Must There Be A Nuperman?

[TheSupernaut]

Do you guys believe that DC still sees any value in him? Do they have a good reason to bring him back? I surmised that Superdad could take a dramatic heel turn to make this work, but it all seems unlikely. What do you guys think? Must there be a New 52 Superman?

[Francisco]

IF DC had seen any value in New 52 Superman they wouldn't have brought the old tired man back with a wife and a son. At the moment I have no hopes of seen him returning. I would love to have at least a period of 10 years in which Superman isn't changed, depowered or power/swapped.

[adrikito]

DC create and destroy the character, Now DC is giving away everything that belongs to superman to superdad... Another reason John.. I was not going to see supersons by his father.... But all this family is the guilty of this.... All his comics, superman Title, Justice League position, Fortress of Solitude, Krypto.. His wife will be on the planet in a few months... Then he in the Planet..and...

ALL THIS THE PRE-FLASHPOINT ALTERED, HE IS SUPERMAN... BAH..

I thought that N52 was a base for DC Comics go forward many decades.... Now DC Comics fall(in a few decades) with superdad(no other superman), do not leave any doubt.. They have created this nonsense by him... With superdad they end..

Years ago, I did not like super dad, now, I hate him.. DC is erasing one superman and getting all this a crazy thing for this character... All Superman world is changing for him... Ah, Damn Crisis... DC should not alter the personality of superman in 1986... never

[666MasterOfPuppets]

There is value in him, definitely. That DC chose to use him poorly the last year or so before his annoying and unnecessary death is another matter. He was supposed to be the fix for what had become a messy Superman in the final pre-FP years.

[SmokeMonster]

Not really. I think Superdad will fill the spot fine in time.

I like the idea of a Superman who's an 'alien' to this universe. It's like it's the first time where the audience is in the shoes of the citizens of the DC universe with regards to Superman. Wouldn't it be so very Superman if by his continued heroics in a world that wasn't his, he won the audience's trust?

[Francisco]

Not really. I think Superdad will fill the spot fine in time.

I like the idea of a Superman who's an 'alien' to this universe. It's like it's the first time where the audience is in the shoes of the citizens of the DC universe with regards to Superman. Wouldn't it be so very Superman if by his continued heroics in a world that wasn't his, he won the audience's trust?

This comment is the most puzzling thing I've read in a long time. How is the audience in the same situation than the fictional characters of the DC universe?

[TheSupernaut]

I'm tired of the same old same old. I'm tired of Lois, I'm already tired of Jon. It's like DC just decided to hell with you of you actually supported Nuperman. This is the same kind of frustration I felt when Barry Allen came back as the Flash and Wally was gradually written out of every book like he never mattered.

[SmokeMonster]

This comment is the most puzzling thing I've read in a long time. How is the audience in the same situation than the fictional characters of the DC universe?

I should clarify. By audiences I mean New 52 readers who are unfamiliar with Superdad.

[Francisco]

I should clarify. By audiences I mean New 52 readers who are unfamiliar with Superdad.

New 52 readers also (mostly) read the post-crisis continuity and in lots of cases the pre-crisis continuity. We know whom Superdad is.

[TheSupernaut]

New 52 readers also (mostly) read the post-crisis continuity and in lots of cases the pre-crisis continuity. We know whom Superdad is.

Yeah I think DC just made a unilateral decision on who they believed people wanted more.

[SmokeMonster]

New 52 readers also (mostly) read the post-crisis continuity and in lots of cases the pre-crisis continuity. We know whom Superdad is.

To clarify again, I mean readers who started with New 52, like myself.

[SuperCrab]

For me, yes, there must be a new52 Superman.

That they weren't willing to even throw us a bone with a monthly devoted to the new52 Superman in another universe or in another role is insulting given the sheer number of issues they publish of comics a month, and even the sheer number of Superman related issues they publish a month. They could find something for him. They chose not to. They are even launching a zillion kind of spin-offs- Superwoman, Chinese Superman, Supergirl, SuperSons and so on and so forth. But they won't even toss new52 Superman fans a small bone. My true reaction to the message DC Comics is sending fans of the new52 Superman like me by behaving in this manner is not suitable for a family message forum.

