Where does Byrne's run rank on your llst of Fav Superman writer's runs?

[JAK]

It might be my favorite... but my reading has always been colored by perspective, and I don't have a solid way to separate it.

I first started reading steadily by 91. And at that point, Byrne's wasn't just any origin of Superman, it was the origin of the one I was reading and was strongly attached to. So it wasn't an origin tale in it's own right, it was backstory. That doesn't "read" the same way as it would if you're just comparing one origin to another, or reading them fresh as a stand-alone.

So I'd say it's a favorite, but moreso for what it became than what it was directly, if you know what I mean.

[Stanlos]

Its one of my fav runs by a Superman writer, where does it rank on your list?

I think it is number 1 or number 2 for me. I like the sophistication of his take as compared to others. And I love the use of Supes powers and intelligence.

[Kuwagaton]

I don't think Miller's take ever left the early proposal stages, but it was one of three comics he pitched with Steve Gerber. Miller would do Batman, Gerber would do Wonder Woman, and the both of them would do Superman. I'm not sure if the three series' would end up any longer than what Year One ended up as but...quality over quantity. Year One is still held up to this day as a mature, well crafted evergreen graphic novel that didn't make too many sweeping changes, while Byrne's Superman is dated in many ways.

It's impossible to know for sure, but I think the Trinity would be on closer to equal footing now if that had happened. It's no wonder Batman is seen as more popular when he got the best written of the three reboots.

That's interesting. I think I heard the Gerber thing before. Byrne's run was infused water with a little Reagan sitting at the bottom. I can see Miller double dosing the Reagan syrup, given his infamous DKR portrayal.

As for popularity pre crisis Batman is also vastly more expensive on average. Classic pre crisis Superman is often in the dollar bin after 1974 or so, not fascismiled.

First time I read the Byrne run I absolutely loved it. Years later I reread it and I hated it. I’ve got so many other Superman stories to get through but I plan to reread it again since my local library has the entire run, and I want to see how I feel.

One cool thing about the collected treatment is the way the three books could either flow with each other or cleanly break for different stories. MOS 2-4, 6, 8, and 9 are the best of the reads, along with World of Krypton.

[Clark_Kent]

It might be my favorite... but my reading has always been colored by perspective, and I don't have a solid way to separate it.

I first started reading steadily by 91. And at that point, Byrne's wasn't just any origin of Superman, it was the origin of the one I was reading and was strongly attached to. So it wasn't an origin tale in it's own right, it was backstory. That doesn't "read" the same way as it would if you're just comparing one origin to another, or reading them fresh as a stand-alone.

So I'd say it's a favorite, but moreso for what it became than what it was directly, if you know what I mean.

Yep, exactly the same here. My first Superman comic was Superman #26...Byrne hadn't been gone very long, but as this was my first comic book exposure to Superman Byrne's origin is MY origin. Even now, I still vastly prefer the birthing matrix origin to the traditional one, even though I know that the traditional baby in a rocket origin is subjectively better. I came in after Byrne, but his Superman that was later crafted by Jurgens, Ordway, and others will always be MY Superman. And he had a great run, from Byrne's MoS until Superman #200 when Birthright took over. That's a good, what, 17 years? Somewhere in there.

[Clark_Kent]

I forgot to comment on his run itself lol

For sentimental reasons, his run (that I didn't actually read in full until they started collecting it in the early 2000's) is probably top 5 for me. Maybe even top 3. But if I step back and look at it with no bias or sentimentality, I'd have to concede that most of it isn't very good. A ton of it is, and of course the art is great. But the dialogue in many cases was outdated by the time it hit the newsstands, and I do cringe at all of the "thought balloons describing what the art is doing". Older comics are guilty of this, and it's just the way they were back in the day, but when you also have Year One, DKR, and Watchmen coming out at the same time/a little earlier and they don't have the descriptive thought balloons, it just makes Byrne difficult to read.

On my last read-through, I skipped over every thought balloon that I came across and the stories ran much better.

[Sacred Knight]

Nowhere. The writers proceeding him I feel did far better with the material, and I've grown resentful of said stunted, stripped down material.

[Kuwagaton]

Yep, exactly the same here. My first Superman comic was Superman #26...Byrne hadn't been gone very long, but as this was my first comic book exposure to Superman Byrne's origin is MY origin. Even now, I still vastly prefer the birthing matrix origin to the traditional one, even though I know that the traditional baby in a rocket origin is subjectively better. I came in after Byrne, but his Superman that was later crafted by Jurgens, Ordway, and others will always be MY Superman. And he had a great run, from Byrne's MoS until Superman #200 when Birthright took over. That's a good, what, 17 years? Somewhere in there.

The times were so close together it gets hard for me to remember, but during the ZH/Conduit era is when I got my first real issues, Superman #25-28. They were extremely confusing for comics with consecutive numbers, but I found Superboy vs Superboy in a store very shortly after and did a decent job checking them all out from there. I got Byrne's run starting when MOS vol 2 was released, but it wasn't until the Man of Steel movie came that going back to read really got me. I even prefer the birthing matrix and that version of Krypton now too, for all the grief it gets.

[seismic-2]

I never really enjoyed most Superman comics during the Silver Age, because the "Lois tries to discover Superman's secret identity" silliness was such a major part of them. By getting rid of the whole nonsense of anyone's knowing that Superman has a secret identity, Byrne tossed out all that cumbersome baggage, and Superman comics (by all subsequent writers) have been better off on account of it.

