How do you explain ALL of Superman's history as the story of one guy's life?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

One of the best notions of Grant Morrison's run on Batman was the idea that ALL stories from Batman were part of one guys life, even the crazy, goofy ones that the franchise had been ignoring for decades.



Morrison outright said that his New 52 Superman was taken from left-over ideas from All Star Superman about Clark's earliest days as a scappy champion of the underdog.

How would you explain ALL of Superman's history as the story of one guy's life?

[superduperman]

I don't think there is. Superman is not Batman. There isn't room for everything. It's too complex. A lot of stuff contradicts other stuff. Some people are going to be disappointed no matter what.

[Coal Tiger]

Hypertime, baby!

[Superlad93]

Basically you don't squint too hard at it all, update the time periods, shuffle the order a bit (golden age stuff happens after Clark as Superman), say that he could fly during the golden age stuff, and marry off Lois and Clark after the silver age.

Batman bascially does it. Tom King even poked some fun at it in his Bat and Cat story like three issue back. I liked it a lot.

[manofsteel1979]

Actually Morrison already kinda did it with his Nuperman origin,but either no one noticed or DC was so intent on wiping the slate clean they never really picked up the baton. It all happened. It's just that Lord V just messed around with Kal's life in an effort to defeat him, creating all of these parallel lives that differed in significant and insignificant ways. Nuperman was just one version of his life out of an infinity.

Otherwise, while I agree it's not quite as easy as with Batman , who never really has seen a hard reboot. it can be done. You just have to play around with the order of events some, toss out some things here and there where there are extreme contradictions, but you can have the basic gist of the totality of 80 years as a unified story of one extraordinary life...provided fans can unify behind such a vision and be willing to compromise on certain things. THAT, unfortunately, seems a tall order and perhaps in of itself impossible.

[Sacred Knight]

You get Grant Morrison to write a run in which he incorporates everything in his crazy way like with his Batman run. He's the only guy who can do this sort of thing and make you remotely buy it despite the weirdness just because its usually so creative in its presentation.

[Jon Clark]

Dominus ...or maybe Mxyzptlk or the Time Trapper.

Someone has been messing with Superman's life for years. Clark's rocket landed in 191x and he began his career in the 1930's. But several years into his career this person began to rewrite reality so hat while time passed for everyone else it had no effect physically on Superman or those he interacted with on a regular basis. In fact their memories altered slightly at first and more so later to keep the discrepencies from registering. One part of this was that Clark remembered some of his earliest adventures as occurring to him as a teen-ager and in his hometown of Smallville since he no longer could reconcile 1930's events with his apparent age of ~30 in the 1950's. To reinforce the events people around Clark also found things rearranged. The European mad man known as Luthor found his own memories changing to rewrite his early encounters to be with SuperBOY by 1960. Lois Lane found herself losing a niece as Susan Lucille Thompkins became her sister Lucy Lane. The city of Metropolis even changed planets with Superman and his allies being folded into the history of a world dubbed Earth-1 sometime around 1960 while crude duplicates created by Luthor were left on the so Called Earth 2 where they originated.
The process repeated in the aftermath of the Great Crisis when Superman again found his memories being suppressed as he was retrofitted to yet another history. Although whoever was manipulating him was had severely strained their power in the attempt leaving Superman with some vague sense of his own history which bled through in times of stress.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Given the larger-than-life sci-fi nature of the character, I don't think any of the contradictions, inconsistencies and time shenanigans in his personal history matter, it's still the journey of one character whose life regularly intersects with 5th Dimensional Imps, and reality-warping cosmic despots. Of course his life is going to be a crazy

I'm talking more about the emotional journey this character has been on, which could make for a pretty good story if someone is able to string all the various threads of the character together and try to look at Superman's life experiences the way Morrison did with Batman.

He started off as this rough n' tumble kid who comes to the big city to take on the bullies of the world. He's the champion of the underdog, an angry young man of 20 railing against the system. He's reckless, cocky and passionate about righting the wrongs of those neglected by the rich and powerful. Then, as his powers grow ever greater, he begins to mellow more because of the immense responsibility he feels towards the world.

Now in his early 20s, he starts to learn more and more about his alien origins. He does the impossible and breaks the time barrier, travelling back in time to witness the destruction of Krypton. However, his actions had the unforeseen consequences of altering his own timeline, leaving it fragile and in flux. In this new history, his powers developed much earlier and he became Superboy in Smallville, Kansas, made frequent trips to the 30th Century to share adventures with the Legion of Super-Heroes, and inextricably linked him with his foe Lex Luthor, who saw his own past tied to his greatest enemy.

