#seemingly in spite of dc's best efforts

[navree]

you know, i think i've survived being a batman/batfam fan not because of elseworlds stuff like wayne family adventures or even fanworks (although the fanworks are amazing) but also because i'm simultaneously a big doctor strange fan and so when dc fucks me over yet again by making bruce be an asshole to his family without it ever leading to meaningful change or putting jason through some fresh hell for the thousandth time or trying to get me to care about tim drake when he's the most boring boy on the planet, i just go and read the current doctor strange run, because even if no one else got me, i know jed mackay got me, because he's never ever let me down and gave me clea back which i've been clamoring for since 2018

[davidmann95]

Superman’s 10 Best of the ‘10s

Good Miracle Monday, folks! The first third Monday of May of a new decade for that matter, and while that means that today in the DC Universe Superman just revealed his secret identity to the world on the latest anniversary of that time he defeated the devil, in ours it puts a capstone on a solid 10 years of his adventures now in the rear view mirror, ripe for reevaluation. And given there’s a nice solid ‘10′ right there I’ll go ahead with the obvious and list my own top ten for Superman comics of the past decade, with links in the titles to those I’ve spoken on in depth before - maybe you’ll find something you overlooked, or at least be reminded of good times.

A plethora of honorable mentions: I’m disqualifying team-ups or analogue character stories, but no list of the great Superman material of the last decade would be complete without bringing up Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye #7, Avengers 34.1, Irredeemable, Sideways Annual #1, Supreme: Blue Rose, Justice League: Sixth Dimension, usage of him in Wonder Twins, (somewhat in spite of itself) Superior, from all I’ve heard New Super-Man, DCeased #5, and Batman: Super Friends. And while they couldn’t quite squeeze in, all due praise to the largely entertaining Superman: Unchained, the decades’ great Luthor epic in Superman: The Black Ring, a brilliant accompaniment to Scott Snyder’s work with Lex in Lex Luthor: Year of the Villain, the bonkers joy of the Superman/Luthor feature in Walmart’s Crisis On Infinite Earths tie-in comics, Geoff Johns and John Romita’s last-minute win in their Superman run with their final story 24 Hours, Tom Taylor’s quiet criticism of the very premise he was working with on Injustice and bitter reflection on the changing tides for the character in The Man of Yesterday, the decades’ most consistent Superman ongoing in Bryan Miller and company’s Smallville Season 11, and Superman: American Alien, which probably would have made the top ten but has been dropped like a hot potato by one and all for Reasons. In addition are several stories from Adventures of Superman, a book with enough winners to merit a class of its own: Rob Williams and Chris Weston’s thoughtful Savior, Kyle Killen and Pia Guerra’s haunting The Way These Things Begin, Marc Guggenheim and Joe Bennett’s heart-wrenching Tears For Krypton, Christos Gage and Eduardo Francisco’s melancholy Flowers For Bizarro, Josh Elder and Victor Ibanez’s deeply sappy but deeply effective Dear Superman, Ron Marz and Doc Shaner’s crowdpleasing Only Child, and Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine DeLandro’s super-sweet Mystery Box.

10. Greg Pak/Aaron Kuder’s Action Comics

Oh, what might’ve been. In spite of an all-timer creative team I can’t justify listing this run any higher given how profoundly and comprehensively compromised it is, from the status quo it was working with to the litany of ill-conceived crossovers to regular filler artists to its ignominious non-ending. But with the most visceral, dynamic, and truly humane take on Clark Kent perhaps of all time that still lives up to all Superman entails, and an indisputably iconic instant-classic moment to its name, I can’t justify excluding it either.

9. Action Comics #1000

Arguably the climax to the decade for the character as his original title became the first superhero comic to reach a 1000th issue. While any anthology of this sort is a crapshoot by nature, everyone involved here seemed to understand the enormity of the occasion and stepped up as best they could; while the lack of a Lois Lane story is indefensible, some are inevitably bland, and one or two are more than a bit bizarre, by and large this was a thoroughly charming tribute to the character and his history with a handful of legitimate all-timer short stories.

