Siegel & Shuster vs WB: Superman and Infinite Crisis - Part 1

[The Red Hood]

Originally Posted by Kurosawa

As soon as they got some momentum going, they wreck it. And how Elliot S! Maggin or Mark Waid is not the Superman editor is beyond me.

This is the heart of the issue. Superman has had some quality writers and artists, but they have not stuck around for reasons that are still unclear. Geoff Johns seemed very invested in Superman and staying on the title after Infinite Crisis, and things were looking great. The Superman mythos was beginning to evolve again, and there was a feeling that the Byrne continuity was going to be included to some degree, but largely erased.

Then Johns leaves to work on Secret Origin and other things, and never returns. Had he been committed (or perhaps, allowed to be committed?) to the title, he and Busiek could have put the Superman titles high in the sales charts each month.

But then both left; Busiek has commented vaguely over at the CBR forums that it was difficult to work for editorial at the time. Then New Krypton, which could have been phenomenal and really brought a lot of attention to Superman, ended up ousting Superman from BOTH of his titles and putting him in a limited series most folks wouldn't want to have to buy.

Then "Grounded" happened and here we are. The biggest mistake DC has made with Superman in the last ten to fifteen years has been passing on the Waid/Morrison proposal. The books would have been top sellers had they been allowed to go along with it.

When I heard about this reboot, I was hoping Mark Waid would be at the helm. Why does DC hate this guy so much? He should be spearheading this reboot, and using a retooled version of Birthright as the basis for a new era of Superman.