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  1. #1
    Father Son Kamehameha < Kuwagaton's Avatar
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    Default Metropolis Appreciation 2019

    Well... literally the biggest supporting character to not have a thread already. Metropolis carries almost everything despite our main character being able to fly out of the solar system on a whim. Superman's sandbox is whole universe but here's enough to keep him. To be honest the wiki is a pretty complete resource
    https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Metropolis
    But here are some highlights to get us going:





    Location: historically we've seen Metropolis vaguely inspired by Toronto and Cleveland, two major cities of its creators. Originally Metropolis was named as a New York city, similar to how Batman debuted as a New Yorker and not a Gothamite. Though both share similarities with Chicagoland, and Metropolis Illinois was honored by D.C. in 1972, later affirmations would place Metropolis in Delware across from Gotham in New Jersey. Metropolis being generally close to Washington, where Pete Ross and Lex Luthor would end up. Gotham seems, as some have pointed out, much like Hudson county with Wayne Manor maybe in Bergen. That would ruin the idea of them being across from each other, but I was personally never crazy about that anyway. Metropolis was shown to be in a canyon on another map, which is a little crazy but we are talking about the home of Superman. The city of tomorrow right?

    Neighborhoods: of the six boroughs, New Troy is central. Bakerline is most prominently shown in the story of Pete Shoemaker where Perry has ties in Queensland Park. Little Africa was the pre crisis neighborhood for blacks, where Little Qurac was a middle eastern neighborhood later. Chinatown is Chinatown. Hob's Bay, known as the infamous "Suicide Slum." Hypersector was later capitalized on by Lex, although he had to contend with Odett's private land. Midvale was just called the outskirts pre crisis, later it was 60 miles from Metropolis in its NW section.

    Residency: Lois and Clark of New Troy. At 344 Clinton st, you have Nathan Warbow, Jon Slaughter, Martin Thorpe, and Andrea. In an undisclosed part of presumably the same borough, you had Mrs Nyxly as a landlord. Later we saw Lee Lambert and Dante Rodriguez. Lois has lived alone and with roommates; Kristin, Julie, Lori Lemaris and... Marsha Mallow. Perry is a Slum kid who is now at home at Queensland while Jimmy is from Bakerline. Bibbo won millions but is still in Hob's Bay with the likes of Jose Delgado. Dave Stevens and Davood Nassur stood out from their crowds in Little Africa and Little Qurac, while Linda Lee was tied to Midvale. Past noted figures include Edna Luthor and Jeremiah Galloway. I wish DC tapped me about doing a Gangs of New York style story with Edna. Before Superman the city had Franks Stern and Berkowitz, Perry, Jim Harper, and inspector/ previous commissioner Bill Henderson as strong positive figures, while Vincent Edge and a younger Lex played for the other side.

    Funny things: while Steve Lombard was quarterback of the Meteors, Lex owns the NBA team, the Monarchs. Newstime building is LA city hall. Maggie Sawyer's SCU series was the first from a major comics publisher to feature an out lesbian, and won a 1996 GLAAD award.
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  2. #2
    Invincible Member Vordan's Avatar
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    I loved the focus on fleshing out Metropolis in the 80s and 90s. It felt like a colorful city all it's own during those times. I feel like since then it's kind of floundered a bit, with only the Daily Planet and Lexcorp building sticking around. I'd really like some more Metropolis landmarks featured. Also one of my biggest pet peeves is when artists draw Metropolis as just a regular old city. The City of Tomorrow must look different. When cities in the present day like Tokyo look more "future-esque" I have a problem. In my mind the nicer areas of Metropolis look like 70s sci-fi such as this:
    70s sci-fi Metropolis.jpg
    Big grand structures that house the ultra-wealthy and the privileged such as Lex's private penthouse.
    Then areas like Suicide Slum look like this:
    Suicide Slum.jpg
    And then the middle class area where Clark and Lois live looks something like this:
    MiddleClassMetropolis.jpg

    I love when writers have Clark start off in the poor areas of Metropolis, like in Morrison's Action Comics or Wolfman's Man and Superman. That to me needs to be a key part of Superman's origin, him living side by side with the oppressed population of Metropolis.