Having unwittingly changed his past retroactively, Superman had become the greatest super-hero in history, but is subconsciously racked with neurosis at the immensity of what he's done, which manifest themselves in all the crazy 1950s era stories of bodily transformations, super-dickery and imaginary stories, culminating in him splitting into two, the forever youthful Superman of Earth-1, who kept himself apart from Lois, and the aging Superman of Earth-2, who got to settle down with Lois Lane. Each represented the dueling sides of his desire to serve humanity as its stalwart protector and to have his own life & family.

While his elder counterpart enjoyed semi-retirement and married life, the youthful Superman, now eternally 29, began to explore the universe. His journeys throughout the cosmos brought him into contact with the alien collector Brainiac, whose possession of the bottled city of Kandor reveals to Superman that he is not alone in the universe and others had survived Krypton's destruction, most significantly his young cousin, Kara Zor-El.

Having traveled from one end of the universe to the other and seen all manner of wonders, Superman began a quest of self-discovery, questioning the greater meaning of existence. This led him to finally break down his walls and begin to let Lois in. However, the arrival of the Crisis on Infinite Earths shattered all he had accomplished, resulting in the death of Supergirl, the subsequent erasure from history of the remaining survivors of Krypton, and the exile of both his years as Superboy and his elder counterpart from Earth-2 to parts unknown.

Humbled and traumatized by these tragedies, Superman took refuge in his humanity, rejecting his Kryptonian heritage because it only brought him pain. However, suppressing his pain only made him lose sight of himself, culminating in his execution of the Phantom Zone criminals from the Time Trapper's Pocket Universe, where he'd watched helplessly as his own youth as Superboy died.

These events helped Superman move on from his loss and allowed him to slowly embrace his Kryptonian side again, balance with a stronger connection to his humanity, which was made even greater by the resurrection of his foster parents, the Kents, who helped keep him grounded. This allowed Superman to restore his relationship and marriage with Lois, which he'd lost following the Crisis. Together, they made each other better.

But the temporal instabilities caused by the return of the Superman of Earth-2 and Superboy-Prime wreaked havoc on all reality and within Superman himself. The co-existence of three aspects of himself, each at different times of their lives pushed his psyche to its breaking point, and in the case of Superboy-Prime, past the point of no return. The elder Superman became harsh and judgmental, the immature Superboy became a psychotic & megalomaniac while the adult Superman found himself indecisive and emotionally fragile. The death of the elder Superman at the hands of Superboy-Prime managed to restore some equilibrium in the remaining Superman, who reclaimed his past as Superboy while simultaneously moving forward in the present with his wife Lois Lane, who began thinking about having kids. Meanwhile, Superman's newfound embracing of his now unified Kryptonian heritage was put to the test during the events of New Krypton, which again ended in profound tragedy.

And...until we see how Reborn plays out, I think that's about as far as I can go

[bat39]

I think a 'composite history' of sorts with Superman is very possible. Again, it doesn't mean that everything needs to line-up precisely and every detail needs to be in continuity (and some stuff can be purposefully vague). But in the broad strokes, every era and phase of Superman's publishing history CAN be represented.

Clark can be Superboy during the Smallville years. He doesn't need to be a publicly known hero - just an urban (or rather, rural) myth. And then he has adventures with the LOSH in the 31st century where he operates as a full-blown Superboy. At some point, maybe around the time he turns 18, the LOSH suppresses his memories of his time in the future, for whatever reason.

When Clark moves to Metropolis, he starts out as Superman and we can have his initial career reflecting the Golden Age. There's the issue of whether or not he can fly - which can go two ways. Either he can fly (which is okay - it doesn't take away the grittiness of this early phase that much) or he can't (in which case he used an LOSH flight ring early on). The basic idea is that during this phase he spent most of his time dealing with human threats like gangsters and Mob lords, and later terrorists, corrupt businessmen (LexCorp could fit in here easily enough) and politicians etc. Clark could be heavily into investigative journalism, working either at the Daily Star or the Daily Planet right from the start - ditto with Lois. The basic idea that Superman is the only major sci-fi element in Metropolis, and he's dealing with human threats can be preserved. And of course, the authorities are vary of him - both in terms of law enforcement and the military and government.

Then we get the Silver Age phase, maybe a year or two into Superman's career. He joins the Justice League. He can now definitely fly and his powers are ever-increasing. He's now regarded as the world's greatest hero - and the public and local authorities love him, even if the military and government are a little divided. He's now more of a celebrity than some vigilante. And he starts going on crazy sci-fi adventures, and dealing with supervillains and alien invasions and stuff. His Kryptonian heritage really comes to the fore during this phase.

