Superman: Man of Steel, Birthright, and Secret Origins

[Slimybug]

Okay, so at the risk of stating the obvious, "Man of Steel" was meant to be the new origin story of Superman for the Post-Crisis world. Then, around 2003, "Birthright" was essentially meant to replace it. Then, in 2009, "Secret Origins" became the new official origin.

My question has to do with motivation. Why did DC commission a new origin, and then another? For me, I never really liked "Man of Steel," so I was happy to see it go. I also didn't care for "Birthright." "Secret Origin" was the first retelling that I actually really liked, and felt deserved to be the definitive origin story. If others shared my opinion, could that be the reason for it all? Did people just not like Man of Steel, and then not like Birthright?

My second question is about in-continuity continuity changes. DC is not one to eliminate something from continuity without an in-continuity explanation. everything that's ever been "erased" from the timeline wasn't just done by DC saying "Okay, now ignore that," it happened because events in continuity altered the timeline. I happen to find that cool, because it means that even if it didn't happen in the current timeline, EVERYTHING DC has ever published DID happen, in what you might call the "timeline of timelines."

With Secret Origins replacing Birthright, we of course have Infinite Crisis to explain it away. So what would be the in-continuity explanation for Birthright replacing Man of Steel? Is it just the ridiculous "Superboy-punch" thing?

[Buried Alien]

Though each was better developed, I never felt that any of the three Post-COIE origin stories for Superman worked as well as the succinct Pre-COIE telling. All three fully fleshed out Clark's upbringing in a way that was never fully explored Pre-COIE, and while this enriched his character somewhat, I also feel it encumbered the character quite a bit as well. It sort of limited what writers could/would do with the character.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Dataweaver]

With Secret Origins replacing Birthright, we of course have Infinite Crisis to explain it away. So what would be the in-continuity explanation for Birthright replacing Man of Steel? Is it just the ridiculous "Superboy-punch" thing?

Around the same time as Birthright came out, the Superman titles did a "Futuresmiths" story arc that involved time travel. The ending strongly implied that the temporal tampering altered Superman's origin story from Man of Steel to Birthright.

[Nomads1]

Man of Steel is my favorite, then Birthright, than Secret Origin. I didn't like much Bithright when it came out on single issues, but then, at a whim, I brought it cheap as a TPB and really enjoyed it. Sorry it didn't stick. There was a LOT really ripe for development. More, IMHO, than Secret Origins, which was, IMHO, too much of a love letter to the Donner movie, and the bronze and silver age Superman.

Peace

[Dr. Jay]

I always felt that Birthright was a little overrated. I'm not a big Yu fan and always walk away from Mark Waid stories underwhelmed by the conclusions.

Secret Origins at least had some great Gary Frank art. Love that guy.

[MykeHavoc]

My favorite is Morrison's first volume of Action Comics.

[Kuwagaton]

I agree that each one was longer and more elaborate than necessary, but MoS and birthright had a number of now classic elements and great art. Frank's art was nice, but I didn't care for that story, didn't feel like it added anything interesting.

Each lasted for a shorter stint than the one before, but I don't mind the idea of multiple origins as someone will always have a preference and I don't care about what's official if I get a good story.

[MajorHoy]

We didn't get rid of the separate Superman section of the Forum, did we?

[Doctor Know]

And Man of Steel, Birthright and Secret Origins have all been retconned by Morisson's Men of Steel origin for New52.

If I hade to choose one, I'd choose Man of Steel. I enjoy the Byrne run and it did a lot to define the modern incarnation of the character. Birthright is a good updated origin, but with no follow-up to it, it feels like DC just forgot about it. In 2006 Superman's Infinite Crisis storyline, both MOS and Birthright are considered canon by the end.

Johns' Secret Origin has some nice bits reestablishing the Legion but it is obvious fan wank, and ultimately derivative.

[dcdrew]

In 1986 I was a big John Byrne fan and was excited for Man of Steel but it let me down on all accounts!

First of all Byrne should NEVER been giving free reign to revamp Superman it should have been a team effort. Byrne said DC liked his proposal best, but DC wanted Byrne because he was hottest artist and a popular writer at the time and could write and draw at least 2 top-selling monthly comic books!

Byrne CHANGED EVERYTHING about Superman for WORSE!

