From: akhale@pollux.usc.edu (Abhijit Khale)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: I'm not buying Superman #75!
Date: 21 Nov 1992 22:26:15 -0800
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: pollux.usc.edu

In article <92325.214830GPS108@psuvm.psu.edu> <GPS108@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>I think that there is a simple explanation for why Supes dealt with D-day
>with a lot of fighting and little rational thought.  The fact is you need
>writers with brains to write characters with brains.

The point though is that it would be seriously out of character for this
version of Kal to start using his brains too much. Ever since Byrne remade
him, he emphasized the fact that this was not the intellectual wizard
and genius of old. [ And I may add that Byrne didnt object to characters
with brains per se : he did write Reed Richards]. It actually makes a perverse
kind of sense for this Superman to go out this way. 

And frankly, brains would not have helped Superman (as opposed to Guy) that
much against Doomsday. Superman made the mistake of underestimating Doomsday
earlier on, and took a tremendous pounding. Later on, he really lacked the
strength to try something like throwing or carrying Doomsday far away ( which
second he did try and failed). He was so wasted he could barely fly or
use his super-speed for a while. 

Once again, this is NOT the pre-crisis Superman. Things that would be trivial
to the pre-Crisis Superman are beyond the ability of this Superman at most
times (and especially after he's been pounded nearly to death). 


>This series is so lacking in creative talent that it's sad.  The character of
>Superman deserves so much better.  Jerry Ordway and Dan Jurgens were
>unexceptional artists that got promoted to abysmal writers.  Louise Simonson
>can on occasion produce something tolerable but generally writes amateurish
>crap.  Poor Roger Stern is being dragged down by the annual co-plotting
>sessions.  His Superman chapters are always the best ones but he is just not
>free to pursue his own storylines.  If the Superman comics are going to be
>improved at all, they will need a serious house-cleaning of the creative
>staff. DC needs talent like they had during the immediate post-crisis period
> And they must *absolutely* drop the weekly plotline garbage for Superman.

Actually I would say that Roger Stern is a pretty good writer, Ordway is good
and Jurgens varies a lot from poor to good. I havent read enough Simonson
to make a judgement on her. I would also say that Ordway's a pretty good
artist and Jurgens is an average one. 

I agree that the tight continuity restricts creative freedom too much. If the
Superman titles are to be redone, I would like to see one focusing on strict
continuity, another one which has separate storylines but generally follows
continuity. I  would also like to see a third title in the LOTDK format with
different creative teams and more mature stories { I admit its harder to write
more mature stories about Superman than it is about Batman}. 

And DC should put its money where its mouth is and start putting out more
prestige high-end Superman stuff. Seems like Batman has one of these stories
every month, but DC  is reluctant to give Superman any (even Elseworlds
stories). 

Abhijit