I'm tired of Lois, Jimmy and reporter Clark

[Krypto]

I'm pretty sure DAILY PLANET/Galaxy Communications is a multimedia news organization and the Daily planet is a part of that where Clark used to work. Lois was a....TV news producer(?) before she moved back to being a reporter after Clark quit the Daily Planet. I would like it if Clark's new job would last and be explored more than it currently has been.

I also believe that Clark's job needs to fit well with his Superhero adventures. He needs to be able to work at least somewhat his own hours. As say a teacher you can't be abandoning your students for an hour while you go save the world because that would get you noticed and fired.

[Jim Kelly]

The same way you make money on Youtube. Or free newspaper for that matter.
Advertisements.

But it's the people who own the site who make the money. It seems to me if you're just a freelance blogger, you either have to have already established yourself in other media, so you have a following and you can attract advertisers--or you have to have some enormous luck that your blog just happens to go viral for some reason.

I don't see the average blogger making any money up front, if they don't own the site. And it would more likely take a few years to build enough of an audience to show a significant profit from advertising.

Or am I talking to a bunch of millionaries here who are all making untold riches from their blogging?

If Clark is making money from his blog--or if he's being paid to blog on someone else's site--then it's probably because he has already established himself on another platform. So what other platform did he begin on? The question just goes back to first causes. Clark has to be established as someone who is a great reporter. The medium is secondary to that. It still comes down to Clark being an investigative journalist. Why would he bother with trying to build his own blog site and attract revenue and deal with HTML glitches, and hacktavists etc. Wouldn't he just be a reporter and let others worry about where the content ends up?

[Black Angel]

But they did shake it up Jimmy ain't working at the planet anymore and is rich, lois and clark ain't together (thank god) and he is not working at the daily planet anymore either. I honestly hope he doesn't go back about time clark got his own business so glad for it. Same way i was glad when peter left the bugle.

About him being a cop i don't see it a fire man though would be awesome.

[friendly-fire-press]

It's time for a shake up damn it, why can't Clark become a cop instead? The Lois relationship is also very boring, Lana and Clark's love (Smallville) was awesome and it was a breath of fresh air. Lois has no personality at all aside from I'm a brave independent women, where is the depth?

Superman's world really needs a shake up and changes because It's been the same like forever.

Anyone else feel the same? If not don't kill me plz<3

I know where you're coming from. I'm not sure about the idea of Clark becoming a cop ... but in Grant Morrison's Action Comics run he became a fire fighter for a brief time ... that idea might be interesting to explore a bit more.

I also agree with your suggestion that the Clark/Lois relationship has been done to death. Even if and when his much more interesting relationship with Wonder Woman comes to an end (hopefully after a decent amount of time) I think it would be an anti-climactic mistake to immediately force him back with Lois. We've just started reading some different stories thanks to the New 52, it would be a shame to stop now ... reintroduce Loris Lemaris and put a new spin on her and Clark's romance, or reintroduce Maxima and create an intense sleeping-with-the-enemy type of story ... or create an entirely new female character altogether

[Sacred Knight]

He'll probably rejoin the Planet in Johns' run. But who knows, maybe he'll surprise and his work with Perry White will prove independent of his and Cat's business.

Hell in Future's End even Lois is a blogger to and is immensely successful. Maybe that's a hint that Clark and Cat keep at it and help make it a viable form of journalism.

[Krypto]

What careers/jobs would you guys be interested in seeing Clark do other than being a reporter? I know he has been a firefighter for one issue in the new 52. I think seeing him being a scientist and starting his own company in which he tries to build a better world for tomorrow with his brains would be cool. Maybe he and Lana could start the company in clean energy with a new way to power the world. It would be something different.

[Carabas]

I'm a lot more tired of Superman than I am of reporters Lois & Clark. Jimmy Olsen I don't really care about either way.

[misslane]

I can see tweaking the DAILY PLANET/Galaxy Communications as some kind of multi-media news organization. And therefore, Clark's reportage would appear in all those media at the same time (web, podcast, TV, newspaper).

The Daily Planet has been a multi-media news organization off and on since the Bronze Age. The DP was operating online news Pre-Flashpoint and was a 24-hours news, blog, website, print newspaper throughout the New 52.

