Pak’s New 52 Action Comics Run (Spoilers)

[magha_regulus]

Pak's run is in my top 3 action comics runs of all time. I loved Superman's characterization in his stories. They had earned enough trust from me for me to be willing to go along for the ride when the secret identity was exposed. I would love for pak and kruder to get another shot.

[magha_regulus]

Whatever the reason, its a decision that will live on in infamy with me. I want this stuff back so bad, someway, somehow.

Yeah me too. I just couldn't get into rebirth. I dropped the books for the first time ever and have been trade waiting/sporadically buying since bendis came on. I do like Bendis' work far more than the previous run though.

[Vordan]

Pak's run is in my top 3 action comics runs of all time. I loved Superman's characterization in his stories. They had earned enough trust from me for me to be willing to go along for the ride when the secret identity was exposed. I would love for pak and kruder to get another shot.

Yeah coming back and reading his run in one sitting changed my opinion of him. Before hand I thought his run was bad, and really didn’t like the shadow monsters arc. Having read through it all now I think that Pak did a great job nailing Clark’s voice, and he also had a good handle on the voices of supporting characters like Irons and Lana. Really want him to get another shot.

[Ascended]

And let's not forget his Bizarro one-off issue either, which should probably rank among the best single issues Superman has ever had.

Pak was great. Even name dropped him in my sig back then (Action Comics by Greg Pak! It's Action Pak'd!) I was a very big fan of his run, when crossovers weren't getting in the way. Doomed had it's highlights (and the best Doomsday, with that crazy kill aura and virus concept) and Truth started off so fantastically (love the Morrison/Golden Age Superman!) but they're definitely weak points in the run. The stuff where Pak didn't have to deal with other writers? Man, I wish him and Kulder were *still* on the book, if we could get more stuff like that from them.

I wish he had been allowed to write Lois and Jimmy and the rest of the Planet staff. He made Lana Lang interesting (something no one else has accomplished in my mind) and he did right by Steel and I loved Kentville and the other new supporting characters, but without the Planet staff......just not the same.

I tell you what, if I ever somehow stumble into a editor's job at DC and get the Superman gig, the first thing I'm doing is calling Pak and begging him to return. Well, second thing. First thing is asking Morrison if he's got anything left in the tank.

[kingaliencracker]

Yeah I think it was only after Truth flopped that DC started planning to kill the New 52 Superman off and replacing him with his Pre-Flashpoint version. But Jesus, all those crossovers totally killed the momentum on every Superbook. Editorial just could not help themselves, and that ended up sinking the character.

One think Pak doesn’t get enough credit for is his new villains. Pretty much all of them, aside from Savaxe the kid who morphed into a barbarian in Savage Dawn, were all pretty cool. Harrow, Ghost Soldier, Wrath, his updates to Doomsday and Ultra-Humaite, they were all pretty great.

I don't think Truth started or even developed with the intention that New 52 Superman was going to be replaced with pre-52 Superman. It seemed quite clear that DC was hyping Truth to be a real game changer for Superman but lackluster response and sales kind of derailed that.

I can't even tell you why Truth was so bad, because on paper it seemed like an interesting and unique direction to go with Superman. I think the primary issue with it is that Pak & company tried too hard to infuse Hulk-ish and Spider-Man-ish elements to Superman and it just didn't work.

[Vordan]

I don't think Truth started or even developed with the intention that New 52 Superman was going to be replaced with pre-52 Superman. It seemed quite clear that DC was hyping Truth to be a real game changer for Superman but lackluster response and sales kind of derailed that.

I can't even tell you why Truth was so bad, because on paper it seemed like an interesting and unique direction to go with Superman. I think the primary issue with it is that Pak & company tried too hard to infuse Hulk-ish and Spider-Man-ish elements to Superman and it just didn't work.

I think there were a lot of factors beyond that. People were already predisposed to dislike this 1. Because the Superman books had not been very good for a while under Lobdell, 2. The “not Muh Superman” fanbase who hated everything New 52 Supes and wanted the Post Crisis status quo back, 3. DC’s terrible marketing campaign that hyped up that Supes was going to be “dark and edgy” when he wasn’t either of those things at all in this story at all.

But they gave him plenty of Spider-Man soap opera drama in Post Crisis, so much so that he practically became a side character in his own books, and people still wax nostalgic about how that was peak Superman. Supes has had numerous Hulk elements in the last decade of Post Crisis, like coming into conflict with the military in his first year, and people generally don’t have a problem with that at all. I actually like “Ross” Sam Lane myself.

[manofsteel1979]

Aside from Morrison's run,much of Pak's run is the only thing I felt was a real loss when they dumped the New 52. Even though its no longer officially canon,I still regard that run (and to a little lesser extent his run on Batman/Superman) very highly. Him an Aaron Kuder on art was just great stuff.i miss those guys. I don't miss New 52 ,but I do miss that run.

I hope that after Bendis leaves sometime down the road that Pak gets a call to come back. I think he'd have a ball playing with the sandbox Bendis has set up in regards to Metropolis.