Superman secret identity reveal worst storyline since "Grounded "?

[objectivewatcher2013]

Show me where I'm wrong.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Show me where I'm wrong.

*Points at the words and pictures on the pages*

[Flash Gordon]

Superman Rebirth was the low point for the character. The current stuff is probably the strongest the titles have been in a decade.

[Ascended]

Dude, you've made your opinion on the Bendis run pretty clear, and haven't passed on any opportunity to vent about your displeasure.

I'm not trying to change your mind on anything, you already made it up. And it's DC's job to make you enjoy their product, not mine.

I'm with DoT and Flash, Superman hasn't been this good since Morrison's early Action issues. Between this and Smashes the Klan, I've been a very happy Super fan lately, which is a nice change of pace.

Hopefully you get whatever it is you want from a Superman product somewhere else, and soon. No one should have to go without their Superman fix, but if you don't like the Bendis run, that's a "you" problem, not a "us" one.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Unity Saga is IMO, the worst Superman story I’ve ever read. I’ve dropped the books but I can’t imagine them getting worse than that.

[Cmbmool]

NO letting Bendis onto the Superman titles and dismantling the family aspects of Superman sort of destroys the character a bit. That and maybe how they never truly allow Jimmy to know and understand the Secret ID o Superman within both Truth and who knows how long this would last.

[Bruce Wayne]

Superman Rebirth was the low point for the character. The current stuff is probably the strongest the titles have been in a decade.

Rebirth sold better despite having a non a-list team of Tomasi/Jurgen. If anything the current superbooks under BMB are probably the lowest point of the franchise since the disaster that was Divergence. Bendis is just more evidence that the types of teams that current day Superman editorial wants just don't mix well with the books and that "shaking" things up the infinite time won't get better results. The readership wants more longterm stability more than anything else.

[Menacer]

Superman Rebirth was the low point for the character. The current stuff is probably the strongest the titles have been in a decade.

I loved early new 52 by grant. Then the final stories surrounding 52 supermans death In the final days of superman, and loved every action comic in the rebirth arc...


What are some of your favourite pre new 52 tpbs?

I hear a lot of people say superman was so much better pre new 52... what tpbs or Omnibus should I collect.

I've only been reading for about 4 years so haven't read as much of the older stuff

[Ascended]

Well, one thing to keep in mind is that one person's "great story" is another person's abomination on paper. And Superman has been around a long time, there's a lot of different versions of him, and each have their fans.

If you enjoyed Morrison's Action, then try his All-Star Superman and his JLA. I'd also recommend the recently finished Superman Smashes the Klan mini by Yang, which is a fantastic story for any kind of fan at all.

The Golden Age collections might work for you, if you liked Morrison's first few Action issues in the t-shirt. The craft of those early comics isn't what we're used to today, but there's a raw energy and power in them that I have always greatly appreciated, and it's that spirit Morrison is channeling in his Action run.

Are you reading Bendis? Some hate it, some love it, might be worth a look. The art is almost always great, if nothing else. The Superman title has typically been the more cosmic, "Superman doing Superman stuff" title while Action has been usually more focused on Metropolis and the supporting cast, though that's kinda flipped in the last few issues. Something there might float your boat.

[Vordan]

I loved early new 52 by grant. Then the final stories surrounding 52 supermans death In the final days of superman, and loved every action comic in the rebirth arc...


What are some of your favourite pre new 52 tpbs?

I hear a lot of people say superman was so much better pre new 52... what tpbs or Omnibus should I collect.

I've only been reading for about 4 years so haven't read as much of the older stuff

Birthright by Waid and American Alien by Landis are two great origins (Landis is a known jack*** though, so I can understand if you want to skip AA because of that).

Superman: The Black Ring is the final pre-Flashpoint Lex Luthor story and it is phenomenal. Last Son of Krypton is a fun collection of Superman vs. Brainiac and Superman vs. Zod by Geoff Johns. Up, Up, and Away by Johns and Busiek is a Hush-style story where Superman runs through a gauntlet of his Rogues Gallery.

