It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane…It’s a New Set of Creative Teams! ‘Bout Time…
A friend who doesn’t read comics at the moment but did when he was younger (and like the new Teen Titans cartoon…go figure) was talking to me the other day and asked me:
“So, you run a comics web site…what’s the next big thing going to be?â€
My answer:
“Superman, dude.â€
He thought I was joking, of course; just giving the obvious answer of the world’s most well known comic book character. But I wasn’t joking. In six months, Superman is going to be the talk of the comic book world again.
In case you haven’t noticed, DC is taking back the comic book industry, folks.
I respect Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas, even if I don’t always like them or their decisions. They’ve done some amazing stuff with Marvel since they took over. But the major knock on the new House of Ideas is that for every Ultimate line or Spider-Man or X-Men revamp, there’s been a Rawhide Kid or Marville, not to mention public disputes with creators like Peter David, Mark Waid, etc. In short, Marvel is damn good, and they take risks, but they also sometimes rely too much on shock value, and worse, the powers-that-be oft times seem to think that things can run without keeping top notch creators happy, so long as they remain there to carry the ball.
Dan DiDio knows how to keep creators happy. Ask Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, Judd Winick, Jeph Loeb, Phil Jiminez, Tim Sale, Mike McKone, Tom Raney or any of the other creators who have recently signed exclusive deals with DC (many of whom abandoned Marvel projects to do so). The best person to ask might be Grant Morrison, who left DC several years ago to revitalize X-Men and was considered one of Marvel’s golden boys alongside the likes of Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Millar.
DiDio has appealed to these creators by giving them a stab at projects they want to work on and letting them call the shots. DC has a far wider and more well known (I hesitate to say better) stable of characters at their disposal than Marvel does. What was holding them back was too much editorial dictation and a refusal to let creators really explore the range of characters who were known as icons.
This is no longer the case. Characters like Batman, The Flash and Wonder Woman are being taken in new directions; properties like Teen Titans and The Outsiders have been modernized to great success. Dan DiDio is letting the best talent out there have their way with some of the best characters in comics history, and the result has been sold out title after sold out title.
Now it’s Superman’s turn.
The television show Smallville has raised public awareness of the Superman franchise to levels it hasn’t been at in quite some time. The dilemma for the comics creators is that it is impossible to replicate Smallville in comic book form in the current continuity; it’s not realistic to take away the Superman identity from Clark Kent and de-age him back to high school, make Luthor a (sorta) good guy, replace Lois with Lana…etc. What DC can do is count on the new audience they’re getting from Smallville by giving curious first-time Superman readers the freshest and most entertaining product to keep them reading.
Two years ago, the writers on the Superman titles were Jeph Loeb, Joe Kelly, Joe Casey & Mark Schultz. I remember reading an article in Wizard about the positive buzz these four were generating. Loeb was on the verge of superstardom (a point he’d get to with Batman, Superman/Batman and a writing gig on Smallville), Kelly had just written the brilliant “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Truth, Justice & The American Way?†in Action Comics #775, regarded as one of the best modern Superman stories, Casey had just gotten the gig writing Uncanny X-Men and was another breakout star in the making, and Schultz was seen as the solid sci-fi backbone of the team. The titles were generating nice critical praise and selling decently, not spectacularly.
Over the past two years, Loeb departed for greener pastures (the Batman franchise) and Schultz’s book, Man of Steel, was cancelled. Casey has gone outside the box and written some very interesting stories, some good, some bad. Kelly has split his time between Action and JLA, and it’s shown. Steve Seagle & Scott McDaniel were brought in as the new Superman team to follow Loeb & Ed McGuinness to major hype, including a ten cent jump-on issue; their year long storyline, which introduced a poorly-received new Supergirl and confusing new villains and concepts, was panned across the boards. The other Superman books had trouble maintaining regular art teams.
Meanwhile…The Flash was selling better than it ever had under the pen of Geoff Johns. Wonder Woman was generating buzz thanks to its impending takeover by Greg Rucka. Even second tier titles like Green Arrow and Hawkman were doing big numbers, not to mention surprise hits like Gotham Central and H-E-R-O. JLA, JSA, Legion, Catwoman…everything at DC seemed to be hitting on full cylinders, except for their franchise player…Superman was flying behind.
But more importantly, for the first time in years, DC was putting out the number one book in the industry…Batman.
DC revitalized Batman by bringing Loeb onboard alongside one of the most decorated artists of the 1990s, Jim Lee. Loeb & Lee put together a blockbuster story that lived up to the hype and ended up starting the chain reaction that would beget Teen Titans, The Outsiders and more and put DC back on the path to the top spot.
For most companies, that would be enough, just having the number one spot and a line of successful product would be enough…but for DC, a successful year with a lagging Superman franchise…well, that’s like having a football team that can run the ball for the win, but their QB can’t throw for anything…they’ll have a solid run, but eventually, they’ll get figured out and lose their advantage.
