DC Comics has announced that they are re-inventing Superman.  Starting
with the March issue, Superman will nolonger have the familiar blue and
red outfit, or capes, or boots.  The new Superman will be have a new all white
capeless outfit with a metallic looking new shaped "S"  Instead of flying,
Superman will boolt from place to place.  And Clark Kent will turn into
Superman, not e Superman already simply wearing lcothes. Meaning that
Clark Kent will normally be human, with vulnerablility to sicknesses and 
bleeding and .etc

The new Superman will look radically different, I saw a picture.  Doyou
think the punblic will accept this?  Willit increase Superman sales?  Only
time will tell.

63 responses total.

And instead of bullets bouncing off his chest, bullets will now pass
right through Superman, who will have a less than solid state.  Also he
will now have a partial mask, covering portionsof his face but not his hair.

NOt too unlike a green lantern.

the idea has to do with some with The Longest Night that came out awhile. I
didn't read it, but I think Earth's sun was changed. Since Superman powers
are based on the sun, his powers are changing. I think they should go the way
of Kingdom Come rather than this.

He went from the Man of Steel to the Man of Energy
As I understand it, he is a being of light...

Sounds like DC is desperate to mess with one of their biggest properties
like that.

Why?!  Why do they do these things?!  You want to boost your sales, you
write better stories, not screw around with *well* established characters
like that!!  GAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

i read that this is going to be an ongoing story.. not something they plan
to change back immediately if fans don't like it

See, this is another good reason why big companies like DC shouldn't be in
comics. DC is showing us that insted of making good stories the make hype...
It was the same thing with Superman's death and return and Batman's back being
broken on then his return, then the posion story. Sure, some of the Vertigo
and Helix comics are good, but the money makers are Batman and Superman. So
to make more money then make hype. Same with X-Men and Spiderman. They got
to stop making multiable books on the same characters, stop making hype, start
make mature and reasonable story (not clones) and tyhen see how the sales
go... Just me babbling again.

Don't you realize that this'll give DC the chance to create new Supermen
just like they did after his "death."  We'll probably find out that he
isn't Superman, just one of dozens of people claiming to be Superman.

good, maybe that'll mean the real Superman is still dead!

too bad they're not ALL dead.. :P

Even worse news! I heard that DC will revamp Superboy around issue 50.
I guess that means Steel and the cyborg will follow. What next?
Wonder Woman turns purple? The Flash loses his speed and becomes a
master photographer? Batman turns feral? How much more do they want
to screw up?!?

I know!! they can have it revealed that the Martian Manhunter is really not
a Martian!!! and that Lois Lane was replaced with Bizarro Lois Lane long ago
so Clark Kent didn't marry who he thought he did.. ugh.

this is a publicity stunt I think by DC.  Anything to get attention and sell
a few copies.  I think the cape and old outfit will be back soon enough.  I
mean Superman *has* to be in red, white and blue!  After all, he fights for
"truth, justice and the AMERICAN way"!

Remember what happened to Batman's "redesigned" costume?  is that still
around?  Change around here is never permanent uless it translates into sales.
Superman doesn't need to be reinvented.  He's one of the most durable
characters in comics, his constume continues to be a landmark.   changing it
isn't going to do anything that's good.  I got out of comics reading because
of publicity stunts like these.  XMen disgusts me.  I don't know what's going
on anymore, and frankly I dont' care.  I'm not going to buy 10 issues of
different comics a month to find out what one storyline is.  I mercifully
missed all that age of apocalypse crap, the spiderclone, and everything else.
and thank god.  when I write stories, I do it to write stories, not to make
money.

Besides, big blue looks ugly.  

I have to admit aht all that alternate universe stuff and earth 1
and earth two and earth 3 superheroes was a real turnoff.  Not to
mention *confusing*  It got so you didnt know (I'm still not sure!)
who's alive and who's dead anymore!

But they got rid of all the alternate universes with Crisis of the Infinite
Earths back in the mid 80's. What did they do? Bring them all back?

I've noticed that every once in a while DC will "clean up" their universe
and try to explain some discrepancies with crossover events like Crisis
on Infinite Earths or Zero Hour.  Which is confusing but I appreciate it
because they at least try.  Marvel on the other hand tries to have every-
thing anyone ever wrote about any character remain established fact to be
referenced 15 years later to confuse the hell out of everyone.  It's like
 a soap opera with too many characters, playing 12 episodes a day.  

Marvel is supposed to be pulling a "Zero Hour" type thing soon.. 
cleaning up most of the last 2(!) years messes.. isn't it amazing and
sickening how quickly Marvel screwed itself up so bad it needed a reboot?
this is going to happen sometime around the End of Heroes Reborn (soon..
let it end SOON!!!) hey! this is the new Superman item.. umm.. Look! Up in
the Sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a gimmick!! <luke runs away>

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's STUPERDUCK!