[Superlad93]

That they weren't willing to even throw us a bone with a monthly devoted to the new52 Superman in another universe or in another role is insulting given the sheer number of issues they publish of comics a month, and even the sheer number of Superman related issues they publish a month. They could find something for him. They chose not to.

I find this all pretty interesting. Mostly because you could cut and past this quote onto a post about "why did they have to take away post-crisis Superman" 6 years ago and not miss a step. The current situation not withstanding (because how could those fans know he was coming back?) I remember the outrage being 10X this. That's likely because Post-Crisis had like 100X more issues published.

I don't mean anything by my comment other than finding it interesting to think about.

[SuperCrab]

I find this all pretty interesting. Mostly because you could cut and past this quote onto a post about "why did they have to take away post-crisis Superman" 6 years ago and not miss a step. The current situation not withstanding (because how could those fans know he was coming back?) I remember the outrage being 10X this. That's likely because Post-Crisis had like 100X more issues published.

I don't mean anything by my comment other than finding it interesting to think about.

Personally, I feel they should have kept a Pre-Crisis Superman comic in an alternate universe going as a single monthly when they launched the new52, with the new52 Superman being the guy in the main titles, the Justice League, the crossovers, etc.. Pre-Crisis could have been off doing his own thing in his own universe with old school writers and artwork. They didn't have to abandon that fan base.

Similarly, if they want to go back to Pre-Crisis Superman now, which they obviously do and did, they could have given us new52 Superman continuing in his alternate new52 universe in his own continuity. It's a little trickier now, because while new52 was a straight over-write of the old DC Universe timeline, Rebirth is a mix of the two, so one can argue that there is no universe for new52 Superman's book to be set in, but they could easily have just had him sort of fade out and fade in and recognize it as a place that is exactly like the universe he is from and maybe or probably is the continuation of that, going on separately from the new "mixed" universe and just have him continue to do what he does, assuming he is home (and maybe in some way it is, having split off just before Rebirth). It's a comic book, you can do stuff like that.

I think I'm being consistent on this. People invest heavily in a character for years, a monthly book with that character continuing would sell better than some of the books you publish, you keep the character alive in an alternate time line with a single issue a month. That's not only good business in a basic sense of having a book that sells more than whatever your worst selling book in the entire DC lineup is that it would be replacing, it's also good business in the sense that fans of Post-Crisis Superman 5 years ago would have still been involved in buying at least one DC Comic a month and might have been open to branching out occasionally or buying books of the other Superman too because it feels less like they DC Comics knocked off their guy for the new guy- and currently in the same sense, but with new52 Superman fans staying connected.

Heck, I'm not sure a try out for a book about the original Superman from 1938 in the old style as a continuation of his old universe or of the pre-Crisis Earth 2 line that ended with Crisis would be a bad idea either, although the people who are ticked that he was killed off are mostly long gone from comics all these decades later. You could have 3 Supermen, or even 4. But at least support the guy you urged readers to invest in for 5 years with the new52. I think it's far easier to say "This Superman exists in an alternate universe disconnected from the current main DC Comics universe" and have readers get that than a lot of the concepts they are trying to get across with Rebirth, which are much more complicated and confusing (I mention that only because occasionally I see the excuse that alternate universe books are too confusing to comics readers- well, if that's true, than Rebirth must be making heads explode If readers can get Rebirth at all, they can get "This book only counts within the title going forward and not for anything else").

DC Comics said they wanted a focus on their iconic well-known characters. Well, who's more iconic than Superman? Why not have multiple takes and keep all aspects of the fan base happy? Even new52 Superman's distinctives and history apart from the overall Superman history are more iconic than some of the other books they are doing about other heroes (Some even with Super in the title!). I mean, he was at the center of the DC Universe for 5 years and by the end was a co-star in 6 separate then-currently on-going titles and had appeared in all the crossovers. He has a little star power of his own, relative to [Pick a main character among the worst selling of all the 40+ books DC Comics puts out].

[Sacred Knight]

Nope. There only NEEDS to be one. Whatever they do after that is of their own prerogative.

Now does he need to exist to get me, personally, back as a buyer? Right now, yeah (not entertaining right now how I might feel when answers are revealed, because I know they're going to take their sweet time getting there so I'm not going to consider that till the get around to it; they lost my trust in regards to staying on board with a wait-and-see approach). The answer to that is yes. But in general, no, they don't need to bring him back if they don't want to.