Superman: Year One by Frank Miller announced at SDCC

[Soubhagya]

I don't care about Superman being weaker than the silver age, so long as there is some apparent feeling of challenge to him doing whatever he does. Sometimes I like it when something seems pretty heavy for him, not because of Kryptonite or depowerment, but it simply just is hard for him and he gives it is all I don't need an all-powerful Superman to do that. Plus I like it if he enjoys being Superman. I know we all have our opinions, but I was certainly disappointed with the Execution of Man of Steel, and even moreso with Dawn of Justice. If What Romita said is right, then this will be some retro origin story with Clark Kent narrating in the first person, but pretty cool for an origin story. Not only that, this whole thing is out of continuity, and if you don't like it. DOn't bother with it. But understand that Frank Miller sells for DC Comics, even with a massive screaming echo chamber all over the internet saying that Miller sucks, DC is going to keep allowing him to make comics for them, unless he sells at really low levels, where his books don't make the top 10 at DC Comics like they normally do.

I understand. It is cool with me. Why shall i be against them publishing another origin? I merely said something on my part.
There is an audience awaiting. Why shall i play spoilsport? If the book is good i will check it myself. I had no plan to read American Alien. It was out of continuty. I heard it was good so checked it out. I loved it. Since we were discussing what we think about this topic i said what i feel. I don't need another origin but why shall i be against something people want? If it is good i win. If it is bad i have nothing to lose.

[suemorphplus209]

I understand. It is cool with me. Why shall i be against them publishing another origin? I merely said something on my part.
There is an audience awaiting. Why shall i play spoilsport? If the book is good i will check it myself. I had no plan to read American Alien. It was out of continuty. I heard it was good so checked it out. I loved it. Since we were discussing what we think about this topic i said what i feel. I don't need another origin but why shall i be against something people want? If it is good i win. If it is bad i have nothing to lose.

Exactly, there's an audience for out of continuity material, apparently. If someone doesn't want it, other people will be just fine with it.

[friendly-fire-press]

A bit more teasing has emerged.

In this interview, Frank refers to the project as a "series" (so maybe it won't be a one shot graphic novel, as originally announced). He also admits that the "Year One" title is just a working title. It may change. He also alludes that there may be a little more Krypton in the story than was originally anticipated.

He's still quite cagey and doesn't give much away. But I'm still very excited to see this project eventuate

http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/watch-f...erman-year-one

[Adekis]

It's gonna be real good... It's gonna be re-exploring the genesis of Superman. The title's a bit of a misnomer; we're still discussing that... it begins on Krypton and it moves to Kansas, and the exploration and discovery of his powers and his mission is at the heart of the whole series. Because in Batman Year One, he came already ready to go. All he needed was the inspiration for what image he would take to strike terror into the hearts of criminals. In Superman's case it's a much longer genesis of the hero. 'Cause he has to become human, in profound ways, for the character to make any sense. It's essentially the story of an alien kid who turns into Superman. It's a different take.

I don't know. It basically sounds like most retellings of Superman's origin to me. No matter how different it is, no matter whether it spends time on Krypton or not-- it's not like American Alien was a Jor-El biography or whatever, was it? Maybe Miller's coming at it from a different perspective than most origins, which basically tell the story of a normal kid dealing with the fact that he's an alien. Either way, stories about Clark grappling with issues of his identity seem a little played out to me. Maybe Miller's perspective will result in the best version of Superman's origin story in years, but even if it does I think I'll have a hard time being hyped for it. We've had "best origins in years" before, multiple times. I've gotta admit I'd be much more interested if Miller just wanted to tell a cool Superman adventure story. Not enough writers seem to want to do that.

But what do I know, he's the great mad genius and I'm just a fan. Maybe it'll be totally transformative.

[Superlad93]

It's gonna be real good... It's gonna be re-exploring the genesis of Superman. The title's a bit of a misnomer; we're still discussing that... it begins on Krypton and it moves to Kansas, and the exploration and discovery of his powers and his mission is at the heart of the whole series. Because in Batman Year One, he came already ready to go. All he needed was the inspiration for what image he would take to strike terror into the hearts of criminals. In Superman's case it's a much longer genesis of the hero. 'Cause he has to become human, in profound ways, for the character to make any sense. It's essentially the story of an alien kid who turns into Superman. It's a different take.

I particularly enjoy the bit in bold. The way he words it is very evocative of something that I haven't quite seen in Superman for a bit. It's oddly almost Silver age in nature. And it's pretty funny that Miller might be the one to touch on this admittedly subtle shift because he essentially cast Adam West's Batman as the hard boiled crazy man in Dark Knight Returns. So he may very well just take the Golden and Silver age and play it straight and emotionally earnest? That'd be pretty sick.

