How would YOU have rebooted Superman in 1986?

[superduperman]

Let's say that you were approached to reboot Superman in 1985-86. How would you have done it? Keep in mind, DC is determined to reboot him regardless. So you can't just keep the pre-COIE version.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Let's say that you were approached to reboot Superman in 1985-86. How would you have done it? Keep in mind, DC is determined to reboot him regardless. So you can't just keep the pre-COIE version.

I think Byrne's stories were great, but the retcons he did unleashed far too many stories in which creators had to dance around them or justify them while actually making the character less interesting and causing countless problems for other characters.

So, I'd stick with what Byrne did, but with the following modifications:

1) Superman is the only remaining survivor of Krypton. Supergirl died during the Crisis, the citizens of Kandor were sucked through a time vortex into the 30th Century, and the Phantom Zone projector was destroyed.

2) Ma & Pa Kent raised Clark to only use his powers in secret to help others, so no high school football star BS. Pa Kent died of a heart attack when Clark was 18 years old. Ma Kent lived and remained in Smallville to give Clark any parental advice.

3) Clark had adventures in the 30th Century as Superboy with the Legion of Super-Heroes, but his memories were wiped whenever he was returned to the present.

4) Kal-El was born on Krypton, but raised on Earth. He came to realize following the Crisis that he had placed too much importance on his alien heritage and decided to reassert his humanity. Krypton is given a visual revamp similar to what we saw during the New Krypton era, so that it incorporates a variety of diverse styles and philosophies beyond Flash Gordon or Sci-Fi Victorian Sterility.

5) The broad strokes of Superman's past history remained somewhat intact as it related to the JLA, the LSH and his general career in Metropolis. He'd started at the Daily Star, then gotten hired by Perry White at the Planet with Lois & Jimmy. Galaxy Broadcasting had bought out the Planet and attempted to turn it into a TV news magazine, but was now returning to being a newspaper.

Otherwise, the stories remain pretty much the same, minus Pa Kent (thereby giving Ma more to do than bake apple pies), the villain revamps are now as just that rather than the first time Superman is meeting them. The Matrix-Supergirl is basing her appearance upon the late heroine, giving her appearance more emotional weight, although the pocket universe would be something far less convoluted and the Zod, Faora & Jax-Ur executions don't happen because Byrne wouldn't leave in a huff because he's upset DC isn't promoting his version of Superman enough.

[Flash Gordon]

I recently reread Bryne's MoS, and I still like it a whole lot.

It's not verbatim how I see Superman, but it holds up really well and is a singular vision. A lot of modern stuff lacks that singular vision.

That whole era of Superman is pretty solid, up to the Death. Roger Stern's issues especially. Stern is super underrated.

[manofsteel1979]

I think Byrne's stories were great, but the retcons he did unleashed far too many stories in which creators had to dance around them or justify them while actually making the character less interesting and causing countless problems for other characters.

So, I'd stick with what Byrne did, but with the following modifications:

1) Superman is the only remaining survivor of Krypton. Supergirl died during the Crisis, the citizens of Kandor were sucked through a time vortex into the 30th Century, and the Phantom Zone projector was destroyed.

2) Ma & Pa Kent raised Clark to only use his powers in secret to help others, so no high school football star BS. Pa Kent died of a heart attack when Clark was 18 years old. Ma Kent lived and remained in Smallville to give Clark any parental advice.

3) Clark had adventures in the 30th Century as Superboy with the Legion of Super-Heroes, but his memories were wiped whenever he was returned to the present.

4) Kal-El was born on Krypton, but raised on Earth. He came to realize following the Crisis that he had placed too much importance on his alien heritage and decided to reassert his humanity. Krypton is given a visual revamp similar to what we saw during the New Krypton era, so that it incorporates a variety of diverse styles and philosophies beyond Flash Gordon or Sci-Fi Victorian Sterility.

5) The broad strokes of Superman's past history remained somewhat intact as it related to the JLA, the LSH and his general career in Metropolis. He'd started at the Daily Star, then gotten hired by Perry White at the Planet with Lois & Jimmy. Galaxy Broadcasting had bought out the Planet and attempted to turn it into a TV news magazine, but was now returning to being a newspaper.

