Originally Posted by
Comic-Reader Lad
I disagree with this. Weisinger's Superman line was the top seller at DC so why replace him with an editor whose comics, including Justice League, sold less?
I'm the first one to say that writers need to stop rehashing the Silver Age in Superman comics, but during the Silver Age, it kept DC ahead of Marvel. Lois Lane was selling around 500k each issue, Superman and Action more than that.
I grew up on Julie Schwartz's Superman comics, and his 1971 revamp took away all the silly 60s stuff, but didn't replace them with anything better, which is why his 70s comics are rarely reprinted and rarely mentioned or referenced by later writers. Putting Schwartz on Superman in the 60s would have only hurt the character and sales. Superman did not need a drastic revamp then. The 1970s was the perfect time for a new voice on the character.
Mike Carlin, who followed Andy Helfer on the John Byrne reboot, was the best Superman editor to follow Weisinger because his run combined the Weisinger world building with a modern storytelling sensibility.
I have fond childhood memories of Schwartz's Superman comics, but I know they really have little value in the scheme of things. As good as they were, they were rarely great and certainly never classic and timeless. Weisinger and Carlin were the two best editors that Superman has ever had in my opinion.