Superman by Josh Williamson and Jamal Campbell Discussion & Spoilers

[Vordan]

I just hope we get some world building. So anything in Chris Kent?

Dude Chris doesn’t even exist anymore. That incarnation of the character was erased by New 52 and the Rebirth incarnation is Zod’s loyal son through and through. Williamson is mostly leaving the rest of the Superfamily to Action, his book is going to be more of a solo act for Clark.

I also recall seeing a page of him saying the best Metallica album is And Justice for All

[Vordan]

Renewing my DC Comics Exclusive. SUPERMAN #1’s Final Order Cut-Off is this weekend!

I’ve been exclusive to DC Comics since 2016. It’s been a great ride from Flash to Justice League vs Suicide Squad, to Robin, to Batman, to Dark Crisis. And now…SUPERMAN. I’ve done a lot of books for DC since 2016.

And then toward the end of 2022, I signed a new exclusive deal with DC Comics to continue doing that!

Based off the success of DARK CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, DC Comics offered me the best exclusive deal they’ve ever offered me!

Renewing my deal now was an exciting opportunity to continue to work with the great people at DC Comics, to build Dawn of DC, to focus on SUPERMAN and GREEN ARROW. (And other exciting projects not yet announced.)

The new Superman series is a major focus for me at DC, and the exclusive gives me the ability to really plan big stories with Clark Kent in the DC Universe. Which all starts with SUPERMAN #1 in February.

Substack update post from Williamson

The coming of Superman: Joshua Williamson & Jamal Campbell take us inside DC's relaunch of its flagship title

All three villains who appear in this opening issue challenge Superman in different ways, with the New Age hotness of Livewire, the mind games by Luthor, and Parasite being more physical. How was it contrasting all three of those dynamics over the course of a single issue?

Williamson: You just nailed it, I was trying to hit those pieces. Lex is the person who messes with your head, Livewire tests Clark’s patience, and Rudy Jones is the physical, that’s really it, those are the three pieces. The fact that Clark approaches each of them from a place of respect and humanity, I’m not even sure that Clark sees them as villains, I don’t think he approaches them as enemies.

Clark talks about this, saying that the only person he feels like he let down was Lex and that he gave up on Lex. I don’t think Clark sees Lex as an enemy, or anybody as an enemy, but they do test him in different ways. Regardless of who Clark sees as enemies, there are people who feel that he is their enemy. [laughs]

That’s what I was trying to do with this issue, and - talking about The Animated Series - we wanted to hit that vibe. But also Parasite and Livewire hadn’t been seen for a while, so I really wanted to hit all these fun beats with these characters so that’s why they’re all in here and there’s more villains too. There’s actually five villains in this issue.

[Frontier]

I may not have liked Dark Crisis, but good for Williamson .

I wonder how he sees Silver Banshee.

[Vordan]

https://twitter.com/georgegustines/s...zVWmigowduJz5Q

[The Frog Bros]

https://twitter.com/georgegustines/s...zVWmigowduJz5Q

Classic work-a-day cubicle. Typing away on headphones, post-it notes everywhere, pin up board, random boxes... all that's missing is a TPS report. "Clark, I'm gonna need you to go ahead and write that article... yeah..."

[Zagre]

https://twitter.com/georgegustines/s...zVWmigowduJz5Q

Lois and Clark have to taotally Incredibilized- :P

[Hoodj]