Otherwise, the stories remain pretty much the same, minus Pa Kent (thereby giving Ma more to do than bake apple pies), the villain revamps are now as just that rather than the first time Superman is meeting them. The Matrix-Supergirl is basing her appearance upon the late heroine, giving her appearance more emotional weight, although the pocket universe would be something far less convoluted and the Zod, Faora & Jax-Ur executions don't happen because Byrne wouldn't leave in a huff because he's upset DC isn't promoting his version of Superman enough.

This is all pretty much how I would have approached it. The thing is that everything was in place to take Superman in a new direction without expressly wipe out anything significant in terms of continuity. As was with Batman, Gl and the others all that was needed was a careful pruning back and tonal shift. What was done with Superman was akin to using a chain saw to prune a banzai tree or a blowtorch to melt ice cubes.


Two changes I would add to yours.

1) establish that the scale of Superman's powers are limited compared to what they were prior. The reason being his final battle with the anti monitor did something to his physiology. I would have him slightly more powerful than Byrne had him.

2) Luthor and Lexcorp would have been established still. Given Crisis rewrote history, i would have retroactively inserted that into Lex's history.

[Sacred Knight]

I wouldn't have. I would have told DC to let Alan Moore do it.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

2) Luthor and Lexcorp would have been established still. Given Crisis rewrote history, i would have retroactively inserted that into Lex's history.

Elliot S. Maggin had already established that Lex had built something similar to LexCorps in his Miracle Monday novel years prior to Wolfman's idea of Luthor as a business mogul, so it wouldn't have been too difficult to make Lex's formerly clandestine life as a businessman more public.

[kingaliencracker]

I wouldn't have. I would have told DC to let Alan Moore do it.

Given what Alan Moore was doing with the Super Hero genre at the time as well as his treatment for Superman in Twilight of the Superheroes, I'm not sure he wouldn't have done some pretty controversial changes to the mythology had he been given the opportunity.

Personally, I wouldn't have rebooted Superman. While I enjoyed Byrne's run and felt for the most part it was a consistent, streamlined version of the character, much of what DC wanted to accomplish could have been done within the previous continuity. Luthor could have been "reformed" or otherwise given a pardon for some in-story reason and became a billionaire inventor. The multiple Kryptonians could have simply been ignored. Supergirl could have died in CRISIS and at least still existed so her death had meaning for Kal-El. Superman still could have had a career as Superboy and went to the future to be part of the Legion. They could have simply stopped depicting Superman to be uber powerful, or create new villains or situations that challenged him more.

The more time that goes by, the more I come to realize how pointless and unnecessary the reboot was.

[KC]

I wouldn't do much differently. I would keep his pre-crisis origin the same and I would re-introduce most of the pre-crisis lore quickly.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Given what Alan Moore was doing with the Super Hero genre at the time as well as his treatment for Superman in Twilight of the Superheroes, I'm not sure he wouldn't have done some pretty controversial changes to the mythology had he been given the opportunity.

Agreed. People tend to forget how pissy and cynical Moore was towards superheroes in those days. He wanted to tear them all down, not rebuild them. It wasn't until the 90s that Moore snapped out of it and realised what his bad mood had wrought upon the superhero genre and attempted to rectify it somewhat with stories like Supreme and Tom Strong.

[Kuwagaton]

For one thing, I think the only way to really not have a vision as something other than a reaction to what we got or almost had means having had the idea before reading Byrne's work. I wasn't born then so I have no hope of escaping.

I'd have to change Crisis. Instead of Supergirl dying, I would have Kal-el dying. Kal-L would drop the "older" ruse right before heading into the post crisis world, where we see a dumpy looking, plain clothes Clark note that something feels strange.

I'd keep the 6 issue format.

