The Pocket Universe has been retconned.

Nonsense like Torquasm-Vo and Torquasm-Rao is gone.

The multiverse still exists.

And the sky is blue.

You're quite right; it certainly hasn't detracted from my enjoyment of the books (and by and large, I've really been enjoying them lately). I see my best friend almost every day and we often exchange anecdotes and do the crossword and so on (as you can see we are two very adventurous characters), but obviously I don't have to remember everything I know about him to enjoy his company. In fact, I'm not even sure I can remember what year he was born in.

The way they've revamped Superman most recently is quite clever, really: they're saying "Look, if you missed out on a few issues, no problem. He still flies and all that, what more do you need to know?"

When was that established?

There's continuity post-Crisis?
*Grin*
I dunno...it's hard to be interested in something that you know might be wiped out by the next editorial fiat.
Perhaps continuity was too confining---but if that was the case---then why do they endlessly recreate new riffs on old stories? (I'm thinking of Byrne's retelling of the Bizarro and Lori Lemaris stories, for instance, or having a Supergirl come to earth---again---in Superman/Batman.)
I'm expecting more of the same with THIS reboot.
Whoever said, "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it" must have been a comic collector.
   --Al

Kurt said as much at Alvaro's. The post is in the archives at the Superman board.

This is my concern. DC has rewritten history so many times that I've gotten to a point where I just don't trust them. This is the biggest problem with revealing stuff over time. When you have a track record of constant reboots, your asking people to give you trust you haven't earned yet. I guess I just like simplicity.

They haven't answered because they don't know what the answers are.

They will do what they've always done, which is to make things up as they go along.