The concept of framing a coming of age story as a character more or less learning how to be human is pretty dope. Would've been nice if David Mazzucchelli was doing this, but when JRJR's stuff is on, it's really freakin on, so I'm down.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

I do appreciate that this might not be called "Year One" - he's already got one to his name, and between Batman and Wonder Woman, that title feels like it should belong to capital-D Definitive in-continuity takes that are going to stand for decades to come, and whatever this ends up as, I cannot imagine it'll be that. Otherwise nothing much to sway my opinion beyond my initial state of "it's technically possible this won't be a disaster, it might even be great, but I sure wouldn't bet on it". Hadn't ever actually heard an interview with him before, much more soft-spoken than I would've imagined.

[Adekis]

he may very well just take the Golden and Silver age and play it straight and emotionally earnest? That'd be pretty sick.

That's basically what I'm hoping for. I think Superman has been crying out for a take like that for a while, really. Most times something like that happens, it's well received, so I hope this is good too. Still more than a little down on the origin factor though.

Also, JRJR's Superman work is awesome, I don't care what anybody says. If nothing else, I expect the art on this to be amazing.

[bat39]

I particularly enjoy the bit in bold. The way he words it is very evocative of something that I haven't quite seen in Superman for a bit. It's oddly almost Silver age in nature. And it's pretty funny that Miller might be the one to touch on this admittedly subtle shift because he essentially cast Adam West's Batman as the hard boiled crazy man in Dark Knight Returns. So he may very well just take the Golden and Silver age and play it straight and emotionally earnest? That'd be pretty sick.

The concept of framing a coming of age story as a character more or less learning how to be human is pretty dope. Would've been nice if David Mazzucchelli was doing this, but when JRJR's stuff is on, it's really freakin on, so I'm down.

Well, it certainly sounds like it could be something new...exploring the psychology of Clark Kent as he grows up. We've had plenty of pre-Superman Clark stories (an entire sub-franchise of them, in fact). But there's been relatively little in-depth exploration of why he becomes Superman. I have a feeling Miller might give us an answer that goes beyond the good ol' "It was his father's dying wish" or "Jor-El's hologram told him" or even "He just decided to".

In fact, it'd be even better if this was a very Golden Age-ish setting. No Superboy. No Legion. No hints of other superheroes or a wider universe. Just a simple story of Clark being this kid who grows up on a farm with powers, probably feels alienated from society but has the support of his adoptive parents, and how and why he ends up becoming a superhero.

[TruthAndJustice]

I suspect this is going to take place in the "Millerverse" of the Dark Knight series. And strangely enough I really liked Dark Knight III. So...we'll see. I may give it a chance.

[friendly-fire-press]

It's a bit frustrating (but in a cool way) because we still know so little about it. And there are some things being said that contradict earlier statements.

But that's Frank, for you. He's one of those few artists/ writers who allow the creative process to take control of him ... not the other way around.

ie I remember 'Daredevil: MWF' was originally going to be a 100 page graphic novel and ended up being a 5 part mini series ... then there was 'Sin City' which was originally just going to be a 30 page comic (or something to that effect) and look how THAT turned out!

I guess the point is: Anything Can Happen

[Superlad93]

It's a bit frustrating (but in a cool way) because we still know so little about it. And there are some things being said that contradict earlier statements.

But that's Frank, for you. He's one of those few artists/ writers who allow the creative process to take control of him ... not the other way around.

ie I remember 'Daredevil: MWF' was originally going to be a 100 page graphic novel and ended up being a 5 part mini series ... then there was 'Sin City' which was originally just going to be a 30 page comic (or something to that effect) and look how THAT turned out!

I guess the point is: Anything Can Happen

Very good point. I found it strange that they'd use "Year One"--a title held by in continuity DC comics--for a 100 page graphic novel. The fact that it was a 100 page deal made me think that it would be nearly impossible for DC to say "and this behemoth is where you read the origin of the current Superman," so I thought that it might in fact be out of continuity. However, hearing that it's being called a 'series' makes it a lot more conceivable that it may be in continuity.

Regardless of what way this flips, I'm pretty firmly down with this book being a thing by who it's by.

[friendly-fire-press]

Yeah. Same here. I guess it depends on how it's received (whether it will be in continuity or not) but I'm happy either way. I love Frank's work and I'm confident he'll do a good story here

(btw I just double-checked ... Sin City was originally slated to be 48 page comic (not 30, as I said above) but that's still quite remarkable considering what it ended up evolving into)

[DieHard200904]

After having finally seen a more recent work of Miller and JRJr., with Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade, I feel less worried about this. At least from what these same two did fairly recently, and not over 20 years ago in Man Without Fear.

[Maxi]

Why would anyone still care about continuity anyway? I stopped caring about continuity when DC stopped caring about it. I prefer author special projects now.