8. Faster Than A Bullet

Much as Adventures of Superman was rightfully considered an oasis amidst the New 52′s worst excesses post-Morrison and in part pre-Pak, few stories from it seem well-remembered now, and even at the time this third issue inexplicably seemed to draw little attention. Regardless, Matt Kindt and Stephen Segovia’s depiction of an hour in the life of Superman as he saves four planets first thing in the morning without anyone noticing - while clumsy in its efforts at paralleling the main events with a literal subplot of a conversation between Lois and Lex - is one of the best takes I can recall on the scope on which he operates, and ultimately the purpose of Clark Kent.

7. Man and Superman

Seemingly geared on every front against me, built as it was on several ideas of how to handle Superman’s origin I legitimately hate, and by a writer whose work over the years has rarely been to my liking, Marv Wolfman and Claudio Castellini’s Man and Superman somehow came out of nowhere to be one of my favorite takes on Clark Kent’s early days. With a Metropolis and characters within it that feel not only alive but lived-in, it’s shocking that a story written and drawn over ten years before it was actually published prefigured so many future approaches to its subject, and felt so of-the-moment in its depiction of a 20-something scrambling to figure out how to squeeze into his niche in the world when it actually reached stores.

6. Brian Bendis’s run

Controversial in the extreme, and indeed heir to several of Brian Bendis’s longstanding weaknesses as a writer, his work on The Man of Steel, Superman, and Action Comics has nevertheless been defined at least as much by its ambition and intuitive grasp of its lead, as well as fistfuls of some of the best artistic accompaniment in the industry. At turns bombastic space action, disaster flick, spy-fi, oddball crime serial, and family drama, its assorted diversions and legitimate attempts at shaking up the formula - or driving it into new territory altogether, as in the latest, apparently more longterm-minded unmasking of Clark Kent in Truth - have remained anchored and made palatable by an understanding of Superman’s voice, insecurities, and convictions that go virtually unmatched.

5. Strange Visitor

The boldest, most out-of-left-field Superman comic of the past 10 years, Joe Keatinge took the logline of Adventures of Superman to do whatever creators wanted with the character and, rather than getting back to a classic take absent from the mainline titles at the time as most others did, used the opportunity for a wildly expansive exploration of the hero from his second year in action to his far-distant final adventure. Alongside a murderer’s row of artists, Keatinge pulled off one of the few comics purely about how great Superman is that rather than falling prey to hollow self-indulgence actually managed to capture the wonder of its subject.

4. Superman: Up In The Sky

And here’s the other big “Superman’s just the best” comic the decade had to offer that actually pulled it off. Sadly if reasonably best-known for its one true misfire of a chapter, with the increasing antipathy towards Tom King among fans in general likely not helping, what ended up overlooked is that this is a stone-cold classic on moment of arrival. Andy Kubert turns in work that stands alongside the best of his career, Tom King’s style is honed to its cleanest edge by the 12-pager format and subject matter, and the quest they set their lead out on ends up a perfect vehicle to explore Superman’s drive to save others from a multitude of angles. I don’t know what its reputation will end up being in the long-term - I was struck how prosaic and subdued the back cover description was when I got this in hardcover, without any of the fanfare or critic quotes you’d expect from the writer of Mister Miracle and Vision tackling Superman - but while its one big problem prevents me from ranking it higher, this is going to remain an all-timer for me.

3. Jeff Loveness’s stories Help and Glasses

Cheating shamelessly here, but Jeff Loveness’s Help with David Williams and Glasses with Tom Grummett are absolutely two halves of the same coin, a pair of theses on Superman’s enduring relevance as a figure of hope and the core of Lois and Clark’s relationship that end up covering both sides of Superman the icon and Superman the guy. While basically illustrated essays, any sense of detached lecturing is utterly forbidden by the raw emotion on display here that instantly made them some of the most acclaimed Superman stories of the last several years; they’re basically guaranteed to remain in ‘best-of’ collections from now until the end of time.

