Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Who is the new Superman editor?

You are.

Your first assignment:  pick your writer.

The purpose of this thread is for you to nominate who you think should be the next writer on Superman.  Feel free to nominate more than one person, but here's how it works:

It can be anyone you'd like, but the person must be alive.  This is the real deal so you must pick a real writer, the better the better.

It can be someone who has already written Superman or who has never written Superman.  It can even be someone who is currently writing Superman.

Once the nomination process is closed, all potential writers who are listed in this thread by at least two different members will make it to the final ballot.  All forum members will be able to vote in the ballot, thus picking the next Superman writer.

:s:

Editor: Elliot S! Maggin
Writer: Alan Moore

Mark Waid and Grant Morrison.

James Robinson

Alan Moore on Superman and Michael Chabon on Action Comics.

(I have finally got round to reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and am enjoying it immensely.)

And I second NotSuper's motion that Elliot S! Maggin should be editor.

Previously, I would have said Kurt Busiek would be the ultimate Superman writer, because of his love of Superman's history and his gift for tragic and pognant characterization would make him a natural for writing a misanthropic guy like Luthor with his definitive Maggin characterization. Also, it would give the opportunity to showcase villains that have been tragically underused. Plus, his characterization of Superman in JLA/AVENGERS was right on the money.

Although I'm not as certain about that as I once was when I said that the only man that can save Superman now is Kurt Busiek.

For one thing, Busiek has stated that he does not believe that Superman should be intelligent. I believe his exact words were something to the effect of "I think he should be problem-solving smart." Superman doesn't have to speak every earth language and memorize every work of great literature, however, this concerned me because one of Superman's defining traits is his ability to solve problems cleverly. Without smarts, he's just a big, flying version of the Incredible Hulk. One of the reasons I admire and like Cary Bates is because he had Superman use his powers in totally different ways; he made even mundane Super-Events like breaking a comet interesting because Superman never did it the same way twice.

Say what you will about SUPERMAN II, the resolution in the Fortress of Solitude was pretty clever, predicting Luthor's own duplicitousness and using it to trick the Phantom Zoners. If Superman beat General Zod and the others by chucking buses at them in the big fight scene, it wouldn't have been as satisfying or interesting.

Then, as I strain my brain back over all the times Busiek has written Superman...he never really showed Superman demonstrating any type of resourcefulness or achievement by using his noodle. JLA/AVENGERS, Superman beat the snot out of something like 90 combined Marvel and DC villains because he had Captain America's shield and Thor's hammer, which was very entertaining and breathtaking but was still just Superman as the biggest tank with the biggest gun on the battlefield. Also, in his JLA arc, Superman and Ultraman just traded blows at one another, chucking each other down volcanoes. It was Batman, Wally West, and John Jones that proposed most of the plans of the team; Superman stood around hitting spaceships against the Void Hound.

Another thing Busiek said that concerns me: "You see, I LIKE some of the things in the Byrne years." Nobody shouted Kurt down because we all had stars in our eyes from the fact he was answering our questions and being a real swell guy despite the fact he could be telling us all to bite his rich, rich keyster the way a lot of Marvel editors do (yes, I AM looking at you, Tom Brevoort). I like some things that happened in the Byrne years too: the robot butler, Maxima, Riot, the setting of Hawaii for Superboy (heck, in TEEN TITANS, Geoff Johns has got me liking Conner Kent too), Jerry Ordway's art, and Superman's "General" moments in Roger Stern's classy PANIC IN THE SKY.

But the whole POINT of a website like SUPERMAN THROUGH THE AGES is this: that Superman in his Byrne reboot is divorced conceptually from Superman's history and characterization; it is the most atypical of all origins. There was a list that SuperMonkey wrote on one occasion saying "In every incarnation but one of Superman..." which included dozens of things very basic to Superman. I'm not saying everything done in this period was worthless, however, if Busiek doesn't realize that there was something anomalous about the Byrne reboot, he doesn't get who Superman is.

I remain optimistic about Busiek and Johns's upcoming ACTION COMICS run. I will buy it. But I amend my earlier enthusiasm about the possibility of Busiek writing Superman.

If you were to ask me right now who would be the best choice to write Superman...I'd say Alan Brennert.

It's long overdue, too. I look forward to seeing the "Ask Elliot" forum on the Superman Homepage some day.

Make it happen, DC.  :)

I'd also like to read a Superman novel by Orson Scott Card. I don't even know if he likes Superman, but his stories are based around moral choices, just like Elliot S! Maggin. The Worthing Saga, his best work in my opinion, reminded me a lot of Must There Be A Superman? in the end. And we know fron the Kingdon Come novel introduction that Maggin likes him.

