Sorry, but I don't like the look. Without the red speedo, it just makes his red boots look stupid. I don't like the red belt - I prefer the yellow.

Here's the link
Yahoo Article

It also makes his torso look weird and elongated... sort of like the Mattel doll of Superman . Ugh... Look, Superman is the only one in the world who can pull off blue spandex and red briefs and not look stupid--- why change it? Besides, his costume is as iconic as the character himself! I've also read that they are doing a whole reboot of the comics anyway, including taking Lois out of the picture, at least for a while...just not good!

Eep! That's horrible! No Lois????

I agree, Superman's outfit is an inco. Why mess with something so ingrained in society's mind?

Ugh, who thinks up these dumb changes????

I agree. I don't like the new look. Perhaps it's just the picture the show in the Yahoo! story. Maybe it's the angle at which they show him - total crotch shot - but I prefer the old suit.

Remember when the new Wonder Wonder show tried to relaunch her with a new suit? It had so much bad feedback the show didn't even get picked up for the upcoming season. (Probably for more reasons than her costume, I'm sure... but that's beside the point.) Don't mess with a good formula. Coke - Good. New Coke - Bad. Superman (with Lois) - Good. New Superman (w/o Lois) - BAD!

Yeah, about the reboot sans Lois, read this .

Oh, Mozartmaid, that's just awful. Superman married takes away from his dual personas? Please! It shows that a REAL man loves and honors his true-love forever. What does it say about superheroes if Superman can't make his marriage work? Sure, maybe they'll get some fans who have the frat-boy attention span when it comes to women, but they'll also lose HOW many of their female readers?

One word: Blech!

Joy,
Lynn

I just had new thought. <<shudder>> I hope this doesn't have anything to do with the new Superman movie coming out next year. If it does... <<pulling hair and screaming>>>

Some disturbing bits from the article:
Uh, wait? Isn't Lois the one who balances the two sides of Superman? And the struggle isn't resolved with them married necessarily... it's part of what makes the relationship interesting!

And what's worse:
I hate this idea... of Clark as the weaker, less-respected character. The Superman mythos IMO is much stronger (as L&C proved!) when Superman is the disguise and Clark is the man behind the suit--it's his values and humanity that makes Superman work!

Um, isn't there more to a marriage than 'romantic, supportive banter'? Please!

Almost a positive note:
And apparently, that's bad... cause relationships that last can't be exciting or interesting...?

Sounds to me like fan-boys who are tired of writing about a committed relationship. :rolleyes:

Unfortunately, Virgina, it does:

The article also mentions how L&C influenced the comics in the 90's as well... because they coincided L&C's marriage with the marriage in the comic books... so maybe it's just the sign of the times?

Part of why I could never get into Smallville was because it was the "pre-Superman" days o Clark.

I agree, it is infinately more satisfying to see Clark balance being Clark AND Superman. And it was gratifying that LnC showcased just how important Lois was in helping him achieve and maintain that balance.

I admit, I've never been a comics girl. So I don't know much of the Superman stories outside of the movies and LnC. But this whole "new" spin on Superman reeks something awful to me.

And also: I think having Clark married actually makes it a little harder for him to maintain his dual identities. He's got more responsiblity that way. He's a superhero, a reporter AND a husband. LnC did an excellent job of portraying just how hard it was for Clark once he started getting close to Lois. Sure, she could cover for him at work and whatnot (as the article mentions), but what about all of those interrupted evenings at home, those important conversations that got interrupted by calls for help?

Sounds to me like a couple of crabby fanboys who don't really understand the dynamics of a marriage.

Deadly Chakram:
Yeah, that was my beef with Smallville as well---but the 'Lois Seasons' (Season 4, and their relationship really moves ahead Season 8) are worth watching... I finally started watching it just this year and then had to go back and suffer through the whole series--Seasons 1-4 aren't worth it, really, and season 7 is heavy on Lana drama, so I'd avoid those eps and just watch the ones with Lois... And, as they develop the L&C relationship, the writers were obviously influenced by 'our' L&C. There are a few moments that even seem taken directly from the show... Also Erica Durance (who plays Lois) really gets and loves the character. They sometimes give her crappy lines or out-there character traits (Lois loves Whitesnake and monster truck rallies, huh?), but she makes them all work!

I'm not a comics girl either, but I'm realizing you can't ignore them because they influence what ends up in mass-media TV and movies.


I totally agree! That struggle was a big part of the interest in their relationship---how does Clark manage to keep all the balls in the air, so to speak.


My thoughts exactly!

Ok, the new suit is eww. And it doesn't look good at all!

I agree, why change something so iconic? And only Superman can make wearing briefs on the outside of his suit not look weird...

Who thinks up these changes and that they'd be good?

I was wondering how they were going to change it. One of the things that reverted back to Schuster's(?) descendants with the lawsuit was the iconic look, which meant that DC had to make a change to the suit. I guess just getting rid of the briefs and changing the color of the belt was enough for the lawsuit. I was really afraid they were going to mess with the S.