2. Superman Smashes The Klan

A bitter race for the top spot, but #2 is no shame here; while not quite my favorite Superman story of the past ten years, it’s probably the most perfectly executed. While I don’t think anyone could have quite expected just *how* relevant this would be at the top of the decade, Gene Yang and Gurihiru put together an adventure in the best tradition of the Fleischer shorts and the occasional bystander-centered episodes of Batman: The Animated Series to explore racism’s both overt and subtle infections of society’s norms and institutions, the immigrant experience, and both of its leads’ senses of alienation and justice. Exciting, stirring, and insightful, it’s debuted to largely universal acknowledgement as being the best Superman story in years, and hopefully it’ll be continued to be marketed as such long-term.

1. Grant Morrison’s Action Comics

When it came time to make the hard choice, it came in no small part down to that I don’t think we would have ever seen a major Golden Age Superman revival project like Smashes The Klan in the first place if not for this. Even hampering by that godawful Jim Lee armor, inconsistent (if still generally very good) art, and a fandom that largely misunderstood it on arrival can’t detract from that this is Grant Morrison’s run on a Superman ongoing, a journey through Superman’s development as a character reframed as a coherent arc that takes him from Metropolis’s most beaten-down neighborhoods to the edge of the fifth dimension and the monstrous outermost limits of ‘Superman’ as a concept. It launched discussions of Superman as a corporate icon and his place relative to authority structures that have never entirely vanished, introduced multiple all-time great new villains, and made ‘t-shirt Superman’ a distinct era and mode of operation for the character that I’m skeptical will ever entirely go away. No other work on the character this decade had the bombast, scope, complexity, or ambition of this run, with few able to match its charm or heart. And once again, it was, cannot stress this enough, Grant Morrison on an ongoing Superman book.

[amtrax]

Megaton Girl FAQ Masterpost

Here is a bunch of potential questions that you may have about Megaton Girl for both new and long-time followers!

What is Megaton Girl?

Megaton Girl is a scripted podcast (which is to say a radio play) that I would describe as a superhero comedy with lots of action, adorable romance, and an overarching story. The pilot is available here and I highly recommend checking it out if you want an idea of what the style and tone of the show will be.

Okay, well what’s the basic story?

From the official description:

After getting struck by a radioactive meteor, Connie Opland becomes the latest contender in a world of super hero celebrities: Megaton Girl. With the help of her girlfriend and secret publicist Laurel Fitz, and her mentor and manager Kirby, Connie aims to dethrone the corrupt and arrogant Captain Valiant as the greatest hero in the world!

That sounds totally radical, dude.

Thank you, 90′s-slang-spewing question asker.

I have very specific tastes. How will I know if I like this show?

If you enjoy any of the following, you’ll probably really really like this show: Stories with LGBTQ protagonists, Marvel and DC comics, Megas XLR, Teen Titans, The Adventure Zone, Critical Role, The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Mission to Zyxx, Hello from the Magic Tavern, Sonic Boom, Swat Kats, and honestly just check it out. The pilot’s only like 15 minutes long, and I think you’ll really love it if you check it out.

Well, who is the show about?

Connie Opland AKA Megaton Girl: A snarky, bubbly and easily excitable young woman with a love of food and low tolerance for jerks. After a bad run in with a corrupt superhero named Captain Valiant, Connie gets struck by a meteor and gains super powers. She dons the persona of Megaton Girl and begins a career in super-heroics, hoping one day to dethrone Captain Valiant and give the world a hero that actually gives a shit. She’s not very bright or quick to the uptake, but she has a ton of grit and determination. No matter how many times she hits the mat, she’s always back on her feet and ready to fight back. She lives with her best-friend (and now girlfriend), Laurel, in a cheap apartment in Los Dioses, California. Powers: Super strength, flight, energy beam attack (expelled through mouth), enhanced durability. She still feels pain and isn’t completely invincible, but she can withstand a megaton explosion and walk away alive (though VERY hurt).