After reading a preview of the OYL Superman story, I take back a lot of what I said about Busiek. He gets the character and my fears were unfounded. Is it too late to change my vote back to him again? Or maybe Alan Brennert; you know, I really can't choose! Can I vote for both of them?

On the topic of Superman novels, the observation of Orson Scott Card is an excellent one; it hadn't occurred to me about the similarities between him and Maggin that would make him perfect for Superman (and makes him perfect for a character like Iron Man, who is all about technology, its dark side, and its responsible use).

You know who else would write one heck of a Superman story? Lin Carter! He loves pop culture and adventure stories; an adventure written by him would have gadgets and gangsters, like a Max Fleischer cartoon in prose form.

You don't have to change your vote - this isn't the vote yet.  This is just nominating who gets on the ballot for the upcoming vote, which will be a later poll with one vote per member once this thread dies down.

As I said, any writer who is nominated by at least two people gets on the ballot.

So far we've got:

Alan Moore (2 nominations)
Mark Waid and Grant Morrison (1 each - or did you mean them as co-writers, Superman Forever?)
James Robinson (1)
Michael Chabon (1)
Alan Brennert (1)
Orson Scott Card (1)
Lin Carter (1)
and you, Julian, have also just nominated
Kurt Busiek (1)

3 for Elliot as editor, but that's a different vote...  I'm not sure if we should have an "editor" vote or not, since the whole idea of this thread is that you are the editor.  How about we change that - we'll make "you" be head honcho at DC, so now you can also pick the editor.  So, OK, we'll have 2 ballots:  Editor and writer.  

So far, only Alan Moore has made it to the Writer ballot and Elliot to the Editor ballot.

I'll step out on a limb here and say that any creator, Elliot included, is eligible to be on both ballots.

In fact, I'll nominate him:

Elliot S! Maggin (1)
and I'll also nominate
Dwayne McDuffie (1) since I thought "Icon" was a better job at Superman than the DC Superman books were back when Icon was being published.

There are two titles, Superman and Action, and people do seem to like that idea of writing teams - so perhaps we should have the top-2 vote getters be the two chosen writers.

:s:

Alan Moore on Superman
Cary Bates on Action Comics
Grant Morrison could keep on doing his thing on All-Star Superman

I second what Beppo said and make ES!M ED-in!-Chief.

And if Cary aint available, lets slide Kurt into that slot. :wink:

Of course if this were the Dead Writers Society.....Siegel, Hamilton, Binder & Dorfman.

Okay, here's Editor-Julian's choices:

Kurt Busiek on SUPERMAN

Alan Brennert on ACTION COMICS



"Being better than Superman in the 90s" is such a terrifyingly low standard, but I remember seeing those books on the stand and thinking, "wow, it's YOUNGBLOOD gone ethnic!" So, actually, it turns out it wasn't that bad, eh?

Though I love the idea of a girl sidekick named "Rocket."

Mark Waid and Grant Morrison, one each, not co-writers, and orson Scott Card.

About Alan Moore, he's the best writer in comics and he likes the Silver Age Superman, but i don't think he believes in Superman.

Roger Stern, because he deserves to write Superman again. He did a good job, but I'd like to see him again with HIS stories, not parts of a bigger story.

Administrator's note: discussion of Roger Stern's Superman has been split off here (http://superman.nu/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2412) so we can keep this one about nominations for the upcoming ballot.

Here's a "Dark Horse" candidate for writing Superman: I nominate Al Schroeder III!

Everyone here has probably heard of Al's incredible story, of meeting his wife in the Julie Schwartz lettercolumns. However, what may not be commonly known is that Al Schroeder has an encyclopedaic knowledge of comic books; just visit his website and see all his theories on classic Superman and others. Al Schroeder is the last of the old school variety of fanboy that includes Phillip Jose Farmer, Kurt Busiek, and Roy Thomas: knowledgeable, creating interconnectivity where none previously existed, treating their characters as real.

But what you may not also know is that Al Schroeder also is not half-bad a writer (though not an artist; sorry, Al, but stick to the scripts); check out his webcomic to see a story that is intimately researched, unpredictable, with the spirit and imagination of the classic ages with the sensibility of the modern one.

Why is this man toiling in obscurity doing webcomics while a talentless boil on the behind of the comics industry like Keith Giffen still picks up work like James Bond picks up women?

Imagine Al Shroeder III's name on a comic book in the writer's box. It would be an uplifting, feel-good story, like those movies where a geeky High School girl gets to be prom queen.

Al, I wish you the best. You're one of us; if you make it, it's like we all make it, too.

For writer I will second the motion for Elliot Maggin.

ooops....excuse me.   Elliot Maggin!


And frankly....that is about all I can say.  With him....perhaps I could get back into Superman again.


Dylan