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Author Topic: Worst Superman Stories?  (Read 49239 times)
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TELLE
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« Reply #40 on: September 08, 2005, 12:28:02 AM »

I never read the Comic Buyer's Guide but now that it's a magazine I occasionally browse it at the bookstore.  I noticed that there is a long article on the 10 Dullest Silver Age stories, or some-such title, in the latest issue (Alex Ross cover).
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MatterEaterLad
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« Reply #41 on: September 08, 2005, 01:09:49 AM »

List 'em! Cheesy
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JulianPerez
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« Reply #42 on: September 08, 2005, 11:17:30 PM »

CBG, eh?

If it was WIZARD doing the list, I would buy it only when my household toilet paper supply ran out. It must be hard, toiling as the underpaid publicity agents of comics creators, but, you know, somebody's got to do it. I for one, couldn't work there; after the one-millionth creator interview where he explains he's taking the character "in a completely new direction," I'd come to work one morning with a machine gun and a bunny costume.

The exact moment my contempt for WIZARD crystalized was when they gave a listing of all time great JLA stories - and I swear to God I'm not making this up - the top three were Grant Morrison's first arc, Mark Waid's JLA year one, and the first arc of the Aquaman-led team with Vibe and Gypsy (which my mentor Darren A. Madigan once called the "Aquaman and the Outsiders" JLA). And I think they also had one by Gerry Conway, too. What didn't they have, though? Anything by Gardner Fox or Steve Englehart.

In a way, I can sort of understand WIZARD's shallow list; why suck up to dead people when you can suck up to living ones?
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« Reply #43 on: September 09, 2005, 08:17:04 AM »

I couldn't really read Superman's books after he turned into an energy being, and it was even worse when he split in two. Talk about a less than stellar "homage" to a pre-Crisis concept. But what really bothered me was how they were trying to change Superman. Why completely alter the most iconic super-hero to appeal to fans who won't stick around for the long run?
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« Reply #44 on: September 09, 2005, 05:08:10 PM »

Aside from Wizard's questionable accuracy in reporting, they're also a flagrantly pro-Marvel/anti-DC publication.

I wouldn't put any stock in something from Wizard.

IIRC, Garth Ennis or some other pro dissed them royally during a public speaking appearance.  He even tore up a copy of the mag in front of the audience.

Example on bogus reporting: Wizard claimed J'Onn was going to gently mind-read Galactus in JLAvengers ... When issue #1 showed he was incapable of doing so for the less formidable Watcher, Uatu.  Needless to say, that bogus prediction never saw print.

Example of bogus Superman 'referencing': Wizard erroneously claimed Superman had an upper limit of lifting the Great Sphinx.  First, the actual reference in the DC Who's Who states the Great Pyramid which is much heavier.  Second, that same entry stated it was something he could easily do not that was his upper limit.  Third, he's grown much stronger since the early Byrned days.  But, hey, whatever turns the cranks of those die-hard Marvel fanboys ...
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NotSuper
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« Reply #45 on: September 09, 2005, 06:22:12 PM »

Quote from: "Captain Kal"
Aside from Wizard's questionable accuracy in reporting, they're also a flagrantly pro-Marvel/anti-DC publication.

Actually, I think they're starting to become more pro-DC. They seem to change depending on what's popular with the majority--which, right now, is DC. Marvel still sells better but most fans I've encountered seem to prefer DC.
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« Reply #46 on: September 09, 2005, 06:32:02 PM »

Quote from: "NotSuper"
I couldn't really read Superman's books after he turned into an energy being, and it was even worse when he split in two. Talk about a less than stellar "homage" to a pre-Crisis concept. But what really bothered me was how they were trying to change Superman. Why completely alter the most iconic super-hero to appeal to fans who won't stick around for the long run?


The electric Superman is what wrecked it for me also.  It's not about the long run anymore.  It's about how to make a quick buck.  It's not about the characters anymore either.  It's about catostophic events and who the publishers can get to write and draw it so it will sell.  It doesn't matter if the story is good or not.  It's who worked on it.  When the creators are done with that book and that story the fanboys will follow them to the next.
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JulianPerez
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« Reply #47 on: September 09, 2005, 09:59:35 PM »

Perhaps I can explain why the electric Superman gets everyone's hackles up.

Superman isn't the X-MEN; he isn't hip or edgy. He's charmingly square. Electric Superman was supposed to be a "hip" update of the Superman concept. This is BY ITSELF is irritating for several reasons:

1) The idea that Superman, an "American Original," like Chevrolet cars and Coca-Cola, needs a drastic, "hip" revamp that is so severe he becomes unrecognizeable, is insulting to a character that has really, been shown to work fine just the way he is;

2) It attempted to summon the air of being a permanent change, but us comics fans that have seen it all saw right through that. It was a naked, cynical money-grabbing ploy for attention that the artists KNEW - they had to - was not going to be permanent, the comics equivalent of a kid screaming "FIRE!" in a crowded movie theater. The comics equivalent of Madonna's "frank" films in the 1990s; attempting to shock everyone out of complacency ever so desperately, but was instead an obvious attempt to garner publicity that received only yawns from the jaded American public.

3) It missed the entire point of Superman, who is a timeless character.

4) It was used in lieu of things of substance that would garner positive attention, such as good art and storytelling.

Further, it summoned up a classic Superman Imaginary Story in name and imagery, which is disrespectful because the spirit of the story, or at least its imaginative power, was not preserved in the remake. Remakes of classic movies are judged much more harshly than standard films based on original concepts...as they should be. Films that are great create a legacy that should be respected, and so tackling them requires a piece of monumental hubris to even attempt. Notice nobody is Phillistine enough to make a "Casablanca II."

It also feels faddish and dated, with the shame of following a trend that felt like the most important thing in the world at the time, but looking back, is rather embarassing, sort of like a High School Yearbook photo with a mullet.

It was especially irksome because as it was "in continuity" Superman, there was nowhere you could go that you could get an alternative. Superman guest-stars in Aquaman? Guess what? He's ELECTRIC Superman! Oh, wait, what's that you say: Superman is in the Justice League, too? Well, guess which one the team's using!

And last but certainly not least, it was a terrible story, done at the worst period in Superman's history. it was a lousy, illogical anticlimactic story accompained by no intersting revalations that the writers had no idea what to do with, that finally was dropped in the background of a minor miniseries because the writers got bored with it and lost interest.
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"Wait, folks...in a startling new development, Black Goliath has ripped Stilt-Man's leg off, and appears to be beating him with it!"
       - Reporter, Champions #15 (1978)
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