This picture of them just kills me! Excted fr Scott's book. Hope it jams well w/ the rest of the super books
Superman
Character » Superman appears in 18883 issues.
Sent to Earth as an infant from the dying planet Krypton, Kal-El was adopted by the loving Kent family and raised in America's heartland as Clark Kent. Using his immense solar-fueled powers, he became Superman to defend mankind against all manner of threats while championing truth, justice, and the American way!
Why Scott Snyder is Writing Superman
@Zeeguy91 said:
@Eternal19 said:
@TheThe said:
In modern times, Superman is "dated" and out of the place. I''m wondering if it is possible to do a great and interesting story about a stereotype without changing too much of his essence. Snyder and Lee are talented, but Superman is an idea of the ultimate superhero and this kind of material is difficult to write.
he's not really out of place. A character that has been going on for over 70 years and is a pop culture icon and whos comics are bestsellers is not out of place, superman has many great modern storiesthat show that he isnt a dated concept. the things that superman stands for and the charecter itself applies to evry time period. Im not saying that everything about the charecter is completely modernized just like not everything for batman is completely modernized im just saying that if you read his comics he's not as "dated" as you think he is.
Thank you, Eternal19. I'm sick of people complaining about how Superman is "dated" or that he lacks pathos as some people (*cough, Max Landis, cough*) have said. Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster created Superman out of need for a modern champion and a crusader against social injustice (during a time when Hitler was in power in Europe) and also as an allegory for the immigrant experience. Both of which are concepts that are very relevant to today's culture. Its only with the 50s that the character began being portrayed in a much more "cookiecutter" fashion because...those were the 1950s, where anything different was shunned. Also, I'd say being one of the only few survivors of a dead race/planet gives a character plenty of pathos and internal conflict. Therefore, saying that Superman is "unrelatable" or "dated" is just untrue.
Superman was basically in the same vein as the X-Men before the X-Men even existed.
Superman is iconic because of his status in the comic books history and the place he used to have in the golden and silver ages.
His popularity among regular comic books readers( general public also) has decreased over the years. Nearly none of his recent storylines have been cited major or stunning in terms of quality. He is not the top seller at DC.
His fanbase used to be strong and loyal,able to support him no matter what. But they are somewhat fading little by little. The majority of people cant rely to him. A concrete desinterest in Superman has emerged the last decade(i hope it will change after S.Snyder run and Z.Snyder movie).
I'm talking about the quality of the storylines and the richness of the character.Superman has failed to be a reflection of modern times problems. He is just a concept, a stereotype which doesnt stands by himself, that's the very reason why people thinks he is "uncool" and boring. Both of you didnt understand what i was saying. The concept itself is not dated, but the character portraying the concept is dated and out of place because writers didnt apply properly the concept to our times.
Contrary to others characters like Batman, Superman sociological and psychological potential are not elaborate. Superman should have been more than a concept. He should have been a point of view (of the writer) about the concept he's standing for. People, like societies, change. Even his background(him being one of the few survivors of a planet/race) is underused and fails to give him depth, introspection and flirts with the darkness inside his heart. He's TOO perfect.
The times, when they are changing, require new methods, new ways of thinking and new ways to handle things. Writers need to develop thouroughly in order to fit Superman in a contemporary context.
@CircularLogic: If you look at past Superman books by Grant you can see that really has a strong connection with the character. Action is New 52 book and DC really wanted to pull away from the previous incarnation of Supes and it seems that its just another interpretation of the charcter and its still pretty good (though supes seems to spend a lot of time being pissed off than he used to even if you look at the JL book he seemed to be punching first and asking questions later).
@TheThe said:
@Zeeguy91 said:
@Eternal19 said:
@TheThe said:
In modern times, Superman is "dated" and out of the place. I''m wondering if it is possible to do a great and interesting story about a stereotype without changing too much of his essence. Snyder and Lee are talented, but Superman is an idea of the ultimate superhero and this kind of material is difficult to write.
he's not really out of place. A character that has been going on for over 70 years and is a pop culture icon and whos comics are bestsellers is not out of place, superman has many great modern storiesthat show that he isnt a dated concept. the things that superman stands for and the charecter itself applies to evry time period. Im not saying that everything about the charecter is completely modernized just like not everything for batman is completely modernized im just saying that if you read his comics he's not as "dated" as you think he is.
Thank you, Eternal19. I'm sick of people complaining about how Superman is "dated" or that he lacks pathos as some people (*cough, Max Landis, cough*) have said. Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster created Superman out of need for a modern champion and a crusader against social injustice (during a time when Hitler was in power in Europe) and also as an allegory for the immigrant experience. Both of which are concepts that are very relevant to today's culture. Its only with the 50s that the character began being portrayed in a much more "cookiecutter" fashion because...those were the 1950s, where anything different was shunned. Also, I'd say being one of the only few survivors of a dead race/planet gives a character plenty of pathos and internal conflict. Therefore, saying that Superman is "unrelatable" or "dated" is just untrue.
Superman was basically in the same vein as the X-Men before the X-Men even existed.
Superman is iconic because of his status in the comic books history and the place he used to have in the golden and silver ages.
His popularity among regular comic books readers( general public also) has decreased over the years. Nearly none of his recent storylines have been cited major or stunning in terms of quality. He is not the top seller at DC.
