Superman: Man of Steel, Birthright, and Secret Origins

[Kuwagaton]

Have some humility and realize someone else weaved a much better tale. There's very little about Morrison's origin that couldn't have worked with Rebirth Superman, or any way they wanted to portray him in the present day.

Except that's not the story they wanted to tell. That's not hubris, it's the job, and there's no indication that it's established for the standard of individual subjectivity.

I hear a lot about Pre-Crisis. Where can i read that?

The easiest way is seeing it reprinted as Superman #1, #53, or #146 in trades like the golden age omnibus, Superman in the Sixties, or the 75 years collection. Action Comics #500 has a slightly spruced up version, but this was before creative license so aside from the framing sequence it's really verbatim to the #146 version.

[Jim Kelly]

The story in ACTION COMICS 500 was repackaged in black & white in a mass market paperback from Tor, as THE SUPERMAN STORY--released in 1987. This was available for years. I picked it up at a Chapters bookstore in the early 2000s, for cover price. In fact, I bought two copies, even though I have mutliple copies of ACTION 500 (Marty Pasko is one of my favourite Superman writers). But I guess it finally left the bookstores--although you never know it might be on some shelves. The cover price on mine is $5.99 US/$8.99 Can.

[ironman2978]

Secret Origin is my favorite Superman origin because it brought back things from Superman's Silver Age origin.

Honestly I would say Birthright and Morrison did a better job at doing that than Geoff did to be frank.

[superduperman]

The story in ACTION COMICS 500 was replackaged in black & white in a mass market paperback from Tor, as THE SUPERMAN STORY--released in 1987. This was available for years. I picked it up at a Chapters bookstore in the early 2000s, for cover price. In fact, I bought two copies, even though I have mutliple copies of ACTION 500 (Marty Pasko is one of my favourite Superman writers). But I guess it finally left the bookstores--although you never know it might be on some shelves. The cover price on mine is $5.99 US/$8.99 Can.

I got it about 12 years ago online for about $5. For those who want to learn more about the pre-Crisis Superman this is where you should probably start.

[Kuwagaton]

Honestly I would say Birthright and Morrison did a better job at doing that than Geoff did to be frank.

They seem to both love Silver/Bronze themselves, but I dunno if I'd call the Waid or Morrison stories similar to those older comics. I mean if we're counting Morrison's origin as #0-8. What Birthright would have turn out to be, going forward, is a strange mystery. We kinda just have For Tomorrow.

The story in ACTION COMICS 500 was replackaged in black & white in a mass market paperback from Tor, as THE SUPERMAN STORY--released in 1987. This was available for years. I picked it up at a Chapters bookstore in the early 2000s, for cover price. In fact, I bought two copies, even though I have mutliple copies of ACTION 500 (Marty Pasko is one of my favourite Superman writers). But I guess it finally left the bookstores--although you never know it might be on some shelves. The cover price on mine is $5.99 US/$8.99 Can.

Ah. I always completely overlook black and white reprints.

[Jim Kelly]

Ah. I always completely overlook black and white reprints.

A fond comic book memory is when I was on summer vacation with my family and we stopped in a small town in the BC interior, where I bought a paperback that repackaged Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories in black & white--from GREEN LANTERN 78 & 79--with a blurb from Carmine Infantino and an intro by Denny O'Neil. This was actually the second volume--I never got the first. But that was the first place where I'd read the Hard Travelling Heroes adventures and it's still how I remember those stories.

I also have a similar paperback for GIANT SIZE X-MEN No. 1 (May 1975), even though I've never bought the original comic.

[superduperman]

Except that's not the story they wanted to tell. That's not hubris, it's the job, and there's no indication that it's established for the standard of individual subjectivity.

This is something that's not easy to think about because it means admitting that what you personally may want may not be in the companies best interest. They need as deep a well to draw from for material as possible. Much as I may have loved the New 52, it is not that. I think the best solution, and to some degree I think all roads are trying to lead back to this, would be to undo COIE and just go back to the pre-Crisis universe and move forward from there. Move the timeline up about ten years, say that Lois and Clark got married, had Jon, he died, etc. All the significant bullet points still happened but now you don't have all the confusion about which "version" this is. It's not perfect by a long shot but it is ideal for future storytelling. Something like Action 500 can still be his origin and just release an "updated" version every decade or so that it covers the same material. Again, this is just my solution but I think it would fix a lot of the problems that have come about since.