Issue 1:

Seven shadowy figures watch from a crystal ball as a young man stops a runaway train bare handed. They realize he is the baby from the rocket that crashed so many years ago, in another vision. As that vision reappears, we see the Kents stumble across baby Clark some miles away from the site, crawling down the state road. They adopt him without knowing about the rocket, which is stolen shortly after. Clark grows up just above average but excels academically and in every sport they try (every track event, football, boxing, swimming). Best friends are Pete Ross and his writing mentor, George Taylor. He enjoys a father-son trip to Metropolis and dreams of visiting again. Clark soon starts thinking about how boring things are becoming, how he wins much too easily without trying. One night coming back from the general store, Clark deftly stops a looting before he can be seen and decides he's found a new hobby.

Issue 2:
Clark lands home from a long leap, about the length of two football fields, when he hears Ma call out. Pa has been ill and this looks like it. He laments not being able to see what Clark can really apply himself to be, but is still proud and makes Clark promise that as long as there's work to do, go out and get it done. Clark is a 16 year old high school grad, but sticks around two more years to help Ma settle. For the next eight years he travels abroad, solving crimes unseen. In England as a law major, he meets Lori Lemaris and Siobhan McDougal. After things with Lori end poorly, he decides that it's time he went back to Metropolis.

Issue 3:
Clark is on his way home and dreading tomorrow at the office when he comes across what looks like a mugging. He's repelled by a mysterious hand gesture that causes him the kind of pain he's never really felt, but grits through it and knocks the guy out. The woman, Rose, gratefully offers to bandage his wound and introduces her husband Richard when they get to her home. Richard asks if Clark would be willing to help him help other people who have been kidnapped and he agrees. They break into an abandoned warehouse on Hob's Bay and fight their way through a mob before reaching a hooded figure who puts Clark through the same wringer as earlier. And again Clark grits through, and Richard is in awe. Clark is told he's been a long time coming.

Issue 4:
Clark has been testing his limits and wonders if he has any. He can lift anything he sees, nothing ever seems to cause him pain or fatigue, he can move faster than anyone can see. He can even do some really weird things like see through walls or hear from far off when he tries. Best of all, instead of leaping increasing distances, his mastery of the air currents lets him glide and land like a feather. He decides his unseen abilities would be needed less if people knew he was out there and could use them, and comes up with the Superman identity. Although he never sits still long enough for any glory, news spreads quickly. What people knew as possible is turned upside down. Jose "Slam" Delgado, a former golden glove champ turned teacher, hunts him down and enlists him to help take out a gang in Suicide Slum. Gangster Bruno Mannheim mulls over how ugly things will get if his boss gets involved. Superman saves Emil Hamilton and John Henry Irons from an experiment in orbit and when they ask how he pulled off the zero gravity portion, Superman says he swam. Businessman Alexei Luthor reads this news and sees red.

Issue 5:
Superman thanks Inspector Bill Henderson and Captain Maggie Sawyer for their assistance. They can't stand each other, but are two of the very best when working together. Superman officially forms his network with Slam, Ham, Steel, Bill, the Occults Richard and Rose, and Maggie. He realizes that his friends on the force and street pals like Bibbo Bibbowski can't do all his work for him, so he decides to use Clark Kent as a disguise. Using his face molding power and some acting skill, he makes Clark a bookish square but finds he has trouble keeping the act going in front of Lois Lane. At a soiree Lois rebuffs a thug named Butch and before Clark can step in, Lois decks him. Later in the night Butch tries to kidnap Lois and this is where she meets Superman. Clark scoops her on revealing that the murderous thug works for Luthor, and after the thug dies mysteriously Luthor vows to make Superman pay. He punches through the newspaper with a green ring.

Issue 6:
In a futuristic classroom, the teacher brags about the presentation of a reconstructed classic: the origin of Superman. Many years ago on Krypton, a scientist named Jor-L realized that the last hyperspace capsule he had left could only fit his infant son, leaving his wife Lara to die with him. Three kids sneak from class and cut into the timewarp lab. They hurtle back many years to Smallville, where they meet young Clark. Though he has little power compared to them, his cunning wins them over through challenge and solves a difficult theft case. Once they take back the flight ring he'd been loaned, the ysuppress the memory so that he will become Superman on his own.