His fanbase used to be strong and loyal,able to support him no matter what. But they are somewhat fading little by little. The majority of people cant rely to him. A concrete desinterest in Superman has emerged the last decade(i hope it will change after S.Snyder run and Z.Snyder movie).
I'm talking about the quality of the storylines and the richness of the character.Superman has failed to be a reflection of modern times problems. He is just a concept, a stereotype which doesnt stands by himself, that's the very reason why people thinks he is "uncool" and boring. Both of you didnt understand what i was saying. The concept itself is not dated, but the character portraying the concept is dated and out of place because writers didnt apply properly the concept to our times.
Contrary to others characters like Batman, Superman sociological and psychological potential are not elaborate. Superman should have been more than a concept. He should have been a point of view (of the writer) about the concept he's standing for. People, like societies, change. Even his background(him being one of the few survivors of a planet/race) is underused and fails to give him depth, introspection and flirts with the darkness inside his heart. He's TOO perfect.
The times, when they are changing, require new methods, new ways of thinking and new ways to handle things. Writers need to develop thouroughly in order to fit Superman in a contemporary context.
He still has one of the largest fanbases in the world, I would say that his fanbase has gone up. His comics are still very popular Look at the numbers, action comics was in 6th place for comic sales for september 2012 and superman was in 12th. Thats pretty high for a charecter that is "dated" and "out of place" in modern society.
Many people who say superman is boring and uncool haven't read his comics and/or are basing there whole opinion on the movies which are dated and out of place, even the recent superman movie failed by trying to be like the older movies instead of portraying the current superman so, using there reasoning as evidence for him being a dated charecter isnt very good. Some of his best comics came out within the last decade.
The New 52 has givin him that depth that you say he doesnt have. They have made his relationship with supergirl strained and she is the only friendly full kryptonian left, explored the lonlier side of superman, they've made lois be in a relationship with another guy and clark obviously has feelings for lois, Clark is a man trying to make a positive change in a world that is losing its morality as shown in Superman 13, Clark is an alien who wants to a balance his normal life with his responsibilities as a superhero he's a being with God Like powers yet he chooses to hang out on the bottom with th rest of us and have trouble paying the rent, because Clark wants to live a normal life. Superman is a man with all these powers and yet he chooses to use them for good but, why does he use them for good? because thats what his parents raised him to be and he's very protective of Earth since he doesnt want the same thing to happen to earth that happened to krypton. thats a lot of depth that people either dont know about or refuse to see in superman.
@Gambit1024 said:
I can't wait. The best DC writer writing the best DC character. Dream come true, really.
Quoted for truth!
@TheThe:
Lots of text there so im not gonna quote it.
Superman doesn't need to be "darker" he is a character meant to represent the best in people, his ultimate strength shouldn't be the super-strength, heat vision flight and everything it should be the ability to inspire those around him to be better people than they were before.
And if people weren't so pointlessly cynical now (which amusingly enough seems to come out of how comfortable we are as a society, even with the economy the way it is now our rates of poverty and other negative socioeconomic factors are better than they were in the 1950s and 60s) none of this would be an issue, and honestly I don't want to "modernize" any more characters by catering to people like that.
You want to know a character I can't relate with at all? A possibly insane, emotionally stunted born-rich Billionare.
a large part of the point of Superman is that despite all his power he is among the most human Superhero's and its his humanity that ultimately allows him to be so moral and good.
@Eternal19 and @Mojo65 : You should read this 2004 article from the Time magazine which is still accurate. It says everything on how i feel about Superman.http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994194-1,00.html
I'm not that impressed with the Superman post-flashpoint version. Efforts have been made, but not enough for me. I'm still waiting for a writer to take full control over him, running him like he really wants, without caring about the « iconic » status.
Supe should have been able to reckon with so much subjects like racism, immigration, the place of America in the world. I want him to be portrayed with the same amount of care and details than a mixture between Dr. Manhattan and Cyclops : It's not that I want him to fail, fall, cry, doubt, betray, disappoint, struggle just because it is "fun" too have darker characters. No.
What i want : to be inside his head. I want to understand what's goin on there and why is he the man he is despite being adopted, alien, one of the last of a dead species etc. But whatever, maybe i'm too exigent ;)
Its actually quite comforting to see that this was Snyder's wish and not DC wanting him to do it. Its comforting because its a story that Snyder WANTED to do, and that way you know its going to be good. As a writer myself its far too easy to say you have to write to make a living, but it makes the greatest difference when you write something you actually wish to. Snyder then is going to give us a story of Superman he has wanted to tell for some time and thus it makes me excited as a reader that we'll get to see this. Plus, Jim Lee's art. What's not to love? Snyder, thou art a comic god!
Why does a new title need to be launched? "Superman" is not doing that hot (let's hope that changes with Lobdell on the reins) and Morrison is leaving "Action Comics"... couldn't they just have Snyder take over one of the two titles? Besides, it's not like a magic ball is needed to see that Snyder and Lee won't be a part of that new title for long... a year tops.
I really like his work on Batman but putting him on Superman smacks of despiration in DC's part. They are putting their hottest young writer who is already doing incredible work on Batman and hoping to replicate that success on a new Superman title. I will certainly check it out but I hope Snyder does not get burned out from all the titles he does each month.
words can not describe how exited i am for this book as well as the movie.I went to ireland last week and while there i saw skyfall (whitch is awesome and worth a watch) and during it there was the teaser trailer for man of steel. During the teaser i heard my mum say we dount need another superman movie...we didnt speak for the full day.
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