Things you miss from old Superman comics that you want back in today's comics

[paurru]

Cadmus
that weird grey psychic goat horned good guy alien/clone7. He was around during Death of Superman and World Without Superman
Guardian or a clone of Guardian and those young clones of the scientists
Magpie
personal life issues that Superman/Clark dealt with like a drunk driving crash incident he was involved with when he was younger in Smallville, other stuff like Crisis at Hand. Stuff like that I want to see again in any today's comics.

[Spiderboy12]

I could go with Cadmus. The Newsboy Legion, both young and old versions (those being the scientists paurru was talking about).

And Kon-El, Superboy, the Kid, Conner Kent. In Cadmus, in Hawaii, in Smallville. I want me some Kon-El. Call him Superboy Black (because of the color of his T-shirt) if you must to distinguish him from his little cousin. But bring back Kon!

And young Master Christopher Kent. Have him join the Legion in the future if necessary. But get the poor boy out of Phantom Zone and comic-book limbo! Along with Mon-El...

Keeping on the Superboy kick, bring back the original Superboy. Even if it's mostly confined to references of Clark's past career as Superboy, some flashbacks, and perhaps the occasional one-off story. Both with and without the Legion.

Which reminds me. Bring back the Legion and have them interact with the Superman family again. They could help train Jon on dealing with his most important power—managing the Demon's Grandson.

But yeah. The Legion of Super-Heroes. Make them a part of Superman's life again, both in the past as Superboy and in the present. And have them interact with both Superboys and Supergirl. I'd love a story where Jon goes to the future and meets his father—as a teenager.

Toss in a bit of real cornball stuff. Bring back the original Terra-Man. Yeah, that guy. The refuge from the old west. Can't even remember the post-Crisis version.

To go real Bronze Age, shake things up a bit by having Clark sometimes work as a broadcast reporter. Same with Lois. Just have some fun with it...

And Kandor. I'd like to see what's going in the Bottle City. Going real Bronze Age again, at some point reprise Superman #338 and enlarge the city.

Finally, going Morrison, I'd like to see the Superman Dynasty again, occasionally. And also the Multiverse "Legion of Supermen" or whatever they're called... as well as a reprise of the "Legion of Superboys" from Kon-El's Hypertime arc. Who doesn't want to see Karkan again?

That's just a few things, just off the top of my head.

[Miles To Go]

Draga, Maxima, and Lori [not as a love interest though, just as an old sweetheart who could stand to have a better relationship with Lois than the one she had in the nineties]

[Jim Kelly]

I miss splash panels that start off the story. Doesn't have to be a whole page, but having the title of the story with the credits and a pic with maybe some text that sets up the story to come, that's a nice way to get into a story.

In the DC book on writing for comics, I remember that Denny O'Neil asserted the splash page was essentially a cover for the story when comics used to have many stories in one issue--and once there was only one story in a comic, it was redundant to have both a cover and a splash page. And that reasoning struck me as just plain dumb and overly simplistic. Nowadays, with multiple covers, the cover doesn't function at all as a set up for the story inside the book, often having nothing to do with the contents (plus the inside artist is often not the cover artist).

The splash panel or page at the front of the story was an in medias res device--it threw you into the middle of the story and got you interested in what was going to happen, so you then read on to see how the story would get you there. Plus it was a lot more convenient to have the title and the credits on the first page of the story, so you don't have to go thumbing through the comic to get that info--something I like to know when I start a story.

[Last Son of Krypton]

The Superman robots.

[Buried Alien]

"Great Krypton!"
"Great Rao!"
"Great Scott!"
"Great Caesar's Ghost!"

Make Superman Great Again.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Ascended]

I definitely miss Cadmus, the DNAliens, Guardian, and does anyone else remember that crazy scientist Donovan who lived in the bowls of Cadmus and caused all sorts of trouble? Loved that guy.

I miss Metropolis feeling like a character. It used to have so much personality back in the 90's, and it really made the world feel real. Characters like Bibbo, Henderson, Turpin, Ron Troupe, etc., really added to the mythos. I mean, back in the day the guy Clark bought street pretzels from had a name. I knew nothing else about him, but he had a name and I saw him now and then. It added a lot of depth and consistency to the setting.

I miss psycho, child-killing Toyman. Yeah, I know, Im the only one. But Clark doesn't have a proper "Arkham" style foe (the likes of Parasite are too powerful for this niche, Im talking power of crazy here, not power of horror monsters) and Toyman was solid.

I miss Conner of course. And I miss Steel having a larger role in the Super-verse (not to mention the wider DCU, dude could stand on his own if treated right).

I have't seen much of the social crusader lately, since Clark hasn't been a reporter for some time (and it hasn't had much attention in years) and I'd like to get back (in part) to Superman fighting for the little guy. Let Clark tackle the social issues and let Superman tackle the monsters. That's how it should work, and once upon a time I feel like it did, and we should get back to that.

Maxima and Almerac. That's something I dearly want to see expanded on. This is Superman's little corner of the galaxy in a way, and it's criminally underused and undeveloped. I'd Game of Thrones the hell out of that solar Empire.

And the super-scientist. Superman should be the smartest guy in (almost) any room he walks into. And he should have many science-based hobbies.