Laurel Fitz: A shy, composed and brilliant lady with wonderful artistic talent and a passion for documenting the feats of superheroes. She is the newest member of the Olympus Illustrated news team. Her job is to essentially write and illustrate comic pages documenting the latest superhero news. When she gets on the bad side of her boss (whom is secretly Captain Valiant), she gets humiliated and demoted in front of the whole bullpen. When Connie gets superpowers, Laurel begins to secretly rebel against her boss by publishing a website dedicated to documenting the feats of Megaton Girl. She also begins learning the basics of superhero coaching from Connie’s manager, Kirby, who sees a ton of potential in her. She lives with her best friend (and now girlfriend), Connie, in a cheap apartment in Los Dioses, California.

William Kirby: A grumpy, no-nonsense old man with a long, once-celebrated history of superhero managing. He represented and coached the best of the best for decades before being forced into an early retirement by his last client, Captain Valiant. He distanced himself from society and lived out of his gym locker room for 15 years, until Connie and Laurel popped into his life asking for help. He’s long past his prime, so he calls in favors from heroes around the globe and beyond to assist in training Connie to be a hero herself. On the side, he begins to teach Laurel how to be a superhero coach, seeing her as a worthy future successor to his business.

Chuck Bradford AKA Captain Valiant: A vain, pompous, power-hungry man who is a superhero in job title only. He does everything for personal gain, even when it comes to stopping crimes. Once represented by Kirby, he cast his old manager aside when Kirby refused to coddle his ego. He lied, cheated and beat his way to the top of the superhero world, and stood unopposed as the most powerful hero in the world for a little over a decade. To fuel his ambitions, he runs the Olympus Illustrated news outlet, wildly overemphasizing his own deeds and often minimizing the efforts of other heroes. There are few heroes who verbally oppose him (and even fewer who physically oppose him), as he has been known to turn the world against those who seek to bring him down. Powers: Super strength (amplified by years of bodybuilding on top of his natural superhuman power), flight, energy beam attack (expelled through eyes), enhanced durability (comparable to Megaton Girl, though with a much higher pain tolerance due to more years explosions and bullets in his face).

Doctor Menace: A bombastic, bumbling, over-eager supervillain with copious amounts of intellect, but none of the brilliance to put it to much use. None of his plans have ever succeeded, his inventions are in perpetual “early-access,” and no hero or villain ever takes him seriously. In spite of his endless list of failures, he sets high goals for himself and always gets back up after every failure, with just as much vigor and excitement as ever. He just loves being the bad guy, no matter what gets in his way. He dreams of one day being the respected arch-nemesis of a powerful superhero with whom he can be locked in ceaseless bloody combat for all time, and to join a league of supervillains with which he can begin his conquest of the world. Also he’s stuck in a too-small tin can of a mech suit. Haha. Powers: Extraordinarily high IQ, high tech armor and gadgets with seemingly endless resources to create more, and limitless determination.

I watched the pilot and I [totally loved it]. Where’s the rest of the show?

We’re working on that! We want to turn this into a full series and already have several episodes written, but in order to produce a full series we will need funding to make sure that everyone involved is paid for their time. One possible goal is to get the show picked up by a podcast network so that we can run the show like a podcast with commercials. Another possibility is Patreon or some other form of crowdfunding.

Is there anyway I can help with that?

The absolute BEST thing you can do right now is to share the pilot. Reblog it, retweet it, TALK about it. Get the word out, and I do mean the word.Use the #MegatonGirl hashtag on Twitter. Tell people what you think, because word of mouth is the best form of getting people to listen. Tell US what you think! Share your thoughts on the pilot, leave iTunes reviews, leave Youtube comments! We want to know what you think!

This sounds like it’s gonna take a while! I want the show now! And an Oompa-Loompa too, daddy!

PUT THE GUN DOWN! WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS, OKAY?! Alright, okay okay. How about we make a full first episode for now, and see what happens? We’ll produce a full origin-story episode about how Connie and Laurel become girlfriends, how Connie gets her super powers and begins her rivalry with Chuck, and how Connie stopped her first supervillain? It’ll be about an hour long and be a proper start to the series. That sound cool?

