What did you think of the triangle era?

[Mister Mets]

On a Nerdist list of top Superman runs, the Triangle era was in first place.

This was a bit of a surprise to me because I was under the impression this wasn't considered a great period of Superman comics. The whole Death of Superman story was controversial (I know it has some fans) but I thought it was seen as a desperate move after the Superman comics got stale.

1. Mike Carlin’s “Triangle Era”
with Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern, Jon Bogdanove, Tom Grummett, Karl Kesel



Our number one slot of Superman eras is a weird one, because it doesn’t belong to one creative team. It belongs to several, all working in concert over several years under one editorial voice. That of Mike Carlin. After John Byrne left the Superman books in 1988, sales dipped, and Clark Kent was back to where he was in terms of fan apathy. With three Superman titles still being published a month, group editor Mike Carlin suggested a format that would tie all these separate titles into one grand narrative. Carlin instituted a small triangle on the cover of each issue, saying where each issue of Superman, Adventures of Superman, and Action Comics fell in each respective year’s timeline. And it worked.

Writer/artist Dan Jurgens, industry vets Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, Jon Bogdanove, Tom Grummett, Karl Kesel, and a few more largely forged this “triangle era” in its early days. With the addition of Superman: Man of Steel, the saga was now a weekly soap opera, something even X-Men and Spider-Man at Marvel weren’t at the time. And it flourished because each title’s individual teams talked to each other and truly coordinated under Carlin’s direction. This was something unprecedented in mainstream superhero comics.

The first year of the “triangle era,” 1991, didn’t see a big bump sales-wise. Despite the huge change to the mythos of having Lois Lane finally learn Superman’s true identity, as she and Clark become a true power couple at last. At a frustrated editorial meeting early in 1992, Mike Carlin jokingly said “What if we just kill him?” And then, they did. “The Death and Return of Superman” created a massive event in comics, rarely seen before or since. Sales soared, and the Superman titles became an addictive weekly fix and top DC seller for years following. The “triangle era” technically lasted until 2002, but really ran out of steam around 1997. This was when Superman got electric powers, a gimmick story best forgotten. But for those first five years, it was as good as the Last Son of Krypton’s stories ever were. Or may ever be again.

Issues in the Superman “Triangle Era”
Superman Vol. 2 #51-176, Action Comics #661-785, Adventures of Superman #474-598, Superman: The Man of Steel #1-119 (1991-2002)

I've read some of the stories, especially around the time of the Death & Return of Superman, and the '99 jump-on point when Jeph Loeb and Joe Kelly took over as writers.

There was an earlier thread but it was closed (possibly because it was an Appreciation thread and those are reset every year.) Otherwise, I'd bump that.

What did you think of the triangle era? Are there any stories you would recommend?

And how do we split the triangle era to make it manageable for readers interested in the era?

Nerdist seems to say the peak was the first five years up until Electric Superman. That kicked off in 1997 around Superman #122, Action Comics #732, Adventures of Superman #545 and Man of Steel #67, so that's an east cut-off.

There was another reset after the Strange Visitor crossover, with Action Comics #760, Adventures of Superman #573, Superman #151 and Man of Steel #95 using four connected covers to indicate new readers are welcome. The Nerdist cutoff seems a bit off since Mike Carlin is still the executive editor the next month, and the creative teams stick around.

[HeartofTheStoriesWeTell]

I started just before death, around the panic in the sky. I miss the triangle area. I wish we had creative teams working together like that today.

[All Star Superman]

The Triangle Era is, to me, the best long-form version of Superman in comics. The interconnectivity of the stories is something that hasn't been done since for a sustained period and elements like the supporting cast and richness of Metropolis as a character make this era unique in DC Comics history. As for people who don't care for The Death and Return saga, I think most of those naysayers have only read the death arc or even just Superman #75. The Triangle Era teams understood and loved the character of Superman and his corner of the DCU and it showed. The Death and Return was designed to showcase what made Superman the world's greatest hero, and so too was the Superman Blue saga and the Dominus saga. These are just a few of the bigger stories in a rich tapestry that began with Byrne and lasted until Loeb.

[Stanlos]

I think it was the best and most "ALIVE". It had heart. The next best that almost captured that feeling was parts of Kelly and Loebs. The era also had great art but art that was incredibly diverse in style. Lot of fantastic character work in that era. It is like the GCPD of the Superfranchise.

[Jon Clark]

The best part of the 1986- 1995ish "Triangle Years" was the creation and maintaining of a Superverse. Metropolis felt like a "real" city and not just a name dropped so the stories had a setting. The Planet had a fleshed out staff (more than just the classic three reporters and Perry). And the characters had lives that didn't revolve around their connection to the Super-threat of the month.

The drawback was that it made the Superman part of the book less interesting. The need to keep Lex Luthor as a supporting character resulted in making Clark look ineffective. He could stop one of Lex's dozen of active schemes, but ay the end of the day Lex never had any real consequences. And any villain not Lex was basically filler between the soap opera lives of the supporting cast. Superman defeated Bizarro in this issue, but the drama with Cat Grant's investigation of Morgan Edge ran through the Bizarro issue and several others. Superman is facing Lord Satanus, a demon from Hell, but the real impact is that Satanus in human disguise hired Clark away from the Daily Planet.