  3. #3
    Incredible Member magha_regulus's Avatar
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    I agree. I would have Clark move to a nicer party of town only after marriage. I really liked the city's depiction by ed mcguinness after the brainiac 13 invasion. It was appropriately futuristic.

  4. #4
    Extraordinary Member Restingvoice's Avatar
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    Do you guys prefer Metropolis as a regular modern day town or future town where robots are floating around like in Birthright? I'm undecided.

  5. #5
    Ultimate Member Ascended's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Restingvoice View Post
    Do you guys prefer Metropolis as a regular modern day town or future town where robots are floating around like in Birthright? I'm undecided.
    I flip flop on that a lot. Most days I split the difference with myself; I want the Avenue of Tomorrow and select other locations (places owned by STAR or Lex or whatever) to look like it fell out of a sci-fi novel, but the rest of the city is more real. You can play up a few things anywhere in the city; have more drones than normal, have the occasional jetpack in the air or hoverbike on the sidewalk, but if the whole city looks fantastical, you lose that bit of "Superman, fighting for the average guy" mentality.

    As for Clark's first apartment, I totally agree it should be in Suicide Slum. And I think Clark should stay in that apartment long after he's making enough money to move to a nicer part of town. I think Clark's neighborhood should be used as a barometer of Clark's success in his mission: When Clark first moves there it's just like any other apartment building and neighborhood in the Slum. Run down, disrespected, ugly, etc. But over time, Clark's influence slowly spreads through the neighborhood and after he's been living there for a few years, all the graffiti is gone, the hookers and dealers are gone, people walk with a little more pride, there's less litter on the streets, etc. I think Clark saving Suicide Slum is both a victory for "Clark Kent" (which are rare and always hard won) and a litmus test for "Superman" in that if he can save the Slum from itself, he can save anywhere.

    Once Clark is married, that's when he moves to a different neighborhood, and only because both Clark and Lois' apartments are too small for them to co-exist in. I think these are two highly individual people who require a lot of their own space, so they need some swanky super-big apartment, not some tiny hole in the wall.
    Last edited by Ascended; 05-18-2019 at 06:30 PM.
    "We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."

    ~ Black Panther.

  6. #6
    Father Son Kamehameha < Kuwagaton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vordan View Post
    I loved the focus on fleshing out Metropolis in the 80s and 90s. It felt like a colorful city all it's own during those times. I feel like since then it's kind of floundered a bit, with only the Daily Planet and Lexcorp building sticking around. I'd really like some more Metropolis landmarks featured. Also one of my biggest pet peeves is when artists draw Metropolis as just a regular old city. The City of Tomorrow must look different. When cities in the present day like Tokyo look more "future-esque" I have a problem. In my mind the nicer areas of Metropolis look like 70s sci-fi such as this:
    70s sci-fi Metropolis.jpg
    Big grand structures that house the ultra-wealthy and the privileged such as Lex's private penthouse.
    Then areas like Suicide Slum look like this:
    Suicide Slum.jpg
    And then the middle class area where Clark and Lois live looks something like this:
    MiddleClassMetropolis.jpg

    I love when writers have Clark start off in the poor areas of Metropolis, like in Morrison's Action Comics or Wolfman's Man and Superman. That to me needs to be a key part of Superman's origin, him living side by side with the oppressed population of Metropolis.
    Man, those look great. It probably would have been tolerable to get Burton because of what he did for Gotham. I imagine his Metropolis like that. Like a less nightmarish cross between Brazil and City of Lost Children.

    The Suicide Slum image is like a nice, elaborated version of this opening page I've always liked



    I'm torn because I like the B13 idea when it comes to Metropolis being exceptional, but that radical change is harder to swallow than seeing a rebooted version like that or having it evolve slowly.
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  7. #7
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
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    I am currently reading Black Lightning Year One and I really like how they've handled Suicide Slum and their explanation for why Superman wasn't able to help there as much.

