Saturday, June 22, 2013

Essays on Superman: John Byrne's Vision in a Single Splash

"Essays on Superman: John Byrne's Vision in a Single Splash" from Man of Steel #6 by John Byrne and Dick Giordano
Because the Man of Steel movie is out (nope, still haven't seen it), there's a lot of talk about what's appropriate for Superman. Who is he? What makes him Superman? Well, here is John Byrne's opinion on that from his game-changing mini-series of the same name.

5 comments:

  1. I never liked the notion of Superman being "born" on earth -- overcomplicated, unnecessary, and detracts from the image of loving parents sending their infant away in a desperate gamble -- but on the balance, absolutely perfect.

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  2. The sterile Krypton was interesting, but it did seem part of Byrne's effort to get rid of the place as a source of stories and characters. I suppose a decision made in the Superman reboot was to go against the Silver Age's interest in Superman as an alien, always going back to Krypton in some way, or Krypton coming to him. Make him more human and relatable, focus on his human supporting cast.

    The pendulum has swung the other way now.

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  3. In the amazing coincidence department, I use this same splash today in my essay on the film (spoiler filled, don't read until you've seen the movie...)

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  4. Great minds think alike. And ours do too, I guess.

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  5. I saw Byrne at a mid-80's con about 2 years before he jumped to DC. He spent a good chunk of his panel talking about his ideas for Superman (as opposed to the book he was currently working on, Fantastic Four). He'd obviously had his Superman concept brewing for a long time.

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