[Thor-Ul]

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?

Answering directly to the OP, the justification of Birthright came from Superman 200, as an aftermath of the Cir-El saga and the war between Brainiac and Brainiac 13. There where some wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey time travel stuff involved by changing the future and defeating the Futuresmiths.
For your second question, just is hypertime. Sorry, I mean is HYPERTIME!

[Adekis]

I feel like I need to clarify something here. I put EO on my list because of the two page spread where they find him. Not necessarily because of the larger story itself. To me, that really tells you all you need to know about Superman's backstory. Two pages versus a six part miniseries makes a lot more sense to me. In terms of his personality, the impression that I got from the books is that he's learning to be Superman. He spent his whole life in hiding and didn't get attached to humanity. Now he has to learn how. This is how I see the entire EO line: heroes learning to be heroes. Of course it may be a moot point since it looks like they're not going to take it up again.

I think that bit's pretty good too, but I have a hard time separating those four pages from the rest of the story, plus I don't really like Jor-El's awful beard. I know that's not part of those four pages, but- kinda makes my point about not being able to separate those four pages from the rest of the trash, haha!

I'm also not a huge fan of "learning to become Superman" narratives. One of the things I like about Morrison's version is that as soon as he's got the idea of a secret identity planted in his head, it's inevitable. He's wanted to be Superman all his life and now he's got the opportunity to do it. There's no sense that he's got to learn how to be Superman, he's just Superman. That's who he is. His approach to certain problems might change, but he's Superman because he wants to be, and it comes naturally to him. Same deal with Snyder's, in fact. He's basically Superman minus all the trappings (flying, costume, cape, glasses, job, knowledge of alien heritage) from the start of the movie, acting without thinking and at personal cost the second he sees a crisis he can help with.

Is it true that the Earth One series is discontinued? I hadn't heard that, that's a shame. Even though I can't really bring myself to like Superman: Earth One vol 1 (though vol 2 was better), even though I hate Batman: Earth One vol 1 so much that I don't even think I've ever mentioned how much I hate it online before, and have never been able to bring myself to read vol 2-- I still thought the Wonder Woman and Titans subseries had potential, and I wanted Earth One to continue to develop, in case one day it became good.

As long as I'm on the subject, Trial of Wonder Woman's got a crazy amount of flaws that are basically built so deeply into the book's fabric that it drags the whole thing down, but at it's got a good basic premise at its heart and a great aesthetic, plus the one of the best Etta Candys I ever saw. It just needed a professor of feminist political philosophy as a consultant to stop Morrison every time he started building a feminist argument out of straw.

Aaaaanyway...

[Soubhagya]

In terms of Morrison origin, the most cohesive way to read it.
#5-6, 0, 1-8, annual#1,(Justice League#1-6) #10-18

It is a weird order. But anyway. Thank you very much!

The easiest way is seeing it reprinted as Superman #1, #53, or #146 in trades like the golden age omnibus, Superman in the Sixties, or the 75 years collection. Action Comics #500 has a slightly spruced up version, but this was before creative license so aside from the framing sequence it's really verbatim to the #146 version.

The story in ACTION COMICS 500 was repackaged in black & white in a mass market paperback from Tor, as THE SUPERMAN STORY--released in 1987. This was available for years. I picked it up at a Chapters bookstore in the early 2000s, for cover price. In fact, I bought two copies, even though I have mutliple copies of ACTION 500 (Marty Pasko is one of my favourite Superman writers). But I guess it finally left the bookstores--although you never know it might be on some shelves. The cover price on mine is $5.99 US/$8.99 Can.

Thanks you very much!

