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Why does DC keep screwing with Superman's Origin?


Darren

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I'm kind of getting sick of DC screwing with Superman's origin.While the basic premise remains the same...the characters' looks and small details within it have all been changed.And now with Richard Donner's addition on Action Comics,it has been changed AGAIN to resemble something more from the Donner's Superman movie.

 

First we had the original Pre-Crisis Origin.Colorful outfits for the Kryptonians,etc.

 

Then John Byrne came around with the Man of Steel origin and bringing out a design and idea of "isolated" Kryptonians that stuck around for a long while.The Kryptonians wore black bodysuits that extended their life to immortal-levels however they had to kill all social ties to each other after years of war and death.This also included the "Birthing Matrix" rocketship.Clark also did not become Superman till he arrived in Metropolis...doing away with the Pre-Crisis Superboy.

 

Then there were a few storylines in more recent Superman comics that did away with the Byrne origin and hinted that maybe the Pre-Crisis origin was more likely the true origin.

 

THEN there was Superman: Birthright that screwed with it all.Introducing a new look for the Kryptonians....AGAIN.Having the "S" shield become a national Kryptonian symbol and even going so far as having Superman let his parents know he arrived safely on Earth when they were light-years away and Krypton exploded soon after.There were also stuff about Clark Kent becoming Superman.

 

AND NOW in recent Action Comics with Richard Donner writing with ###### Johns (with art by Adam Kubert) the origin seems to have changed again.Jor-El now has a more "Marlon Brando" look to him with white hair and a beard and the designs of the characters are more reminescent to the SUPERMAN movies.They even included Smallville's symbol for Zod AS the symbol for Zod in the comics.There were also more details regarding Jor-El knowing that Krypton was going to explode and such.

 

I know DC's one excuse for the different origins was Superboy-Prime punching at the wall of the "Paradise" that was created to cage them and thus he altered reality with those punches (this also resulted to Jason Todd coming back to life,etc.).

 

But come on now...this is getting a little crazy now.DC has NOT set on any definitive story or look (of characters like Jor-El,Lara,and Krypton in general) for Supes' origin....it's just like one big mess now!

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Wow. It's been awhile since I read any Superman titles. I had no idea DC "tweaked" his origin again. That's one of the reasons why I stopped reading Supe's books. I just wish DC would find a one true origin for him and stick with it instead of changing it all the time.

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This has always bothered me. I understand making some small changes here and there or maybe adding some flashback events that tell the story from another perspective that the main character didn't realize, but come on. How many different versions are gonna happen to one character. I started to read Superman when Byrne came on board so I remember and like his version of everyone and having Superman being the ONLY Kryptonian to exist, which makes him more unique. Also, having Lex be a corporate business man seems so much more evil than an evil mad scientist, which in my opionion seems so much like a bad 60's sci-fi movie instead.

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  • 3 months later...
"A work of art is never completed, only abandoned"- George Lucas.

Kind of like how Lucas abandoned Empire and Return, didn't even direct them. @loll@

 

 

makes you wonder what would have happen if he didn't direct two and three??

 

anyhoo back on topic, I thought the recent crisis explained the origin of Superman and with the recent end to 52, it should all make sense now right? God, I hate alternate realities LOL!

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makes you wonder what would have happen if he didn't direct two and three??

 

Characterization? Human emotion? A sense of meaning, ennui, whimsy and humor that are completely absent from the prequels.

 

There also may have been less focus on hitting the bullet list of plot-points Lucas needed to get thru, and a bit more about an actual *story*. The end result of the "Anakin" Trilogy is that he's a spoiled brat of a lil b*tch, and becomes the Lord of the Sith because he has daddy issues. Wow... Way to miss the boat.

 

I think it was an equal balance of Lucas having his scripts edited/reviewed by Leia and Threepio, who practically owe everything they are to him, rather than brining in objective and critical help and hampering his creative perspective by directing the entire trilogy that caused the biggest problems with the prequels.

 

Superman is suffering from a different afflicition. Lucas cared *too* much, not letting any other voices chime in on *HIS* vision. The Man of Steel is being killed by the corporate bureaucracy and their desire to have every new writer do what he/she wants... continuity be damned. The bullet list of things that "must be dealt with" is little more than toilet paper for the editor's loo.

