Comic Book Resources

here’s the one I consider definitive (although Gary Franks is always very good)

http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Secret_Origins_Vol_2_1

Jason

I don’t know. People just seem to like doing this, and not just with Superman.

Look at the Batman movies. You would think that, given the thousands of Batman comics produced over the decades, it would be easy to come up with a relatively different story for each movie. Especially since, as with Superman, pretty much everyone knows Batman’s origin anyway.

Yet it seems like the only Batman stories filmmakers can manage are Batman’s origin and/or first confrontation with The Joker. Of the six films produced since 1989, four of them rely on these themes.

Fact is, superhero comics are generally about endlessly rehashing the familiar, and have been for decades. (When someone suggests that it should be otherwise, he tends to be shouted down.) Things like “Superman: Secret Origins” are probably just following this to its logical conclusion.

The Superman mythos is classic but needs tweaking to keep it relevant. Just as the Christopher Reeve movies created a new audience that would lead to the John Byrne revamp, Smallville and the more recent cartoons have given an idea for a new re-imagining.

We really don’t need more Superman origins. Everyone knows this story by now. And Birthright was only like 7 years ago, and it’s frigging awesome.

If you read the Superman titles since Superman crisis, you know that they changed some minutia and events about the Superman continuity and origins and instead of putting out a new book then, they decided to wait a while and now they’re telling us what changed, what remained.

Birthright was a fine origin but as soon as it came out, editorial didnt make it an event and waffled about whether it was the new origin–no idea why, that is a weakass move so it never took on the hold it should have, thus the need for a firmly implented origin, feeding into the current books.

Yannick is absolutely correct. Superman’s origin has been retold, and retold so many times that for readers of the actual Superman titles, this series is necessary and welcome.

Following the Man of Steel reboot and COIE, editorial on Superman didn’t change the “rocketed to Earth by Jor-El and Lara” bit, but all of the Silver and bronze Age trappings were stripped away to be slowly reintegrated and changed frequently by each successive creative team. Between “Birthright”, a “time storm” in the main Superman titles and Crisis on Infinite Earths, its been difficult to know much of anything from “was there a Superboy?” to “how and when did Superboy join the Legion? And which Legion version of the past 20-odd years?”

Birthright was certainly not read by everyone, and while a solid story that was beautifully drawn, it wasn’t considered canon by the time the paperback hit the shelf, and would certainly leave many gaps, even if it were considered in continuity.

Granted, I haven’t read the first issue yet myself, but to say that there was no reason to revisit the story at this time is not accurate.

I also like the idea that there will be something as definitive for readers coming to Superman, that covers Superman’s origins, as Man of Steel did for me when I first picked it up. Only, you know, reflecting what’s going on in the comics today, as Man of Steel did for me back then.

I am waiting for a new series of Superman’s early deeds in the late 1950′s – 60′s. I would be in heaven if DC draw him in Wayne Boring version.

Alex Ross, are you reading this? We know that you drew and painted Superman in several versions, how about Wayne Boring version?

As much as I liked the Reeve movies 30 years ago, I wish DC would get over them. Yes, Chris Reeve was a wonderful Superman, but I get really irritated with their adulation of him and them. Maybe if they concentrated on telling good stories the readers would come. The current continuity isn’t bad, but I really don’t care that much about Mon-El or New Krypton.

Am I the only one who sees the “new, new, new” origin as a way for DC to retell the story with as few Siegel/Shuster elements as possible? Granted, some (Jor-El, Lara, Krypton, the rocket, etc.) are unavoidable, but the whole thing smacks of reestablishing copyright and trademark.

Dave:

I think we’ve known about this for long enough that I think it’s apparent that Johns and Frank were working on this long before the most recent dust-up with the Siegels.

Having said that, I think that everything DC has done since Superman left Earth seems to be designed to separate DC from Superman’s traditional origin.

And, yeah, I think Johns’ love affair with Christopher Reeve’s corpse is getting getting old. It was nice to honor him in Johns’ earlier Superman stories, but he keeps going back to the well so often that it’s beginning to feel less like a tribute and more like cannibalism.

Definitive origin… heh. And how many years until the next reboot requires yet another “definitive” origin?

Let’s place our bets.

You know… Superman is hardly alone at DC or Marvel for having multiple versions, weird added minutia, etc… to his origin. I know he’s the big blue and red target for comic fans, but how many iterations has everyone from Batman to Spidey had put out there? From Aquaman to Wolverine?