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

Is it true that the Earth One series is discontinued? I hadn't heard that, that's a shame. Even though I can't really bring myself to like Superman: Earth One vol 1 (though vol 2 was better), even though I hate Batman: Earth One vol 1 so much that I don't even think I've ever mentioned how much I hate it online before, and have never been able to bring myself to read vol 2-- I still thought the Wonder Woman and Titans subseries had potential, and I wanted Earth One to continue to develop, in case one day it became good.

Green Lantern: Earth One is on the way, it's currently scheduled for early next year I believe. Aquaman: Earth One is also in the works, so the Earth One line isn't over yet.

With Superman: Earth One though, JMS eyesight continues to deteriorate, so he's retired from comics.

[KC]

Honestly I would say Birthright and Morrison did a better job at doing that than Geoff did to be frank.

They did restore some things from the Silver Age, but I like Johns' story more and I think Johns did a better job at it.

[superduperman]

I think that bit's pretty good too, but I have a hard time separating those four pages from the rest of the story, plus I don't really like Jor-El's awful beard. I know that's not part of those four pages, but- kinda makes my point about not being able to separate those four pages from the rest of the trash, haha!

I'm also not a huge fan of "learning to become Superman" narratives. One of the things I like about Morrison's version is that as soon as he's got the idea of a secret identity planted in his head, it's inevitable. He's wanted to be Superman all his life and now he's got the opportunity to do it. There's no sense that he's got to learn how to be Superman, he's just Superman. That's who he is. His approach to certain problems might change, but he's Superman because he wants to be, and it comes naturally to him. Same deal with Snyder's, in fact. He's basically Superman minus all the trappings (flying, costume, cape, glasses, job, knowledge of alien heritage) from the start of the movie, acting without thinking and at personal cost the second he sees a crisis he can help with.

Is it true that the Earth One series is discontinued? I hadn't heard that, that's a shame. Even though I can't really bring myself to like Superman: Earth One vol 1 (though vol 2 was better), even though I hate Batman: Earth One vol 1 so much that I don't even think I've ever mentioned how much I hate it online before, and have never been able to bring myself to read vol 2-- I still thought the Wonder Woman and Titans subseries had potential, and I wanted Earth One to continue to develop, in case one day it became good.

As long as I'm on the subject, Trial of Wonder Woman's got a crazy amount of flaws that are basically built so deeply into the book's fabric that it drags the whole thing down, but at it's got a good basic premise at its heart and a great aesthetic, plus the one of the best Etta Candys I ever saw. It just needed a professor of feminist political philosophy as a consultant to stop Morrison every time he started building a feminist argument out of straw.

Aaaaanyway...

I would never make the EO Superman the mainstream version for that very reason. Most people don't want their heroes to get on the job training. It's not everyone's cup of tea and I understand that. And that's not what it was intended to be. The EO line itself hasn't necessarily been discontinued but it's doubtful there will be more Superman books in the future. JMS, who was writing them, recently retired from comics and I don't think they were as well received as DC was hoping. Plus, the several years between books makes them a hard long term sell. I'm probably the only person who liked them. There is the WW sequel and the upcoming Green Lantern book. Past that, IDK. I heard there was a Flash book in the works but I have no idea how far along it is.

[Kuwagaton]

This is something that's not easy to think about because it means admitting that what you personally may want may not be in the companies best interest. They need as deep a well to draw from for material as possible. Much as I may have loved the New 52, it is not that. I think the best solution, and to some degree I think all roads are trying to lead back to this, would be to undo COIE and just go back to the pre-Crisis universe and move forward from there. Move the timeline up about ten years, say that Lois and Clark got married, had Jon, he died, etc. All the significant bullet points still happened but now you don't have all the confusion about which "version" this is. It's not perfect by a long shot but it is ideal for future storytelling. Something like Action 500 can still be his origin and just release an "updated" version every decade or so that it covers the same material. Again, this is just my solution but I think it would fix a lot of the problems that have come about since.

I think the most unfeasible part of reactivating prr crisis continuity would be accounting for the sake substantial amount of pre crisis material out of print. Even with the bulky showcase trades on cheap paper, they'd only be doing at most 9 months at a time to cover about 15 years.

Which is why none of these origins tried to go that route I'd imagine.