 

While Lucas slaved away on his sh*tty family recipe, and served us up creamed crap of cinema... Superman is living proof that, conversely, too many cooks have spoilt the simplest broth.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Think of it this way. Kal-El/Clark doesn't even really know what happened for sure. All he knows is that his entire planet was destroyed by the time he came to Earth and hes the last of his kind. The rest, ie what Jor-El looks like, what they wore, etc are open to interpretation to suit the needs of the current writer. If you need to know Superman's backstory, Morrison summed it up perfectly at the beginning of All-Star Superman. Four panels. Eight words. Simple and brilliant. The rest is just puff.

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  • 1 month later...

Its simple.......they are trying to cater to the mainstream audience. Which is the Smallville/Superman movies audience.....I remember them talking about this in Wizard a while back....with the previews for Jor-El being more Brando...and so on. Thats all they are trying to do....just cater to the mainstream fan. Its a shame that comics have to change little things here and there to "TRY" and make comics more accessable to the average fan but it never seems to work. With and exception of the Ultimate Universe in Marvel.

 

For the record I always liked the idea that Clark was the last Kryptonion......but you gotta think that not all of the Kryptonions were on Krypton at the time of the explosion. Space Travel had to be an option for these people......but then you could say "Why didn't Jor-El just leave in their space ship".......I just painted myself into a corner...with that comment but you know what I mean.

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"A work of art is never completed, only abandoned"- George Lucas.

 

 

well at least we didn't have to endure finding out that Superman created Metallo or Brainiac and fathered Lex Luthor. OR that he killed his first wife, wiped out a bunch of kids and homeless denziens that he blamed for his parents death.

 

 

 

@smilepunch@

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How else would DC make any more comics that sell?

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  • 1 month later...
Its simple.......they are trying to cater to the mainstream audience. Which is the Smallville/Superman movies audience.....I remember them talking about this in Wizard a while back....with the previews for Jor-El being more Brando...and so on. Thats all they are trying to do....just cater to the mainstream fan. Its a shame that comics have to change little things here and there to "TRY" and make comics more accessable to the average fan but it never seems to work. With and exception of the Ultimate Universe in Marvel.

 

I think this is as close to an exlpaination as you're gonna find. It all has to do with what's popular now.

NOW we have Smallville and Superman Returns. So his origin is again changed to cater to the trend. C'mon guys, he even has a "son" now in Action Comics :rolleyes: (If anyone thinks that kid is gonna be around after Donner is off the comic, you're crazy!)

What really makes me laugh is that each time they redo his origin, they try to tell us, "OK, guys, THIS is the real, one, true origin of Superman." Yeah. Sure. Until the next editor in chief and/or flash in the pan writer comes along.

As a Superman fan it sucks. I don't even know what his origin really is. So, has he been around since the 1940's? He WAS a memer of the Legion of Superheroes when he was Superboy?? Marlon Bran....er, Jor El still talks to him??? Personally, I'm suprised Pa Kent is still alive in the comic. I mean, that's not how it is in the movies or in Smallville, so that can't be "correct" can it?

It's too bad about the comics. I mean, this is the greatest super hero of all time and creators still can't figure out how to tell a good story with him. They're either messing with his origin or doing ho-hum stories where you KNOW he'll come out on top in the end. There MUST be a better way to handle this icon....

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  • 3 weeks later...

"Birthing matrix" was a dumb idea. Tried to be too "sci-fi". I don't like the Kents as a mindly dysfunctional couple either. Nor do I want them aping Marvel's need to add some heavy degree of personal tragedy and angst onto all their characters. DC has Batman for that role.

 

Superboy, eh I can live or live without him being in costume that early. I do liek the idea that he's pretty much THE last survivor of Krypton though- sure, stick Zod and such as they were off-world at the time, but don't resurrect half the population. Supergirl worked best in the DCAU being from a neighboring world.

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it just seems that modern artists, writers, whatever want to add their own signature to it but all it does is just taint the original. look at marvel with the ultimate editions, they started with it and i guess dc just wants to keep up.

 

call me old fashioned but they should just leave it alone and come up with something original for a change and that means not taking cues from the crappy smallville tv show.

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For the record I always liked the idea that Clark was the last Kryptonion......but you gotta think that not all of the Kryptonions were on Krypton at the time of the explosion. Space Travel had to be an option for these people......but then you could say "Why didn't Jor-El just leave in their space ship".......I just painted myself into a corner...with that comment but you know what I mean.

