Anybody missing superbro, here?

[manwhohaseverything]

As the title suggests, anybody missing new52 superman . And this is'nt a shipping war thread. I don't particularly care if superbro dates a tree.

[The World]

Not really miss. Just think the version missed a chance to get the character back on track and realigned not just with something closer to what Siegel and Shuster imagined for big blue but also back to being a character good decent people could have as a sign that being good and decent doesn't mean being a pushover, timid, or pathetic. The Post-Crisis version of Superman badly wants to be The Walton's staring Superman or Andy Griffith staring Superman and while at times I thought that sheriff Taylor had Superman qualities he seems more like a character Superman might help one day with a problem or something. Andy Taylor hardly ever needed to wear a gun because he lived in a quaint and quiet little town where everyone knew everyone else. Superman deliberately goes to where he thinks the problems are whether they be on Earth or far off in Space-Time.

When the N52 was going on and they got Scott Snyder to do Unchained as a sort of throw back to Post-Crisis Superman I think the very first thing he mentions when you see him is something about a corn silo or something. Then when Tomasi/Jurgens got their shot when he was officially brought back and they too stuck him on the farm for some odd reason even though the character had not even lived on a farm until 87'. The farm boy thing basically defines Post-Crisis Superman and he can't escape it. The character is so two dimensional he basically just keeps repeating the same couple things over and over like a broken record. This character went from Man of Steel, Man of Tomorrow, Champion of the Oppressed, The Action Ace these really great triumphant titles to (as many Post-Crisis writers called him) naive farmboy. I mean what a complete and total downgrade.

Morrison basically wrote a throwback to Golden Age and the modern readers couldn't even recognize it. That should be pretty unnerving that his fanbase doesn't even know the characters roots. Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Batman. These characters know their roots and Superman does not.

That having been said I'd take a Superman 1985 in a heartbeat. If were going to the past lets go WAY back. On the other side I think Kenan Kong was the single greatest invention the Superman writers have churned out in decades with the freshest take on the Superman concept since S&S themselves. I'd take either of them over a N52 Superman and frankly there are others.

[DochaDocha]

I still feel the differences between New 52 and Pre-Flashpoint Superman were overblown. The ridiculous shipping wars deserve a large portion of the blame, and maybe a good chunk of the angst has to do with people who hated his costume or in general didn't like having continuity tossed out, but if you randomly selected panels from both eras and compared dialogue and attitude, the differences don't seem that obvious save the early Morrison run. A guy who fights for truth and justice, and occasionally the American way, is going to be somewhat consistent. But to each his own; while some may have thought, "That's not Superman," I thought "Yup, still Superman."

That said, yeah, I miss Superbro. I like those stories better than Superdad.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

I liked N52 Superman just fine. He was cool and was in some good stories. My strong preference though is that the main continuity Superman should be experienced heroes. Feel the same way about most of his peers like Bruce, Hal, Diana, Barry, etc. I do think he gets too much hate, but at the same time he is kinda the “new coke” of Supermen.

[manwhohaseverything]

I liked N52 Superman just fine. He was cool and was in some good stories. My strong preference though is that the main continuity Superman should be experienced heroes. Feel the same way about most of his peers like Bruce, Hal, Diana, Barry, etc. I do think he gets too much hate, but at the same time he is kinda the “new coke” of Supermen.

I fail to see how experience changes anything? He was pretty damn competent. He was written more competent than Superman normally is. Even with batman around.ofcourse,that joker thing still happened. Regardless, he has a better strike record overall.

I still feel the differences between New 52 and Pre-Flashpoint Superman were overblown. The ridiculous shipping wars deserve a large portion of the blame, and maybe a good chunk of the angst has to do with people who hated his costume or in general didn't like having continuity tossed out, but if you randomly selected panels from both eras and compared dialogue and attitude, the differences don't seem that obvious save the early Morrison run. A guy who fights for truth and justice, and occasionally the American way, is going to be somewhat consistent. But to each his own; while some may have thought, "That's not Superman," I thought "Yup, still Superman."

That said, yeah, I miss Superbro. I like those stories better than Superdad.

For me, The difference is there is less clark trying to be an example or moral authority. it's still very much there, but to very lesser degree. He is called superbro for a reason and the other guy superdad. Clark talks like one of the people. He doesn't really see himself as above anyone or is oblivious to his own issues.That's largely it, for me.
I got more of this.

I know its poking fun. But, i love it when they show superman actually work out. It's just essential for me. I don't care if he lifts ant or an elephant. It just feels like the muscles got there for a reason, is all.it's the same reason i love flight, in man of steel.

[Yoda]

The only memorable runs he had were the first arc of Morrison's Action and Pak & Kuder's initial Truth arc. I know Morrison's run is treated with religious reverence here, but beyond that initial arc it descends into a mess that may be interesting but it's not the type of story that you need to set up a new character. Which is why Perez and the rest of the Superman run was such a mess from the jump. I'll throw in a few other or Morrison's issues like 0 and Pak's Action Comics 25 as well as being memorable. So like 12 issues out of the entire run. The rest really was pretty generic and forgettable (the rest of Pak's run, Unchained, and maybe Johns run) to outright terrible (Perez, Lobdell, Justice League, and pretty much everything else). The costume was and remains ridiculous. The constant cross overs and status quo changes that were more concerned with being edgy or getting publicity (he's a blogger!, he's banging Wonder Woman!, he's powerless! and eating Kryptonite!) that got forgotten, ignored, and dropped as quick as they happened by writers who didn't want to actually deal with any of that nonsense but were forced to by editorial.

