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Eric Smearman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 5801
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| Posted: 24 August 2010 at 4:49pm | IP Logged | 1
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I've often wondered what a Walt Simonson Superman run would be
like. I really enjoyed the couple of stories he worked on.Didn't Steve Gerber and/or Frank Miller have Superman re-vamp
ideas? Back to the topic at hand: I'm a life long Superman fan. He is, by far,
my favorite character. JB 's approach took a little getting used to but I
loved it and wish it had lasted a little longer.
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Jason Czeskleba
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 April 2004
Posts: 4548
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| Posted: 24 August 2010 at 5:12pm | IP Logged | 2
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Gerber and Miller did pitch a Superman revamp in 1985. There's an interview with Gerber in The Krypton Companion where he says they wanted to "recreate the character with a contemporary sensibility while adhering as closely as possible to the spirit of the Siegel and Shuster original." He says they wanted to emphasize Superman's "role as a force for social justice" which I presume means more of the loose cannon socialist vigilantism we see in the early stories. He doesn't say anything more specific than that.
At any rate, I'm glad it didn't happen. I don't think there's a bigger Gerber fan than me on this board, but I see Gerber's sensibilities as being a bad fit for Superman. I can't imagine it would have worked well. And Miller would be even worse... he shouldn't be allowed within 100 miles of Superman.
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Lloyd White
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 September 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 871
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| Posted: 24 August 2010 at 9:54pm | IP Logged | 3
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In hindsight, I wish JB had been able to take on Superman without it having to be a reboot. JB alone would have been enough to get Marvel fans to take a look, and maybe could have kept the genie in the bottle for a while longer as far as DC's seemingly never-ending stream of reboots, retcons, and tweaks are concerned. I'd have loved to have seen JB take on the pre-Crisis Superman family of characters and concepts.
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Tim Farnsworth
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 July 2010
Posts: 817
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| Posted: 24 August 2010 at 10:01pm | IP Logged | 4
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That's wild about the Gerber/Miller pitch. I'm pretty sure I'm glad it didn't happen as well, but I wouldn't mind access to an alternate worlds viewer so I could peek in and see how it came out. Anyone read that series, Superman: The Secret Years? Was a Pre-Crisis miniseries drawn by (I think) Curt Swan that told the tale of Clark Kent's college years and how Superboy finally became Superman. It's not altogether remarkable, but Frank Miller did do the covers for the mini and I thought they were pretty sweet: http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=l ist&title=84125539304&snumber=1
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Jason Czeskleba
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 April 2004
Posts: 4548
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| Posted: 24 August 2010 at 10:13pm | IP Logged | 5
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Lloyd White wrote:
| In hindsight, I wish JB had been able to take on Superman without it having to be a reboot. |
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Hear, hear! I was so turned off by the changes made in continuity that I avoided JB's Superman for years. I finally read the Man of Steel TPBs a few years ago, and really liked them (at least I liked the JB stories... the other stuff is not so hot). I still dislike like the continuity changes (especially the discarding of meek, mild-mannered Clark and the entire concept of evil businessman Luthor). But if I overlook those things, I can now see that JB did some fine Superman stories that really caught the essence of the character. It really was not necessary to reboot the series. As you say, simply having JB writing and drawing would have attracted new readers regardless of the continuity.
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Eric Smearman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 September 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 5801
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| Posted: 24 August 2010 at 10:31pm | IP Logged | 6
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I read and enjoyed SUPERMAN:THE SECRET YEARS. The covers
were pretty cool and I dug the stirs as a whole despite some truly
horrid Flexographic printing and coloring.
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Flavio Sapha
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: Brazil
Posts: 12912
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| Posted: 24 August 2010 at 10:47pm | IP Logged | 7
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My gripe: even though Superman was beginning anew, we only
caught glimpses of that beginning in MOS. Crisis should have afforded
the readers a true reboot. I was eager to see Superman's story unfold,
no "hidden years".
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Don Zomberg
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Joined: 23 November 2005
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| Posted: 25 August 2010 at 6:56am | IP Logged | 8
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Flavio, can you clarify what you mean by "hidden years"? MOS gave us everything we needed to know about the characters over the course of five years or so.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 25 August 2010 at 9:15am | IP Logged | 9
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In hindsight, I wish JB had been able to take on Superman without it having to be a reboot.•• As most here already know, that was my original pitch. I wanted to pick up right from whatever happened to be the issue immediately before my first, and set off on a story arc over six or eight issues that would bring Superman to the point I wanted him to be. The reboot was DC's idea. I didn't fight it, since it effectively made my job easier!
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Stephen Robinson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 25 August 2010 at 10:14am | IP Logged | 10
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I still dislike like the continuity changes (especially the discardingof meek, mild-mannered Clark and the entire concept of evil businessmanLuthor).
**************
SER: I sometimes think that people who believe JB drastically changed Clark Kent are comparing JB's Clark to Christopher Reeve's Clark, which was far more over the top (perhaps appropriately so to convey the difference in live action).
JB's Clark wasn't suddenly Rambo. But he wasn't drastically different from the Clark Kent we'd seen for years in the comics. I thought JB made Clark more dynamic -- with a real life and real interests and motivations beyond just being Superman's secret identity -- but he was still "mild-mannered." I always read "mild-mannered" as a gentleman -- you know, sort of like how a kid views his father -- not a spineless weakling.
What I realized from reading JB's take on Clark Kent is that Clark is human, just as Superman is (at least emotionally). Superman is the President Lincoln who freed the slaves and preserved the union. Clark Kent is the Abe Lincoln who enjoys reading a good book and discussing it with his friends. They're the same person. Lincoln probably only was rarely able to not have the weight of the world on this shoulders. Superman is able to do so by putting on a pair of glasses and getting lunch with Jimmy Olsen. There's no need for Lincoln to "play the buffoon" in his down time, nor is there any need for Superman to do so.
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
Robotmod
Joined: 16 April 2004
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| Posted: 25 August 2010 at 10:50am | IP Logged | 11
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Jason Czeskleba wrote:
| ...and the entire concept of evil businessman Luthor |
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That one totally resonated with me. I loved seeing Luthor work from the sidelines like a puppet master as opposed to being out front fighting Superman in his "War Suit". In other words, I enjoyed this... 
...much, much more than I ever did these...  
There's a malevolence to the "business suit Luthor" that I just don't get when he dons a supersuit and takes on Superman head-to-head.
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Wallace Sellars
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Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 25 August 2010 at 12:09pm | IP Logged | 12
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I still dislike like the continuity changes (especially the discarding of meek, mild-mannered Clark and the entire concept of evil businessman Luthor).
---
Jason, what you disliked about the reboot, I found appealing! My favorite Clark Kent (George Reeves' Adventures of Superman version) wasn't especially meek or mild-mannered, and having Lex Luthor use his wealth and influence against the Man of Steel proved to be much more entertaining than sending him into battle wearing armor.
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