 

Yea, I've long liked that cornerstone aspect of the Superman concept.

Trouble is, all the other crap they have added takes us further away from that concept.

This is why I dislike the Lois being married to him thing, and the sickly bastard son of Superman thing, and all the other fluff that has been added.

 

I think, that is they really wanted to do something different with Superman, they might was to consider a plot I suggested last year:

 

Give Superman his own personal 9/11.

 

Ergo: kill off his supporting cast.

 

Have some bad guys ( pick out anyone, or make it some terrorist guys) and have them take out the Daily Planet. Kill outright Lois, Jimmy, Perry, Ma & Pa Kent....all those folks that means something to Supes.

Get rid of all the mortals in his life.

Then............then he becomes, AGAIN, the "last son of..." once more. He's alone and his attachments to Earth become....what?

Therein lies an exploration of the character that's not been addressed before.

He was sent here, and along the way he made some friends and connected with people. Now those people are gone and his connections........do they remain? Does his legacy of being sent to this one specific world remain simply because the people he cares about are dead and gone?

This is where we can get into the character's head a bit.

Add a NEW cast of supporting characters--this time make it people with different drives and agendas in life. Then you have a vehicles to take the character down paths he's not travelled before.

Part of Superman's problem is that he's hung with the same crowd for almost 70 years now.

That personality paradigm has gotten a little staid, and the writing reflects it.

Marrying Lois and Superman became a symptom of the problem, not a solution to it.

The equation of a distant/intimate relationship between the two was up-ended when they went with just the intimate one.

Superman is set apart from us-that's part of what makes his character work. The forcing of his persona into mortal society is the other part of it, because both aspects remind us of things about ourselves. The rapport with the character comes from his "never-ending battle" to fit in.

 

Bringing in new characters that might care about Supes, but who have other things going on might be a way of telling new stories, delving into new situations.

Sure, the legacy of the secondary characters can be honoured--there's stories in that....but there is also growth in the character coming out of grieving too. There's also all the stories possible with other heroes relating them to Supes.

Imagine Superman now being able to completely relate to Batman, both having lost those closest to them.

That kind of thing has never been done for Superman.

 

It would be a gutsy move ( would probably make the news) and would upset some folks, but it could make for a lot great stories.

All it takes is the will to try it.

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I dont think it will make a lot of good stories but a lot of crappy explanations of how to bring back Daily Planet or Superman gone rogue and become a Parallax rip off story.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Give Superman his own personal 9/11.

 

Ergo: kill off his supporting cast.

 

That's a bold statement. I agree. Somewhat.......

 

Superman has never really LOST. Anything. Even with his home planet destroyed, he was too young to have any memory of it or the people there. He's never suffered a real physical OR emotional loss. We can't identify with him.

 

Kill Lois Lane!

 

What does she really bring to the Superman story anyway? Besides feelings of nostalgia and status quo? The best Superman/Lois Lane stories have already been told anyway, in the first two movies. I don't want to wait around while they try to top them (and they HAVE been trying). Imagine if Supes REALLY lost the love of his life, FOREVER! We'd get to see how a man who could do anything, who's never lost anythng, with all his great power, deal with it.

 

In the mean time, if the comic NEEDS a reporter type character, have Jimmy step up and fill Lois's shoes. It's only been 70 years. Do we DARE evolve that guy from a camera-carrying, bow tie-wearing side kick with no personality? I don't know...........

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If you think the screwing with Superman's origin is bad, check out Batman and his cast of villians. The Joker's origin re-write currently in Batman: Confidential is 180 degrees from the one in the Killing Joke. In the Killing Joke, the Joker is a poor guy who becomes the Joker by accident, driven mad by the loss of his family and the damage of the chemicals he fell into. The new origin has him as a homicidal hitman who goes crazy BEFORE falling into the vat of chemicals. In other words, he's the Joker before turning white. Completely different origin.

 

Not sure which one I like better. Killing Joke is classic and tough to replace. But the new origin better explains why the Joker is such a psycho and why he could go toe to toe with Batman. Never made sense to me that an ordinary guy driven mad could be as homicidal or skilled as the Joker. A deranged hitman actually makes more sense.