I know where you're coming from. I'm not sure about the idea of Clark becoming a cop ... but in Grant Morrison's Action Comics run he became a fire fighter for a brief time ... that idea might be interesting to explore a bit more.

It's not interesting, in my opinion, to see Clark perform a job he already does but in a lesser form with a secret identity. Being a journalist is superior to being a cop or a fireman because Clark is already a super cop/fireman when he's Superman. As a journalist, Clark gets to save the world in an entirely different way by changing the way people think. It's saving the day from the bottom up rather than from the top down.

I also agree with your suggestion that the Clark/Lois relationship has been done to death.

That's like saying Superman fighting Lex Luthor or Doomsday has been done to death. Only talentless and uncreative writers can't find a way to tell a love story like Lois and Clark's love story in a new way. The Clark and Lois relationship has been done in one way or another for over 75 years because it is one of the best vehicles through which to expound on the key themes embedded in Superman's mythology. As revered creators like Maggin, Morrison, Waid, Busiek, Millar, and others have said in the past, the triangle for two is crucial to the telling of Superman's story. Just in the past 20 years, the Lois and Clark love story has been told in at least three totally different ways.

Maybe he and Lana could start the company in clean energy with a new way to power the world. It would be something different.

Clark isn't interested in science or engineering, though. He loves writing; he loves how words can change the world. You have him suddenly become interested in clean energy more than journalism, and you've fundamentally changed who he is.

[TheFearlessDefender89]

I'm a lot more tired of Superman than I am of reporters Lois & Clark. Jimmy Olsen I don't really care about either way.

Thank You good sir.

[misslane]

Mmmm....Actually, yeah, because there's this thing called an editor, and he gives you assignements, and he tells you that this article has to be this long, and to be on this page, and that you have this many days to write it....So, really, his independance is very relative. Every time he's making a paper on his own, he has to pitch it, to convince his editor that he totally should let him make a paper about that. He can't just be like "Hey Perry, I just happened to stumble into a conspiration in South India", because Perry's first question will be "And what exactly were you doing in South India in the first place? I don't remember paying you a ticket to South India".
So, unless Clark's gig is the internationnal (and even then, it mostly consists of covering specific events you're assigned to, not doing whatever you want around the world), there's going to be a disconnect between Superman and Clark's job.

Maybe that's how some reporters have to do their work, but I can imagine an editor being more flexible for a star writer. Reporters on the upper echelons of the profession I suspect don't have to wholly rely on assignments either. If one has been proven reliable and trustworthy in terms of producing quality work, then I can see how certain editors would be less fussy about following protocol. Besides, Clark's not telling stories about things all over the world. His thing is to tell stories about ordinary people that require more long term research, interviews, and patience. I'm thinking of someone like Martin Sixsmith who spent awhile with Philomena Lee before he published his story about how the Catholic Church mistreated her and other young, unwed mothers and their children. Nonetheless, with communications technology growing more advanced I think it would be fairly easy for Clark to quickly pitch an idea to an editor via video phone, etc. and he can file his stories from anywhere too. It's also difficult to imagine many editors complaining about protocol when a reporter presents them with an amazing and important finished article.

Lastly, my example of a story in India was not one where I was thinking that Clark just got that story out of the blue. All I was saying was that he could pitch a story about something in India, like the recent election there for instance, and that could provide a narrative reason for Clark to get out of the office and out of the city if that's what readers would like to see and read about. Since Clark is obviously Superman, he could believably spend weeks in India covering the election but still do his Superman thing and get his work done. Or he could be in India saving people there as Superman, and file a story about something going on in Metropolis from anywhere. In other words, being a reporter doesn't mean that Clark is stuck in the office. Another story example would be something like the treatment of young women seeking an education in countries throughout Africa and in Southeast Asia. Again, Clark's forte is human interest pieces not breaking headline news, so he could pitch doing a series or an expose on an issue like the latter and, if approved, have the freedom to work on that story and do his superhero thing whenever and wherever without raising any eyebrows.

