Originally Posted by
Myskin
Isn't this the same thread as the one about the Superman 2000 proposal?
Anyway, I'd go with a yes and I'd say that the Death of Superman was probably the beginning of the decline. I am not a fan of the Jurgens era (especially in terms of characterization), but it is impossible to deny that in that period the character had a specific, recognizable identity which had organically grown from what Byrne had planted 6-7 years before. On the one hand, I consider that period so deeply rooted in the 90s (in terms of visuals, villains, etc.: it's basically TMNT Superman) that today I find it irreparably dated. On the other hand, the approach to sci-fi that characterized the Jurgens era (clones, cold Krypton, Metallo and Cyborg Superman merging with machines in pure T-1000 style) is bizarrely more modern than almost everything which came later, including New52.
The point is not that everything after the 90s was trash. Some standalone works are excellent (All-Star obviously, but also For All Seasons etc.) and there isn't a single era which didn't introduce at least one good idea. Cyberpunk Metropolis could be one of my favorite concepts ever, but also Busiek and Pacheco's first issues are interesting, as well as New52 Superman (even if I consider it a very minor work in Morrison's career), Pak and Kuder etc. The problem is none of those works really "counts" or was properly developed. There are seeds of good ideas, but not a single storyline which wasn't disappointing or completely discarded after some months, or course-corrected. After a while it became so frustrating that you felt you were wasting your time.
There isn't a single culprit for this situation. Editors have a responsibility, obviously, but also writers and - to a degree - the fandom. However, if I had to find a common denominator for what's wrong with Superman in the latest decades I'd say that at one point (probably in the final years of the Jurgens era, with Dominus effect or even earlier, Red/Blue Superman) they simply stopped writing Superman stories and started bizarre, invisible dialogues with the readers ABOUT Superman which were thinly disguised as Superman stories. In some cases they started asking questions about Superman and the sense of his mission in contemporary times and in comparison to the general superhero trends (the Elite story - which is mostly excellent, don't get me wrong - or Grounded). In other cases, they spent most of their time "discussing" what the best Superman era was (Dominus effect, Infinite crisis, Convergence etc.) or wondering what a past era of Superman would look like if he was created today. Or what a classic imaginary stories idea (which sounds bizarrely fanfiction-ish) like Superman and Wonder Woman as a couple or - to a degree - the Son of Superman concept would be like in regular continuity.
Say what you will about Byrne and his era is not without problems, but when you read his run you never get the overwhelming impression that he's writing an essay about Superman. Byrne told stories. His era is completely different from what had come before, but he's never openly saying "See? SEE? This is not your Dad's Superman! Do you remember when there were like 1000000 Kryptonians? Well, no more - today Superman REALLY is the last son of Krypton!". His Superman stories are very organically grown from the seeds he planted. Even the issues which most closely remind you of the past (the Pocket universe, for example) are not just metafictional homages.
As far as I am concerned one of the worst consequences of this very long and problematic debate is the "merging" trend (and the recurring use of the multiverse as a plot device). At one point - I think that it started during the Loeb/Kelly era with Return to Krypton - they started suggesting that instead of choosing between classic Superman and modern Superman you could get a combination of the two. This approach is very fan-appeasing because every reader could get at least one fragment of something they had liked in the past, and to a degree I found it an acceptable compromise; however, as years went by I came to hate it.
In the New Krypton saga Kandor is crowded with Kryptonians from all different eras. You get Kryptonians in Byrne-like robes, Kryptonians wearing Silver Age headbands, etc. So, is everybody happy? Well... Not really. The Kryptonian robes in Byrne had a very specific function, which was intrinsically tied to that distinctive version of Krypton and what characterized it: sterility, solemnity, inhumanity etc. In New Krypton, though, that robe is just an aesthetic detail with no real meaning. And the same could be said with most of those references in New Kandor or - more recently - the postRebirth era. Or Clark Kent's 1970s style in Secret Origins, etc.... By reprising classic elements, as a matter of fact they emptied them.
There is another consequence: most of what you read in Superman stories today sounds and looks old even when it has been written by modern writers. I find it incredible that we still deal with armors in pure 1990s style, Jor-El's Saturn symbol and miniaturizing rays when out there you have writers like Greg Egan and Ted Chiang with a completely different and way more modern vision of sci-fi. Blade Runner was made in 1982 and it is more modern than contemporary Superman stories. Heck, Frank Herbert's Dune is more modern and it was written in 1965! And many comic books - I am thinking of Jonathan Hickman's Image works or even some classic Métal Hurlant comics - sound and look more modern than Superman.
By the way, if they had wanted to create a pulp-ish book with a modern sensibilities they could have done it without being so old-style. Sometimes I think that best Superman compromise we could have gotten out of the Jurgens era would be very similar to Larsen's Savage Dragon, which is shamelessly 90s in style but still very thought-provoking and self-deprecating, with a very modern sensibility and a blue-collar (kind of) hero. Or - even better - they could revamp it without trying for the umpteenth time to revive its glorious past. But I don't see any modern revamp coming and the rumors about Waid re-reading every single past Superman issues (maybe for a future reboot?) are not reassuring. And the "everything counts" thing they have been talking about so much in the latest times is not as promising as it appears.