We can briefly have the Bronze Age a few years later, with the Sand-Superman Saga occurring, and maybe even the WGBS days being brought back into canon as a brief period in Clark's life. And then onto the Modern Age. By this point, Clark and Lois actually fall in love, and Lois discovers his identity. Doomsday happens. Superman comes back. They get married. Superman starts to embrace the 'Clark' side of himself more perhaps.

And then whatever timey-wimey thing to explain Convergence, Nuperman, Rebirth, Reborn etc. happens - resulting in Jon's birth. Or Jon is simply retconned into being born during the Modern Age.

The point is, its do-able.

For long, I and others here have had this idea of doing a kind of 'Story of Superman's Life' style miniseries or arc - the framing story being Lois and Clark telling Jon bedtime stories about Superman's history. Seems an apt thread to bring it up again-

Chapter 1: Clark tells Jon stories about Krypton, and Jor-El and Lara. There will be some Kryptonian backstory in there (maybe General Zod) as well as some stuff about Zor-El and Allura, and Kara. And ultimately about Kal-El being sent to earth.

Chapter 2: This will be Clark telling Jon about the Kents and his upbringing in Smallville. Lana Lang and Pete Ross will figure into the story. Also, we'll have the moment where Clark learns he's an alien and how the Kents deal with that, and his initial sense of alienation. And maybe a coda where he meets the LOSH.

Chapter 3: This will be Lois telling Jon about her first meeting with Superman, and with Clark. The story will heavily be inspired by Action Comics # 1 and will have Superman dealing with hoodlums, and considered a vigilante. Lex Luthor might figure in the background.

Chapter 4: Clark narrates a crazy sci-fi story about Superman thwarting Brainiac's invasion and saving the Bottled City of Kandor.

Chapter 5: Lois recaps how she learned Superman's identity, his death at the hands of Doomsday and resurrection, all culminating in their marriage.

Chapter 6: Lois recaps the circumstances of Jon's own birth (whatever the hell they end up being).

[Superlad93]

@Bored at 3:00AM

Well damn that's imaginative. Bravo just for taking out the time.

I just question how this is still technically to "one guy," ya know? I get what you're saying with the whole split apart/mind-link idea, but that's still two people going through two lives basically, right?

That said, there were more than a few of your ideas that I thought were awesome! Like the idea to really play up the strong presence of psychology during the silver age (I head the editors at the time would work out their personal psychological issue under the guise of a kids comic with Superman, or so I hear). I think the idea of Clark/Superman being totally human in psychology is a must for the character. He can still power through things, gut it out, and be a badass well of will power when he needs to be. But I think that stuff is only *really* impressive when you understand that it's coming from someone who is as emotionally fragile as a human.

I also love the idea of Clark time traveling being a momentous occasion for him in some way. Like, it wouldn't even have to be under his own power. I had the idea that the Lighting Lad, the pal that he is, "mistakenly" leaves an extra time bubble in the Fortress for Clark. It's broken, so Clark spends some of his free time tuning it up the same way your dad tunes up his old car or bike in the garage. During off world mission, Clark likes to stop at the local market and haggle for some rare parts. Though I think he uses Pa's old gear shiftier from the pickup sitting out front the farm. Dispenser of Truth put me on to this one online essay about Superboy, and one of the interesting parts is that he actually saw the moment of creation, but he doesn't want to talk about it.

I also love the idea that Clark would have coping mechanisms, and get absolutely freaked out at the sight of seeing another version of him die right in front of him. (especially if it's a much younger or older version) Clark really taking into account his mortality is so underrated. An invaluable guy really coming to grips with the idea f dying, and it not being during some big fight or battle, would be so fascinating to read. The inherent contrast alone is enough.

I love how all of this is about how this guy feels, and how the utter craziness of his life leaves him flummoxed at times, but it doesn't keep him down, and he's thankful for what and who he has. That's the sort of guy I always want to read about when it comes to Superman, ya know?

If an "ultimate-it-all-basically-happened-to-him" Superman came out, and we got his story; I'd want Clark Kent's emotional journey to be the end-all-be-all of the story. I'd want the continuity checking, clever references, and working around obvious inconsistencies to basically be background/dressing to what this guy is feeling. I think that might be a good way of doing it. This way, you don't have to play continuity warden so harshly because the stitching of continuities is in the soft focus. Then after that story is done you can basically do the Batman thing where you can find ways to references it or use it as each writer sees fit. Heart over head might be the approach needed for Superman.

