Greg Pak's Superman Appreciation

[HsssH]

I think that pretty much everyone agrees that Morrison's and Pak's runs were the bright spots for Superman during New 52 era. And while Morrison does get the recognition, especially for t-shirts Superman, it does feel like Pak is forgotten a bit despite writing some all-time great Superman stories. So lets change that.

For a reminder this is the list of Superman issues with Pak listed as a writer, or one of the writers:

Action Comics #23.2 Zod; Batman/Superman #3.1 Doomsday; Justice League #23.1 Darkseid
Action Comics #25-50; Annual #3
Batman/Superman #1-9; #11-27; Annuals #1-2; Batman/Superman: Futures End #1
Worlds' Finest #21; Secret Origins #1; Superman Annual #3, Superman Doomed #1-2

His recent City Boy mini also featured Superman a bit.

Thats around 60 issues of good Superman material that sadly was often derailed by weird events.

[superduperman]

His New 52 origin was my second favorite Superman origin.

[Last Son of Krypton]

From what I recall, back then I enjoyed Pak's run more than Morrison's.

It did have this iconic moment:



Hope Pak will get a 2nd chance to write the character again someday.

[Frontier]

I think if anyone was able to sell the concept and potential of New 52 Superman, it was Pak.

[manwhohaseverything]

I genuinely think there should be a side world where this guy is going around bringing forth storms..Cityboy feels like another homage to morrison with him being electrocuted and tested.

[manwhohaseverything]

[HsssH]

One of my favorite Batman/Superman arcs is the so called Superman's Joker arc that takes place in issues #16-20 and is collected in Batman/Superman: Siege collection. Easily best thing Xa-Du appeared in after Morrison's run and there were many cool bits that I enjoyed:

In All Star Morrison has Superman use tiny Kandorians to treat cancer. Here Xa-Du uses them as bullets.
Speaking about All Star I remember there was lots of negativity about Pak killing the suicidal girl from All Star. Turns out she didn't die and it was a ruse by Superman, but I figure way more people have read those negative articles than actual storyline.
To fight bunch of supermen Batman brings in red sun generator that MM helped him to make. Eventually Clark blows it up to overwhelm Xa-Du and his Kandorians. In the end it is mention that this likely did permanent damage to other Kryptonians since it happened during their first exposure to Earth's sun. I guess this was how Pak/DC were going to solve the problem of what to do with Kandorians if Superman manages to save them. But I think we never actually got to see it due to this arc being followed up by Truth and eventually Rebirth.

[magha_regulus]

I liked Pak's work with Aaron Kruder way more than the work he did by himself. Pak's stuff on Action Comics was incredible; his Batman/Superman not so much. Aaron Kruder played a role in the direction of the stories in Action Comics and he should get some credit for it. Their Action Comics run was really good. They carried the essence of what Morrisson laid out and really did wonders with it. I was really sad to see them go and can only wonder what their original plans were before the Truth arc derailed the Super books of the time.

[HsssH]

I do enjoy above mentioned arc drawn by Syaf and Cross World by Jae Lee, but yeah, Pak's work with Kuder was overall stronger. And to be fair he did get story credits in the later half of the Action run.

[exile001]

.......................

[exile001]

Okay, screw it. I admit I really enjoy Doomed. Its probably my favourite New 52 Superman story.

Fwx27T7aMAAMHhj.jpg

[HsssH]

Thats certainly a guilty pleasure. Do you like it all or do you have some head canon version that skips some issues?

I feel like it could be significantly improved simply by cutting some pages or entire issues

[Yoda]

His and Kruder's collaboration on Action was the high point for the character for sure after Morrison. I think Yang and Pak both kind of were kneecapped by editorial though. Pak apparently was precluded from using Lois at all in Action for the most part, which led to the use of Lana. Though he got to write her a bit in Superman/Batman. I think the Zero Year issue was one of the best issues of the run after Morrison. An Kruder's art is always fantastic.

From talking with Kruder at cons, their intention with Truth was to actually reestablish him as Superman to kind of address the complaints that New 52 Superman wasn't a real "Superman". We got into this when I had him do a commission at a con of Superman and when he asked which version I said classic or something... I think the result likely would have been sort of refocusing things and may have given the character a chance.

[Adekis]

I see Pak's run on Action as a "deconstruction" of the Superman character, but rather than doing what most "deconstructions" do and focusing on the broad symbolism of the character, it engaged primarily with questioning his values and personality, kept his viewpoint and personality almost entirely intact as it questioned him. I thought that was neat, and I had a lot of respect for it, even if I didn't always agree with its conclusions, as I thought the book frequently called him out for actually Not Making A Single Mistake At All.

However, I noticed that during "What Lies Beneath", a lot of fans treated Pak's Action as totally unimpeachable, whereas in "Hard Truth" the fans often treated it as some kind of shameful disgrace. I thought both arcs were shockingly consistent in tone, approach, character voice, and theme. So the experience of reading that run and seeing what online fans thought of it, really solidified my belief that Superman fans often engage with the character on a purely surface level. If Superman flies through the air, chest out, looking majestic, people like it. If he gets a haircut and buys a motorcycle, people hate it.

That was a frustrating realization, though I should really have known already. I knew how fans reacted to Superman Blue in the 90s. But in this case, I saw it for myself.

Anyway, yeah, Pak's Action Comics run is pretty fantastic!

[manwhohaseverything]

I see Pak's run on Action as a "deconstruction" of the Superman character, but rather than doing what most "deconstructions" do and focusing on the broad symbolism of the character, it engaged primarily with questioning his values and personality, kept his viewpoint and personality almost entirely intact as it questioned him. I thought that was neat, and I had a lot of respect for it, even if I didn't always agree with its conclusions, as I thought the book frequently called him out for actually Not Making A Single Mistake At All.

However, I noticed that during "What Lies Beneath", a lot of fans treated Pak's Action as totally unimpeachable, whereas in "Hard Truth" the fans often treated it as some kind of shameful disgrace. I thought both arcs were shockingly consistent in tone, approach, character voice, and theme. So the experience of reading that run and seeing what online fans thought of it, really solidified my belief that Superman fans often engage with the character on a purely surface level. If Superman flies through the air, chest out, looking majestic, people like it. If he gets a haircut and buys a motorcycle, people hate it.

That was a frustrating realization, though I should really have known already. I knew how fans reacted to Superman Blue in the 90s. But in this case, I saw it for myself.

Anyway, yeah, Pak's Action Comics run is pretty fantastic!

Funnily enough ,clark was riding a harley in smallville thanks red kryptonite.

People and their stereotypes.