Looks like you keep your kneecaps today, sir.

Thank you for your blessing, gender non-specific question asker.

I have fanart/AUs/other fan related content that I want you to see. What’s the best way to get your eyes on it?

Tag me on Tumblr @amtrax or on Twitter (at)amtraxVA, and/or use the proper “#Megaton Girl” tag on Tumblr and the #MegatonGirl tag on Twitter! I have gotten some LOVELY fanart and I love seeing all of it, so if you have some and you want it seen, that’s the best way to get it seen!

Hey don’t you run away from me! I have other questions!

And I’ll gladly take them, any time! Either leave them in my askbox or Tweet it at me! I’ll always answer it as best as I can without spoiling too much of the show. I also put out a call for questions and art requests every week for Megaton Girl Megatuesday, so keep any eye out for that as well.

For now, I think that’s a good spot to leave this. I will update this later as necessary, but I hope your basic needs are tended to for now! Thank you for your time and hope you enjoy what’s to come next!

[mike-like-a-justice-league]

You’ve voiced your displeasure at the New 52 before, but what do you think were some good things it changed/added? (For clarity, not Rebirth, but the original New 52)

Ah the New52… Looking back at it now that we’re in Rebirth era, it’s an interesting era to reflect on. I think its legacy is going to be kind of grim, if for no other reason than it being extremely divisive, intensely scandalous, and highly scrutinized (at times, rightly so). But you didn’t ask about the criticisms of it, and I think it’s actually more interesting to examine the positives in spite of its infamy.

I think a lot of the thinking behind the New52 initiative was actually rather inspired. At a time when continuity had gotten pretty convoluted and sales were kind of at a critical breaking point (I don’t know specific numbers, but one thing the new52 definitely did right was bail DC out of a financial nosedive), a company wide relaunch that cleaned slate and started fresh was a good idea. 

And taking the characters back to not quite square one, and synthesizing them into a more streamlined, easily accessible place was another good idea. You could easily hand anyone a number 1 issue and they could jump right into the character without needing tons of backstory but it wasn’t like every issue was an origin.

And some series really stood out as highlights, and talented creators really rose to prominence. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s run on Batman was one of the longest stretches a creator has had on a monthly mainstream superhero book in a long time. Francis Manapul deservedly became an artistic staple at DC after his run on Flash and then Detective Comics. 

In terms of changes to the characters? A lot of my personal complaints with the New52 was the “throw the baby out with the bathwater” reboot treatment characters got. Redefining and changing characters until they were unrecognizable, either to “fix” what wasn’t broken or seemingly just at random. [Not one I particularly cared about, but what was going on with Vic Sage’s Question?] But! Positives! I think a lot of highlights in terms of character changes, came later around the DCYou era midway through. Batgirl of Burnside. Grayson. Black Canary’s solo series. At the time of the original relaunch, my favorite series was the Flash. I thought the series was fun and did a good job of being what the new52 was supposed to be in theory. 

I think the New52′s goal of creating a more cohesive DCUniverse was another good idea, that worked…ish. But really came across as homogeneous in execution until around the DCYou era with some exceptions. Which leads me to…

The “Badassification” of the DCU (…or more honestly the “Batmanification” of the DCU). Another idea that, at the very least, made sense on paper. One of my biggest complaints was that it felt like DC was trying to make every character Batman (or more specifically Nolan-Batman). Batman had a dozen titles and was making frequent guest appearances to boost sales by splashing him on a cover. But the New52 attempted to make every character a broodier, sexier, more bad ass version of themselves to fight back against what DC was terrified of at the time: Silliness. Years after the death-by-ridicule of the original Batman and Superman film franchises, Nolan’s Batman trilogy was wildly popular and DC’s biggest cash cow, so again, it made sense to try to push things in that direction. 

