What if he doesn't come back?

[superduperman]

I think we need to go down this road and consider this as a possibility. What if the New 52 Superman doesn't come back? Would you keep reading?

[Sacred Knight]

Oh no, I would be completely done. Not only as a reader of Superman, but I would drop all of DC as a consequence. I wouldn't be able to support such idiocy. I wouldn't be back until at least a significant regime shift, if even then because who knows where I'll be by that time. Maybe I just wouldn't care anymore by that time, you know? Who knows.

So on a personal level a lot is riding on this for me. But if it were come down to a worse case scenario, it isn't the end of the world. I'd miss it but I've had a good run either way. With ALL that said though, in the end my gut still tells me this is very temporary.

[DieHard200904]

I think we need to go down this road and consider this as a possibility. What if the New 52 Superman doesn't come back? Would you keep reading?

Not really, it would likely just be time for me to move on as it were, let some other new younger people pick it up.

[stephens2177]

God i wish we would just have 1 damn superman,im sick of the fracturing of who superman is by all the different versions of him.we just need 1,1 from 1938 on,1 that seen it all,and done it all,and will keep moving forward until the end of comic publications.

[Ascended]

It would depend on the quality and what they do with the new version.

I read good comics and dont read bad ones. Thats the whole of it. I dont care if its my favorite version of my favorite character ever, if the stories are bad, I leave. I dont care if its the least interesting version of the character I hate most, if the stories are good, I'll check it out (though obviously that would require a hell of a creative run).

Im a Superman fan. Not a 52 Superman fan, or pre-Crisis, or whatever. When Superman is good, I stick with it. When he's bad, I stop.

If 52 Superman is indeed gone for good there's a very high chance I'll be gone too. Not because Nuperman is leaving or because I dislike Superdad, but because the creative forces behind the scenes have been putting out some highly questionable material and I am not enjoying the books like I have been. Nuperman leaving is not the real problem; the string of bad creative choices that have lead us to him leaving are the real problem.

And if 52 Superman does return, but the quality is still crap? I still wont come back.

[Tayswift]

I think we need to go down this road and consider this as a possibility. What if the New 52 Superman doesn't come back? Would you keep reading?

I would keep reading unless they completely ruin superdad for me.

[Doctor Bifrost]

Here's a funny thing. I'm not a NuPerman fan - possibly because I haven't been a New 52 fan, but also because of the constant changes in direction with him, and the story choices.

And I'm not a SuperDad fan either. Maybe I like him a little better, but dropping in an extradimensional replacement for Superman seems like a bad choice. And, while I don't mind a 15-year-old Superboy, a 10-year-old one is simply not to my tastes. (Don't even ask me about Damian.)

So I don't have a dog in this race. (Also: it's not nice to race dogs.)

But I've been following the conversation with great interest. The Nuperman fans who feel badly treated and left behind; the people who disliked Nuperman, and finally are getting something that feels more like "their" Superman; the pre-Flashpoint DCU fans who felt badly treated and left behind years ago, and are now bemused by the frantic "how can dC do this to its fans?" reaction. There's so much to say, so much to read!

So much, in fact, that until a few days ago (probably with the release of the new Superman/Batman) I hardly thought about the fact: oh, they're actually going to kill off the current Superman. There's going to be a death scene. And memorial services. And the whole world will mourn! (If they know about it.) And the whole nine yards.

And it dawned on me: first of all, I've seen this before. I was around when "The Death of Superman" at the hands of Doomsday was first released. And it seemed pretty awful to me then. Not in a good way.

And second of all, I simply don't like the idea. It seems like something very ugly, done for the wrong reasons - a PR stunt, and a kickstart to a new direction for the character because they didn't want to get the new direction in the old-fashioned way: by character development, having the character go through experiences that would lead him to the new direction.

Who knows, maybe they'll do a great job of this. (I have no absolute objection to the death of characters. I thought Barry Allen's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths was well done.) And maybe the stories that follow are going to be just wonderful. But right now, I am not looking forward to this. I don't really want to see all the characters going through it (again). So whatever DC's going to do next, they're starting me off in a pretty sour place for a reader.

But that's just me.

[superduperman]

It would depend on the quality and what they do with the new version.

I read good comics and dont read bad ones. Thats the whole of it. I dont care if its my favorite version of my favorite character ever, if the stories are bad, I leave. I dont care if its the least interesting version of the character I hate most, if the stories are good, I'll check it out (though obviously that would require a hell of a creative run).

Im a Superman fan. Not a 52 Superman fan, or pre-Crisis, or whatever. When Superman is good, I stick with it. When he's bad, I stop.

If 52 Superman is indeed gone for good there's a very high chance I'll be gone too. Not because Nuperman is leaving or because I dislike Superdad, but because the creative forces behind the scenes have been putting out some highly questionable material and I am not enjoying the books like I have been. Nuperman leaving is not the real problem; the string of bad creative choices that have lead us to him leaving are the real problem.

And if 52 Superman does return, but the quality is still crap? I still wont come back.

This is basically how a lot of us feel. The idea that "Oh, the reboot didn't work! Let's just bring back the old guy!" This is a lazy solution to a long term problem. The entire universe got rebooted. A lot of good characters lost their histories. Conner Kent probably isn't coming back. Neither is the original JSA. Now it just feels like they were removed from history for nothing. The "old" Superman gets to come back but nobody else does? It's a cheat of the worst kind.