Superman/Batman by Loeb is a fun series, you may have seen the two animated movies that adapted stories from this run.

Superman: Red Son is one of the greatest Superman stories ever and is an Elseworld take about what if Superman’s rocket landed in the Soviet Union. It’s getting an animated movie that comes out next week.

Otherwise Ascended makes some good recommendations if you’re looking for stories similar in tone to the New 52. Keep in mind that Superman is a character that has changed dramatically over the years. What one person considers to be the “real Superman” or to be “better” is subjective. There’s some great Superman stories from before Flashpoint, and there’s a lot of trash that sucks and is not at all better than the worst of the New 52.

[Ascended]

It's all subjective but I'd say the stuff we had right before the reboot, 2009-2010, was some of the worst I've ever read. The only saving grace of Grounded was Chris Roberson injecting some of his own ideas into JMS' outline, and that stuff was great, Morrison-esque quality. Black Ring is maybe my second favorite Lex story ever, but I don't know if it counts as a Superman recommendation since Clark doesn't even appear until the last issue or two. If it does, then Luthor by Azzarello deserves a recommendation for being the best Lex story ever.

Birthright and American Alien are excellent suggestions....I'm not sure if either are "New52-ish" enough, but they're excellent stories, even if Waid has apparently gone off the deep end with his politics (or so I hear) and Landis is rumored to be a total d-bag who deserves many punches to the spleen.

Greg Pak, who wrote some of the New52 Action stuff (Subterra, Horrorville, tie-ins with Doomed and Truth) wrote the New52 Batman-Superman title. I wasn't too thrilled with most of his run there but the first arc (which has t-shirt era Superman) was pretty damn good.

There's a recommendation thread at the top of the forums. I'd say look there, and then give the stuff that sounds interesting a Google, to see if it fits with your sensibilities. Being a New52 fan doesn't give us a lot to go on, even within that brief era there's several different flavors.

[rpmaluki]

Honestly, I don't think anyone can change another's opinion other than the books themselves.

[TheSuperMule]

It sucks and it's really bad but Grounded was worst. It's funny. What I generally don't don't like about the identity reveal now is pretty much the same way I felt during Grounded. That was a way dumber idea than this.

[Sacred Knight]

Show me where I'm wrong.

I could make an argument that this is worse. Grounded's major sin was just that it was boring as absolute fck. Characterizations were off, but even sometimes that in certain degrees can be tolerated if the story around it is readable. This wasn't. Not until Roberson tried to salvage it at least, but at that point it was too late to really care that much and still it was just a waiting game for it to all be over. However, at the same time it wasn't making sweeping changes intended to be permanent to the character's very foundation. The storytelling isn't even necessarily that bad, but I just can't get on board with the alterations. I don't see them as natural evolution, I see it as trying to change a character into something else entirely. Bendis is tearing apart a large part of who Superman is with this, without understanding why its important, and his reasons are very superficial. Again, Grounded was just at the end of the day a bad, boring story. You move on from that with relative ease. This will be harder to fix.

The tragedy of it all for me is that I felt it started way better than Rebirth ever was. But alas.

[objectivewatcher2013]

I could make an argument that this is worse. Grounded's major sin was just that it was boring as absolute fck. Characterizations were off, but even sometimes that in certain degrees can be tolerated if the story around it is readable. This wasn't. Not until Roberson tried to salvage it at least, but at that point it was too late to really care that much and still it was just a waiting game for it to all be over. However, at the same time it wasn't making sweeping changes intended to be permanent to the character's very foundation. The storytelling isn't even necessarily that bad, but I just can't get on board with the alterations. I don't see them as natural evolution, I see it as trying to change a character into something else entirely. Bendis is tearing apart a large part of who Superman is with this, without understanding why its important, and his reasons are very superficial. Again, Grounded was just at the end of the day a bad, boring story. You move on from that with relative ease. This will be harder to fix.

The tragedy of it all for me is that I felt it started way better than Rebirth ever was. But alas.

A good reboot and a new writer will fix this.