So, I've read the solicitations for March 2021, and I see that the new Superman teams are:

SUPERMAN:
Writer - Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist - Scott Godlewski

ACTION COMICS:
Writer - Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist - Daniel Sampere

I don't understand why DC is handing over their flagship character to a bunch of no-names.

Frankly, as a Superman fan, Johnson's description of what he wants to do is making me pessimistic.

Quote Originally Posted by Phillip Kennedy Johnson
"I can't begin to describe what an honor it is to be writing Superman and Action Comics, especially following one of my industry heroes, Brian Michael Bendis," Johnson says in the announcement. "One of my very earliest memories is the thrill I felt watching the Christopher Reeve Superman films for the first time. My goal for every issue will be to give readers that same physical reaction, and the same lofty aspirations that Superman inspires: the desire to be better than we are, and to do more than the world thinks we can do.”
The reason I'm dubious about Johnson is that every time I hear a writer talk about what a Superman fan he is and then they start talking all about what the Christopher Reeve movie meant to them as a kid, I get worried.

To me, the comics are canon, and everything else is just an adaptation. I'm SO tired of writers trying to force feed us their childhood memories of the Superman movie! I remember years ago when the artist, Gary Frank, started drawing Superman to look like Christopher Reeve! Enough already! Any writer or artist whose only real enthusiasm for, or knowledge of, the character comes from the movie should be an automatic no-go as far as getting the assignment is concerned. Superman movie-fanboys are not what the character needs. Same goes for Mort Weisinger fanboys who just want to bring back the Silver Age in all its stupidity. This reminds me of when Allan Heinberg took over Wonder Woman after Infinite Crisis, and all he could come up with was to regurgitate his childhood and make the comic book like the Lynda Carter TV show complete with a non-powered Diana Prince as a secret agent.

Johnson's statement above tells me we'll be getting another self-important slog where he beats readers over the head with how "inspirational" and "important" Superman is rather than telling rollicking action-adventure stories with the character. It seems, because of the movie, that writers often fall into the trap of focusing on how characters in the story perceive Superman or how they are affected by him. This makes Superman a colorless cipher in his own comic and a major reason why his detractors find the character to be dull.

Superman needs to stop being portrayed as a godlike symbol and start being shown as a person instead. We need to get inside Superman's head and find something interesting about what makes him tick. We need to understand things from Superman's point of view, not from the point of view of external characters.

I don't want another pastiche of Superman movie fanboy moments or Silver Age fanboy moments. We need a writer who wants to take Superman and his supporting cast (meaning the Daily Planet people, not the other Super-folk) and flesh them out and make us care about them as relevant characters of today.

But I don't think that's what we're gonna get.


Beyond that, going back to the beginning, can anyone explain what Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Scott Godlewski, and Daniel Sampere have done that's so great that they deserve to be on the Super-titles? In all seriousness, I don't know because I've never seen any of their work.