Print Page - Changes coming to Superman titles in 2006 post IC

While I'm happy the AOS is returning to its original name of Superman, I'm saddened that we're only going to have 2 main superbooks.

OTOH, maybe All-Star Superman is supposed to be that third -- albeit out of continuity -- book, so it balances out to 3 still.

It's a bit mean-spirited of me, but the Dreaded-One-whose-name-is-mentioned-far-too-often-here got the new 'Superman' book as one of his perks when rebooting the character, so it's kind of fitting that that book bites the dust at last. Yet another remnant of that terrible retcon is gone.

Onwards!

Quote from: "BMK!"

Actually, there is a RUMORED new Superman title that might hit the stands entitled, SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL (as well as a Batman Confidential).

That's true!

There are some rumors about what those titles will be about, from a family style title (Superman Family, Batman Family) to an anything goes title (Elseworlds the series? Any versions goes Golden, Sliver, Bronze, Post Crisis, Post IC, All-Star, something new, etc).

It should be noted that DC has yet to address what those titles will really be like, and these are just rumors.

I think two main Superman books is really all you need because my feeling is the quest should be for quality and not quantity. I'm tired of seeing this cheap flood the market strategy. For the same amount of money that you use to have 5 mediocre books for one character you could make one or two that are really freakin good!

Conceptually it's a good idea but as with many things when DC gets a good idea they'll do 10 other things to screw it up. It'll be especially important to see where the Superman character is at when this goes into effect and how much damage will have been wrought in cheap-heat bloodbath of IC. The sight of E2S on the cover doesn't make any more convinced that they won't villify him.

This is amazing and incredible good news.

It was only a short time ago - seems like yesterday - when such things as the return of the Earth-2 Superman and the restoration of the original numbering to the Superman title would have seemed like impossible dreams. Things that fans yearned for, but that we knew DC would never actually do.

Yet now they are happening.

Thank you DC!

In the interview that Beppo links to, Dan DiDio says something to the effect that one of the two Superman titles (Adventures of Superman or Superman) is being cancelled - he's just not certain which one it is.

I would put it differently. I'd say that back in 1986, Superman split into two titles - Adventures of Superman and a new Superman. Now those two titles are re-merging back into one.

:s:

I agree. And more: seem like yesterday that DC anounced they wold never allow Mark Waid and Grant Morrison to work on a Superman revamp. Now we have Birthright and All Star Superman, titles that bring back the gratness of Elliot S! Maggin and the REAL Superman. As a child, I was a fan of Superman from the movies and cartoons, but started collecting after the Crisis. Thanks to this site, I've discovered the beautiful work of Maggin, and ordered his books from Amazon.

Thanks to this site, I really understood what Superman is really about. Byrne's version may work for some people, it worked for me back in the day, but it's not the Superman I'm interested in. I even think Jurgens, Kesel and Stern did a good job with that foundation but still, it was just an average hero - not the greatest of them all. Loeb, Kelly, and most importaintly, Waid and Morrison bring the real Superman back. And I think history wold be different if not for Superman Through the Ages - at last for me.

So thank you, Great Rao.

Sorry again for the other topic opened yesterday...!

Good news. I'm glad to buy only 2 titles (but 2 good ones), and the return of the original SUPERMAN Vol. I... Well, that's a nice idea.

I have always hoped these 2 things.
Now I want to know who will be the authors! Johns? Waid? Pacheco? I'm sure they will begin a new era of greatness for my favorite hero #2.

Wow, this sounds exciting! I'd love to be able to get to the comic book shop and tap dance.

Quote from: "Dan Didio"

DD: Absolutely. One of the things that I felt very strongly about was that our four premiere books, which I always feel set the style and tone for the DCU: Superman, Batman, Action Comics and Detective Comics should have their original numbering. They’re very special series, both given their characters and historically, and they should be treated as such.

This gladdens my heart. Watching a piece of comics history be restored in a small way, like the numbering on SUPERMAN, is a step in the right direction. Appreciation for the past uplifts us all, whether it be in small, trivial ways like restoring the numbering on a classic comic like SUPERMAN, or in larger ways like restoring old buildings. Numbering may be a very little thing, but it's a step in the right direction for the Superman titles. Didio may not know from shinola when it comes to television, but an old fanboy like him is the best sort of person to run a comic book company.

Ditto for the HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE that's going on in 52: hopefully, they'll stick to it the second time around!

Hopefully, they'll view this as an opportunity to restore to the DC Universe some of the amazing stories of the past to leave open for future story potential and sequels to be told in the present: the great classic stuff by John Broome, Nelson Bridwell, and maybe the best of them all, the amazing Gardner Fox!

Quote from: "Captain Kal"

While many people feel Superman got 'Byrned' (you can start groaning at the bad pun now) his rewrite was a breath of fresh air for a character that had really become uneven through the years.