So I don't think there's all that much to really miss because DC obviously didn't know or even care what he was from arc to arc or even between the various series. They were just throwing **** at the wall to see what stuck and what got them a plug on the Today Show. He was a mess. None of that lends itself to any kind of long term character development that a new version of the character needs. We're almost 5 years out from it now and there's barely any clamor for him to return.

[Agent Z]

Since when did we start calling him that?

Anyway, my answer is no.

[manwhohaseverything]

Since when did we start calling him that?

Anyway, my answer is no.

Well, i had seen people call him that on some places. If you don't, that's fine. For me, he is superbro. I am gonna stick to that.

[Ascended]

I'm with Docha in that the differences were minimal and people wrongfully acted like these were completely different characters. Outside of his origin and which brunette he was dating, New52 Superman ended up being pretty standard, regretfully.

I *do* miss the Golden Age inspired t-shirt Superman, though. It broke my heart that so few fans got it and understood what was being said and done.

I'd read a ongoing t-shirt-folklore-Springsteen Superman story all day every day, if DC would give me an ongoing with him. That's a version of the character who could have really mattered again. But we only had that version of the character in....three stories, I think? The rest of the New52 was basically just regular Superman, except slightly younger and not yet married.

[Riv86672]

Anybody missing superbro, here?

No, i do not.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

I fail to see experience how experience changes anything? He was pretty damn competent. He was written more competent than Superman normally is. Even with batman around.ofcours,that joker thing still happened. Regardless, he has a better strike record overall.

It’s not about competency, like I said, I much prefer the main Superman have a career behind him with some meat on its bones. That’s not to say I need “everything is canon” (though I do very much like that approach, you know in the soft not quite literal way Morrison likes it). I like reading about out of canon stories or stories set in his early years as much as the next guy. But for the main canon, I’d rather it be a version who has a rich history behind him. I don’t want that history to be a sacred cow, writers can’t tweak or maybe pick and choose. But I want it to be there in some form or another.

[manwhohaseverything]

It’s not about competency, like I said, I much prefer the main Superman have a career behind him with some meat on its bones. That’s not to say I need “everything is canon” (though I do very much like that approach, you know in the soft not quite literal way Morrison likes it). I like reading about out of canon stories or stories set in his early years as much as the next guy. But for the main canon, I’d rather it be a version who has a rich history behind him. I don’t want that history to be a sacred cow, writers can’t tweak or maybe pick and choose. But I want it to be there in some form or another.

Ok, i can now i understand. But, the character doesn't have many of his history. He is essentially a postcrisis product. Sure, they had superman recognise rainbow batman. Other than that, silch.

[LoveStar]

New52 Superman was a missed opportunity to really push Superman to the modern world. He had all the right concepts/characterization but many writers fumbled being too stuck on playing safe.

Being a blogger makes so much more sense given this is the day and time of technology, social media and smartphones. Everyone who is on the social sites get news out faster than the news themselves. Metropolis could’ve been a home base but he had the motivation and ability to travel the world or to other worlds without being tied down.

Embracing and accepting his dual identity was the biggest improvement because it’s acknowledged rightfully that he is an alien from another world. He isn’t a normal human and his life isn’t and shouldn’t be normal. He honored his birth parents and adoptive parents instead of trying to choose one over the other or trying to force normalcy to be something he isn’t. A bonus was giving more depth and character to Lara.

[superduperman]

Yes. He was a chance to give Superman the clean slate he needed and they screwed it up. There's no other way to put it really. He was a mess prior to New 52 and needed a clean up. Ultimately I think his demise was also the man responsible for his creation and that's Dan Didio. He had too many pointless rules like no marriages which means that any relationship he got into would go nowhere. I think if fans felt like they were going to get back to some semblance of normal they might have been more supportive. But by about the third year it was obvious that wasn't going to happen or take too long to get there. If they had hooked him back up with Lois he might still be around today. The infinite crossovers didn't help. having to buy every single title just to follow one story was stupid. This isn't the nineties anymore. People can't afford it.

I think Didio tended to overrate his own creative prowess and ability to convince people of his ideas.

[Yoda]

The blogging thing is one of the best examples of why he was such a mess. It went absolutely nowhere after it was done for a big "reveal," got some media hits, and then was completely forgotten. "Bloggers" are probably one of the few professions held in less esteem than actual reporters. Twitter has essentially made blogs irrelevant as well. And even actual modern reporters, even investigative reporters that work for major outlets, are on Twitter anyways, so having him work for the Daily Planet as a young modern reporter wouldn't really take all that much tweaking of the original formula. But no, they had him storm off and start a blog just as blogs were becoming a punchline because "he's not your Dad's Superman." It's a perfect example of all the problems they had. They were chasing trends instead of actually looking at how to modernize the character. And once they did make some sort of the superficial change, with little to no thought as to the actual next steps or how it was going to develop, it was forgotten for the next big "event" or change they could make to get that little blip of relevance.