Which still unadapted stories do you want to see adapted?

[Vordan]

My experience with the DTVs has taught me that they don’t do a good job adapting long stories. They just don’t have the runtime or budget for it. So while once upon a time I would’ve asked for something like Superman & The Legion of Superheroes, now I think something like the Parasite three part arc from Williamson would be a better fit. It’s short and compressed, they could easily pad that out in a movie with more time featuring Superman on the run from the Parasites or flesh Parasite out.

[Frontier]

My experience with the DTVs has taught me that they don’t do a good job adapting long stories. They just don’t have the runtime or budget for it. So while once upon a time I would’ve asked for something like Superman & The Legion of Superheroes, now I think something like the Parasite three part arc from Williamson would be a better fit. It’s short and compressed, they could easily pad that out in a movie with more time featuring Superman on the run from the Parasites or flesh Parasite out.

I feel like they could pretty solidly adapt a story that filled up a single trade. It's not like, say, having to do Death/Reign/Return in two movies.

[Vakanai]

I feel like they could pretty solidly adapt a story that filled up a single trade. It's not like, say, having to do Death/Reign/Return in two movies.

Wasn't The Long Halloween able to fit in one trade? And the adaptation was just...no...God almighty no...

Also while I never read the books, felt like the Reign/Return movie was kind of trash/a let down compared to how amazing Death was, but that's just me.

[magha_regulus]

Superman Red/Blue
DC One Million
Superman King of the World
Morrison's Action Comics arc
Legends
The Great Darkness Saga
Legion of 3 worlds
Superman and the Legion of Super Heroes
Panic in the Sky!!!!!!
Superman: Unchained
Our Worlds at War

[Jon Clark]

There was another wierd three-issue story from the 1970's where Supergirl and the Kandorians decide to gaslight Superman into believing his whole Kryptonian origin is a delusion. Supergirl tells him that the Kents and the Danvers (her Earth parents at the time) had been exposed to radiation causing them both to have mutant children (Superman and Supergirl). It seems the Kandorians felt Superman was too focused on "preventing another Krypton" and would be better off if he just thought of Earth as his home.

I'd love to see an animated movie on that premise, especially if it was released without anything assuring the audience that Krypton would be "restored" by the end of the film. I read the original back before I was made cynical by Superman stories and actually believed ithis might be a permanent (or at least longterm) change'

A modern take could make it Batman and a few others (rather than Kandorians) who are the masterminds behind the plan.

[Doctor Know]

Wasn't The Long Halloween able to fit in one trade? And the adaptation was just...no...God almighty no...

Also while I never read the books, felt like the Reign/Return movie was kind of trash/a let down compared to how amazing Death was, but that's just me.

I thought Reign/Return was good. Big part of which for me was how it captured the personalities of the 4 false Supermen. Back in 1991, there was a several month period of these guys leading Superman line.

The comic gets really out there!
With things like Mongul working for Cyborg Supes (even bending the knee to kiss his hand). Mongul joining Cyborg Supes to get revenge on Clark for his beating and being overthrown by Superman during Exile. Which lead to Brainiac taking control of Warworld in Panic in the Sky.

Cyborg Superman and Eradicator fighting leading to the complete nuking of Coast City (home of Hal Jordan), by the Cyborg. So now Hal Jordan has a bone to pick with Mongul (a big yellow alien) and an evil Superman. While the real one is MIA.

We have a Supergirl running around from the Pocket Universe.


The movie trims most of the fat and streamlines things to being all a plot by Darkseid. Which "works" in the context of DCAU and with Darkseid's general schemes (pre-New52) of trying to exploit humans for his own experiments.

But your mileage may vary in that regard.

[bat39]

There was another wierd three-issue story from the 1970's where Supergirl and the Kandorians decide to gaslight Superman into believing his whole Kryptonian origin is a delusion. Supergirl tells him that the Kents and the Danvers (her Earth parents at the time) had been exposed to radiation causing them both to have mutant children (Superman and Supergirl). It seems the Kandorians felt Superman was too focused on "preventing another Krypton" and would be better off if he just thought of Earth as his home.