In all cases it felt like an an overcorrection. But I think pushing some characters towards that direction, even though it was a misguided effort, did do some good in the long run. Aquaman and Wonder Woman I think are the best examples of that. Whereas Superman and especially Shazam really suffered for it.

I personally enjoyed the Aquaman series for a long while, and I think the new52 did him a lot of favors, even if they leaned too hard into the “I’m not silly anymore, I’m a badass now” direction. I think… it was a necessary evolution for the character, and having Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis on the book at first was a smart call. Also, everyone rightfully loves Mera now so. 

The Azarello/Chiang Wonder Woman run is another highlight of the original new52 launch. And while there were directions and ideas in the series I don’t want in my ideal Wonder Woman take, I think leaning into the sword/shield amazon warrior elements to the character for a bit is what ultimately gave us the movie. But I think Wonder Woman found a diminishing point of return with her “badassification” that Aquaman didn’t and became pretty murdery. Or just badly written. Also she was dating Superman which sucked.

The future. A well intentioned but weak follow through problem, The new52 was a big step forward in shaping the modern comics industry. Digital first release was a huge leap forward and a great call that was a necessary step for the industry. But in terms of diversity/representation… although it happened in kind of a two steps forward, one step back kind of way, and had to be dragged kicking and screaming into it… eventually the DCU started becoming a more diverse place.

Cyborg joined the Justice League, but he didn’t have his own title. Batwoman got a title, but couldn’t get married. Et Cetera. Et Cetera. But things evolved and changed for the better slowly. More female characters got titles and were depicted better and we got more characters of color in prominence. I think by the end of the New52, representation in the DCU was in a better place than where it found it. 

So yeah… There’s a lot to unpack about the New52 and its legacy. I genuinely couldn’t keep it brief. I didn’t even get into the weirdly ahead of its time but completely devoid of self awareness 90s nostalgia well it crawled out of.

[davidmann95]

I feel like public opinions on Superman is higher than its been for a while, thoughts?

I’m afraid I very thoroughly disagree. In fact, thinking about DC’s handling of Superman recently - a common topic of late-night brooding sessions - it really occurred to me what an absolutely hellish decade the dude’s had.

2008: Kurt Busiek leaves Superman, James Robinson takes over (according to some in the place of Mark Waid), the book immediately goes to shit. New Krypton later begins, the entire Superman line collectively understood among fandom as going to shit along with it.

2009: As a consequence of the aforementioned New Krypton situation, Superman is in neither Superman nor Action Comics for the majority of the year, both being taken over by - generously - C-listers.

2010: Superman: Earth One, I would sincerely argue the worst Superman comic of all time and one that even at the time drew snickering comparisons to Twilight, is DC’s major outreach towards the bookstore market. Young Justice begins to considerable approval, portraying him as essentially a deadbeat dad who refuses to acknowledge Superboy as family, or even acknowledge him period to the extent that can be helped until the season finale. New Krypton fades into Grounded, among the most widely reviled Superman stories ever.

2011: Smallville, the last ongoing TV series to star Clark Kent, ends; many (even if I’m not among them myself) are understandably enraged that Tom Welling never actually appears as Superman aside from a split-second shirt rip, seeing it as a betrayal of the premise of the series and ten years of buildup. Meanwhile, the comics reboot him with a Jim Lee design that, at arguable best, works in few hands but his own (or more honestly is flat-out bad). Grant Morrison’s seemingly sure-thing relaunch of Action Comics, while greatly enjoyed by some such as myself, rapidly faces negative comparisons to his All-Star Superman work, which paired with dismal showings for the character in Justice League and Superman proper, along with publisher statements attempting to reinforce him as a brooding, violent, lonely avenger, result in a substantial and enduring fan backlash.

2012: The reboot separation from Lois Lane and tone-deaf efforts towards making Superman cooler culminate in a painfully stiff new relationship with Wonder Woman, to even further fan backlash. Noted sexual harasser Eddie Berganza, already internally acknowledged by DC as such, is demoted and handed custody of the Superman books in what was apparently considered an appropriate punishment. Scott Lobdell, already under fire for his treatment of Starfire at the beginning of the New 52 and facing a generally tepid creative response to his DC work, including Superboy, is given Superman proper.