[DABellWrites]

The Triangle Era is, to me, the best long-form version of Superman in comics. The interconnectivity of the stories is something that hasn't been done since for a sustained period and elements like the supporting cast and richness of Metropolis as a character make this era unique in DC Comics history. As for people who don't care for The Death and Return saga, I think most of those naysayers have only read the death arc or even just Superman #75. The Triangle Era teams understood and loved the character of Superman and his corner of the DCU and it showed. The Death and Return was designed to showcase what made Superman the world's greatest hero, and so too was the Superman Blue saga and the Dominus saga. These are just a few of the bigger stories in a rich tapestry that began with Byrne and lasted until Loeb.

As someone who did the entire Death of Superman storyline (binged it all on Hoopla, in a span of days), I thought it wasn't good. It has been some years, so I could re-read it to see if my opinion will be different. My biggest gripe is that no one ever stated the whole thing was a bunch of ongoing stories like the Matrix dating Lex Luthor who cloned his body, put his consciousness into a younger body and then started calling himself his own son. One thing in particular that bothered me is how Lois Lane grieved alone just about, and then Jeb tried to console her, but really wanted to date her.

There was so much going on in those stories, I didn't care for anything not involving the Death of Superman, Conner, the Eradicator, Cyborg Superman, and that was about it. Everything else just wasn't interesting.

[exile001]

I think it was great for a long time, but became something of an albatross around their necks in the latter half of the 90's. A large part of that might just have been the line's desperate need for new talent/editors.

I am concerned DC will get to the mid-90's and the HC sales will drop that they'll cancel the line. It is criminal things like Dead Again, Bizarro's World and Death of Clark Kent aren't readily available to new readers.

[The Frog Bros]

It gave us the long hair.

And I mean that as a compliment, even though it may be blasphemous for some.

But yeah, Metropolis/supporting cast perhaps has never been better. A great period, and all of the books were firing on all cylinders.

I’m excited for the Omni coming out in Sept as well.

[Stanlos]

I wonder if Clark ever rocked long hair as a youth

[Zero Hunter]

I was a huge fans of the era. It gave me one of my favorite Superman stories. Superman bouncing around time was awesome.

[The World]

I always get the feeling that people who have The triangle era way up on their list of Superman content are less fans of Superman and more fans of Superman being written for that time period or who had beef with the og Superman.

[Knightsilver]

I was a huge fans of the era. It gave me one of my favorite Superman stories. Superman bouncing around time was awesome.

That was a great storyline. I actually got the out of print trade for cover price at my LCS several years ago.

[Stanlos]

I always get the feeling that people who have The triangle era way up on their list of Superman content are less fans of Superman and more fans of Superman being written for that time period or who had beef with the og Superman.

What are you calling OG for him? And how/why jump to that conclusion rather than the quality of the writing? The Superman writer's room of the time featured professionals that were as legendary as the Man of Steel himself.

[Filbert]

Some pros and cons of the triangle era.
Pro: Builds up Metropolis and focuses on supporting cast
Con: Superman often supporting character in his own book.
Pro: Ongoing, interlocking storylines
Con: Repetitive, soap opera-like
Pro: Lois' reaction to learning Clark played contact sports in high school
Con: I'm with Kenny Braverman and hate Post-Crisis, all-around superstar Clark Kent.
Pro: Steel, Superboy, Supergirl
Con: The Death of Superman
Con: The long hair.

[Mister Mets]

What are you calling OG for him? And how/why jump to that conclusion rather than the quality of the writing? The Superman writer's room of the time featured professionals that were as legendary as the Man of Steel himself.

That's a fair point. Some of them have good resumes.

Mark Schultz comes to mind as someone I know mainly for indie work in the 80s.

It doesn't shock me that people like his Superman.

The best part of the 1986- 1995ish "Triangle Years" was the creation and maintaining of a Superverse. Metropolis felt like a "real" city and not just a name dropped so the stories had a setting. The Planet had a fleshed out staff (more than just the classic three reporters and Perry). And the characters had lives that didn't revolve around their connection to the Super-threat of the month.

The drawback was that it made the Superman part of the book less interesting. The need to keep Lex Luthor as a supporting character resulted in making Clark look ineffective. He could stop one of Lex's dozen of active schemes, but ay the end of the day Lex never had any real consequences. And any villain not Lex was basically filler between the soap opera lives of the supporting cast. Superman defeated Bizarro in this issue, but the drama with Cat Grant's investigation of Morgan Edge ran through the Bizarro issue and several others. Superman is facing Lord Satanus, a demon from Hell, but the real impact is that Satanus in human disguise hired Clark away from the Daily Planet.

My impression is the Byrne run is considered distinct from the Triangle era. One thing is that he just dominated the character for the first two years post-Crisis.