Things you like to read/don't like in Superman comics?

[JulianPerez]

That is to say, if a comic and its cover promise to have this story element, would you buy it up right away?

For me, the list would be something like...

TURN-ONS:

Superman fighting in space. Oh hell yeah. If it's got Superman with spaceships, aliens and space gladiators, heck yeah, I'm buying. In fact, I bought the Kurt Busiek SUPERMAN series because of the promise there'd be some outer space asskickery on alien planets. Mongul or Roger Stern's creation, Maxima, are also real crowd-pleasers.

Superman/Supergirl team-ups. Not just Superman and Supergirl in the same book, e.g. SUPERMAN FAMILY. Man, they really, really need to do this much more often; perhaps annually, like the JLA/JSA or the Challengers of the Unknown/Doom Patrol team-ups. The best example of this kind of story would be the first issue of the Marty Pasko Amalak story arc, and one Cary Bates story where Superman and Supergirl adopt an alien robot and then the Galactic Golem attacks. The thought of Superman and his cuz going into battle together gets me all a-tingly!

Clark Kent being a hero on his own. I loved that Animated Series episode where Clark Kent, using guts, detective work, and investigative journalism, saved a man from death row. In fact, it was great to read the Johns/Busiek Superman where he was a gutsy reporter taking on Lex only with a printing press and the truth.

World of Krypton. Boy, Krypton and Jor-El were cool. I've never bought a Superman comic for the backup story except "World of Krypton."

Monsters! Len Wein especially did this the best: give Superman a giant beast that can match him, that only really Superman can handle. Chemo, for instance, or the Galactic Golem. In fact, I'd say Superman needs more monsters. Titano is terrific and sympathetic, if only they got rid of that ridiculous Kryptonite Vision power.

Superman in a relationship. Especially if its with someone other than Lois Lane, the way he got serious with Lana near the mid-eighties.

Superman team-ups. Supes needs a team-up book like he had with DC COMICS PRESENTS, because it's interesting to see him team up with lower-powered characters (essentially, everybody in the DCU) like Black Lightning or the Challengers of the Unknown, and do things like explore the rest of the DCU: visit Adam Strange's Rann, for instance.

Minor, "nuisance" villains being used as serious threats. This is also called "Paskoism," after the guy that did it best. Who can forget the shock of Toyman murdering his replacement? Or Bizarro being duped by all and sundry? Then you have the Prankster's astonishing story in the Busiek/Johns "Up, Up and Away" arc, where he defeated Green Lantern with itching powder that prevented him from concentrating.


TURN-OFFS:

Superman vs. Wizards. I don't think this has ever been done well, ever - with the possible exception of Busiek's story featuring Arion, Lord of Atlantis. There could be a graveyard filled with Superman's forgettable wizard enemies: Denny O'Neil's Moximus (remember him?), to all the interchangeable magic-using hot chicks from Yellow Peri to Wolfman's Syrene to Gail Simone's Queen of Fables. These sort of characters don't belong in Superman's world.

Supervillains with one power. Who was that forgettable Marv Wolfman villain that later appeared as a member of the Fatal Five in NEW TEEN TITANS? Snore. Generally, if you have really one power and a costume, you shouldn't be taking on Superman. Hear that, Live Wire?

Nuisance enemies used in 'nuisance' stories. As long as I live, I never, ever want to see another J. Wilbur Wolfingham story, or another Prankster or Toyman story where they're "goofy." Ditto for Bizarro World. Ugh! Use them straight or not at all.

[MatterEaterLad]

Supervillains with one power. Who was that forgettable Marv Wolfman villain that later appeared as a member of the Fatal Five in NEW TEEN TITANS? Snore. Generally, if you have really one power and a costume, you shouldn't be taking on Superman. Hear that, Live Wire?

Well, that is one reason why I hated "Weather War Over Metropolis".  Why would a one-power wonder like Weather Wizard want to take on the Flash by involving the most powerful being on Earth?

[JulianPerez]

Well, that is one reason why I hated "Weather War Over Metropolis".  Why would a one-power wonder like Weather Wizard want to take on the Flash by involving the most powerful being on Earth?

Well, if you notice, Weather Wizard never directly confronted Superman in that issue except at the end.

Weather Wizard was able to take on Superman the same way Lex Luthor does: as a contest of wits, and presenting Superman with a mystery (the weird weather phenomenon), and like Lex, he was ultimately beaten in a contest of wits.

