Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Superman flying solo in DC Comics relaunch

So, any thoughts? Seems DC has decided that a married Superman is no fun, so -from what I've read- they're sort of starting from scratch. Probably some of the big comic book readers around here could give us a little more insight...

You can read a bit more here:

USA Today

and here

DC Comics Blog

Okay, so I'll bite. /mutters about stupid accidents and rubbernecking/
Why does this suddenly translate to a Lois Lane who's more like Cat crossed with Mayson and dates Lex?

Interesting. I always leaned towards Marvel when I was buying comics but I suppose it could work. After all, they're going to a place similar to where LnC started. I just hope they realize that "different" isn't always "better".

The real problem is that DC is desperate.
Under Dan Dido leadership DC comics has been getting their butt handed to them for years. It's all been gimmicky storylines that cross over into multiple titles and have 'galactic import'... and has driven readers away.

I don't pretend to know what Marvel is doing 'right' because I haven't read Marvel comics in years. On the surface it seems like they were doing a lot of the same thing with cross over storylines and shake ups of the status quo, but their sales are much better.

DC, accurate or not, still has the reputation of producing 'your father's comic book'. Being an old fart, that's okay with me on a lot of levels, but DC is desperate to capture a bigger share of the more desirable demographic... younger adolescent to adult males. Basically, the 13 to 18 year olds.

In my mind it seems a bit foolish to alienate those folks who have continued to buy your books for 30 to 40 to 50 years in order to grab onto a demographic that I'm not even sure knows how to read unless it's part of an Xbox, or PS3 instructional.

I've been a part of comic book fandom for a lot of years. I've been a part of the biggest comic book conventions in Minnesota for 23 years. I'll admit that I'm a bit old fashioned, but I'll give the 'new look' a try.

For me it's always been about the characters in the DC Universe that I liked. I like who these characters are, and I'm interested in seeing how they react to situtations. If those situations are to become radically different... okay, lets see what they do. But if the characters become radically different... then I'm gone.

On a side note, I'm so tired of hearing about how marriage or a committed relationship always leads to the destruction of a good relationship show or book. In my mind it's always been about the lazyiness and incompetance of the writers who have no clue what to do with a committed relationship. It is just easier to blow everything up than to come up with interesting ways for two people in love to move through life together.

I have to admit that DC comics have done a pathetic job with the marriage of Lois and Clark. Lois is barely a supporting character in any of the Superman books. Her android double actually had a larger part in the recent Lex Luthor as the primary arc in Action. If the new relaunch gives me 'more' Lois than that could be good, but I'm not holding my breath.

It's more likely that I'll get more of a Lois that I probably won't like.

Tank (who says he's thankful that he always has L&C fandom to fall back on)

Speaking as someone who just recently discovered comics--and only because I enjoyed L&C so much--I have to say that this doesn't seem to be much different from the other times they've reset the universe. They're doing different things this time, but every time they reset, it seems people panic.

My first response upon hearing that they were resetting was horror, but the information in this release is somewhat more promising. They're careful to reassure us that Lois Lane is definitely still in the picture and that the love story is still between Clark/Superman and Lois (something that Marvel, in my opinion, seriously messed up concerning Peter Parker and MJ). Also, they're refocusing the attention of the DC universe on Superman--which is never a bad thing in my biased opinion.

My major concern is that they stated the primary character will be Kal-El of Krypton and not Clark Kent of Kansas. As an L&C fan, I vastly prefer it the other way around, but I'm hoping that with the two timelines between the comic books, they'll switch the focus back to Clark in the present continuity.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that I'm trying to view this with some optimism. Superman is an extremely compelling character in every one of his incarnations, and I'm cautiously confident that he'll still be the greatest superhero in this newest reset.

I guess when you keep a story going for so long, you face the risk of running out of ideas and a reset gives you the chance to go left where you went right and see where things could have gone. A sort of What if or alt universe, but being the real thing (we do that here with fics pretty often) but it seems... weird.

Might be fun though to read a new revelation (though it will probably take them quite a while to get that far).

I've tried to keep up with new comics a couple of times, but I got really tired of reading them with 1-2 years worth of delay. That's how long it used to take to get them published over here andtranslated, of course, getting them in English was even harder and harder still if you intended to get them all timely so you could really follow story lines. I gave up and now I only buy full arcs, even if they're a little old (one of the last I go was Reign of Emperor Joker)

If I recall correctly the reboot after "crisis on infinite Earths" started off a bit like this, it didn't take long for Lois and Clark to get together - and that was the reboot the TV show was based on.

I keep hearing mention of this so-called lawsuit between DC and the estate of the original writers. They've been together since the beginning (almost), so I can't see what DC did (yes, it would have to be them) to anger the estate so much. Refuse to give the heirs more money, so they revoked use of the suit?

I just don't understand how they could no longer work together. It would be like Superman / Clark Kent with no Lois Lane. It makes no sense.

Virginia, I don't know that much about the lawsuit either, and I could be wrong here, but from what I've heard, it sounds like after Shuster's wife died, the children/grandchildren sued DC for more control and/or money. The outcome sounds awful, and I'm actually very much in sympathy with DC since it sounds as if the Shusters have pretty much cut the Superman story into half.

Here's a link to what I found on it:

Superman Lawsuit

AntiKryptonite: From what I read on that link you provided is just what I thought. DC / Warners don't want to pay the Estate for the key parts of the character created by Siegel and Shuster. They could still use those aspects, but they'd have to pay more royalities to the Estate(s). They are being cheap and are changing his look and his backstory, so they don't have to pay. It's all about the money. It's going to back fire on them, because I'm sorry, Superman in jeans? :rolleyes: Please! That's not Superman.