I'd love to see an animated movie on that premise, especially if it was released without anything assuring the audience that Krypton would be "restored" by the end of the film. I read the original back before I was made cynical by Superman stories and actually believed ithis might be a permanent (or at least longterm) change'

A modern take could make it Batman and a few others (rather than Kandorians) who are the masterminds behind the plan.

Oh yeah, I remember that story!

It was intriguing, but something that's very much a product of an era where Kal-El was the real identity and Clark Kent was a 'disguise'. In a modern context, nearly four decades after Byrne, its hard to imagine a Superman who's so obsessed with Krypton, and so detatched from his human upbringing and identity, that he'd need to be manipulated in this manner.

[Thor-Ul]

Oh yeah, I remember that story!

It was intriguing, but something that's very much a product of an era where Kal-El was the real identity and Clark Kent was a 'disguise'. In a modern context, nearly four decades after Byrne, its hard to imagine a Superman who's so obsessed with Krypton, and so detatched from his human upbringing and identity, that he'd need to be manipulated in this manner.

Could be explored as an identity crisis: who is really that guy with red cape and trunks? Is he the journalist Clark Kent? Is he the kryptonian Kal-El? Is he the so called Superman?

[Vakanai]

I thought Reign/Return was good. Big part of which for me was how it captured the personalities of the 4 false Supermen. Back in 1991, there was a several month period of these guys leading Superman line.

The comic gets really out there!
With things like Mongul working for Cyborg Supes (even bending the knee to kiss his hand). Mongul joining Cyborg Supes to get revenge on Clark for his beating and being overthrown by Superman during Exile. Which lead to Brainiac taking control of Warworld in Panic in the Sky.

Cyborg Superman and Eradicator fighting leading to the complete nuking of Coast City (home of Hal Jordan), by the Cyborg. So now Hal Jordan has a bone to pick with Mongul (a big yellow alien) and an evil Superman. While the real one is MIA.

We have a Supergirl running around from the Pocket Universe.


The movie trims most of the fat and streamlines things to being all a plot by Darkseid. Which "works" in the context of DCAU and with Darkseid's general schemes (pre-New52) of trying to exploit humans for his own experiments.

But your mileage may vary in that regard.

I suppose Reign/Return is good when you compare it to the somewhat chaotic sounding mess that's all over the place you describe from the comics narrative-wise, but compared to say Death which was a tighter more emotional story, it's not good. I sense like a lot of people who like it a lot primarily like it for showing the 4 false Supermen and getting those characters right, which is great, but it doesn't make a "good movie" for me personally. Story is really key. But it sounds like there's never been a particularly good story for Reign/Return, just the absence of Superman and how these 4 other guys fill the void in good and awful ways. I could be wrong though, would like to read that era but sounds like it'd be difficult tracking everything down. I just know in comparison to how good Death was the sequel felt much more mediocre in storytelling - if anything I thought the second half of Doomsday was a better story despite being completely original and unfaithful from the source.

Like you said though, mileage varies. If I had read Eradicator, Cyborg Superman, Steel, and Superboy during that era I might feel differently and just getting them well done might've been enough to love this movie. And Superboy is really great here. But it's still just kind of a letdown for me after how great a setup film Death was.

[exile001]

I suppose Reign/Return is good when you compare it to the somewhat chaotic sounding mess that's all over the place you describe from the comics narrative-wise

Yeah, that's very much not the case. Please read it before making this your idea of what the comic book story is like.

The comics are great and do a really good job of building on the idea of what a returning Superman means, while also tackling a whole bunch of topics from the time, the lack of Superboy and what would be be like now, the X-essification of 90's comics (particularly Marvel), etc. There are a lot of comics starring each character before it starts to dovetail together and accelerate towards the conclusion.

Reading it now can never be the same as reading them back in the day, when people genuinely believed one of the four was the real deal, but it's still a great read.

It's pretty 90's, but I feel it holds up well.

I could be wrong though, would like to read that era but sounds like it'd be difficult tracking everything down.

Unfortunately, that's always going to be problem to a new reader. While you can go in blind, it does help to have read certain previous stories that become important to Reign.

I originally read it in TPBs, but was lucky that DC had already released other TPBs featuring a lot of the stuff needed to really enjoy Reign (not Exile, though). They're long out of print, though, and you could drive yourself mad trying to pick up all the individual issues that feed into it. Heck, you could wind up buying half the comics from Man of Steel to Death as it feels like a culmination of everything from the reboot on.