So yeah. I guess I'd make him a little more retro with Kal-L. Model Lois on Joanne Siegel and give him a pulp supporting cast. Supergirl would come about later and explain his Kryptonian heritage. Ultra Humanite, Lex, Parasite, and others for villains.

[Vordan]

I would’ve kept Lex and Clark as childhood friends in Smallville, but ditched the whole hating Superman for making him bald motive.
Nerfed his powers. They tried doing this but now I would’ve stuck the course this time.
Have Clark try to balance his alien heritage and human upbringing.
Otherwise I doubt I’d have done much different from Byrne honestly, assuming I was around at that time.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

I wouldn't have. If they wanted to "revisit" the origin, fine. But it was a mistake to start from zero with the character and make him brand new to the rest of the DCU.

[manofsteel1979]

Elliot S. Maggin had already established that Lex had built something similar to LexCorps in his Miracle Monday novel years prior to Wolfman's idea of Luthor as a business mogul, so it wouldn't have been too difficult to make Lex's formerly clandestine life as a businessman more public.

Very true, but it was never officially canon in the comics that i am aware of, even though Maggin approached it as such.

Actually my version of an MOS series would have been a "the story up until now" cliff notes overview the first double sized issue, with the basics of his pre86 Earth 1 history intact with a few minor changes sprinkled in (mostly design changes to Krypton, making it clear Ma is still alive in the "new" history etc) and referencing the events around COIE having a profound effect on where he is now. The meat of the series itself would deal with Kal-El having to continue on with the reduced scale of his powers, the loss of many of his connections with his Kryptonian herritage, and the Daily Planet folding and then reborn. Luthor. "reforming" and the ramifications of that drive the story. In some ways it would have been closer to Bendis' MOS in terms of presenting a new mission statement and clear starting point for new readers rather than a total reboot.

[Jon Clark]

I'd have done something similar to Superman: Rebirth or Alan Moore's Supreme.

Superman returns from the events of Crisis #12 to find his life makes no sense. The GBS Building has reverted to the Daily Planet. WGBS has Dan Reed as their main newscaster. Jimmy Olsen is still a teen-ager (at 19 years old). No one remembers Lana working in Metropolis. Smallville is missing.

Superman returns to his Fortress and begins to review his files.

Origin:

Krypton didn't exactly explode. It was more of a massive geological upheaval. Planetquakes, volcanic eruptions, clouds of fumes turning the red skies dark and cutting off the sun. Krypton had ben in an isolated area of space and had never seen a reason to develop travel beyond their world as the nearest planet was well over a dozen light years away.

Jor-L and Lara had sent their infant son, Kal, off in an experimental rocket powered by a glowing radioactive substance later known as kryptonite. The ship's engine was based on an alien vessel that had attacked the capital of Kandor shortly before the planet's death. Jor had been working on a larger prototype , but that ship and most of the design team had been lost in Kandor.

Kal's rocket had crashed in the mid-west on Earth near the town of Smallville. The infant was taken in by farmer Jonathan Kent and his wife Doctor Martha Clarke-Kent. The arrival of the rocket caused an atmospheric sdisturbance which blanketed the surrounding area in one of the worst snowstorms of the century and also caused massive electrical disturbances. As a result it was taken for granted when Jonathan and Martha several months later presented their natural son, Clark Joseph Kent to friends and family.

As Clark grows the Kents realize he is a special child. He learns to walk and begins to speak before he is a year old. Martha has difficulty giving the child his inoculations and by the time the child is two she finds that she cannot even penetrate his skin with a needle. But Clark somehow detects when his actions displease his parents and he somehow learns to hide his abilities especially when the family has company. Still the Kents worry about sending Clark to first grade knowing their child can carry objects even Jonathan has trouble lifting.

But school goes well. Clark makes friends like neighbor Lana Lang and Pete Ross who lives in town. With his ingrained fear of showing how exceptional he is Clark shies away from most physical feats, developing a reputation of being a "delicate" child who spends most of his recesses with his head in a book or playing games like checkers.