[bat39]

If an "ultimate-it-all-basically-happened-to-him" Superman came out, and we got his story; I'd want Clark Kent's emotional journey to be the end-all-be-all of the story. I'd want the continuity checking, clever references, and working around obvious inconsistencies to basically be background/dressing to what this guy is feeling. I think that might be a good way of doing it. This way, you don't have to play continuity warden so harshly because the stitching of continuities is in the soft focus. Then after that story is done you can basically do the Batman thing where you can find ways to references it or use it as each writer sees fit. Heart over head might be the approach needed for Superman.

Totally agree with you on that point. It's what made Morrison's Batman run great.

Morrison had Bruce start out as the grim avenger of the night, but with still some optimism in his mission, ala the Golden Age and Year One. Then Dick came along and Batman gradually become more optimistic and the 'Bat family' was born. Then Dick left, and things got a little more serious, but they became downright dark later with Jason dying, Barbara being shot, then Bane, No Man's Land and all the other grim and dark events. And Morrison's own run, with stuff like Damian, and Bruce 'dying' and then coming back and Batman Inc was the next chapter which had him come out of the darkness again and re-embrace optimism and family.

I envision a similar journey for Clark. When he starts out as Superman, he's this guy using his power to do good in the world, no matter what anyone else says. Then, his world becomes more and more crazier with all the sci-fi stuff coming to the fore, he becomes a globally recognized hero, and gets in touch with his Kryptonian side a bit more. Then he and Lois get into a relationship, and he starts focusing a bit more on his human side again. And now we have Superman as a father...trying to balance the human and Kryptonian.

[Superlad93]

@bat39

I'm pretty similar on the idea of Clark starting out optimistic and idealistic. However, I'd like to add the *naive*. He's still in Superboy mode. He thinks that he can come in and clean up a whole city with his good intentions and a strong right hook. This is what accounts for him tearing down housing developments thinking that he'll force some big corporation's hand. Or him rebuilding those houses, but then it turns out that no one is allowed to live there because Clark Kent in a cape doesn't have a permit. The Golden age, for me, would be Clark's good intentions navigating the flypaper of the world.

Silver age is probably laced with an air of complacency, and Clark going a little stir crazy from the monotony of putting the same 5 costumed guys in jail, Lois' constant hounding over his likeness to Superman, Jimmy turning himself into something crazy every other day, and his career as a journalist not going anywhere. He feels like the system beat him into submission , and he's become nothing more than the worlds biggest spectacle. That hungry young man is dealing with the same "punch-a-time-card" feeling that most adults have to face. Eventually, Earth's transmissions of Superman's exploits reach into deep space, and aliens start to come. It's absolutely insane at first, but their semi regular presence starts to make Clark more curious about his second heritage. He starts learning the customs of his old world, and he starts to sneaks off into space more and more. He would seek the weirdness out in part as a way of finding out more about himself, but also, deep down, as a distraction from his perceived failures.

Bronze age is him trying to refocus after the long detour/running in place of the Silver age. This has him firmly working with the government and making friends to make change from within it. This is the "Super-cop" era. He even has a CIA liaison. He's also jumping at more opportunities at work. He's now a news anchor, and he's working on a book, but never finishes it because he's so busy. This is also where his friendship with Bruce starts to breakdown a bit. The two are getting on each other's nerves as Bruce gets more extreme, and Clark gets more by the book.

Post-crisis sees our guy at the height of his "Super-cop" deal, and as a Clark Kent who's doing a good deal better for himself. He's even been spending a bit more time as Clark and having more of a social life. He's finally dating Lois. He ends up taking his Super-cop thing a bit too far and he kills 3 Phantom Zone criminals. This really breaks him inside. It's not just the fact that he killed people, but the fact that he saw people like him die. He'd never really considered the idea of dying before. Probably too freaked out to think about it. He heads out into space because his head is really f@#ked from the whole thing. Space is his coping mechanism and distraction. He comes back a good bit more together, accepted the idea that he killed those people, but he's still wrestling with the whole mortality thing. It makes him do the unthinkable, and tell Lois the secret. No one wants to die alone, and least of all with regrets. Clark finally finding the courage to reach out for some help is a big step. Then Doomsday's dumb ass shows up, and Clark bites it (or gets *really* damn close). When you look at the overview of this era in real time, post-crisis is all about the idea of mortality, age, and things being super ephemeral. At least that's how it makes sense to me.