Krypton was cold and emotionless stripped of its grandeur!
Clark used his powers to better himself become star football player at Smallville High *I liked it in 1978 movie when Clark was shy waterboy who HID his powers!
Ma and Pa Kent LIVED!
Clark was not in costume when he 1st publicly used his powers
Lois was arrogant and abrasive, she HATED Clark and called him Kent and only Clark when she thought he was hurt or DEAD!
Clark turned in Superman exclusive story instead of letting Lois have it!
Clark was like George Reeves, tough and assertive instead of mild nerdy Christopher Reeve Clark you could sympathize with
Superman and Batman were no longer best friends but have grudging respect for each other
Lex Luthor is billionare businessman who runs Metropolis and always gets upperhand on Superman
Superman does not learn his Kryptonian origin until years into his career!
Superman dismisses Krypton as ultimately meaningless! What is point of Superman being from Krypton unless it significant to him?

Byrne's ART helps his stories a lot and I do not mean that as a compliment!

After 75 years there will NEVER be PERFECT version of Superman for EVERYBODY especially Byrne's!

[Dataweaver]

Every single point you mention as a flaw of Byrne’s Man of Steel is something I loved about it. In particular, I loved the notion that he thought of himself as Clark Kent, a farmboy from Kansas, rather than as Kal-El, a strange visitor from another planet. And I grew up watching George Reeve’s Superman; frankly, I prefer his take on Clark Kent to Christopher Reeves’ almost cartoony Clark Kent.

I definitely agree that there’s no one version of Superman’s origin story that will satisfy every fan; but part of that is because of the above: there are fans who love what you deplore about Byrne’s version, and fans who consider your preferred version to be flawed. Man of Steel isn’t “especially” not perfect; it’s merely not to your liking.

[Herowatcher]

Though I didn't like all elements of Bryne's Man of Steel, the fundamentals of Superman were still there.
I enjoyed Secret Origins as well, as it brought back good elements of Pre-Crisis history to Superman that were taking out Post-Crisis.

As long as Superman's basic foundation is untouched and he remains recognizable...he'll remain one of my top DC heroes.

However, I'm not happy with what they've done to him in the New 52. I did enjoy when Perez was writing him though.

[Nomads1]

Every single point you mention as a flaw of Byrne’s Man of Steel is something I loved about it. In particular, I loved the notion that he thought of himself as Clark Kent, a farmboy from Kansas, rather than as Kal-El, a strange visitor from another planet. And I grew up watching George Reeve’s Superman; frankly, I prefer his take on Clark Kent to Christopher Reeves’ almost cartoony Clark Kent.

Me too, on all points.

Peace

[George Taylor]

Superman's origin changed from Man of Steel changed to Birthright due to the Futuresmiths story as said above. Then Superboy-Prime's fight with Superboy causes Alexander Luthor's Tower to explode and all the parallel universes glimpsed at that time collapse into a New Earth with an altered story which give us John's Secret Origin. Then Flashpoint happened and rebooted Superman's story once again which resulted in Morrison's Superman and the Men of Steel. I vastly prefer the latter to the other three.

[manofsteel1979]

Of the three mentioned, I liked Birthright the best, in spite of the sketchy art towards the last couple issues. MAN OF STEEL I didn't read until around 1998 after having already started being a regular reader of the titles for 8 years prior and was underwhelmed (although the first issue and the Batman issue were good reading). I wanted to like SO...however it felt...too retro to me in some ways. The art was beautiful (although the creepy way young Clark looked like they took the adult Chris Reeve head and put it on a kids body was off putting) and I liked how they returned the Superboy and Legion stuff to continuity...but everything else from the heavy Donner influence to the need to tie both Parasite and Metallo to Lex...just felt wrong. SO was meant to be an origin refresh that tied into NEW KRYPTON and the LEGION retro-boot more directly,(similar to how the GREEN LANTERN SECRET ORIGIN Story tied into the multi-colored corps mega arc Johns was working on) but all the delays and the fact DC started to run away from NEW KRYPTON near the end affected it negatively.

Birthright was a nice balance between the best elements of the Post Crisis reboot whilst putting back in a lot of the things and sensibilities of the Pre-Crisis era (particularly Lex's scientific background and ties to young Clark and a more familiar Krypton) that were needlessly tossed aside. Now some of the added stuff that Waid snuck in (like Soul vision and the idea of Clark being a vegan) was a little wonky,and the climax of the story, Lex's faux alien invasion just seemed anticlimatic (hurt by some terribly sketchy art by a rushed Lenil Yu, whose first half of the story was often gorgeous)..but overall, that first half always felt like what a modern Superman film should feel. In fact I used to refer to birthright as a "Brian Singer take on Superman"....that was until we found out what a real Brian Singer take on Superman was....which was Donner without the fun.