All I got to say is... <SIGH>

interesting...Warner Brothers has given the go-ahead for a new big
screen superman movie, to be released christmas 1998-- 

the title---   "Superman Reborn"
(does this mean the movie will have the new superman or the old superman
reborn, or both>?)

i heard they were going to make The Death and Return of Superman into a movie
with ALL the guest stars and Doomsday!! i'm guessing Clark won't be appearing
much.. oh well. 

i'm curious.. is Clark Kent = Superman OR Superman = Clark Kent
I ask because Batman is just Batman except when he needs Bruce Wayne to do
something that Batman can't accomplish "alone"

OH NO! SUPERMAN REBORN... DON'T TELL ME THAT ROB LIEFELD PUT A EAGLE ON HIS
HEAD TOO... no wait, sorry I got concused there.

i will kill anyone that releases a comic under the title "________ Reborn"
I hate the word reborn now.. i also hate the word Liefield..

good for you

I can see it now "Deadman Reborn!" (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

*reaches for his dagger but stops a fraction of an inch from mike's throat
and thinks ' save it for rob' and wanders off in search of Sleepwalker*

If any of you read the _Ann Arbor Observer_ like I do, you may have noticed
the ad for New Adventures at the Courtyard Shops on Plymouth Road, which
promoted the new Superman's dress and logo.

IMNSHO, the new Superman sucks!

The new Superman wears a DRESS???

I mean, I love multiculturalism and gay tolerance and all that, but
come on!  >8)

wow. Superman in a dress... isn't DC making a bit of a risk here? 
and will this affect Superman's # of monthly books? (he has 12 or so, doesn't
he?) How many monthly comics does *1* character need?!

Actualy... if they made Superman into a transsexual insted of a being made
of energy, I would read it. That's what they need for sales... you can even
keep the costume the same but have him wear make up and fake boobs. Maybe a
wig.

hmm.. Superman as a bad girl? eek.

see what I mean!

Maybe we'll find out that the new Supergirl (killed in Crisis of Infinite
Earths) is actually Superman from the future trying to stop his/her
transformation. It would certainly make the comic more interesting. Of
course, they could go for the "beautiful man" motif in anime where Supes
is a man who looks and acts like a woman. I'd buy a comic like that. If
only DC would try to pick up on the more interesting Japanese manga ideas...

see what I mean! let go for the sex change! somebody call DC!

Superman goes transexual, crosses over into the marvel univ4erse, keeps the
new cotstume, and teams up with EVERYBODY in a 100 p[art crossover to defeat
Onslaught... you know it's gonna happen
=

what's sad is for the most part he's right...

Sadly, quality stories do not translate to big money.  And if you didn't care
about all this hype, there'd be none of these comments.  True, if you're going
to create the hype, then you've got to follow through.  So it could be agreed
that this 'new' Superman will be fluff w/o a good story?  I quite agree
Superman is too big of a classic to be messed with too drastically (I mean,
the Crisis did change things about him), so this new guy will likely be a
pretender.  A word about Marvel here.  They've had great storylines like the
Phoenix Saga and Infinity Gauntlet that were really hyped, so why haven't they
figured out what they did right there?  Or how about DC, for that matter? 
Just a note here:  I get all my news about comics from someone else that's
big into 'em, so my opinions are definitely flawed.  The only comics I ever
followed much were Nomad (a character, I admit, I identify wit) until the art
went down the tubes (and the storyline somewhat too), Spawn-- until I got
disappointed with the fact he was turning evil, and the few Sandman graphic
novels and comics I borrowed from a friend.

Jon has got a lot of good points here although I don't remember the Phoenix
Saga being hyed, although I was young the so who knows. What I was talking
about with crossovers and hype is that for the most part it's a selling point
rather then an actual story. Sometimes it can be both, most of the time it
isn't. Most of the stories never quite fullfill what they set out to do (what
did Zero Hour solve???).     
   I guess what I'm trying to say is that for a while it was a specators
market. They would make gimick covers and make events that would make people
buy multible copies for investment reasons. Collectors would buy out they
store of the next hot comic. Wizard hyped Valiant and how many Valiant titles
do you now see in the $0.25 bin? Lots. 
   As for the new Superman, I have doubts. Althought I should wait until it
comes out to pass judgement, but I have already been burned by one of
Superman's hype projects. If they really were planing to kill Superman then
they should have kept him dead. If they didn't want to risk lossing four
titles per month, then they shouldn't do a story where the main character
dies. But did you see the media flying? Everybody to leapining from
newspapers, TV news, to Entertainment tonight were all over this Superman
event. I did read those issues and the story wasn't so solid enough... I guess
that's why take this position in opinion.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss