What is the worst era of Superman?

[superduperman]

I would say it's the "electric blue" era of 1997-98. There was just so much weird stuff going on at that time. Not just the power change but the blue alien taking Superman's costume and they were clearly out of ideas. The only good thing about it was when it was over and they did the whole "every era of his history" thing for his 60th anniversary. I understand that it had something to do with some change in copyright law that started the whole Siegel family suing for the rights mess we are still dealing with today which somehow makes it even worse. The second worst would be the Brainiac 13 thing where they changed Metropolis to match the one in the cartoon.

[Sacred Knight]

About 2003-2011. Its a long stretch but things were bad for a long time. Pretty much after Loeb's run on Superman ended (which in of itself I wasn't absolutely crazy about, but it was okay and he held the keys and general direction of the line commendably if nothing else), everything went off the rails and stayed there for the most part outside of some teases that never amounted to anything.

[beetee]

The "World of Krypton" saga era.

[Last Son of Krypton]

Early 80s before COIE, and the period post the Fall of Metropolis and before the King of the World arc ('94/'98).

[superduperman]

About 2003-2011. Its a long stretch but things were bad for a long time. Pretty much after Loeb's run on Superman ended (which in of itself I wasn't absolutely crazy about, but it was okay and he held the keys and general direction of the line commendably if nothing else), everything went off the rails and stayed there for the most part outside of some teases that never amounted to anything.

This is actually the main reason I supported the New 52. Everything was such an unstable train wreck. The entire first decade of the 21st century was just a mess for the Super-books. I'm saying this as someone who loved Birthright but the way they incorporated it into continuity was a mess. The killing off of the original Earth 2 Superman wasn't exactly a selling point either. My fear is that this is what Rebirth is going to go back to.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

I don't think I can point to one era that was just the worst.

The Post-Crisis era up to the end of the 90s was where I was practically enjoying nothing from the main Super books, but that wasn't because I thought all the stories had been bad or poorly written, but that they just didn't appeal to me.

[Jon Clark]

I can see the prize going to the era around Electric Superman. It sort of felt like the wheels came off Superman just after his resurrection and The Millenium Giants was where it bottomed out.

The era right before Crisis when Ambush Bug stories dominated Action Comics along with other retro Silver Age concepts was pretty bad as well. And Krypton Wars/Grounded was another black hole of ideas. But I'd take that any day over the Electro era when it just felt like all the creators were running on empty but no one was willing to pull the plug.

[darkseidpwns]

New 52 after Morrison, that **** was unreadable.

[Adekis]

About 2003-2011. Its a long stretch but things were bad for a long time. Pretty much after Loeb's run on Superman ended (which in of itself I wasn't absolutely crazy about, but it was okay and he held the keys and general direction of the line commendably if nothing else), everything went off the rails and stayed there for the most part outside of some teases that never amounted to anything.

I'm with you. With the exception of Busiek and elements of Johns all the consensus-best Superman stories of the period were outside DC's normal continuity. Not that there's inherently anything wrong with that, but... well, that's the situation that made the powers-that-be think a reboot was the best approach.

I guess "in-continuity" didn't really mean anything during that period either as after the "Everything You Know is Right" story consistency pretty much went out the window until the New 52. And then, you know, again with Rebirth, but that's not what I'm here to complain about.

[sunofdarkchild]

About 2003-2011. Its a long stretch but things were bad for a long time. Pretty much after Loeb's run on Superman ended (which in of itself I wasn't absolutely crazy about, but it was okay and he held the keys and general direction of the line commendably if nothing else), everything went off the rails and stayed there for the most part outside of some teases that never amounted to anything.

This. Years of terrible ideas complimented by terrible writing. The triangle era may not be for everyone, but the writing was consistently good throughout the 90s and there was a level of consistency and continuity which seems impossible today. Even the 'electric Superman' arc was interesting because it was a story about how it's the man and not the powers that make the hero, and it allowed for an exploration of Clark dealing with being human without retreading the tired 'he lost his powers' plot, and the writing remained on point even when the ideas went off the rails.

I also agree that the initial dropoff in quality occurred under Loebel. It wasn't god-awful like it became afterwards and he had some good ideas, but it wasn't anywhere near as good as what came before. 2003-2011 were dark times to be a Superman fan, or a DC fan in general.

[Lvenger]

Grounded up until Truth was the worst era of Superman for me. Superman's character and personality were badly changed, the stories were pure rubbish and the direction of the character was on a downwards spiral. Many of the worst Superman moments and stories are in between those two stories for me.

[manofsteel1979]

I have to concur with the 2003-2011 period being the lowest of the low as a whole. Not that EVERYTHING was terrible, there were definitely decent stories and runs sprinkled in, but the overall trajectory was down. The moment they attempted to shoehorn BIRTHRIGHT as the new Origin and moved further away from any sense of connectivity between the books were the harbingers of the black hole Supes was pulled in.


However, I'd say the most disappointing was the 2011-2015 New 52 era. There was a lot of squandered potential there that no one wanted to explore and Ultimately it was more of the same leading up to the New 52, just this time without the benefit of a fleshed out history and world that the pre 52 still had, although very tenuously by the end. I was both outraged and excited by the prospect of TRUTH. For about five minutes it looked like DC was trying to actually say something about Supes while rebuilding his world....But then when it was clear it was another in a long line of aimless pointless crossovers, that was when I bailed and likely wouldn't have returned if not for Rebirth.

REBIRTH was messy in set up, and not every issue is gold, but for the first time in 14 years The overall trajectory for Superman is heading up. Superman comics feel like Superman comics again, and they managed to do it without tossing everything away for the umteenth time. I don't care for how we got here, but I'm glad we are here regardless.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

The problem I have with saying 2003 - 2011 was the worst era is that while it sunk really low, it also delivered some of the highest highs of the Superman character. Casey's Adventures of Superman, Busiek's Superman run, some of John's Action run.

[Miles To Go]

Every era has ups and downs, and I really enjoyed the late nineties to mid noughties era of the books more than most did in retrospect, I think it peaked when Pa Kent died. Wasn't a fan of killing him to match the movies.

I wasn't in a good place personally or mentally during the Grounded phase so I always have to associate that with the worst period spent as a fan.. New Fifty-Two was just as problematic. Thank goodness I have become a fan again.

[DochaDocha]

I think the lame duck periods (last year of New 52, last few years of Pre-Flashpoint) during my readership years were pretty bad. Neither era got proper sendoffs leading up to the new continuities.

I'd also add that all that "Crisis" stuff going on in the mid-aughts was also not enjoyable.