Controversial Superman Opinions

[Vordan]

The worst I can say about SO is that it only seemed to do one original thing, Wonka Lex, and it was not great or something anyone developed. Because he did the story at the end of the road, Johns made his origin a lot more necessary than it should be because all the stuff before it depends on getting what he put into SO. Of course we'd have been quite well off, better to me for sure, just sticking with Birthright and retconning in the Legion from that one arc. I agree with Adekis in general about the unfortunate trend of having to do different origins so often but I liked that story a lot at the time and still think it's cool/functional.



It was pretty much the only solution they'd have gone with in response to everyone complaining about his powers I think. Even in stories I like I have to admit the high levels meant a poorly thought out conclusion.

The big problem with Secret Origin is that it’s (oh Lord do I hate this word but I can’t think of a better one) soulless. It’s basically a continuity list, “this happened and then this happened, and then this happened”. But none of it really seems to mean anything or connect to each other. American Alien did the whole “snippets of Clark’s life that show how he became Superman” far better. Birthright had a much more interesting take on Lex and Clark’s relationship. Morrison’s Action run had a better emotional arc of Clark winning over the public despite fearmongering and distrust. About all SO has over the other origins is that it has the Legion which I 100% approve of, and it has a fantastic idea for Metallo which unfortunately has never reached its full potential, namely that he’s the military’s Anti-Superman. That’s a fantastic idea, one that if I was ever blessed with the opportunity to write a Metallo story I’d go all in on. I think making Metallo more of a parallel to Clark in terms of his background would really help raise his profile, but unfortunately no one has really done anything with Corbyn.

[Ascended]

Yeah, I think post-Crisis Superman is more "grounded" in the sense that he and his world are still fantastical, but considerably more subdued than they were before, not as big. At least early on.

I think part of my issue with this is the impact it had on characters too. Post-Crisis Clark is a well rounded, well developed character. He's recognizable as Superman and I know what his favorite Metallica album is (...& Justice for All), and what his favorite foods are. Not many comic characters are so well defined. But he's too understandable, too.....simply human. Like, I want a Superman who looks at the world a little bit like a big, ongoing experiment and sometimes does stuff just to see what the reaction will be. I want a Superman who eats granite because it adds a nice rich spice to his burgers. I want a Superman who's a little weird and different and alien, and doesn't think exactly like I do. I don't want him to be completely inhuman, he's not J'onn, and I still want his favorite Metallica album to be Justice for All, and I still want him to have the "normal person" stuff. But I want him to be more than just that too.

[Kuwagaton]

The big problem with Secret Origin is that it’s (oh Lord do I hate this word but I can’t think of a better one) soulless. It’s basically a continuity list, “this happened and then this happened, and then this happened”. But none of it really seems to mean anything or connect to each other. American Alien did the whole “snippets of Clark’s life that show how he became Superman” far better. Birthright had a much more interesting take on Lex and Clark’s relationship. Morrison’s Action run had a better emotional arc of Clark winning over the public despite fearmongering and distrust. About all SO has over the other origins is that it has the Legion which I 100% approve of, and it has a fantastic idea for Metallo which unfortunately has never reached its full potential, namely that he’s the military’s Anti-Superman. That’s a fantastic idea, one that if I was ever blessed with the opportunity to write a Metallo story I’d go all in on. I think making Metallo more of a parallel to Clark in terms of his background would really help raise his profile, but unfortunately no one has really done anything with Corbyn.

Those tend to come up for with Johns: a hollow sort of feeling and insisting on canon. But yeah it's worse when you have a story that's already destined to be a calculated retread. Yeah we got the Legion, yeah we got Lex, yeah we got his first kiss with Lana, and so on. It's a checklist and then at its heart you get "Metropolis used to look down all time now they look up." Ehhh alright lol. I almost feel bad for knocking it because again I don't think it's the worst, but I can't say we needed to trash Birthright and by the time it finished we were just a few months away from a longer and more remarkable origin.

I also have a hard time with IC fallout, especially when it comes to poor Kal-L. So weird.

[Sacred Knight]

The big problem with Secret Origin is that it’s (oh Lord do I hate this word but I can’t think of a better one) soulless. It’s basically a continuity list, “this happened and then this happened, and then this happened”. But none of it really seems to mean anything or connect to each other. American Alien did the whole “snippets of Clark’s life that show how he became Superman” far better. Birthright had a much more interesting take on Lex and Clark’s relationship. Morrison’s Action run had a better emotional arc of Clark winning over the public despite fearmongering and distrust. About all SO has over the other origins is that it has the Legion which I 100% approve of, and it has a fantastic idea for Metallo which unfortunately has never reached its full potential, namely that he’s the military’s Anti-Superman. That’s a fantastic idea, one that if I was ever blessed with the opportunity to write a Metallo story I’d go all in on. I think making Metallo more of a parallel to Clark in terms of his background would really help raise his profile, but unfortunately no one has really done anything with Corbyn.

1000% this. Even the Smallville stuff which was the best part, despite being general good ideas and at the very least a huge improvement over the dated post-Crisis hallmarks, is executed just like a checklist. Then the last part of it ends up being just a basic filler Parasite fight because NK was canned and the intended long-game foreshadowing in the origin for it was lost. I mean...yeah, soulless, you already said it great.

