Andy Diggle's mini run on Action Comics was Great

[Last Son of San Jose]

Who else read that? I thought it should have been a full 8 issue run if not longer and it could have been one of the all-time greats. The ending with Superman breaking off Lex's jets so he could fly high enough to reach the sun and recharge was jaw dropping.

[WillieMorgan]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty good. Shame it couldn't last longer.

I liked Luthor's interaction with the (imprisoned) psychoanalyst Dr. Lagarde. In her professional opinion he was:

'...a sociopath. A psychotic megalomaniac. Quite possibly the most dangerous man on the planet.....sir'

[Sacred Knight]

Actually I think most of the story that we actually got Tony Daniel. The original conception was Diggle's but it was probably changed a lot after that first issue since Diggle walked.

[Last Son of San Jose]

Actually I think most of the story that we actually got Tony Daniel. The original conception was Diggle's but it was probably changed a lot after that first issue since Diggle walked.

Interesting. I should add that Daniel's work on anything Superman is my favorite.

[MykeHavoc]

To think, the original plan would've had Supes lose his entire arm. You can totally see in the story where it would've happened. Such a shame that they couldn't change the status quo for just the rest of the arc and see it through. And we never got the Black suit from that Daniel cover we saw. I'd have liked for Diggle to have carte blanche for a full 6 issues, then pass it over to Pak like we got, instead of the fairly filler story we got to fill out the back half from Lobdell.

[Sacred Knight]

We did get that suit, it was in the H'el arc in Superman.

[adkal]

We did get that suit, it was in the H'el arc in Superman.

When Lara beat Kal back to blue?

[hellacre]

Actually I think most of the story that we actually got Tony Daniel. The original conception was Diggle's but it was probably changed a lot after that first issue since Diggle walked.

Yeah, I remember that. Tony really should get the credit for scripting after Diggle wrote one issue.

[MykeHavoc]

He did get credit for scripting the other two issues. Diggle got story/plot credit.

[MykeHavoc]

We did get that suit, it was in the H'el arc in Superman.

I must've missed that. I have the crossover trade and don't recall seeing him wear it in there. Is it after he gives Superboy his suit?

[manofsteel1979]

We did get that suit, it was in the H'el arc in Superman.

It wasn't actually in "H'el on Earth". It was in RETURN OF KRYPTON. For all of maybe three pages?

[manofsteel1979]

crap curse my connection. See below post.

[manofsteel1979]

I liked that first issue a lot. I do wish Diggle at least was able to finish that arc at least. People I remember went bat sh!t crazy when the whole idea Superman would lose his arm was disclosed after Diggle walked, but it wouldn't have been permanent. In Lobdell's early run we see Lex with the facial scars and Superman with scars on his shoulder (the same arm he would have lost). Diggle's story was a "flashback" set about a few months before the events of SUPERMAN #1 and would have explained a lot of lingering questions, regarding why Lex wasn't around there at the start of the relaunch, why Superman was missing for a time prior to the events of SUPERMAN #1 (remember Jimmy and others mentioning that Superman had been gone for a little while just prior to his "return" at the beginning of the issue), the cryptic hints of Superman's greatest failure having happened a year prior (also mentioned in one of Lobdell's early issues) and of course the scarring of Lex and Supes and the hints of something BIG having gone down between them that ended up with Lex in a prison specially built to hold him. Diggle's original plan seemed to be to answer all of those questions. The first issue seemed to start the build up to that...but then he walked and it became a standard three part story that answered none of those questions, and Lex's scars suspiciously disappeared between panels (with a throw away line he had plastic surgery done) just in time for FOREVER EVIL.

I do wonder why Diggle walked, especially as he seemed excited as all get out to work on it. I followed him on Twitter at the time and he seemed to be bursting at the seams to write ACTION...then he suddenly left just a week before the first issue came out, without much of an explanation. My suspicion is that the plans he and Lobdell had worked out for Superman were made with Idelson still editor...and Berganza returning scuttled those plans as he had his own ideas (explaining why RETURN OF KRYPTON kept getting pushed down the road, and then the version that was published lacked the huge consequences that were hinted at in the lead up to it, it all kind of went away, then the build up for DOOMED.). He was also a vocal fan of Clois and made it a big point to have Clark and Lois flirt like crazy in his first issue and hinted strongly at least a brief romantic relationship somewhere in the "missing 5 years" between Morrison's first two ACTION arcs and SUPERMAN #1. Perhaps that was a no no, and he was told to drop that as well. Both of those combined to cause him to suddenly drop the book.

It's a shame though as I really think he would have done great things. I love Pak and he is doing good stuff,but I'd still would like him to eventually get another crack at Superman in the future. Perhaps on the main SUPERMAN title after Johns leaves in the future?

[Blacksun]

I liked that first issue a lot. I do wish Diggle at least was able to finish that arc at least. People I remember went bat sh!t crazy when the whole idea Superman would lose his arm was disclosed after Diggle walked, but it wouldn't have been permanent. In Lobdell's early run we see Lex with the facial scars and Superman with scars on his shoulder (the same arm he would have lost). Diggle's story was a "flashback" set about a few months before the events of SUPERMAN #1 and would have explained a lot of lingering questions, regarding why Lex wasn't around there at the start of the relaunch, why Superman was missing for a time prior to the events of SUPERMAN #1 (remember Jimmy and others mentioning that Superman had been gone for a little while just prior to his "return" at the beginning of the issue), the cryptic hints of Superman's greatest failure having happened a year prior (also mentioned in one of Lobdell's early issues) and of course the scarring of Lex and Supes and the hints of something BIG having gone down between them that ended up with Lex in a prison specially built to hold him. Diggle's original plan seemed to be to answer all of those questions. The first issue seemed to start the build up to that...but then he walked and it became a standard three part story that answered none of those questions, and Lex's scars suspiciously disappeared between panels (with a throw away line he had plastic surgery done) just in time for FOREVER EVIL.

I do wonder why Diggle walked, especially as he seemed excited as all get out to work on it. I followed him on Twitter at the time and he seemed to be bursting at the seams to write ACTION...then he suddenly left just a week before the first issue came out, without much of an explanation. My suspicion is that the plans he and Lobdell had worked out for Superman were made with Idelson still editor...and Berganza returning scuttled those plans as he had his own ideas (explaining why RETURN OF KRYPTON kept getting pushed down the road, and then the version that was published lacked the huge consequences that were hinted at in the lead up to it, it all kind of went away, then the build up for DOOMED.). He was also a vocal fan of Clois and made it a big point to have Clark and Lois flirt like crazy in his first issue and hinted strongly at least a brief romantic relationship somewhere in the "missing 5 years" between Morrison's first two ACTION arcs and SUPERMAN #1. Perhaps that was a no no, and he was told to drop that as well. Both of those combined to cause him to suddenly drop the book.

It's a shame though as I really think he would have done great things. I love Pak and he is doing good stuff,but I'd still would like him to eventually get another crack at Superman in the future. Perhaps on the main SUPERMAN title after Johns leaves in the future?

It's hard to think about Superman without a arm, then I see Thor that lost a arm and his hammer and the book being one of the best, then I think it was a lost opportunity to do something very different.

My friend told me that one the reasons or the reason he left the book is because of lois and clark, he told that on a comic convention. Not sure if he had romantic intentions or it was going to be a very long game.

[Flash Gordon]

Diggle seriously only did one and a half issues, Daniel did the rest. I didn't like any of it at all.