Official : Bendis gets both books

[Ascended]

I think Clark unpacking baggage with Perry would just cause the older man to back toward the door slowly and tell him to get back to work, haha.

there's not a realistic chance and maybe not a heavy demand for the Kents, but I'd like to see them as comic relief if so. between their heavily doting nature and Jon's penny pinching ways. I think that's something Bendis could work in a typical Jewish comedy way, and his humor is usually quite adept.

Never stopped DC from making bad decisions before. :P

And yeah, Perry's not gonna stand for Clark trying to pour his soul out over trivial matters and simple moral quandaries. Which is why he's perfect for the role; you'll only see it when s**t truly matters. There's a natural resistance there that'll prevent the situation from happening too often.

[Frontier]

So apparently Bendis has been posting the pre-crisis Legion of Super-Heroes roster on tumblr. Possible indication for something?

Bendis posts a lot of things on his twitter .

[JAK]

Hmmm.. well, I'm sad to see Jurgens go, but glad for the costume... and everything having one direction could be interesting. So I'll at least give it a shot.

On Jewish heritage... leanings can be fine, but I don't want Clark going anywhere near ANY religion, even Kryptonian ones. For marketing and relatability purposes, he needs to have no leanings in any direction. That's a pandora's box that is better left alone, as it stands to alienate potential fans more than anything.

[Ascended]

Hmmm.. well, I'm sad to see Jurgens go, but glad for the costume... and everything having one direction could be interesting. So I'll at least give it a shot.

On Jewish heritage... leanings can be fine, but I don't want Clark going anywhere near ANY religion, even Kryptonian ones. For marketing and relatability purposes, he needs to have no leanings in any direction. That's a pandora's box that is better left alone, as it stands to alienate potential fans more than anything.

It does lead to the interesting question of Clark's religious opinions though.

The Kents aren't written as being religious, but they likely did consider themselves something even if they weren't church going people. In the few instances Ive seen where religion or god are mentioned at all, it seems the Kents are some flavor of christian. Clark himself has always shown a degree of respect and honor for his native culture, celebrating Kryptonian holidays and swearing by Krypton's god. Even when he died, he was comfortable enough with Kryptonian religion he didn't immediately recognize Blaze's manipulations. But it's also been implied (if not outright said) that Clark is some flavor of christian as well, but like the Kents seemed to be, wasn't a church going man. And he's also a guy who has fought angels, gods, demons, and higher dimensional beings who might as well be gods but don't use the term. And Clark's a cerebral guy interested in learning about other worlds, peoples, and at least in the Silver Age, was something of an armchair amateur philosopher.

So what exactly would this guy believe is out there?

[TruthAndJustice]

We know that Saturn Girl is in Arkham looking for Superman so it's safe to say that the Legion will be part of his history. I assume that he will have been a costumed Superboy at least with them. Depends on how much of Johns SO they decide to keep.

Just keep the whole damned thing -- and I loved parts of it and disliked others -- just so we don't have to read yet another version of a story everyone more-or-less knows.

I mean if Bendis wants to write about Black Zero (preferably still a terrorist group and not an individual), fine. I hope that's the short and long of it.

(And we can keep all of Secret Origin without worrying about either of the Kents suddenly popping up alive again. Pa died of a heart attack; Ma died in a story we never saw (killed by a drunk driver?); and yes, Lois and Jon knew the both of them and we can finally see Jon talk about how he misses his grandparents.)

[Kuwagaton]

The Kents were Methodist and they did take Clark to church as a kid, but it's totally a background thing since standard beliefs aren't really appropriate for these comics.

Superman is so humble and sits outside of so many boxes, all I can see is him giving a respectful nod to that sort of thing and just moving along with his strange life. My best guess about roots is more about Superman's general ethics and commitment to humanity, but I can see Bendis making Krypton Jewish in that sorta off brand way like they do with their fictional countries. Superman has been prone to giving oral history lessons of accounts from Krypton, and I'd like to see that come back.

[titansupes]

I can't see Superman as anything but Atheist or Humanist.

[Barbatos666]

I think the bar really just is THAT low, man.

I understand people being upset when a creative shuffle happens, but they happen ALL THE TIME. It's just part of the deal with ongoing comic books about superheroes.

Bendis being DC exclusive is a big deal for DC and him choosing to take the wheel of the Superman books and steer a united creative front...that's big for the character! The books haven't been selling that great and DC wants to push Superman, especially since he's turning 80 this year. I mean I wish Tom King was doing the push, but Bendis has done a lot of good work in the past- maybe he will steer well.

At the very least, the saccharine lens nostalgia will likely cease under his pen.

Bendis isn't some special seller. He'll come in all blazing with the hype of hot shot artists and huge marketing campaign and number 1 issue but when the hoopla subsides after 6-8 months he'll end up with in a stone's throw from his predecessors.