-As mentioned Williamson is basically treating Secret Origins as canon
-Wants to explore the period where Lex was in Metropolis but Clark hasnÂ’t arrived there yet
-Clark feels like Lex is the one person he let down and couldnÂ’t save
-DC came to Williamson and PKJ about restoring the secret identity
-At one point they considered having Mxy restore the secret identity but Williamson argued against it since they had done that already with Reborn. He wanted to honor what Bendis did by making it so Lex takes the choice out of SupermanÂ’s hands.
-In issue 1 they show Clark as Superboy
-Lex is trying to help Superman in his own way, he thinks he can improve on Superman
-Clark wants to save Lex because he wants to save humanity and Lex is part of humanity
-He pitched a Superman story long ago about Clark and Lex and is taking some of the ideas for that and using them here
-Two new villains are in the first issue
-He wanted to take all the iconic pieces and play with them but also adding some new villains
-Thinks Superman is the same as Batman in that you can drop him into any kind of story, wants to do horror, romance, scifi, but wants to stay in Metropolis
-Lot of pulp influences from Doc Savage in addition to DCAU Superman will show up in the series
-Plays coy on whether Terra-Man will show up in the book, says a new character in his Green Arrow run is influenced by Terra-Man
-Praises Jamal Campbell as a collaborator, says he really knows his Superman continuity
-Wants Superman to be a jumping on point that doesnÂ’t require any knowledge of previous Superman continuity
-HeÂ’s been consuming a lot of western content (another hint at Terra-Man?)
-Plans to rotate between 2 and 3 issue arcs, playing around with the genre stuff in Superman wonÂ’t really start until issue 4, heÂ’s almost impatient to get to all the Superman ideas he has
-Says he could stay on for almost 5 years if sales are good (does rule out another 100 issue run)
-Some of the books heÂ’s doing will involve Amanda Waller
-Talks about sales and how important singles are compared to trades/DCUI/etc
-Originally he was on that Generations book but had to quit for schedule reasons
-His first three issues of Superman all take place within 24 hours
-Fan of a lot of Silver Age and Bronze Age Superman stories
-There was a big conversation he was part of where creators argued about whether or not the best Superman stories are all out of continuity or not
-He and Waid talk to each other
-Jimmy doesnÂ’t know ClarkÂ’s identity anymore and Williamson says that hurt because heÂ’s a fan of FractionÂ’s Jimmy Olsen. Clark and Jimmy are close because they have the same kind of heart. Writing Jimmy came pretty easy to him, he could hear JimmyÂ’s voice in his head pretty easily, really likes writing him
-Wants to focus on Clark as a reporter, Lois hates being editor in chief and wants to get back out in the street
-Loves the Hitman issue with Superman, the Generations series, is planning a big post on his favorite Superman stories which will be a deep dive into what Superman stories he likes
-Favorite DC heroine is Black Canary, second favorite is Zatanna
-WonÂ’t see the Authority in his book because he sees that as PKJÂ’s turf
-Does have plans for LoSH as mentioned above
-There will be some touching on the idea of someone messing with time
-His favorite Legion is ZH Legion, does love some 5YL Legion and Legionaries too
-Huge can of Stormwatch and Wildstorm (Milestone too), once turned in a 30 page pitch for Stormwatch and John Layman told him to **** off which caused him to cut his pitch sizes down greatly, is talking to Rosenberg about bringing in Wildstorm characters
-Turned in a 10 page pitch for Superman
-Cool plans for the New Gods are coming
-Shared a funny anecdote about meeting Morrison for the first time

So basically a reboot of the same post crisis stuff we already seen before.

[Frontier]

https://twitter.com/georgegustines/s...zVWmigowduJz5Q

Nice to see Clark working again .

[Vordan]

Lois and Clark have to taotally Incredibilized- :P

Lol that’s a good catch.



Unlike Bob at least Clark is happy at his job

[Vordan]

[The Frog Bros]

I like the mad scientist bad guy angle.

[Zagre]

Lol that’s a good catch.



Unlike Bob at least Clark is happy at his job

I always feel like a very improtant element of Superman is that he likes to be Clark Kent. He likes being human, even the boring parts (sometimes specially).

[Frontier]

As if we didn't have enough mad scientists .

[The Frog Bros]

As if we didn't have enough mad scientists .

Always room for one more.

1EEB8995-536E-411E-8CE8-449A5F3E35D1.jpg

[Thor-Ul]

As if we didn't have enough mad scientists .

How many super kids there are around in Metropolis?