30 years later, thoughts on John Byrne's THE MAN OF STEEL miniseries

[Kuwagaton]

The size of the ship is frankly "because." Even if Krypton was in our solar system, the ship would have to be terrifically made to accomplish its goal. Yet making the cabin about six feet longer was somehow too much. You just have to accept things like that to go on with the story.

Ah. Well played. You are correct: I had somehow forgotten that distasteful bit.

Which makes me dislike TMOS even more. It's one thing if Jor-El and Lara are sending baby Kal to Earth out of sheer desperation (i.e. if the only life-boat left on the sinking Titanic could only fit a baby), it's another thing if they've not only researched the planet but also pre-determined where on the planet he should land ahead of time. If they had that kind of time and resource and forward-thinking, then there is no reason that they could not have traveled with helpless Kal ... keeping in mind that the idea of making Kryptonians genetically bound to their planet wasn't even introduced until after Byrne left the Superverse.

Exactly part of the same point, and you can't quite blame Byrne for that. Jor-L, in the 1939 origin, had surveyed Earth by telescope. Like most others, Byrne was faithful to Siegel and Shuster. Yeah, he added Kansas, but if they could somehow find a way to survey Earth (50 light years away) to begin with, it's not much of a stretch that the last few miles are also within view, is it?

Didn't have to look very far to find the fiction: Milestone Media's Superman pastiche ICON.

But when his alien craft crashed in pre-Civil War America, his craft automatically scanned for the nearest sapient life form (a black field worker) and genetically altered his alien phenotypes to match that of a black infant, who would be much more likely to be not be feared by the populace.

I know little about Icon, but I did already know that. And I don't find it much of a surprise that the writer defaulted him to look just like a human. It's also no surprise to me when someone dusts off the Martian Manhunter and gives him a human identity. Whether or not some writer flings a quick explanation out of their pocket, I think my point stands.

I grew up with the Post-COIE version of Superman. That was my favorite hero ... until I realized just how much was cut away from him by Byrne and never restored. And how in hindsight, it seems like Post-COIE Superman was too often Clark trying to be a Kryptonian version of Spider-Man (a super-hero with Human problems). Give me the classic "OverPowered" Superman over the "Dumbed Down and De-powered so other heroes can shine" version any day.

The beauty of Post Crisis Superman was the he wasn't trying to be anything. He grew up as Clark, identified as Clark, and behaved like Clark in and out of costume.

Incidentally, and this isn't knocking the character, but going over the older origins I think you could say Pre-crisis Superman wasn't too bright as he couldn't even read by a "normal" age.

[jimmy]

Yeah, the art was fantastic, stories were engaging but I just plain HATED what he did to Superman and his power - levels it was an absolute joke.
Sorry, JB but I prefer a powerful Superman!

[Doctor Know]

Just finished my reread of MOS and now I'm feeling the Bryne. Took me about a week, off and on. I added Legends and World of Krypton to my reading list. I owned them, but forgot to add them to my original photo. Overall pretty solid run. Supes was a tad underpowered but he made up for it with Bryne's penchant for having the character use his intellect to solve his problems. Coming off his 1979-1985 Fantastic Four run, where Reed Richards solved most of the FF's problems using his intellect, was a plus to his Superman run.

[paurru]

I still enjoy the old series and just today all day earlier I've been out of town and went to the comic shop to buy some old goodies.


I bought issues 1 and 2 of the old 6 issue series of the old 1987 Man of Steel. I love the old limited series personally because it along with the Superman II movie is what got me into the Superman comic book back then

[paurru]

Who moved my topic thread into this topic thread?


ANYWAYZ as I was saying the old 6 issue series of Superman Man of Steel was the only thing amazing back then in the 1989s.

The old series was a good series to jump into at the time anyway for kids in the 1980s to really enjoy Supermans origin etc

[batnbreakfast]

Sorry for asking HERE but was it during Byrne's run when Superman travelled to medieval times, met Etrigan and fought a white crystal city? Those were the first Super issues I read. Now, I'd like to actually buy the run where it happened.

[TheCape]

Sorry for asking HERE but was it during Byrne's run when Superman travelled to medieval times, met Etrigan and fought a white crystal city? Those were the first Super issues I read. Now, I'd like to actually buy the run where it happened.

Yes, it was in Action Comics #587, after Crisis the title became a team-up book.

[paurru]

I was raised on the Christopher Reece Superman movies so the John Byrne Suoerman Man of Steel 6 issues series was the best thing to get into.

[Stanlos]

I loved that Byrne expressly showed that neither magic nor Kryptonite were Win Buttons for the villains. Supes readily leveraged problem solving to deal with them. As it should be

[batnbreakfast]

Yes, it was in Action Comics #587, after Crisis the title became a team-up book.

Great! Many thanks!

[victorsage]

I don't have time to write an essay, but I love John Byrne's Superman. Especially his depowering at first, and bringing back Clark Kent as the main personality. JB's Clark had a good balance, and I enjoyed much of what came out what JB set up. Including the new baddies, even some we don't see anymore like Baron Sunday were interesting, and had a throw back sense like many of the early Superman baddies who were varying degrees of crime lords.