Mostly, though, I like Clark's focus on the issues of the common man, like education, housing, employment, etc. I wouldn't want his job to transform into basically only covering the things he got involved in just because he was there as Superman. Morrison's approach worked nicely because it not only gave the city character, it also developed Clark's character as someone who, despite all of his power, still cares about the little guy and understands that fighting evil in the world means more than just kicking the asses of supervillains.

[Ascended]

Well, Clark will never leave the Planet, or journalism, for any real length of time. His job is too entrenched in the mythos for that to happen. I do agree however, that it stopped being a truly viable plot machine long ago. Instead of aiding Clark's never ending battle by keeping him up to speed on city, then global, events, it's become a limitation; a place that drags on his time without giving much back. And of course newspapers are going the way of extinction, which only helps make the character feel dated and old.

Seems to me the answer's pretty straight-forward. You keep Clark as a reporter for the Planet, but you make the Planet contemporary, like maybe a small online news startup.

Perry White is an old-school newshound and he hates the direction the news media has gone. So he starts the Daily Planet with a small staff of dedicated, half-insane, idealistic journalists and bloggers and social activists, using social media to bypass the old channels completely. Old century reporter mentality provided with a new century methodology. You can also use Perry's many and varied contacts from around the globe (he has decades of contacts built up after all) to enrich and expand your background cast. You say that, for drama, Perry borrowed the money to get started from Lex Luthor, and while Luthor doesnt own the Planet, Perry does owe Lex a favor.

So this gives the Planet, and by extension Clark, an underdog quality that everyone loves to root for. Will the daring young media start-up survive their first year, or get swallowed whole by Morgan Edge's Galaxy Media Group? Will Lois break her story first, or get beat out by her corporate-funded rival? Will Lex Luthor call in that favor and kill the story of the century? And what kind of damage could he do if Perry refuses? The Planet could claw and climb its way to the top of the heap and become the next Google or Facebook, or it could be forever chasing that dream.

You also get to tie Clark's day job into his job as Superman again. Just to survive, a site like this would require everyone to be on the road, looking under rocks no one else is looking under so they can break the news that gets everyone's attention (and money). If Jimmy stumbles over an underground zombie army in Chicago, Clark is going to hear about it that much sooner and that only helps Superman. A tiny, "underground" news site also isnt going to ask a lot of questions about how Clark gets across national borders, while the traditional, corporate Planet requires travel vouchers and passports and has partners and stock holders, all concerned about how their money is being spent.

Chasing the story around the globe makes Clark's job viable and interesting again, and all you have to do to pull it off is change the venue the Planet works on.

[kidstandout]

I'm a lot more tired of Superman than I am of reporters Lois & Clark. Jimmy Olsen I don't really care about either way.

you do know superman is the heart of the story right? i mean if that's your stance find another character to follow. dc is never going to make kal being superman take a backseat to the ordinary adventures of reporter clark kent.

[friendly-fire-press]

That's like saying Superman fighting Lex Luthor or Doomsday has been done to death. Only talentless and uncreative writers can't find a way to tell a love story like Lois and Clark's love story in a new way. The Clark and Lois relationship has been done in one way or another for over 75 years because it is one of the best vehicles through which to expound on the key themes embedded in Superman's mythology. As revered creators like Maggin, Morrison, Waid, Busiek, Millar, and others have said in the past, the triangle for two is crucial to the telling of Superman's story. Just in the past 20 years, the Lois and Clark love story has been told in at least three totally different ways.

If you noticed the rest of my statement ... "... I think it would be an anti-climactic mistake to immediately force him back with Lois. We've just started reading some different stories thanks to the New 52, it would be a shame to stop now ... reintroduce Loris Lemaris and put a new spin on her and Clark's romance, or reintroduce Maxima and create an intense sleeping-with-the-enemy type of story ... or create an entirely new female character altogether..." ... you may have noticed that my suggestion was along these lines: New relationships create new stories because of the different characteristics, personalities, origins, etc of each character. This is something I want to read and it is something the Clark/Lois relationship cannot possibly offer because it has IMO been over-utilised during the course of the last 75 years

[misslane]

