So is Superman readable yet?

[Lord Voldemort]

If you want to talk about self-parodies, Starman's a good place to start. I really hate how Johns is pulling the "crazy guy = funny" card with him every chance he gets. I'm enjoying JSA as a whole at the moment, but there have been a lot of little things since the relaunch that have irked me, which are made all the more annoying by how good the series is outside of those stupid things.

I'll second that. I'd also like to express my tiredness of Nazi villains. Why does it always have to be Nazis? I realize that we as Americans are still proud to have stomped the injustices into the ground back in dubya dubya 2, but I'm tired of reading about it.

back to topic:
Maybe I'll give action comics try, since some people feel it's acceptable.

I think he needs more dysfunctional people around him. His city is too 1940's. Yes the badguys are nuts but I feel if the population of metropolis were a bit more off the wagon then it would justify Superman living there rather than a more mess up city. There is too much warm and fuzzy around him when I want him to be the bringer of warm of fuzzy. I'm still not certain.

 

[The Question]

Well, way I see it, he surrounds himself with the warm and fuzzy because he occasionally needs a break from all the danger, death, and despair he deals with as Superman. Besides, Suicide Slum did get it's name for a reason.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's not like Superman only limits himself to Metropolis anyway. He's definitely a global hero. Hell, maybe he chose Metropolis because it's a relatively safe city. Who'd want to save the world every day, only to come home and have to save your city every night?

 

[The Leaguer]

He chose Metropolis so he could tap that Lane ass.

 

[yenaled]

Apart from Joe Kelly's Superman and Dan Jurgens, Busiek's Superman has been amazing - so read that.

And Johns just sucks on Green Lantern and anything involving his weird obsession of the Silver Age Legion.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Joe Kelly knew how to write himself some Superman comics. Also, Greg Rucka's Adventures of Superman run is one of the all-time highs for the character.

 

[yenaled]

Yes, Adventures with Rucka was great too.

So really out of most the recent Superman writers Johns is by far the worse.

 

[The Leaguer]

I remembered Rucka's Superman run and now I have to change pants. God in heaven, the Rucka/Azzarello era for Superman rocked ass. I pretend Austen wasn't around then.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

People seem to love this Legion arc, though. I don't know if that's just because Gary Frank's art is so amazing it's developed some kind of hypnotic powers or what...

 

[The Leaguer]

Isn't Frank the guy who draws him like Reeve? F*** Frank.

 

[yenaled]

People only like it because it's their first exposure to the Legion - or it's old fans getting misty eyed about old characters. I'm pretty sure anyone who has read Waid's Legion would know how much Johns is sucking with his version.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Heh, I'm sure lots of people will be by to object to that soon. I expressed similar grievances with Johns' choice of subject matter in another thread and people promptly started gnashing their teeth with great gusto over how amazingly awesome the Silver Age Legion was.

Isn't Frank the guy who draws him like Reeve? F*** Frank.

He could draw Superman like a can of paint for all I care. He'd still draw everything else better than 90% of the other artists in the medium.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Joe Kelly knew how to write himself some Superman comics. Also, Greg Rucka's Adventures of Superman run is one of the all-time highs for the character.

I think it's going to be rather hard to top Rucka's interpretation of Superman for quite sometime.

I've been liking what Johns and Busiek have been doing with the Superman books, but they pale in comparison to Rucka's awesome run.

I wish he was back now

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, imagine that: taking where Superman was at at the time and actually building on it while focusing on an eminently human Clark Kent at the core of it all resulted in good stories. Crazy.

I only wish DC had the balls to let Rucka give Superman and Lois a real child rather than Zod's stupid leftovers. That whole plot thread with Mxy dropping hints ultimately led nowhere, which is the only real downside to Rucka's otherwise brilliant run.

 

[prince_dylan]

despite the amount of hate for the Johns run, the current Action storyarc, along with All-Star, made Superman comics, for me, readable again.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Superman was readable long before them for me. But I never really worry if Superman's comics suck because I can always just wait it out and pick them up when they're good again. It's not like they'll ever be canceled.

 

[DavidTyler]

The best run on Superman, IMO, was back under Ordway when all the titles were interrelated. Never liked the way Ordway drew Supes but the stories were great. That exile arc happened in that time frame. All the books had great writers and brainstormed great ideas.

I don't like all this nostalgia for the Silver age but I do think Hal was the BEST GL. And this arrogant, cocky version of the character was not what I grew up with. Go read the Green Lantern/Green Arrow run that Neal Adams and Dick Giordano won awards for. That's Hal.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The main complaint about that version of Hal is that he didn't have much of a personality. So Johns gave him a stereotypical, cocky, type-A personality because he's a pilot. People apparently love it if sales are any indication.

I personally think Alan Scott is the best GL. He's been having a rough time of it lately himself, though.

 

[Anubis]

He just needs to kick the ass of one of these young whippersnappers, just once. Guy would be good, but it would most likely be Kyle, cuz, you know, payback is a b***h.

 

[Dansmith]

Are Superman: For Tomorrow and Red Son worth reading? these are the only Superman TPBs I've really shown any interest in.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He just needs to kick the ass of one of these young whippersnappers, just once. Guy would be good, but it would most likely be Kyle, cuz, you know, Geoff Johns would be writing it.

Fixed.

 

[Kitsune]

I've never been the biggest superman fan. To be honest he's too perfect, too dutiful, too rigid. Yet in group books he's a nice character to read. He's a nice character to read when he cameos as well. However as a solo character, his stories are stagnant.

That being said, I gave him a shot, and found some of his work passable. But they're making him a bit too super for my tastes. I stopped reading the series when he was on a plane, reading microscopic books at the speed of light while travel because his powers were evolving even further. How much more perfect does the character need to be?

So tell me? Is he interesting and conflicted? If he fun?

I don't think I'm along in feeling this way: unimpressed with an icon.

Greetings Lord Moldybutt (it's an obscure reference not an insult)

Superman problem has always been that he was too powerful, making him a boy scout was one of the ways writers dealt with that. While Supes has never been my favorite because of this, but a good writer and a good story will make any character worth writing... at the same time a bad story can make you not buy a comic that you've been buying for years (I'm not naming names but the initials are ASM)

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I love how the "too powerful" argument has never made sense, yet so many people continue to cite it.

 

[The Leaguer]

Are Superman: For Tomorrow and Red Son worth reading? these are the only Superman TPBs I've really shown any interest in.

For Tomorrow is amazing, but you have to remember to focus on the dialogue. It can be thick and may take a bit more thought than the average "Superman smash!" story.

 

[Kitsune]

I love how the "too powerful" argument has never made sense, yet so many people continue to cite it.

The more powerful a character is, the harder it is to put him in situations that really threaten him. The more perfect his personality harder it is to make the character interesting. It makes perfect sense.