The problem is that we're not the core audience for comics. I don't know what the statistics are, but I'm willing to bet that this is being pitched at a predominantly male readership in its late teens and early twenties, willing to spend a fairly large chunk of cash on comics every month. That isn't me, or most of the people I know, so pleasing me is pretty low on DC's list of priorities. I'd imagine that applies to most people here.

I think that they will alienate a proportion of older readers, but any change will do that anyway - so if they're going to do a major reboot, I'm guessing that they feel they might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, and dispense with everything that "detracts" from their plans.

Ugh! There probably would have been mass riots in the streets had they messed with the S.

Exactly! I MUCH prefer the married Clark who has the emotional support of Lois but the harder time maintaining all of his responsiblities than the single Clark who has the easier time maintaining his dual identities but doesn't have the emotional support of Lois. Again, one of the reasons why I love Superman II is (aside from the General Zod plot which I adore) is that Lois gets to find out the secret and is there emotionally for Clark (until that whole stupid Kiss of Amnesia there at the end).

I'm not a fan of the 'new look' but then it is comics and nothing is ever 'forever'. Does anyone who read the comics remember the electric blue costume?

Thankfully, it didn't last too long, but it was around for a year or so.

If the new suit doesn't prove popular then it will revert. Or the next creative team that wants to 'reinvent' Superman will do so by 'going back to the roots.

If the stories are interesting and the characters remain true to who they are then I won't be too bothered by a slight change in the costume.

If they mess with the 'who' the charactera are too much... then I just save my schekels for a while until things get back to the way I'd like.

There's always L&C fanfiction.

Tank (who told everyone way back when that DC editorial was never really happy with the whole Lois and Superman marriage thing)

Well, I see it this way:
1) Lois won't be completely out of the picture, she just won't start out as Clark's wife. Which means that the whole getting closer will start all over again - and that's way more interesting to me than the married stuff.
2) In the comics, they had quite a few issues regarding LnC's marriage that were still unresolved, among them the absolute biological incompatibility between humans and Kryptonians, problems of a sexual nature (never without protection, or it might prove fatal for Lois, and never with Clark playing an active role because he could all too easily break her in half - after all, soul-mates were from the show, not the comics!)
3) Most important DC characters (including not only absolutely all superheroes, but also characters like Lois!) will get a complete make-over, and the traits that define them will be fleshed out over time. And it would defeat the purpose of starting with a clean slate if you start LnC as a married couple.

And who knows? Maybe DC saw the light and will make Clark the real person, and Superman the disguise...

Apparently a quote from an interview with DC executives:

The target audience are men age 18 to 34 though they do realize that they have readers in other demographics.

Not exactly unexpected, but doesn't bode well.

For starters: What the Krypton??? The suit without the panties?? Not working for me at all. Secondly, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of Lois Lane! Why on earth would they consider leaving her out more- Lois Lane makes the Superman stories! I have to agree with DC on this one:
That's the curse of the Superman movies- long credits and sucky ambiguous endings (come on. He turns back time, amnesia kisses Lois, and then in the new movie flies off without any real resolution).

That's awesome! I may have to steal that sometime.

The test for Henry Cavill getting the role of Superman was to put on the iconic suit and wear it in front of the production team. And nobody laughed at him in the suit. That was the clincher. So the suit's important.
On another front, IMHO the reason Tom Welling and Smallville lasted so long was that he never put on the suit. He did put it on in the last double episode, but we never saw him full length except for a really long shot.
I think what killed the Wonder Woman reboot was the argument over the costume.

Artemis

Total agreement from me. I'm not sure how to describe that proposed costume ... "unfortunate" might be the kindest way to talk about it.

Not just that, but it looked bad all around, from what I've heard. There were several costumes. There's a clip of her running looking angsty that just looks *bad*. There's a picture of it here

I'd rather change it to "What the Phantom Zone???", but, yeah, great one. :p

Although I do agree on the costume 100%, I doubt that was all the reason for the failure. (I mean, the costume got changed to the usual shorts, but it still looks awfully cheap.) What was much worse than the costume - which was bad enough as it was - was the way they changed the character. (Triple identity, constant cursing, no compunction about killing (repeatedly) - it's a complete butchering of the character IMHO. Additionally, there was an obvious lack of romance planned...)

Apart from that, I don't think the new Superman costume is all that bad. Sure, it's a change, but not such a bad one. Could have been much worse. (See WW costume...)

Superman in a shiny outfit? *shudder*

And yes, What the Phantom Zone works well too.

Or if you wanted something that sounded more similar to its Terran equivalent, you could always go with, 'What the Rao???'

Joy,
Lynn

Rao etc. works for someone with a strong Kryptonian background; not sure it's right for Clark as we know him, a boy brought up in Kansas.

In my Supergirl stories I've been careful to have Kara use phrases like that, while Clark is more down to earth in his language.