There was the 'Krypton was wonderful but the Science council were idiots' and yet as the Nightwing and Firebird story showd Superman was not above doing similar boneheaded things. Then there was Superman's power level which had gotten ridiculous. A common joke we have for the Silver Age was:

Superman saves a forgotten civilization in the Andromida galaxy, then moves a planet out of the way of a comet in Quazar 26 100 million light years from Earth, and finally saves Lois Lane from Lex Luthor all in 2.2 seconds. 'Slow Day' thinks Superman.

The Sand Superman saga which was supposed to fix this was quickly ignored and Superman was again just one step below being a god. Magic, superscience, and kryptonite were coming out fo the woodwork and many times Superman seemed to have forgotten his superbrain at home. Though the cartoons were far worse than the comics in this reguard.

No matter what happens to Earth-2 (I'm skeptical) this is good news. It's something we've only dreamed of, and now it's happening.

A couple of things do still worry me, though. The first is the direction of Crisis...is Kal-L going to be portrayed as a Watchmen-style old Nazi? And the second involves our earth...what happens when Jeph Loeb leaves?

Jeph is a good friend of Elliot S! Maggin's, and his are the only Superman comics I can stand to read- he writes Supergirl and Superman/Batman. Granted, I haven't read All-Star Superman yet.

...no pun intended.

Thank you very much by your message and I hope that you continue entering many more contribution. I want to know as I can be united to the other Forum.

Also I would like to learn ingles not to have to use the translator of Google that helps me enough. Somebody can help me with some other translator of languages.

Thank you very much

Martín Tapia

Quote from: "JulianPerez"

Julian, are you being sarcastic? DC Comics is being run very badly from a quality perspective as well as a brand strength/building perspective. It seems to me a case of fiddling while Rome burns: monkeying with things like the comic book numbering system while ignoring issues like distribution, new readers, quality control, the visuals/look of the product, etc etc.

Quote from: "TELLE"

seems to me a case of fiddling while Rome burns: monkeying with things like the comic book numbering system while ignoring issues like distribution, new readers, quality control, the visuals/look of the product, etc etc.

I am sure that is on the list :)

Dido said:

Quote from: "DD"

We’re turning the heat up even more, focusing back on the characters and the series, and really make everyone understand why DC has the must-read comics right now.

For me, personally, everything we’re doing here is to make every one of our characters interesting and compelling. It’s not just about finding a new take or new direction, but also about finding the best people possible to find that vision. We’ve been very lucky, and I can’t put enough emphasis on the editorial staff here to make sure the best people possible are coming in to work on our books both for “One Year Later…” and beyond.

That seems to say to me that they know there are problems and they are working on them. From THEIR stand point....they just can't come out and say "Okay, we got crap for a product...but stick around anyway okay?" Publically, they have to put a positive spin on things.

The numbering? That isn't a real issue and is probably mainly a ploy to try and snag the Pre-COIE fans that still hang around...but don't spend thier money like DC would like them to.

Personally, I am just relieved to see that Supergirl is not on the cancel list :) The only book that I am buying right now...and only because it is Kara Zor-El.

Dylan

Hi all,

I'd sure buy over some "new" Superman comics if the the art and the tone of the stories came back to the 60s, 70s or even pre-crisis 80s. I don't have a problem with DC mimicking real life a little more than they did in the 60s and less than they did in the 40s. Sometimes comic book character dying or having an arc story can be good.
However, changing things in every comics and having to buy four title for one story; almost every panel drawn by a different artist...leaves to be desired...
DC is a prestige house. They've done the best and what has been done can be done again... Give me a story or two per comic with the words "the end" at the end and already we'll be heading somewhere. Changing radically Superman's environment like a Spider-Man mid-60s soap opera is not for me and it seems that most of the old timers like me agree.
I think that a change modus operandi was a necessity for DC. What they did and why in the first place was to help writers with continuity. So? Let the writer figure it out and if they make a mistake it can be ok... Don't change the whole concept though - which is what they did - are DC gamblers and they lost? Mmmm - thought for the mind...

Brainsy...

But If you guys are looking for Weisinger Era Simplicity (Dialogue and such) even with the new format, Think again..

As enjoyable as those books were FOR IT'S TIME, it's simply bad business to revert it back to those Simplistic dialogue and too much suspension of disbelief, if those formats draw as well as we would like to believe then superman reprints (pre-crisis) would be much more often..

What I do want though is SINGLE-ISSUE storylines.. forget about comics trying to act as though they're graphic novels, forget about the lord of padding that was BRIAN MICHAEL BENDID and the dreaded 6 month worthless story issues format he contributed..

It should be a light hearted BUT still streamlined DCU so that it wouldn't attrcat detraction labels or scare off fans of this format of storytelling

Quote from: "Rugal 3:16"

if those formats draw as well as we would like to believe then superman reprints (pre-crisis) would be much more often..

You should check out this thread: http://superman.nu/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2161

We just want Superheroes who act like Superheroes not the the return of the Sliver Age,

that's what the top selling Showcase series is for (lots of volumes are out now, with lots more to come), you know the one that is selling out everywhere is a huge hits with all fans, yes that one.