In private Clark begins to experiment as he grows older. He finds that he needs little sleep and spends many nights exploring the town while most people are asleep. He finds that he can reach almost any point within minutes if he runs. Ans that if he is careful he can do so without being seen by the few people out and about between midnight and dawn. As time passes he finds that if he runs fast enough his feet actually leave the ground and eventually learns to fly.

to be continued

[JAK]

I think Byrne's stories were great, but the retcons he did unleashed far too many stories in which creators had to dance around them or justify them while actually making the character less interesting and causing countless problems for other characters.

So, I'd stick with what Byrne did, but with the following modifications:

1) Superman is the only remaining survivor of Krypton. Supergirl died during the Crisis, the citizens of Kandor were sucked through a time vortex into the 30th Century, and the Phantom Zone projector was destroyed.

2) Ma & Pa Kent raised Clark to only use his powers in secret to help others, so no high school football star BS. Pa Kent died of a heart attack when Clark was 18 years old. Ma Kent lived and remained in Smallville to give Clark any parental advice.

3) Clark had adventures in the 30th Century as Superboy with the Legion of Super-Heroes, but his memories were wiped whenever he was returned to the present.

4) Kal-El was born on Krypton, but raised on Earth. He came to realize following the Crisis that he had placed too much importance on his alien heritage and decided to reassert his humanity. Krypton is given a visual revamp similar to what we saw during the New Krypton era, so that it incorporates a variety of diverse styles and philosophies beyond Flash Gordon or Sci-Fi Victorian Sterility.

5) The broad strokes of Superman's past history remained somewhat intact as it related to the JLA, the LSH and his general career in Metropolis. He'd started at the Daily Star, then gotten hired by Perry White at the Planet with Lois & Jimmy. Galaxy Broadcasting had bought out the Planet and attempted to turn it into a TV news magazine, but was now returning to being a newspaper.

Otherwise, the stories remain pretty much the same, minus Pa Kent (thereby giving Ma more to do than bake apple pies), the villain revamps are now as just that rather than the first time Superman is meeting them. The Matrix-Supergirl is basing her appearance upon the late heroine, giving her appearance more emotional weight, although the pocket universe would be something far less convoluted and the Zod, Faora & Jax-Ur executions don't happen because Byrne wouldn't leave in a huff because he's upset DC isn't promoting his version of Superman enough.

This is all pretty much how I would have approached it. The thing is that everything was in place to take Superman in a new direction without expressly wipe out anything significant in terms of continuity. As was with Batman, Gl and the others all that was needed was a careful pruning back and tonal shift. What was done with Superman was akin to using a chain saw to prune a banzai tree or a blowtorch to melt ice cubes.


Two changes I would add to yours.

1) establish that the scale of Superman's powers are limited compared to what they were prior. The reason being his final battle with the anti monitor did something to his physiology. I would have him slightly more powerful than Byrne had him.

2) Luthor and Lexcorp would have been established still. Given Crisis rewrote history, i would have retroactively inserted that into Lex's history.

I love all of this, definitely.

Personally, I wouldn't have changed much from Post-Crisis, with a few major differences:

Have him learn about not showing off in the way they did it on the "Superman Family Album" segment of the Ruby-Spears series. That was a good Pre/Post-Crisis mix, imo.

Agreed on the new versions of the villains not being "first meetings" but updated versions.

Also agreed on the LOSH, but sometime in his adult life, he meets the LOSH and his memories start coming back, eventually regaining them all.


No matter what, though, I'd make the following marketing changes (especially if the Post-Crisis universe were to stand as it happened):

1: express absolutely love and gratitude for the character as he's been to that point, and go to great lengths to say/show that this Superman is the past Superman, changed/shaped by what was then seen as the multiversal collapse. That new directions and opportunities will be explored, and that the reboot is being done to give them all the tools to do so.

2 (and this is especially if Byrne's "Man Of Steel" stands as-is), tell readers that what we're seeing is his *first* response to being overwhelmed by the knowledge of Krypton, not his last, and more overtly show that evolution in the stories as a growing process (gradually, but still). That way that mental first impression isn't what sticks in people's minds, and they see it for what it is.