The books have sold better than they did during New 52 and ultimately the sales of comics have a peak. Superman is never going to sell at Batman level unless he gets big movies and games. Bendis isn't some special wizard.

Bendis body of work that was considered good ended about 14 years ago and was largely confined to smaller street level franchises. What exactly has he done to make Iron Man a big property again? He took over that franchise in a similar manner, given full control, made huge promises and did nothing except add Riri.

The saccharine nostalgia will actually intensify under his pen.

[regg215]

Bendis isn't some special seller. He'll come in all blazing with the hype of hot shot artists and huge marketing campaign and number 1 issue but when the hoopla subsides after 6-8 months he'll end up with in a stone's throw from his predecessors.

The books have sold better than they did during New 52 and ultimately the sales of comics have a peak. Superman is never going to sell at Batman level unless he gets big movies and games. Bendis isn't some special wizard.

Bendis body of work that was considered good ended about 14 years ago and was largely confined to smaller street level franchises. What exactly has he done to make Iron Man a big property again? He took over that franchise in a similar manner, given full control, made huge promises and did nothing except add Riri.

The saccharine nostalgia will actually intensify under his pen.

Yeah the one thing that a Bendis run does is make you nostalgic for any previous run of the book you are reading. I mean I thought the X-titles had it rough prior to bendis taking over and after about 6 issues of bendis on X-men it made the previous run look like claremont's best run by comparison. The only hope that I think these books have is that maybe bendis will be different and re-energized at DC ( I mean if he can somehow tap into anything that he had in him when he wrote Alias or Daredevil it would be amazing). Honestly don't know why they gave him Superman, Bendis really only does well with teenage heroes or street level stuff, Superman is way outside of his strength as his writer. In the end the most likely result of a Bendis run on Superman is Clark being replaced by a teenager who is immediately declared by Bendis to be better, smarter stronger and more like-able than clark ever was or could have ever been. In fact I would guess that the stunning surprise about krypton that Bendis keeps talking about relates to some young character who survived Krypton and will eventually be replacing clark. With it being Bendis I could imagine it being something like Clark's twin brother or something ridiculous like that.

As far as the idea of bringing jewish roots to the superman comic, I don't think bendis will make Clark Jewish, I think instead he will make one of the side characters like Maggie Sawyer or possibly Lois bring that into the book. As much free reign as I am sure Bendis will have I highly doubt DC will let Superman take any kind of staunch religious position. Although I will say it is kind of humorous to see people bring up the history of characters religious beliefs such as the Kents being portrayed as methodist, while they are correct acting as though anything in continuity will be honored by bendis is pretty hilarious. If you ever need to see what Bendis thinks of continuity go back and look at Civil War 2 and anyone with even a passing knowledge of Marvel comics would see about 50 things wrong per issue.

[Barbatos666]

Yeah the one thing that a Bendis run does is make you nostalgic for any previous run of the book you are reading. I mean I thought the X-titles had it rough prior to bendis taking over and after about 6 issues of bendis on X-men it made the previous run look like claremont's best run by comparison. The only hope that I think these books have is that maybe bendis will be different and re-energized at DC ( I mean if he can somehow tap into anything that he had in him when he wrote Alias or Daredevil it would be amazing). Honestly don't know why they gave him Superman, Bendis really only does well with teenage heroes or street level stuff, Superman is way outside of his strength as his writer. In the end the most likely result of a Bendis run on Superman is Clark being replaced by a teenager who is immediately declared by Bendis to be better, smarter stronger and more like-able than clark ever was or could have ever been.

As far as the idea of bringing jewish roots to the superman comic, I don't think bendis will make Clark Jewish, I think instead he will make one of the side characters like Maggie Sawyer or possibly Lois bring that into the book. As much free reign as I am sure Bendis will have I highly doubt DC will let Superman take any kind of staunch religious position. Although I will say it is kind of humorous to see people bring up the history of characters religious beliefs such as the Kents being portrayed as methodist, while they are correct acting as though anything in continuity will be honored by bendis is pretty hilarious. If you ever need to see what Bendis thinks of continuity go back and look at Civil War 2 and anyone with even a passing knowledge of Marvel comics would see about 50 things wrong per issue.

Exactly, I'm amused by all this continuity talk. Bendis doesn't give a damn about any continuity except the one that he makes for himself.