That’s the nature of putting continually changing creative teams on these characters and the march of time.

And, yes, Dave… I do not see how anything in the current books or in retelling the origin is going to help DC in any way with the Siegel lawsuit. I’d actually argue that re-establishing the key parts of the origin is having the opposite effect.

I need exactly this origin comic!

I can’t get enough origin comics of Superman because this is exactly what I love about the character. I have seen the original Superman movie in 1978 in the theater and the origin stuff and Smallville scenes were so amazing I can understand why creators want to show us their version of this story. If I had the chance to do a Superman story I would do exactly the same. But for now… I will buy this one.

I think the review is a little bit unfair because if you don’t want another origin story you don’t have to buy it. I bet there are enough people out there who love to read it because the magic happens in the origin stories… and unfortunately not in the ongoing series right now.

Best,

Chris

Nothing DC does now has any effect on the Siegel dispute. That issue is about material created in the 1930′s and whether it was work-made-for-hire or not.

What really seems to be motivating this is that DC Comics readers just seem to be into continuity minutiae (see Ryan, above) so there’s a market for this stuff. My advice to people who don’t really care one way or another which version of the Legion Superboy/Young Superman/Clark Kent interacted with? Don’t read it.

Am I the only person creeped out by the adult Christopher Reeve head on a child’s body?

Tim O’Shea:

No. We are a creeped out legion.

I don’t know if its so much being into continuity minutia as getting the boxes checked off so we can get on with the current iteration of Superman, but I’ll agree. I’m glad they gave themselves some room to decide what would and wouldn’t work, rather than painting themselves into a corner, as happened with the Wolfman/ Byrne reboot.

Also, Frank’s been modeling on Reeve for years now. Not sure why this was such a surprise.

So far it seems pointless. I haven’t like much of anything Johns has done since he left the Flash so I don’t know why this would be any different. It just seems pointless. It hasn’t told us anything new and adds just enough Smallville (the TV Show) stuff to make it seem cutesy and kind of pandering. I know Johns worked on the show so perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that it has some of that flavor. The only thing I liked was the Christmas Story-esque bit at the end with the costume.

I wouldn’t say it’s totally necessary. Not like the GL:SO arch — that’s an origin that was waiting to be retold. However, with the revamp of the Superman books since Infinite Crisis, I think it works. Nice to see how the new version of Superman came to be and how it all ties together. Also, with all the talk of 2010 being the “year of Superman” so to speak, a breather to look at the past seems like a good idea.

@Rolando – The Green Lantern Secret Origin arc added maybe 5 new pages of content out of the 7 or so issues pertaining to the new colour spectrum. Rest is practically verbatim of Emerald Dawn and other origin retellings. The only reason it was tolerable is because people didn’t read GL and probably didn’t know his origin all that well aside from he got a ring from a dying alien, if they knew that. With the hype behind Green Lantern post-SCW, it made sense to tell people the origin again. At least, more than with this Superman version.

@ Wraith: I certainly hope you aren’t lumping Nolan’s excellent Bat-movies in with those other four… I mean, a reboot probably needs to retell the origin in some fashion, and give Nolan credit for not just doing a straightforward telling and doing some totally new stuff with it. The basics may be the same, but there a lot of new ideas brought out (the time spent on his training, the Falcone stuff, going to the trouble of detailing how/where Batman gets his “toys”) and certainly a greater depth than we’d seen to that point. And then they gave us a primary villain who hadn’t been used in the movies before.

As for Joker in TDK… Well, that was different take on the character than we’d seen, and the masses were going to want to see Joker. It’s been done now, and who knows where Nolan will take his Bat-verse next? I don’t see the problem here. Making Bats a fugitive at the end of the movie was a fairly bold move, and I can’t wait to see how it’s dealt with in the next one.

Anyway, as for Supes: Secret Origins (what’s so secret, anyhow?)… Totally unnecessary, even though I imagine it’ll be a good tale (too bad Johns left Action Comics). I’m not keen on making Clark Superboy yet again, and the Byrne reboot was definitive for me, so I will pass. But I don’t blame anyone else for wanting to read it.

I think ya’ll not only lack perspective but supes sense. This is the most sensitive and eclectic story of Superman origins I’ve seen in my 50+ years as s Superman comic collector. The art is simply stupendous. There may be no such thing as the definitive origin story for Superman, but this one comes as close to being perfect as I’ve seen.

Here’s to hoping (rather hopelessly it seems) that you can begin to see from a bit more informed and sensitive perspective.