2013: Man of Steel debuts to…let’s say divisive results. Injustice becomes his most prominent video game incarnation since Superman 64 by default. Grant Morrison’s Action Comics concludes, with incoming Andy Diggle leaving the book before his first issue is even released, and ending up under Scott Lobdell for a bit before finally finding its way to Greg Pak.

2014: At the tail end of a mercifully pretty dang good year, with even the customary bloated crossover Doomed ending up better than most (in spite of a shoehorned in pair of instances of Superman being forced to kill to match the movies), Superman Unchained concludes after months of devastating delays, signalling the beginning of the end of the creative triumvirate of Scott Snyder/Jim Lee, Geoff Johns/John Romita Jr., and Greg Pak/Aaron Kuder/Jae Lee attempting to rehabilitate his comics image. Before long, Johns leaves his book to Gene Yang’s hands in what ended up an unpredictably disastrous tenure, while Pak and company are buried under crossovers.

2015: Truth begins to - aside from a headline-grabbing early segment by Pak and Kuder with Superman standing with protesters against police - near-universal hatred by the fanbase, seeing it as DC’s latest cringingly tone-deaf and desperate effort at making Superman conventionally cool, while severely undermining Lois Lane’ character in the process.

2016: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is released, almost immediately becoming the most ubiquitous cultural shorthand for ‘bad movie’ since Transformers. Tyler Hoechlin debuts as Superman on Supergirl to the most mainstream praise the character has received in literal decades, with the CW and WB responding by publicly stating that they have no intention of developing a series for him. Superman dies in the comics after a short and ignominious crossover, replaced - to be fair, to no small degree of fan acclaim, even if I didn’t share in the love - by his own past-continuity self, a state of late-90s X-Men-esque continuity bugfuckery lasting about a year. Superman: American Alien, the most generally well-received Superman story for years in either direction, concludes; its author would flee from public life the following year after being repeatedly accused of sexual assault.

2017: Justice League’s attempt at reorienting Superman towards a more classic take, while winning some praise, is generally useless in the face of critical antipathy towards the film and crushing financial failure relative to expectations, with the bulk of Superman-related discussion spinning out of it focusing on his unfortunate CGI mouth. Injustice 2 is released, with no ‘good’ universe Superman this time to contrast the games’ take on him as a tyrannical mass-murderer.

2018: Action Comics #1000 dropped to broadly positive results…with the exception of the story by the actual incoming writer of the line, which while I enjoyed it, was hated by a significant number of readers as far as I can tell. Additionally, if the new rumors are true, the team behind All-Star Superman had a story prepared for it that was spiked to avoid somehow clashing with Doomsday Clock - a company-steering comic advertised as being largely about him that has yet to feature him in any meaningful capacity one third of the way through aside from him cameoing having a nightmare - and if that’s true, whether as a matter of unfortunate logistics or ego, if there’s a metaphor for everything wrong with modern DC comics more potent than Superman being so profoundly screwed over for his 1000th issue on his 80th birthday for the sake of not maybe spiritually contradicting them doing more Watchmen knock-off comics, I can’t think of it. As of this writing, Superman is one of the two Justice Leaguers not officially known to have a movie in active development; by next year there will be TV shows starring Supergirl with Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane with Lex Luthor, and Jor-El’s father with Adam Strange, but no indications have emerged that Tyler Hoechlin might reemerge in any capacity, nevermind get his own series; aside from the Bendis run, the only major Superman comics project on the horizon is his one book for the Black Label (where Batman and Wonder Woman get two projects apiece, largely by fan-favorite creators), Superman: Year One by Frank Miller and Romita Jr., the former being the writer of the infamously racist Holy Terror.

So no. Superman is not doing good. Not on any front. There has been good stuff to be sure, but on the macro scale? Superman hasn’t been doing good in a very, very long time.