And so on. In the pre-52 and Rebirth era Lois and Clark are married, they have a son, and Bruce and Clark are becoming bros again because they have kids. New Krypton and Grounded happen, and it reignites Clark's passion for both his second culture and doing what he can to help those in need. He's a good deal less naive ta boot. Clark eventually tells his kid about his second culture, and now Jon gets why his classmates have never heard of Tuesday night scarlet zorka berry stew. Teaching his kid about his culture is actually bringing Clark (and Lois) a lot closer to it. The New 52 is treated like Heroes Reborn over at Marvel. Barry fudged up, it happened, they all had "what could've been" versions of their live, our characters know it happened, but they fixed it, and got on with their lives.

"Boy, you must hate the Silver age." Nah, but I'll call a spade a spade lol

[Kuwagaton]

What Morrison did and how writers follow him seems like simple name dropping. He seems to work on very basic ideas and redirects focus to his execution: many of his references, like Son of the Demon, are pretty bungled and handwaved away by this or that Crisis if you look too closely. That said, there are two advantages with Batman

1) Batman is an unreliable narrator in a world of mental cases. Many stories deal with the idea of him being just as screwed up as his villains. The retellings and origins have less obligation to the details. Superman is comparatively lucid and to avoid jumping down the Batman well, would kinda have to stay that way.
2) The Earth One and Two split, which happened before almost any of us were born, gave Superman a bigger divergence. Yes, Earth Two Batman existed, but he wasn't as prominent and Earth One Batman received credit for many of his stories anyway. Superman had a comparatively definitive split. In addition, Batman has always moved forward through time where Superman has, for example, made Lex decades younger. This development is like 60 years old by now.

Superman as one guy? How it's being done is really all that needs to be done. If they just make the implication, those who can follow can just connect the dots and smear the lines independently. As an inclusive idea connecting the matching points between versions, I come away with:

- Superman is rocketed to Earth with a Kryptonian record. The birthing matrix/baby pod would be why he has maybe a few fuzzy memories of life before the escape.

- His childhood gives him some strength and invulnerability, which he uses around Smallville. The Legion comes along and many adventures are suppressed in his mind. His relationship with a kid named Lex falls through. He forgets his flight and would later chalk it up to the flight ring.

- He attends Met U after transferring from an initial enrollment at Shuster. Around the time of graduation, he begins performing acts in Metropolis as an urban legend leaping about, despite having witnesses in ordeals like fighting the Collector. Finding the pod will download all of Kryptonian history, eventually. His formal introduction is the shuttle rescue 3 years into his time living in Metropolis.

- his adventures take on any and every stretch of the imagination, with his powers allowing him to rise and meet the task at hand. Lois doesn't know what to make of Clark; sometimes she sees something in him, sometimes he's just a flaky liar. Lex Luthor is the former "man of tomorrow," a scientist turned tycoon and behind the scenes mobster. His rivals are Morgan Edge, also behind the scenes, and Perry White, who fell out of friendship with him during a love triangle.

- Lex dies from his cancer only to be replaced by Lex II, coming out of Australia by way of Smallville. This is the Lex Clark remembers and it seems like water under the bridge until Lois unravels some of his secrets. This is Lex going forward, revealing his grudge against Superman and becoming an exceptionally young president before a swift impeachment. Superman throughout this time has died, come back, and gotten married.

- fragmented memories from the 5th dimension ordeals resurface intact. Superman watched a younger version of himself believing it to be a different man. When people recall some events, however, it turns out that they're remembering a Sand Superman.

[Superlad93]

I will say this, Morrison and no one before him who's attempted even a fraction of the "everything counts" idea (Waid) has ever tried to reconcile "champing of the oppressed" with the super-trooper of WWII or the super-cop of later years.

They all just act like either one of them didn't happen or he grew out of or into one or the other. That's a real handwave for such a contradicting situation. The mind set that told Miller to write Superman the way he did in DKR didn't come from thin air. Maybe he embellished a little, but it was still valid for the history of the character.

I think in that transition/contradiction between champ of the oppressed and super-cop you have a very fascinating character arc ready for exploration. I've always been a little bummed that Morrison touch on that arc at all, but instead pretended that the super-trooper/super-cop wasn't actually a thing.

I think if you wanna do a *complete* Superman then you gotta make the transition between golden and silver about more than just an uptick in science fiction.

[Kuwagaton]

I love your other post. As a narrative for the eight decades I can't think of a better description. My post was long enough that I didn't want to lose this praise in there.

The champion of the oppressed vs super cop thing... I can understand that in the sense of Superman becoming a bigger presence in the universe as opposed to almost smacking local gangsters, but I think he's been the same guy in humanitarian efforts above just about anything even if say, Silver age writers touched it seldomly (Superman never stopped sticking up for the little guy) in the big picture.