If you noticed the rest of my statement ... "... I think it would be an anti-climactic mistake to immediately force him back with Lois. We've just started reading some different stories thanks to the New 52, it would be a shame to stop now ... reintroduce Loris Lemaris and put a new spin on her and Clark's romance, or reintroduce Maxima and create an intense sleeping-with-the-enemy type of story ... or create an entirely new female character altogether..." ... you may have noticed that my suggestion was along these lines: New relationships create new stories because of the different characteristics, personalities, origins, etc of each character. This is something I want to read and it is something the Clark/Lois relationship cannot possibly offer because it has IMO been over-utilised during the course of the last 75 years

Except relationships with Lori or Maxima have, in their way, also already been done. Your "new spin" idea is just as viable for Lois as it is for those other women with the caveat that obviously Lois has been written about much more than they have. The only alternative that avoids all of that is, like you noted, someone entirely new, but just because something is new doesn't mean that it will be good or interesting. However, I'll play along. What, in your mind, would be some "characteristics, personalities, [and] origins" that you think would work with a character like Superman and a mythology like Superman's? Why do you think those qualities would work?

[misslane]

Instead of aiding Clark's never ending battle by keeping him up to speed on city, then global, events, it's become a limitation; a place that drags on his time without giving much back.

Except it's been reimagined as a way for Clark to affect change on a societal and systemic level by telling stories that illuminate and assist the common man. What's been a drag are the creators who choose not to do anything to show Clark working and feeling rewarded writing for the little guy.

And of course newspapers are going the way of extinction, which only helps make the character feel dated and old.

Seems to me the answer's pretty straight-forward. You keep Clark as a reporter for the Planet, but you make the Planet contemporary, like maybe a small online news startup.

This has already been done and has been going on for decades, at least the part of making the Daily Planet modern and online. It's digital and online with bloggers, etc.

Perry White is an old-school newshound and he hates the direction the news media has gone. So he starts the Daily Planet with a small staff of dedicated, half-insane, idealistic journalists and bloggers and social activists, using social media to bypass the old channels completely. Old century reporter mentality provided with a new century methodology. You can also use Perry's many and varied contacts from around the globe (he has decades of contacts built up after all) to enrich and expand your background cast. You say that, for drama, Perry borrowed the money to get started from Lex Luthor, and while Luthor doesnt own the Planet, Perry does owe Lex a favor.

So this gives the Planet, and by extension Clark, an underdog quality that everyone loves to root for. Will the daring young media start-up survive their first year, or get swallowed whole by Morgan Edge's Galaxy Media Group? Will Lois break her story first, or get beat out by her corporate-funded rival? Will Lex Luthor call in that favor and kill the story of the century? And what kind of damage could he do if Perry refuses? The Planet could claw and climb its way to the top of the heap and become the next Google or Facebook, or it could be forever chasing that dream.

You also get to tie Clark's day job into his job as Superman again. Just to survive, a site like this would require everyone to be on the road, looking under rocks no one else is looking under so they can break the news that gets everyone's attention (and money). If Jimmy stumbles over an underground zombie army in Chicago, Clark is going to hear about it that much sooner and that only helps Superman. A tiny, "underground" news site also isnt going to ask a lot of questions about how Clark gets across national borders, while the traditional, corporate Planet requires travel vouchers and passports and has partners and stock holders, all concerned about how their money is being spent.

Chasing the story around the globe makes Clark's job viable and interesting again, and all you have to do to pull it off is change the venue the Planet works on.

I actually like this and was hoping that this was going to be the direction for The Daily Planet gang from the start of the New 52, and later around the time of Clark's revolt. It's one of the reasons I don't like Clarkcatropolis, because instead of taking advantage of the potential for radical transformation for all, only Cat Grant was written to go along for the ride. Clark's done nothing for the blog and Morgan Edge remains entrenched as the boss of Galaxy Media. I'd love to read Superman comics that put a stop to Clark being isolated from his colleagues and friends, as well as isolation from Cat herself given how little they actually collaborate and given the tone of toleration of their partnership, and integrate the supporting cast more seamlessly with a mission and attitude like the one you describe. That sounds a lot more inspiring and fun, and a lot better use of the traditional elements of the mythos than what's going on now. Fortunately, something like what you proposed can still happen.