[Jim Kelly]

I never really enjoyed most Superman comics during the Silver Age, because the "Lois tries to discover Superman's secret identity" silliness was such a major part of them. By getting rid of the whole nonsense of anyone's knowing that Superman has a secret identity, Byrne tossed out all that cumbersome baggage, and Superman comics (by all subsequent writers) have been better off on account of it.

I happen to like those old school Lois Lane stories, but anyway that was twenty years before John Byrne. In between, you had a lot of great character development for Lois Lane. And the thing that really bugged me when MAN OF STEEL came out was that it followed right on the heels of the two issue LOIS LANE comic by Mindy Newell and Gray Morrow. This was excellent and I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be post-Crisis or not, but apparently it wasn't as it was steam-rollered over by the reboot. So much for showing respect to Lois Lane.

The other thing that bugged me was Lana Lang--who had been a great character just previous to this and had many of the aspects of Cat Grant, and of other women that have come along since the reboot--yet she was made to suffer for having been told Clark Kent's true identity. It's like she was punished not only for knowing the truth but for having loved Clark Kent. The Byrne comics made her seem weak and pathetic.

In the pre-Crisis comics, Lana Lang had been the co-producer/anchor of the WGBS newscast. She was admired by many suitors, including Vartox. She had had super-heroic adventures with the Legion of Super-Heroes. She had made archaeological discoveries with her father. She wasn't just Lois Lane's rival for Superman's affections, she was also one of Lois Lane's closest friends. All of that was gone and she was shoved in a corner.

[DochaDocha]

Much of liking of Byrne's run is nostalgia. I was only 8 or so when it came out and wasn't collecting comics, and as such I collected the Byrne run much after the fact. However, it was nice as a jumping on point for Superman's origins since (in theory) the stories that followed were based on the Byrne template. It has a lot of value for me as far as nostalgia goes and various aspects of it I really liked, or at least I did at the time. However, while I think it's a good standalone story, it's not a good basis for how Superman should be in a decades-long continuity.

[SiegePerilous02]

I never really enjoyed most Superman comics during the Silver Age, because the "Lois tries to discover Superman's secret identity" silliness was such a major part of them. By getting rid of the whole nonsense of anyone's knowing that Superman has a secret identity, Byrne tossed out all that cumbersome baggage, and Superman comics (by all subsequent writers) have been better off on account of it.

I happen to like those old school Lois Lane stories, but anyway that was twenty years before John Byrne. In between, you had a lot of great character development for Lois Lane. And the thing that really bugged me when MAN OF STEEL came out was that it followed right on the heels of the two issue LOIS LANE comic by Mindy Newell and Gray Morrow. This was excellent and I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be post-Crisis or not, but apparently it wasn't as it was steam-rollered over by the reboot. So much for showing respect to Lois Lane.

The other thing that bugged me was Lana Lang--who had been a great character just previous to this and had many of the aspects of Cat Grant, and of other women that have come along since the reboot--yet she was made to suffer for having been told Clark Kent's true identity. It's like she was punished not only for knowing the truth but for having loved Clark Kent. The Byrne comics made her seem weak and pathetic.

In the pre-Crisis comics, Lana Lang had been the co-producer/anchor of the WGBS newscast. She was admired by many suitors, including Vartox. She had had super-heroic adventures with the Legion of Super-Heroes. She had made archaeological discoveries with her father. She wasn't just Lois Lane's rival for Superman's affections, she was also one of Lois Lane's closest friends. All of that was gone and she was shoved in a corner.

Getting rid of Lois obsessing over the secret identity and bringing her back to her Golden Age roots were a good thing (or at least not having it be her default setting- some of those stories are so crazy that they are awesome, but the problem becomes when it's all Lois does and it makes both her and Clark look bad). But ditching that wasn't worth ditching the rest of the mythos, and Superman's world became much more boring as a result, IMO. A lot of the 90s media pulled inspiration from this foundation, and I found Superman just ok but kind of boring as a kid compared to Batman, Spider-Man and the X-Men as a result.

[Vordan]

That main flaw of the Byrne Superman was that Superman was straddling the fence too much. He wasn’t weak enough to be street level but he wasn’t powerful enough to be off having cosmic adventures. It left a character too powerful to be dealing with muggers but too weak to be off fighting aliens on other worlds. It also basically nullified the tragedy of Krypton dying by making it a really crappy place to live, and had Clark reject his Kryptonian heritage completely. So there was no tragic aspect of the character anymore, dude was not really a “Strange Visitor” anymore. And that’s not to say that the people who enjoyed that interpretation were wrong but it really began to show its age rapidly, especially in a post-Cold War world.

[SiegePerilous02]

I also dislike Lex being remade as a corrupt businessman (an especially sleazy one too, which I dislike for Lex), the type Superman would topple back in the Golden Age...and he's not only still in power by the end of the mini, he was an ongoing antagonist in that role throughout the run and beyond. And was able to wave Superman away with a Kryptonite ring.

Clark being unable to bring Lex down as either Superman or as a journalist wasn't the best look for him. It's one of the reasons I prefer Lex as a full blown supervillain, everyone knows he's evil.

[mikelmcknight72]

Top 5, definitely. In no particular order....

Byrne
All-Star Superman
The Triangle era
Superman/Batman
New Krypton

[Vordan]

Top 5, definitely. In no particular order....

Byrne
All-Star Superman
The Triangle era
Superman/Batman
New Krypton

Hah a fellow New Krypton fan! What did you think of the finale? Up until War of the Supermen I loved it and having reread it recently I still think it’s enjoyable.