[panthergod]

Hopefully well finally get a more integrated history, Black Zero as both cosmic assassin AND terrorist group, Jor El saving Krypton from Zod and the Clone Wars restoring it into Utopia right before its destruction(combining Pre Crisis, Byrne, Birthright and Nu52), Legion, Superboy, ask some version of 1938-Present , truncated, with virtually nothing left out. Kon El. Supergirl died in the Crisis, Matrix took the mantle before leaving the universe, Darkseid resurrects Kara in Loeb s/b run. Easy. Including the relationship with Diana due to being split apart after COIE by Dr Manhattan. Superman remember all of it and is whole. Now lets move toward. Incorporate the triangle and Busieks Metropolis world building. A Luthor who is a super scientist terrorist with a reformed businessman being his cover identity. A social crusader as Clark Kent reporter but a bold and transcendent figure, compassionate yet aggressive to those who threaten innocents. A sense of humor that doesn't Decend into smarmy sarcasm like Austen/ to an extent Strazynski painfully tried to modernize Golden Age swagger, more like Johns during the early 2000s against Major Force and Morrison in JLA, All Star and Superman Beyond/Final Crisis, James T Kirk style: " Sounds like a challenge to me."

[Somecrazyaussie]

I liked the biweekly schedule. It was costly. But i was getting Superman each week. Its bad news from that side. On the good side it may have a consistent quality to it. Everyone can't keep up with the schedule. Jurgens was doing great in Action. But clearly Tomasi was struggling with it. That can be a plus. Online sales may come down. I was hearing some strong points about weekly schedule helping online sales. I can't remember them at the point.

But anyway my point was Superman is doing pretty good. Especially online. Arguably better then New 52, but definitely not worse then it in sales regardless of one's opinion of the books themselves. Batman is an unfair comparison. Few do as good as Batman. And no other title does good as Batman in DC. In DC Superman's books are in the second place after Batman. Its good that they are trying to push Superman. That is good news. Rebirth increased sales to better levels and brought back many fans who had left due to New 52. (Causing some New 52 fans to leave). Now there's a foundation. Build it up. I am not happy with Bendis words about status quo shift. Not overtly worried. But what Superman needs is some good stories from him. There's a spotlight on Superman. Bendis name will bring new fans while others will check out of interest. And who knows Superman may rise higher(in a consistent basis). It isn't going to reach Batman numbers. Batman is an anomaly. Acclaimed runs, successful films, etc have put Batman in a level no other character has right now.

All good points. I've enjoyed both Action and Superman since Rebirth began. I'd argue that Action has been the more consistent out of the two. Now, I am not saying Superman hasn't been great. It has produced two of the most outstanding issues featuring Big Blue I have ever been privileged to read (Issue 7 and 39.) However, it has been plagued by fill-ins. The schedule becoming too much for Tomasi and Gleason. So if going monthly again means I can have a consistent voice and vision for Superman, I'll take it.

On the question of needing a weekly Superman fix, DC can always schedule Action to come out one week. Then have Superman the next. Follow that up with Supergirl. Before rounding the month off with Super Sons.

As to my other point, DC clearly wants to make Superman a powerhouse in sales again. He shouldn't be pulling the numbers he does. Batman is only an anomaly because the character has been given an unprecedented amount of promotion for a decade. Before Morrison got the keys to the castle the sales on Batman were atrocious. It's why they put him on it in the first place.

Look, I haven't been crash hot on the recent stuff written by Bendis. In my view, he has been burnt out and uninspired for years. Yet I can't deny the fact he has produced some of the best comic runs in the past twenty years with Daredevil, Alias and Ultimate Spider-Man. He could be a total disaster, but he could also surprise us. To be honest, I think he had grown bored at Marvel. Anybody would after 18 years. He need a change and new challenges. He has that with DC.

I see many people on here been negative. I just urge you to look at the positives: DC is giving Superman a massive push by editorial. One of the biggest since the 90s. Say what you want about Bendis, but the guy is still considered one of the top creators in the comic medium (despite recent work being on the contrary), and attracts top artists. Despite all that, the very fact he is going to be writing Superman has everybody talking about Superman again. Hell, people who don't read Superman, or even like Bendis for that matter, are saying they will check these books out. Just because it is something they never thought they'd see.

Anyway, the first issues will do big numbers. It is now down to Bendis to keep them. Only time will tell.

[hero talk]

well honestly I didn't think Jon was going to make it for very long after all this is not the first supersons run I just hope Jon goes peacefully instead of being melted

[Miles To Go]

well honestly I didn't think Jon was going to make it for very long after all this is not the first supersons run I just hope Jon goes peacefully instead of being melted

Bendis is not doing anything to Jon. Read the interview

"We're not abandoning anything, we're taking what's already established to new levels"

This paranoia that Bendis is tossing out the Super-Family is bloody ridiculous.

[MarvelMaster616]

I'm not surprised. Bendis is a high-profile writer. Superman is one of the highest-profile comics you can get. It makes perfect sense for him to take on the Man of Steel as his first task at DC. Having read his stuff since the early Ultimate Spider-Man days, I think he'll do well. I think it'll be a success. He's a great writer with a great deal of passion for who and what he writes. He has his quirks, but what writer doesn't? I think he'll make them work with Superman.