[Superlad93]

-Cadmus and very solitary sentence that Jack Kirby every wrote in relation to Superman's world.

-A Jimmy Olsen that isn't just Lois' "camera guy"/not-Peter Parker. I miss the Jimmy Olsen who would find himself married and divorcing a gorilla in the same day, and call it Wednesday. I miss the frequent and strange transformations. I miss the cross dressing at the drop of a hate. I his relationships with people that aren't Lois, Clark, or Superman. I miss the injection of "I'm 20 something and still figuring it out" fun that Jimmy often injected into the Superman world.

-I miss opening an issue with Superman having just finished doing something impossible and crazy.

-I miss that classic Superman "all isn't as it appears, and you'll just have to trust Superman" sort of story.

-I really, really miss one-off issues where Superman would sort of just hangout and do something fun and interesting in his fortress.

-I miss the fortress being an awe inspiring wonderland of "ooo what's over there."

-I miss the city of Metropolis and all her people.

-I miss Kandor. I really think it'd be great right about now.

-I'd love to see more "The Private Life of Clark Kent" in the books. Though, you could change it to The Private Life of The Kents" if you really wanted to. Not as a book, but as a back-up or something.

-I really, really, really, really, really, REEEEEEALY miss back-ups. So much can be done through a back up. Most of the stuff on my list would be great in a back-up to the main Superman book.

PS. You know I miss my boy Kon. I'd also like Steel to be more than what he is at the moment.

[Francisco]

I definitely miss Cadmus, the DNAliens, Guardian, and does anyone else remember that crazy scientist Donovan who lived in the bowls of Cadmus and caused all sorts of trouble? Loved that guy.

I miss Metropolis feeling like a character. It used to have so much personality back in the 90's, and it really made the world feel real. Characters like Bibbo, Henderson, Turpin, Ron Troupe, etc., really added to the mythos. I mean, back in the day the guy Clark bought street pretzels from had a name. I knew nothing else about him, but he had a name and I saw him now and then. It added a lot of depth and consistency to the setting.

I miss psycho, child-killing Toyman. Yeah, I know, Im the only one. But Clark doesn't have a proper "Arkham" style foe (the likes of Parasite are too powerful for this niche, Im talking power of crazy here, not power of horror monsters) and Toyman was solid.

I miss Conner of course. And I miss Steel having a larger role in the Super-verse (not to mention the wider DCU, dude could stand on his own if treated right).

I have't seen much of the social crusader lately, since Clark hasn't been a reporter for some time (and it hasn't had much attention in years) and I'd like to get back (in part) to Superman fighting for the little guy. Let Clark tackle the social issues and let Superman tackle the monsters. That's how it should work, and once upon a time I feel like it did, and we should get back to that.

Maxima and Almerac. That's something I dearly want to see expanded on. This is Superman's little corner of the galaxy in a way, and it's criminally underused and undeveloped. I'd Game of Thrones the hell out of that solar Empire.

And the super-scientist. Superman should be the smartest guy in (almost) any room he walks into. And he should have many science-based hobbies.

By the 7 forgotten relics of Krypton, this!!

[superduperman]

The pre-Crisis Fortress with the cool trophies and no crystals.

Superbaby!

Conner. Seriously can't believe he's not part of Rebirth. They have two Flashes with Wally and Barry so why not two Superboys?

The Kents still being alive.

The Trunks!

[Knightsilver]

Cadmus and a well developed supporting cast. It felt great seeing Maggie Sawyer again.

[The World]

90"s Conner without Geoff's "improvements".

[MajorHoy]

Mr. & Mrs. Superman

The early married life of Clark and Lois on Earth-2.

[Adekis]

I pretty much agree with every single thing that anyone's said in this thread except "Superbaby" and "the Trunks", who as everyone knows is from Dragon Ball and doesn't spell his name with a "the".

A well-developed supporting cast is my biggest wish. Maggie Sawyer, Terrible Turpin, Ron Troupe, the REAL Cat Grant, Bibbo, Allie, George Taylor, Perry White, Keith, and most importantly, METROPOLIS, which felt like a real place back when we had a lot of well-defined characters there!

I also want to see more of Maxima and Almerac, I'm missing Lar Gand, I'm missing Dubbilex and Cadmus, I'm missing Young Kal with the Legion (who really, really need a big effing comeback), and I'm missing Superman's friends calling him "Kal" rather than "Clark" when he's not in-character.

But I think that Jimmy is the biggest one. Not Jimmy the photographer, but Jimmy the badass, Jimmy the Legionnaire, Jimmy the detective, the master of disguise, the boy of a thousand transformations-- Jimmy the Hero! He's not cool enough to be Superman's Pal if he's Peter Parker minus Spidey. He's Superman's Pal when he's the Eleventh Doctor times Scott Pilgrim to the power of Kirby! I love that Jimmy, and I don't think I've ever bought a new monthly book where he exists. It's a damn shame.

[victorsage]

"Great Krypton!"
"Great Rao!"
"Great Scott!"
"Great Caesar's Ghost!"

Make Superman Great Again.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Jesus Christ above no. Hard pass. Let the 60s stay dead.

Caesar's Ghost wouldn't be bad, but that would require Perry and the Daily Planet to be around more often.