  8. #8
    Invincible Member Vordan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Restingvoice View Post
    Do you guys prefer Metropolis as a regular modern day town or future town where robots are floating around like in Birthright? I'm undecided.
    What a “regular” modern day City looks like depends on location. Check out some pictures of Tokyo, that place looks like Cyberpunk made real. But Metropolis should be like a “real” City in that there are various districts that each have their own character, just like NYC’s boroughs. Even a hellhole like Gotham has nice areas like Burnside. Metropolis should likewise have areas that run the gambit from full blown futuristic sci-fi utopias, to run-down cyberpunk slums, to 50s retrofuturistic Art Deco. What Metropolis shouldn’t look like is a boring bland landscape of regular square boxes, which is what it looks like in the DCAMU and Young Justice. I hate that.

  9. #9
    Invincible Member Vordan's Avatar
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    Hey guys any recommendations for Superman stories that deal with the history of Metropolis? I enjoyed the brief mini history Fraction have in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen.

  10. #10
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    My oh my. Metropolis again. I have spent like one million hours of my life thinking and talking about Metropolis and I could spend one million more.
    Anyway, let's cut it short: futuristic, cyberpunk Metropolis is the ideal one and nothing could convince me otherwise.

    As the context of Superman adventures, it solves a ton of problems with the character and his mission. If Superman wants to save humanity and protect the oppressed, why doesn't he go to Africa with an NGO or something like that? Give him the unique cyberpunk Metropolis, the only place in the world where the tomorrow has already come, and you've solved the problem. He should stay in Metropolis to keep an eye to what the humanity could or should become. Basically, Metropolis would be an experiment in itself and it would be so central for the balance of the world (almost a city-state) that Superman would save the world just by staying in Metropolis and fighting there.

    Also: one of the recurring topics of Cyberpunk (as a genre) is a huge separation between the rich people and the poor ones. Think about the city of Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita. What about Superman as the defender of the oppressed, the "outsider" who can make poor people have a chance against faceless corporations and media and science out of control (courtesy of Lex Luthor)?

    A lot of characters would make more sense. Make the Toyman a builder of creepy android dolls (like the ones from Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence) and you have already made him more interesting. Make the Parasite the scourge of an underworld full of futuristic garbage and human scum. And people like Metallo and Brainiac, well, they already have cyberpunk in their DNA.

    During the Loeb and Kelly era, we had a Metropolis that was so huge and complex that Superman DIDN'T have to look for adventures in other cities. He didn't even know what happened in the underworld of his city sometimes. Why does Metropolis need Superman and only Superman? Because other heroes, including Batman, would literally go crazy just by staying there.

    "It is not relatable!" Not true. The conflicts in a futuristic context would be an allegory, like it always happens with sci-fi in general, including superhero fiction. Is Gotham less relatable or interesting just because it resembles a huge haunted house full of frightening gargoyles?

    Also: Post1980s cyberpunk is cool once again, and it will stay this way for a lot of time (hopefully). We have sequels to Terminators and Robocop (the original ones, not lousy remakes), Death Sex and Robots on Netflix, people like Otomo are revered like gods and well, everyone loves cyborgs. May I quote our good old friend Andy Cayse from http://bazzardthebazz.blogspot.com/?

    Along those lines, I wanted to incorporate elements from various sci-fi series such as Neuromancer, Deus Ex, and Ghost in the Shell into the city of Metropolis and its inhabitants. Much like how the Superman comics of the Silver Age dealt with the 'future-shock' of the 1950s and 60s by drawing parallels to the Space Race and the rise of nuclear power, the series could now deal with issues of genetic engineering, the possibility of cybernetic or digital post-humans, and the general theme of ambition versus ethics in the world of scientific progress, with a cyberpunk "high-tech, low-life" motif also allowing the series to recall many of the issues of urban plight, government and corporate corruption, and the increasing gulf between the powerful and the powerless like the original Superman comics of the late 1930s.

    For the more far-flung villains and stories, I looked at series like Doctor Who and the Mass Effect video games, which invoke themes of destiny versus free will, principled pacifism versus fanatical militarism, and fiery humanism versus cold and malevolent cosmicism, shouting "I am here!" to a universe that either doesn't care or is out to get you.
    The question, as far as I am concerned, is not whether they should make a futuristic Metropolis, but rather why the hell haven't they already done so. Permanently, and not just for a storyline.
    Last edited by Myskin; 07-18-2019 at 10:17 PM.
    Educational town, Rolemodel city and Moralofthestory land are the places where good comics go to die.