Quote from: "Super Monkey"

We just want Superheroes who act like Superheroes not the the return of the Sliver Age,

Exactly. I'm sick of people who oppose the grim n' gritty stuff being written off as people who just want it to be 1965 again. Theres nothing dated about heroes being true and there being a sense of fun and adventure to superhero stories. I also think way to often keeping things simple and making things "simplistic" get viewed as the exact same thing. So it's only sophisticated when things are deadly dark or colorful heroes are drowning in "shades of grey"? Bull'.

I don't neccesarily mind shades of grey, but you have to have the fundamental black and white to offset them. What's great about the current age of comics (Platinum or whatever you want to call it) is that here the heroes aren't simply good for goodness sake, they choose the better angels of their nature and they act heroically.

I think Marvel Comics' Squirrel Girl put it best in GLA: Misassembled when she said " I enjoy comics where superheroes fought giant monkeys on the moon. When comicbook worlds were ones you wanted to escape to. . . " *sour look at the camera* ". . .not from. "

A great read that. Pick it up sometime. The Monkey Joe bits alone are comic gold. ;)

-Def.

Quote from: "Defender"

I think Marvel Comics' Squirrel Girl put it best in GLA: Misassembled when she said " I enjoy comics where superheroes fought giant monkeys on the moon. When comicbook worlds were ones you wanted to escape to. . . " *sour look at the camera* ". . .not from. "

I don't follow Marvel Comics.

I never picked up a copy of "GLA: Misassembled".

Until this moment I didn't know that a "Squirrel Girl" even EXISTED.

But after reading her quote (crashing right through the "fourth wall"), I've suddenly become a Squirrel Girl fan... :wink:

Quote from: "dto"

Quote from: "Defender"

I never heard of them too.

here is their entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes_Avengers

"Notable about Squirrel Girl is that in spite of her arguably silly powers, she has already defeated Doctor Doom, Thanos and M.O.D.O.K.. "

:)

Read the last page of my post, Light-hearted but streamlined, it's the exact same thing..

Blame Marvel for "Thinning" the fans appreciative tastes to heroes trying to be in the real world..

Again as I said, if you base it on that argument (not saying it's my POV) That makes Marvel a Taboo in itself..

But they continiously OUTSELL DC in every possible turn in the 1960's

Still my loyalty goes to DC in the end, but that doesn't mean I don't read marvel.

But it's really tough when they have 80% of the comic fans (Hardcore and casual) so you have to attract some tof them, so you have to present a format/language they can understand and THEN (here comes the hard part) Try to convert them..

for example.. Spider-Man is a RELATABLE superhero = $$$$$$ because of society (try to work around a rebuttal to that argument that supports superman being something more [which I agree] than spiey while SIMULTANEOUSLY destroying the STIGMA that is Superman is a boring superhero) Stan Lee Marketed his characters well in an effort that relly made 1960's DC look obsolete in those times.

DC should find a groundbreaking BREAK from that overall perception.

I personally enjoy the Showacase presents as opposed to the essentials, however most people don't feel that way.

Well, after some online research my ardor for Squirrel Girl has cooled significantly. :wink: Apparently she (and her squirrel buddies) regularly breach the "fourth wall", and defeating Dr. Doom and other noted nasties smacks of "Mary Sue".

And she obviously confuses "horizontal" with "vertical" when applying eyeliner. :wink:

Regardless, I can't fault her taste in literature... :lol:

I think she's just fun. In the GLA mini-series she introduced the stories and gave disclaimers for the kids reading comics while Monkey Joe offered sage commentary from time to time in the series. It was pretty funny stuff in my opinion.

And yeah, in the GLX-Mas special she defeats Terrax, Modok, and Thanos himself! She's the baddest superhero you've never heard of. The villains that have the Marvel Heroes trembling in fear? All in a day's work for Squirrel Girl. And she was co-created by Steve Ditko! What's not to love? ;)

-Def.

Xmas specials? Right. I tend to look at those stories with an extreme sense of disebelief. They don't follow any of the usual patterns During an Xmas special, I will believe that a six year old girl can stop all of the Sentinel robots from fighting by holding up a flower and stating the benefit of love and the Christmas spirit.

Like the Darkseid special where Santa makes it through all of Apokolips's defenses and hands Darkseid a lump of coal.

Or the Batman story where the Christmas star helps Batman find a crook who had reformed and was in danger of being killed by a hitman.

Quote from: "ShinDangaioh"

Xmas specials? Right. I tend to look at those stories with an extreme sense of disebelief. They don't follow any of the usual patterns .

I guess we can get all grinchy now that Christmas is officially over, but breaking the "usual patterns" sounds pretty worthwhile to me.

Steve Ditko drew Squirrel Girl? Now I have to do some googling as well.

Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Superman Comic Books! => Infinite Crossover! => Topic started by: Super Monkey on November 18, 2005, 12:03:24 PM