A few random Superman Speculations

[Super Monkey]

I don't think that everything that Byrne did was horrible, which on this board is probably heretical.

Now, where is that ban button...

[Great Rao]

... he only thinks he is.

Did he do anything good?

Rog 2000 was fun.  But I can't think of anything else worth mentioning.

[Super Monkey]

... he only thinks he is.

Did he do anything good?

Rog 2000 was fun.  But I can't think of anything else worth mentioning.

Oh yes, a robot who eats chicken, now I can see what DC and Marvel saw in Bryne way back when, he is so full of ideas... none good:

[Uncle Mxy]

I really like Ma and Pa Kent being alive in the Superman era.  While that's not especially original on Byrne's part, it had made for some good stories.

[Gary]

Byrne did a spoof of his own Superman stuff for Marvel's What The...? which I thought was actually pretty good. (The spoof, I mean.)

[Gary]

I don't think that everything that Byrne did was horrible, which on this board is probably heretical.

Now, where is that ban button...

Remember who you're talking to. You can't ban him unless you get him to say his name backwards. Even then, it's only for three months.

[JulianPerez]

Would this be a good time to mention that ROG-2000 is Axel Pressbutton: the Psychotic Cyborg from the waist down and Ultron from the waist up?

I really like Ma and Pa Kent being alive in the Superman era. While that's not especially original on Byrne's part, it had made for some good stories.

What's irksome about Ma and Pa Kent being alive is not that they were kept alive, but the REASON they were kept alive: to allow Superman to completely divorce himself from the disaster of Krypton, a disaster that it should be added, that is one of the saddest and most poignant events in comics which is the primary reason Superman, despite all his powers, is sympathetic. With the Kents alive as his "real" parents, the sacrifice of Jor-El and Lara (again, one of the most heroic and tragic stories in comics and partly the motivation for Superman's heroism) can be diminished and ignored.

Previously in the Super-Mythos, everything had a reason, everything present in the Superman story served a purpose. With the Kents being alive, Superman's origin suddenly becomes an afterthought; any other origin could be substituted for Byrne's Superman and he'd be exactly the same character.

So, in conclusion, the survival of the Kents was irksome for two reasons:

1) They were intended to substitute the more captivating characters of Jor-El and Lara, which the Kents can never really do;

2) They were to function as "wise counsel" for Superman, which makes him look like a chump because he can't make decisions without asking Mommy and Daddy, and is also rather insulting to rural people, the perpetuation of the condescending "wise hayseed farmer" stereotype that talks in calf birth metaphors.

[Captain Kal]

One of the few things I liked, at first, about the Byrning was keeping the Kents alive.  The idea of the greatest super-hero and possibly sentient in the universe still sometimes seeking the wise counsel of his elders was a great message to kids everywhere.  In a society which more often disrespected our elders both in reality and in all the media, here was a positive take on respecting them.

In hindsight, I realize that this would have been more appropriate had this been tried with another super-hero, not Superman.  The legendary, iconic nature of the solitary Last Son of Krypton precludes his seeking or needing to seek advice.  He solves the world's problems, not goes whining about it to someone else.

But just to be more thorough on this matter, Clark really doesn't go running to his parents all that often.  And when he does, he rarely gets more than moral support rather than any actual insights into what he needs to do.  In the end, Superman still makes the ultimate decision.  Note how he took the Kents' advice when it came to the Authority-copy, the Elite.

In keeping with respecting elders, that's the thing that made me despise Cadmus Superboy.  At first, he was my favourite Superman, but that was when he possibly was the real Steel Deal come back to life.  After Kal-El truly revived, Kon-El became what he truly was: A second-rate wannabe.  Not only that, but he was an adolescent fantasy come true.  He got to  go adventuring, save the world/universe, be a hero, be considered important by everyone else -- and had no parental supervision nor authorities he truly answered to.  It did my heart good when Superman hauled him off to live with the Kents at the end of his own series.  While the Kents don't work for Superman, they certainly do for Superboy -- either Pre or Post Crisis, take your pick. (FYI, I've complained about this before when I used to frequent Alvaro's and it is an odd coincidence that many of my ideas eventually found their way into the books.  In this case, it was my complaints about Kon lacking parental supervision.)

IMHO