    DC writers and editors looked up and shouted "Save us!"
    And Alan Moore looked down and whispered "No."

    I'm kinda surprised Snyder didn't want Superman to watch Lois and Bruce conceive their love child. All the while singing the "Na na na na na na Batman!" theme song - Robotman, 03/06/2021

  11. #11
    Invincible Member Vordan's Avatar
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    Hey Myskin what are your favorite Metropolis stories? You seem to have a good knowledge about Superman history. I agree with everything you said by the way and posted my own ideas for Metropolis which are in line with yours. Frankly the worst Metropolis I’ve ever seen was the DCEU Metropolis and the DCAMU Metropolis. Both are just so creatively sterile and boring looking. I really want the next Metropolis to be far more advanced in terms of technology. Screw “relatability” I don’t want Metropolis to look like “the world outside my window”, I want it to live up to its name of “City of Tomorrow”.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vordan View Post
    Hey Myskin what are your favorite Metropolis stories?
    Even if Metropolis has been a part of the Superman lore for decades, there aren't many stories which focus on the city itself (in most cases, a "Metropolis story" is a tale which focuses on the Planet or minor characters like Gangbuster, or people from Suicide Slum... It's not a story about the city itself).

    I've recently rediscovered the Superman: Metropolis Secret Files (2000) which is basically a tour of the city and pretty close to the approach to Metropolis I'd really like to see. In the same issue there are a lot of sketches and texts which describe the city. A wonderful story about the futuristic Metropolis is Superman: Metropolis, a Jimmy Olsen-focused 12-issue miniseries, written in the same years, which marks the end of the futuristic Metropolis era (with some minor villains from the Byrne/Jurgens era, like Thaddeus Killgrave). It is probably the only Chuck Austen story which is REALLY good.

    But in a lot of stories from that period, especially the ones written by Joe Kelly, there are glimpses from a very futuristic Metropolis which is basically a reimagined, more extreme version of the one from Superman TAS (which was strongly based on the Fleischer cartoons, the first moment as far as I know when the city had a very distinctive, Hugh Ferriss-like skyline with a lot of high angles).

    I'd also recommend the Expressionist trilogy, a series of Elsewords inspired by classic silent movies: Superman: Metropolis, Batman: Nosferatu and Wonder Woman: The Blue Amazon. They all take place in a Fritz Lang-like megalopolis.
    Last edited by Myskin; 07-18-2019 at 10:23 PM.
    Educational town, Rolemodel city and Moralofthestory land are the places where good comics go to die.

    DC writers and editors looked up and shouted "Save us!"
    And Alan Moore looked down and whispered "No."

    I'm kinda surprised Snyder didn't want Superman to watch Lois and Bruce conceive their love child. All the while singing the "Na na na na na na Batman!" theme song - Robotman, 03/06/2021

  13. #13
    Invincible Member Vordan's Avatar
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    I’ll check those stories out. I really want a “Gates of Gotham” for Metropolis which explores the backstory of Metropolis because you’re right, it’s never really been fleshed out the way Gotham has.

  14. #14
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    If you are interested in a fictional history of Metropolis, maybe you could check Superman secret files 2019 - a tie-in to to New Krypton with a two-page map of Metropolis and a fictional past which, as far as I know, no subsequent writer has ever followed.
    Educational town, Rolemodel city and Moralofthestory land are the places where good comics go to die.

    DC writers and editors looked up and shouted "Save us!"
    And Alan Moore looked down and whispered "No."

    I'm kinda surprised Snyder didn't want Superman to watch Lois and Bruce conceive their love child. All the while singing the "Na na na na na na Batman!" theme song - Robotman, 03/06/2021

  15. #15
    Invincible Member Vordan's Avatar
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    Bumping for manwhohaseverything I’m sorry I didn’t make this thread, Kuwagaton did.

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