[MatterEaterLad]

Seems really convoluted to me.  Here's a guy who stole his brother's weather technologies, he uses them on Metropolis and gets Superman involved, just so that he can use a Kryptonian method to possibly get Superman to kill the Flash?  Seems like a crazy idea, after years of failing in getting the Flash, up the odds by trying to control an even more powerful being?

Actually, I don't HATE the story - as with many Bronze Age stories I just find it contrived and over-burdened.

[Permanus]

Some things that really annoy me:

Superman explaining why he has to handle this alone, especially by mentioning that all his pals are off in space. This is an unnecessary bit of exposition that writers sometimes do: some menace has Superman on the ropes, and as he flies off to the Fortress of Solitude to see if he can scare up some kind of weapon, he muses that it's a pity Supergirl (or the Justice League) can't help him because she's off on a mission in space. This happens so often you can't help wondering if Supergirl is some sort of missionary. It annoys me because it's a sort of dramatic cop-out, almost as if the writer were begging you to "Suspend your disbelief, okay? Work with me here".

Team-ups that sound exciting and then turn out to be really dumb. Let's face it, most of DCCP was like this. you'd get some team-up that sounded as if it would be great, but then it would turn out to be written by Some Guy With a Familiar Name, with pencils by Joe Staton and inks by a summer intern. The Black Lightning issue would have been really good if it had been a crime story, but instead it was people turning into weird monsters. (There were some stand-out issues, though, especially early in its run: Superman and GL, Swamp Thing, Sgt. Rock, Mr. Miracle. Those were good.)

Vartox never getting a break. Come on, ease up on him.

Hello, honey, I'm home! This only applies to current comics, but Superman being married makes me quite irate and want to smite someone.

Things I can never get enough of:

Shenanigans in the office. Steve Lombard wearing giant monster hands he swiped from the props department, Josh Coyle taking his ulcer pills, "What shall we do for lunch, Clarkie?", that sort of thing.

Clark Kent acting like a grown-up. This is just more of the preceding point, really, and maybe I only liked it when I was a boy, but stuff like helping his neighbour, Mrs. Moskowitz, with her wheelchair, having a toffee apple with Lana, paying bills, you know, hanging around and being a person.

Superman using his powers with style. Stopping a tidal wave by building a big glass barrier with the sand on the beach, sewing up a crevice in a street with a cable and a lamp-post, cooling a volcano by pushing a rainstorm on it. You don't get much of that nowadays, but I get the feeling Busiek is sort of gearing up for it.

Inventive excuses for running away to change to Superman. Very hard to do, and rarely seen, but every now and then Clark really gets inspired when he needs to create a diversion so he can run off to change. My favourite is in "The Luthor Nobody Knows", where he gives Roy Raymond indigestion with his heat vision so he can pretend something is wrong with the chicken salad. Not bad, and also, pretty cold-blooded. Now Roy's lunch is ruined and the cafeteria will get a visit from the health inspector.

Vartox. Hooray for Vartox!

[DBN]

Likes:

Superman actually using his brain in a story and by extension when he uses his powers in more inventive ways.

Space, I'm a sucker for a well-written cosmic story. That, and I still want the Daxam/Krypton connection story that has been hinted at for years.

Super-Family team-ups.

Post-Crisis only. Stories about Clark's travels around the world before his debut in Metropolis.

Superman legacy stories ala DC One Million.

Superman's connection to Rao. Kryptonian mythology, really.

Dislikes:

Mind-Controlled Superman. Especially when done by a bloody used-car salesman.

Zod-at this point, the General is even more overexposed than Hank Henshaw was during the '90s.

Superboy/Supergirl as members of a second-rate team like the Titans. What's the point of the other members when one Kryptonian can defeat 99.9% of this team's villains? Superboy/Supergirl should only be members of the Legion at this age before joining the Justice League.

Evil Mxy. This concept has worked in one story and one story alone, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow.

When Superman fails to use his brain in a story i.e. firing a pirate ship's cannons at Bizarro or throwing boulders at another Kryptonian. Is he too stupid to realize that his opponent is invulnerable? Or when he conveniently forgets that he has other abilities than flight and super-strength.

The Kent Boarding House for Sidekicks. Or, when Clark shirks his responsibilities and dumps his problems on his parents. Nope, no immaturity there.

[davidelliott]

You know what I miss in comics?  Remember when there would be captions in the Schwartz books that would give a little science lesson?  Like:

"The Flash can saw through trees because of how fast he is moving... just like a piece of paer caught in a hurricane can slice through a tree trunk"

Or something like that... I learned more from those comics than I did in school!

[carmine]

Things I like
Jimmy Olsen  either crossing dressing or turning into a monster.

Things I dont like
Superman mind control.

ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!