[suemorphplus209]

All I really care about is that they stop dragging Superman through Crossover Events, it really shorts out the development of his world. Editorial needs to change, or they need to figure out that throwing one big event after another for a Superman character is just getting rediculous. I know that Death and Return of Superman, which gave a boost to Superman was great back then, but do they really think that doing it again will do the same thing? It personally feels like they are flip-flopping on Superman at this point. Just let Superman be Superman, let him be himself. Superman is Superman, and personally, I get frustrated with how badly his own editorial isn't even giving him breathing space. Are the guys at the top being crazy. Jimmy being Superman's peer rather than young enough to be his kid or whatnot was interesting, but they cut that short for the sake of big crossover events, Superman working at the Daily Planet and also for a little as a blogger was interesting, but they cut that and wouldn't resolve it. Frankly, the people at the top need to change, it doesn't matter which Superman, I only feel like they keep giving him the same treatment and have no clue what to do with him.

[superduperman]

Here's a funny thing. I'm not a NuPerman fan - possibly because I haven't been a New 52 fan, but also because of the constant changes in direction with him, and the story choices.

And I'm not a SuperDad fan either. Maybe I like him a little better, but dropping in an extradimensional replacement for Superman seems like a bad choice. And, while I don't mind a 15-year-old Superboy, a 10-year-old one is simply not to my tastes. (Don't even ask me about Damian.)

So I don't have a dog in this race. (Also: it's not nice to race dogs.)

But I've been following the conversation with great interest. The Nuperman fans who feel badly treated and left behind; the people who disliked Nuperman, and finally are getting something that feels more like "their" Superman; the pre-Flashpoint DCU fans who felt badly treated and left behind years ago, and are now bemused by the frantic "how can dC do this to its fans?" reaction. There's so much to say, so much to read!

So much, in fact, that until a few days ago (probably with the release of the new Superman/Batman) I hardly thought about the fact: oh, they're actually going to kill off the current Superman. There's going to be a death scene. And memorial services. And the whole world will mourn! (If they know about it.) And the whole nine yards.

And it dawned on me: first of all, I've seen this before. I was around when "The Death of Superman" at the hands of Doomsday was first released. And it seemed pretty awful to me then. Not in a good way.

And second of all, I simply don't like the idea. It seems like something very ugly, done for the wrong reasons - a PR stunt, and a kickstart to a new direction for the character because they didn't want to get the new direction in the old-fashioned way: by character development, having the character go through experiences that would lead him to the new direction.

Who knows, maybe they'll do a great job of this. (I have no absolute objection to the death of characters. I thought Barry Allen's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths was well done.) And maybe the stories that follow are going to be just wonderful. But right now, I am not looking forward to this. I don't really want to see all the characters going through it (again). So whatever DC's going to do next, they're starting me off in a pretty sour place for a reader.

But that's just me.

I'd like to think that no matter which version of the character is your favorite, this would upset a lot of fans for that very reason. Like I said, a lot of good characters lost their histories for this reboot. The idea that the character is just interchangeable makes their removal from continuity a waste. Now it doesn't matter. Conner Kent is gone for no reason. Year One was a far superior story to Zero Year. Superman needed a reboot and an origin clean up more than anyone and now that's all out the window. I think that's what angers me the most. He NEEDED this reboot! Now it doesn't matter. And I'm not even sure why. Does having him married with a kid make him easier to write for? It didn't for the first fifty years of his history.

[Tayswift]

And it dawned on me: first of all, I've seen this before. I was around when "The Death of Superman" at the hands of Doomsday was first released. And it seemed pretty awful to me then. Not in a good way.

And second of all, I simply don't like the idea. It seems like something very ugly, done for the wrong reasons - a PR stunt, and a kickstart to a new direction for the character because they didn't want to get the new direction in the old-fashioned way: by character development, having the character go through experiences that would lead him to the new direction.

Who knows, maybe they'll do a great job of this. (I have no absolute objection to the death of characters. I thought Barry Allen's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths was well done.) And maybe the stories that follow are going to be just wonderful. But right now, I am not looking forward to this. I don't really want to see all the characters going through it (again). So whatever DC's going to do next, they're starting me off in a pretty sour place for a reader.

But that's just me.

yeah we already saw the death of superman done with much bigger emotional stakes. and if new 52 returns we will have a 100% of replay of "death and return of superman" from 90s;

I think that bring pre52 complicate things a lot. I really think they were looking for a easy stunt to call atention and they got it with final days comics getting sold out.
look a batman that snyder/capullo build a complete story, it just ends nicely and emotional. they earned it in each issue of their batman run

[Flash Gordon]

I'm waiting this all out anyway. Plenty of other stuff to read. If any good tales are told with either version of the character, I'll show up for it.

[Sacred Knight]

Actually the stakes for the original DOS weren't that high. I mean, it seems that way because of the hype around the story, but it was an illusion. It wasn't a plan, it was a placeholder because they couldn't do their original plan. And I don't say that to deride the story. Even for its faults I still love it. But we can't pretend that it was actually any better thought out than this, or likewise built up any stronger emotional beats to support it. It all happened rather quickly, and as a reaction to a problem as opposed to an organically constructed tale; just like this (this doesn't include the original Reign. THAT story, on its own, was planned and executed brilliantly).

[Prime]

I won't return. I'll stick to Invincible.

[manofsteel1979]

I'm just bemused and shake my head over all this. I am giving it a shot because I've been reading for 25 year and I've pretty much seen it all. It is still Superman ultimately. I do wish they just did the smart thing and just write Superman Red/ Nuperman like the guy in Superman#51. No stunts. No gimmicks. Just write him like Superman. You want him with Lois and give them a son? There are ways to do that without pissing off a sizable chunk of the fanbase by swaping Supermen like they are interchangeable pieces.

As much as I feared they'd merge them, I am starting to think given what we know now, doing that may not have been such a bad idea.