[Robanker]

I think part of my issue with this is the impact it had on characters too. Post-Crisis Clark is a well rounded, well developed character. He's recognizable as Superman and I know what his favorite Metallica album is (...& Justice for All), and what his favorite foods are. Not many comic characters are so well defined. But he's too understandable, too.....simply human. Like, I want a Superman who looks at the world a little bit like a big, ongoing experiment and sometimes does stuff just to see what the reaction will be. I want a Superman who eats granite because it adds a nice rich spice to his burgers. I want a Superman who's a little weird and different and alien, and doesn't think exactly like I do. I don't want him to be completely inhuman, he's not J'onn, and I still want his favorite Metallica album to be Justice for All, and I still want him to have the "normal person" stuff. But I want him to be more than just that too.

I imagine Tenzil Kem taught a young Clark Kent a great many things about unconventional Earth cooking, but I have to say, Clark always struck me as more of a Keylimestone Pie kind of man.

[phonogram12]

The big problem with Secret Origin is that it’s (oh Lord do I hate this word but I can’t think of a better one) soulless. It’s basically a continuity list, “this happened and then this happened, and then this happened”. But none of it really seems to mean anything or connect to each other. American Alien did the whole “snippets of Clark’s life that show how he became Superman” far better. Birthright had a much more interesting take on Lex and Clark’s relationship. Morrison’s Action run had a better emotional arc of Clark winning over the public despite fearmongering and distrust. About all SO has over the other origins is that it has the Legion which I 100% approve of, and it has a fantastic idea for Metallo which unfortunately has never reached its full potential, namely that he’s the military’s Anti-Superman. That’s a fantastic idea, one that if I was ever blessed with the opportunity to write a Metallo story I’d go all in on. I think making Metallo more of a parallel to Clark in terms of his background would really help raise his profile, but unfortunately no one has really done anything with Corbyn.

Yep. Art-wise it was beautiful. but it was absolutely dull as dirt (I hate it when Frank and Johns are on a book together because that means I'll have to read the snore fest that is Johns' story just for the art).

I'll echo everyone else's sentiments about returning the Legion back where they belong in the Superman mythos and add that I thought the new origin for the Parasite was a stroke of genius. I mean, literally, it was probably the most interesting and fun idea that he offered throughout his entire Superman run.

[9th.]

I miss Superboys tron outfit, it was very visually appealing to me.

[Superlad93]

I miss Superboys tron outfit, it was very visually appealing to me.

Easily the most controversial opinion I've seen so far.

[superduperman]

I think what makes SO so disappointing is that we got so many better origins in the last 20 years and THIS is his "official" one? Smallville, New 52, Birthright, even AA (despite the accusations against Landis) all better than what we got. But we're stuck with this one?

[Vordan]

I miss Superboys tron outfit, it was very visually appealing to me.

I thought it was cool too.

I think what makes SO so disappointing is that we got so many better origins in the last 20 years and THIS is his "official" one? Smallville, New 52, Birthright, even AA (despite the accusations against Landis) all better than what we got. But we're stuck with this one?

Perks of (previously) being an influential writer. But who knows what’s going to happen Post-5G?

[Sacred Knight]

I miss Superboys tron outfit, it was very visually appealing to me.

I rank it his second best outfit, after the current/original.

[Flash Gordon]

The big problem with Secret Origin is that it’s (oh Lord do I hate this word but I can’t think of a better one) soulless. It’s basically a continuity list, “this happened and then this happened, and then this happened”. But none of it really seems to mean anything or connect to each other. American Alien did the whole “snippets of Clark’s life that show how he became Superman” far better. Birthright had a much more interesting take on Lex and Clark’s relationship. Morrison’s Action run had a better emotional arc of Clark winning over the public despite fearmongering and distrust. About all SO has over the other origins is that it has the Legion which I 100% approve of, and it has a fantastic idea for Metallo which unfortunately has never reached its full potential, namely that he’s the military’s Anti-Superman. That’s a fantastic idea, one that if I was ever blessed with the opportunity to write a Metallo story I’d go all in on. I think making Metallo more of a parallel to Clark in terms of his background would really help raise his profile, but unfortunately no one has really done anything with Corbyn.

Secret Origin is a waste of time. It's everything I do not read comics for, a continuity checklist. Johns can write good stuff when he cares to, his Aquaman is top notch, but so often he writes this uninteresting nonsense about navel gazing continuity.

[Flash Gordon]

I miss Superboys tron outfit, it was very visually appealing to me.

Yeah, I really dug it too tbh. It was a simple design, and felt modern. Also Lobdell's first few issues of NEW 52 SUPERBOY were so damn good.

[sifighter]

I’m actually ok with Jon being a teenager now, it stinks because we won’t see him naturally age but I’m fine with Superman having a teenage son who as of right now is only like 5 or 6 years older then he was which isn’t too awful. Honestly I hope that they also age up Damian, that way it will just be more natural that Superman and Batman have teenage kids who are best friends instead of an odd joke that now Jon is older then Damian for odd reasons.

[Ascended]

I’m actually ok with Jon being a teenager now, it stinks because we won’t see him naturally age but I’m fine with Superman having a teenage son who as of right now is only like 5 or 6 years older then he was which isn’t too awful. Honestly I hope that they also age up Damian, that way it will just be more natural that Superman and Batman have teenage kids who are best friends instead of an odd joke that now Jon is older then Damian for odd reasons.

I figure with Jon being in the future they can age everyone else up in a 5G time jump, and when Jon comes back he and Damian will be about the same age again.