 

I'm sure in another 20 years they'll just rewrite it again ;)

 

Louis

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  • 2 weeks later...
For the record I always liked the idea that Clark was the last Kryptonion......but you gotta think that not all of the Kryptonions were on Krypton at the time of the explosion. Space Travel had to be an option for these people......but then you could say "Why didn't Jor-El just leave in their space ship".......I just painted myself into a corner...with that comment but you know what I mean.

 

Yea, I've long liked that cornerstone aspect of the Superman concept.

Trouble is, all the other crap they have added takes us further away from that concept.

This is why I dislike the Lois being married to him thing, and the sickly bastard son of Superman thing, and all the other fluff that has been added.

 

I think, that is they really wanted to do something different with Superman, they might was to consider a plot I suggested last year:

 

Give Superman his own personal 9/11.

 

Ergo: kill off his supporting cast.

 

Have some bad guys ( pick out anyone, or make it some terrorist guys) and have them take out the Daily Planet. Kill outright Lois, Jimmy, Perry, Ma & Pa Kent....all those folks that means something to Supes.

Get rid of all the mortals in his life.

Then............then he becomes, AGAIN, the "last son of..." once more. He's alone and his attachments to Earth become....what?

Therein lies an exploration of the character that's not been addressed before.

He was sent here, and along the way he made some friends and connected with people. Now those people are gone and his connections........do they remain? Does his legacy of being sent to this one specific world remain simply because the people he cares about are dead and gone?

This is where we can get into the character's head a bit.

Add a NEW cast of supporting characters--this time make it people with different drives and agendas in life. Then you have a vehicles to take the character down paths he's not travelled before.

Part of Superman's problem is that he's hung with the same crowd for almost 70 years now.

That personality paradigm has gotten a little staid, and the writing reflects it.

Marrying Lois and Superman became a symptom of the problem, not a solution to it.

The equation of a distant/intimate relationship between the two was up-ended when they went with just the intimate one.

Superman is set apart from us-that's part of what makes his character work. The forcing of his persona into mortal society is the other part of it, because both aspects remind us of things about ourselves. The rapport with the character comes from his "never-ending battle" to fit in.

 

Bringing in new characters that might care about Supes, but who have other things going on might be a way of telling new stories, delving into new situations.

Sure, the legacy of the secondary characters can be honoured--there's stories in that....but there is also growth in the character coming out of grieving too. There's also all the stories possible with other heroes relating them to Supes.

Imagine Superman now being able to completely relate to Batman, both having lost those closest to them.

That kind of thing has never been done for Superman.

 

It would be a gutsy move ( would probably make the news) and would upset some folks, but it could make for a lot great stories.

All it takes is the will to try it.

 

I know what you're trying to say but it sounds a lot like Kingdom Come......Granted, there were some other factors but for the most part they took everything away from him. He just got more depressed and locked himself in the Fortress for years.......Superman is insanely protective of Earth.....due to the fact that he never wants to lose his new homeworld. His whole being is to protect this planet and its people.......I don't think killing Lois is the answer..........I think giving him some real villians is......Darkseid is the only real Villian that is a real threat to him in the books IMO. Bizarro is cool and all but there is nothing original to him. He just needs some better Villians IMO. Also he should not be married to Lois and there should be "NO CHILDREN"

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This is DC's problem in a nutshell:

Superman is our flagship title, outside of Batman what can we do to protect out character?

 

Make him the STRONGESt and MOST POWERFUL cape wearing dude ever:

The range of his abilities makes im great, but how geat should he be?

He went from leaping to flying

from moving mountains to moving planets (ridiculous)

to getting his powers from the sun AND the earth's lower gravity, to beaing able to actual survive a literal sun-bath (is he GOD?)

from moving fast to being a few steps from the Flash

now he has telekenesis to a certain degree with his Vro Toqua-whatever

 

DC painted themselves into a corner ...

no one can beat our hero ..... so they sue the original creator of Shazam (and later buy the rights to the character)

Make sure Marvel can't touch him when they do crossovers

even dumb down the power of WORTHY VILLAINS: can anyone say Mongul???

 

So if his powers cannot be constant, if his foes and continuity cannot be constant, and is easily inmfluence by the DC Media (Lois & Clark, Smallville, Richard Donner, etc), how can one expect his origin to stay the same?

 

Shoot, even his Marvel-ous rival Spider-Man had an origin adaptaion in the SM3 flick, why not have a movie man touch up the Man of Steel in the comics?

For DC, it is all fair game as long as it sells.

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