[The Frog Bros]

I suppose Reign/Return is good when you compare it to the somewhat chaotic sounding mess that's all over the place you describe from the comics narrative-wise, but compared to say Death which was a tighter more emotional story, it's not good. I sense like a lot of people who like it a lot primarily like it for showing the 4 false Supermen and getting those characters right, which is great, but it doesn't make a "good movie" for me personally. Story is really key. But it sounds like there's never been a particularly good story for Reign/Return, just the absence of Superman and how these 4 other guys fill the void in good and awful ways. I could be wrong though, would like to read that era but sounds like it'd be difficult tracking everything down. I just know in comparison to how good Death was the sequel felt much more mediocre in storytelling - if anything I thought the second half of Doomsday was a better story despite being completely original and unfaithful from the source.

Like you said though, mileage varies. If I had read Eradicator, Cyborg Superman, Steel, and Superboy during that era I might feel differently and just getting them well done might've been enough to love this movie. And Superboy is really great here. But it's still just kind of a letdown for me after how great a setup film Death was.

Yeah, that's very much not the case. Please read it before making this your idea of what the comic book story is like.

The comics are great and do a really good job of building on the idea of what a returning Superman means, while also tackling a whole bunch of topics from the time, the lack of Superboy and what would be be like now, the X-essification of 90's comics (particularly Marvel), etc. There are a lot of comics starring each character before it starts to dovetail together and accelerate towards the conclusion.

Reading it now can never be the same as reading them back in the day, when people genuinely believed one of the four was the real deal, but it's still a great read.

It's pretty 90's, but I feel it holds up well.



Unfortunately, that's always going to be problem to a new reader. While you can go in blind, it does help to have read certain previous stories that become important to Reign.

I originally read it in TPBs, but was lucky that DC had already released other TPBs featuring a lot of the stuff needed to really enjoy Reign (not Exile, though). They're long out of print, though, and you could drive yourself mad trying to pick up all the individual issues that feed into it. Heck, you could wind up buying half the comics from Man of Steel to Death as it feels like a culmination of everything from the reboot on.

Re: tracking down Reign/Return, it’s not that difficult to track down the floppies. Sure, it’s a bit intimidating because of the amount of issues and crossover between different titles, but I feel like most comic shops have a fairly good amount of 90s floppies in stock on the cheap. I was able to collect them all just by going to random shops here and there.

[Vakanai]

Re: tracking down Reign/Return, it’s not that difficult to track down the floppies. Sure, it’s a bit intimidating because of the amount of issues and crossover between different titles, but I feel like most comic shops have a fairly good amount of 90s floppies in stock on the cheap. I was able to collect them all just by going to random shops here and there.

"Most comic shops" does me no good - I've never seen a comic book shop in my area ever, so for me tracking titles down isn't a matter of going to my non-existent Local Comic Shop, it's a matter of tracking them down on ebay and Amazon. That's probably indeed that difficult if not more so to track down.

[The Frog Bros]

"Most comic shops" does me no good - I've never seen a comic book shop in my area ever, so for me tracking titles down isn't a matter of going to my non-existent Local Comic Shop, it's a matter of tracking them down on ebay and Amazon. That's probably indeed that difficult if not more so to track down.

Ok then, that’s a bummer. Was just tryin to help with a recommendation.

[DABellWrites]

Carey Bates's Krypton dies again. Take out Brianiac and make it an emotional story for Superman.

[Doctor Know]

"Most comic shops" does me no good - I've never seen a comic book shop in my area ever, so for me tracking titles down isn't a matter of going to my non-existent Local Comic Shop, it's a matter of tracking them down on ebay and Amazon. That's probably indeed that difficult if not more so to track down.

Another practical option is to pick up one of those Death and Return of Superman omnibus. I just checked eBay, Amazon and Mercari. There are several available at reasonable, cheap prices. As the list price was $150. Grab either the 2013 version (which has Superman and Doomsday on the front and the 4 false Supermen on the back) or the 2019 reprint. Which is just the black funeral cover with the bloody S shield.

I prefer the 2013 version for aesthetics. Both versions have all the same issues included. If you can afford the expense, that would be the best bet. Cheers, mate.