Man of Steel Rebirth: Your Guide to the New (Old) Superman

[andersonh1]

The nice thing about an article like this is that I already know most of this history. I started reading Superman in 1988, and the two post-Crisis years I needed to be totally caught up were easy to find at the time. I've read all those stories up through the late 90s, and either have a good many of the issues, or else have trades of some of them. It'll be nice to pick up Superman every month and know so much of his history. When you put so many years of time into reading the character, it's always good to see his story continue.

[Ascended]

Interesting article. It's like the Wonder Woman article that was on the site afew weeks back. Very helpful. Makes me want to pick up S:Rebirth #1 after all.

It wasnt at all bad, but if you're looking to see what the Superman mythos is going to look like going forward, its not going to tell you anything you didnt already know. The issue was largely a....farewell, I guess you could say, to Nuperman while establishing Superdad as the main guy. But it didnt move the story forward by anything more than inches.

[Bukdiah]

This primer is cool. I never liked Superman but decided to give him a chance. I've only read Birthright and All Star Superman and am not as indifferent towards him anymore.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Good summary of the history, but the origin story is out of date. That's the Post-Crisis Superman, the guy currently running around the DCU is the Post-Infinite Crisis Superman, who is a combination of all the previous versions, not just the Post-Crisis history. Byrne's backstory was retconned away by Waid's Birthright and Johns's Secret Origin.

This version ditches all the Reagan era anti-immigrant nonsense that John Byrne's reboot saddled him with. He wasn't born on Earth, he was born on Krypton. He was also Superboy and a member of the Legion of Superheroes. He was never a football jock. He avoided sports because he was afraid of hurting someone.

The broad strokes lot of Byrne's adult Superman stories are still part of his continuity, but so are a lot of older stories, like the pre-Crisis Brainiac.

[Halloween]

Nice to know some of Byrne's revisions are being tossed out. I never cared much for his vision of Superman.

[Slaughter]

So canon Superman we had:
- Kal-L (Golden Age)
- Silver/Bronze Age Superman
- Post-Crisis Superman
- Pre-Flashpoint Superman
- Post-Flashpoint Superman

(granted four of these are pretty much the same dude but from different timelines)

You know, now that I think of it, I could totally read a "Five Supermen" tale. They compare life stories and kick ass.

[Andy E. Nystrom]

So canon Superman we had:
- Kal-L (Golden Age)
- Silver/Bronze Age Superman
- Post-Crisis Superman
- Pre-Flashpoint Superman
- Post-Flashpoint Superman

(granted four of these are pretty much the same dude but from different timelines)

You know, now that I think of it, I could totally read a "Five Supermen" tale. They compare life stories and kick ass.

A case could be made for a version even before Kal-L, since early on in the Golden Age run, before the 1940s were over, Superman's paper switched from the Daily Star to the Daily Planet and Perry White unceremoniously replaced George Taylor. Also, Luthor lost his hair during the 1940s. In contrast, Kal-L continuity had the paper remain the Daily Star, Superman Family confirmed that Perry White never became editor (he exists as a reporter though), and Luthor kept his hair (in fact at least one issue of All-Squadron showed red-haired Luthor using the Powerstone, when the original published stories had him bald by then).

[Hypestyle]

so is the returned Superman the same fellow as was first introduced in the Byrne "Man of Steel" series?

So what about the retcons that have been done since then? Is Lex the middle-aged much-older guy or is he a guy who was roughly Clark's age? Was he this billionaire businessman early on or was he a science-driven 'super'-villain from the get-go?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

so is the returned Superman the same fellow as was first introduced in the Byrne "Man of Steel" series?
?

The returned Superman is the Post-Infinite Crisis one, who has quite a bit of Byrne's continuity, as well as a bunch of Pre-Crisis continuity and a bit of the Donner movies and Smallville TV sprinkled in. He's pretty much got the DNA of every major incarnation of the character from the Silver Age on...whereas the New 52 Superman was much more like the rough n' tumble Golden Age Superman, at least when Morrison was writing him.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Is Lex the middle-aged much-older guy or is he a guy who was roughly Clark's age? Was he this billionaire businessman early on or was he a science-driven 'super'-villain from the get-go?

The Post-Infinite Crisis Lex was a merger of billionaire tycoon Lex, mad scientist Lex and Smallville Lex. However, it's doubtful we'll be seeing that version again, since the New 52 version is essentially that already.

[Hypestyle]

at this point, I'm not sure if I can even begin to enjoy anything; I've been away too long. All the multiple counter-characters sharing space now, it's so confusing.

[OldReaderofTime]

This is all nice...but I will leave this to a new generation. My time spent with reading DC, almost for 30+ years, did ended just before pre-52. Haven't pick up an issue since. And I was a hard core collector back then. No regrets and good luck.

[superduperman]

This article perfectly sums up everything that's wrong with bringing back the pre-Flashpoint Superman. Multiple origins, multiple Supergirls, stories that petered out towards the end (not that the New 52 Superman is a stranger to that particular problem). And instead of fixing what was wrong with the New 52 Superman, they just brought back one that is even harder to access for new readers. I kind of wonder if the management as DC isn't just too old anymore. They seem to have no interest in reaching out to younger readers. Or don't know what to do with younger versions of these characters. They certainly don't seem to have an interest in them. They throw out the current version of Superman just because Dan Jurgens comes up with an idea that would only work with the previous version? Let him write his own Elseworld then! You gave the director of Chronicle his own universe to play in! It shouldn't be that hard to let one of your old writers have his own for a while.

[stephens2177]

That article reminded me that matrix supergirl was also from another universe,same as powergirl,Mon-El came from the future,there was a pocket universe superboy and a superboy prime,and earth 2 older superman and lois,and alexender luthor,thats a lot of folks from not around here just off the top of my head.why couldnt they just have superdad and nuperman on the same earth.we are not supposed to wipe a superman away for another,there should just be different stories,nee heights for the superman we have

[cxranger]

So canon Superman we had:
- Kal-L (Golden Age) (apparently back according to Convergence Action Comics)
- Silver/Bronze Age Superman (de-powered, teased to still be around occasionally)
- Post-Crisis Superman (Phased out with Birthright)
- Pre-Flashpoint Superman (Post-IC, at this point markedly different from just the Post-COIE version)
- Post-Flashpoint Superman (deceased,… for now)

-and Alternate E2 Superman Val-Zod

(granted four of these are pretty much the same dude but from different timelines)

You know, now that I think of it, I could totally read a "Five Supermen" tale. They compare life stories and kick ass.

This is how I see the rundown as well. I too would love a multi Superman story - a true Super-League

I 'think' you could split further the (initial) Golden Age and Earth-2 Superman and the Silver from Bronze Age Superman, as they are many significant differences each of them in their era. I think one of the big mistakes DC did was not to differentiate between the pre and post-COIE Supermen in Who’s Who. I hope they embrace that there are many versions, and that is very cool.