So after that lengthy lead-in…DC is making the move to breathe new life into the Superman franchise come winter. Three new creative teams, all blockbuster names, three very different takes on the Man of Steel. So if Superman becomes the heir apparent to Batman’s top place on the super-hero comic mountain, which interpretation is going to take him there? Let’s take a look…
Action Comics
Writer: Chuck Austen
Without a doubt, the most controversial of the new talent brought on board. Austen has drawn heavy criticism for his work on Uncanny X-Men from longtime fans, though the book still does well commercially. Austen has also not made much effort to endear himself to the online community, giving up his fan forum at ComiX-Fan because he didn’t enjoy butting heads with his detractors; the man is not known to take criticism well. But perhaps more importantly, Austen is the writer of the generally well-received Superman: Metropolis maxi-series, focusing on Superman’s city and his supporting cast. He wrote a pair of fill-ins on Superman titles last year, which also did pretty well critically, but were, you guessed it, controversial. Austen has also drawn both praise and criticism for his work on U.S. War Machine (the MAX series which was his first big break), Ultimate X-Men (in which he co-created Ultimate Gambit), Captain America, Exiles & The Eternal.
Artist: Ivan Reis
Reis is relatively untested (on a title the magnitude of Action Comics), but on Lady Death and in fill-in stints on Avengers, Reis has shown a smooth and appealing style plus a knack for drawing elaborate backgrounds (it will be interesting to see whether or not Metropolis remains a futuristic “City of Tomorrow†following Superman #200 or reverts to its classic style, as has been rumored).
The Direction: (quotes taken from Austen’s interview with CBR)
“I read tons of Superman stuff, and the only work that grabbed me was the original Siegel and Schuster material…what charmed me about the original was Superman’s sense of humor. He was light, funny, charming, and violated civil rights left and right. He was no boy scout. He carries the bad guy along power lines at one point to scare information out of him…He’s got to be funny, charming, intelligent, and not a mouthpiece for America. He’s the champion of the little guy. The hero for the common man. Righting wrongs and kicking ass, and shlubbing through life as Clark Kent…He’s, what, a Pulitzer Prize winner? Star reporter of the Daily Planet? Lives in a Penthouse? Just as popular as Clark as he is as Superman? Bleh. How can anyone relate to this guy…If Clark is like that, how can normal people understand him? And what’s his motivation for being Superman? He can be just as powerful as a reporter. There’s no motivation other than total, magnanimous purity. I don’t like that…But it’s more interesting, and more understandable, and more something the real world can relate to if Clark is a schlub, a loser, a guy who can’t get a break like the rest of us, but he can put on the suit and go out and kick Braniac’s ass across town and through buildings…So Clark Kent will begin having some very bad days the minute I take over for my run…Clark will no longer be the star reporter. Someone is hired in his place to bring in a ‘younger demographic’ and Clark is shunted off to one side doing shmoe work. And the guy who replaces him is a jerk who he hates, and Clark can’t understand. This makes no sense. He’s a great writer, blah, blah, blah. Just like you and I feel when someone doesn’t give us our due. When someone else is given the promotion we deserved…And he will face it all with charm, a sense of humor, and commanding presence. People will like this guy, and admire this guy, and he won’t be the boy scout that even other superheroes in the DCU make fun of…Superman was much more interesting in his original inception. He was a wise-ass, funny-as-hell fighter who kicked ass first and asked questions later. He was what I’d be if I had all the power in the universe…I’m very public in my dislike of Lois. She’s the original gold-digger. Clark meant nothing until he was Superman. She was horrible to him, and he chased her like a whipped puppy. Any therapist would tell you, this is not a romance made in heaven. So to all that, let me just say … Lana’s single again. And she liked Clark as Clark first, and then also as Superman. Much healthier.â€
My Take: In speaking of his Uncanny X-Men stint, I’ve made it clear that I run very hot and cold with Austen’s work. However, I think working on Superman is the perfect direction for somebody like him. He’s not going to get dogged by continuity freaks like on X-Men because a)Superman fans are less like that (no comic fan is completely unlike that of course) and b)though there are more years worth of stories, honestly, how much continuity baggage is there to writing Superman? He won’t make the radical character changes he’s made on some x-characters on Superman because…again, because it’s freakin’ Superman. I also think Austen does far better on a book with only one character (his favorite work of mine is his Ultimate Gambit story), when he can focus and get inside the head of one protagonist; when he has to start setting up relationships, that’s when his books degenerate into soap operas.
That being said…I don’t know so much about his opinion and impending portrayal of Lois and her relationship with Clark/Superman. Cool that he has an affinity for the old school portrayal of Superman, but Lois is the character that has evolved the most since the 30s, and if he fails to recognize that, he’s going to fall into the same traps he’s hit portraying Polaris in Uncanny. I do like his ideas of returning the character of Superman to the root though, playing up the contrast between Clark and Superman. Beyond the Sieger/Schuster portrayal, this is also part of what made the Christopher Reeve movies so endearing.
As far as Ivan Reis, I’m glad he’s getting this shot. I really enjoyed his work on Avengers during The Kang Dynasty and his smooth, clean work fits Superman a lot better than some of the more experimental artists of recent (I’m looking at Duncan Rouleau and Pascual Ferry) have. I think his style is going to develop and break out much in the same way Howard Porter’s did during his JLA stint, the two strike me as similar (which is a good thing).
I think Action Comics is going to be a fun book. Clark being Superman’s diametric opposite has always provided fun moments and a more confident Superman is good news. I just hope Austen treads carefully with his Lois stuff though and doesn’t derail his run with fan criticism (and his tendency to get defensive in the face of such) before he even gets out of the gate. I don’t think this will be the blockbuster of the revamp, but I think the Austen/Reis team can put together a very solid and substantial run on comics’ oldest title.
Adventures of Superman
Writer: Greg Rucka
Many would call Greg Rucka the writer of the moment in comics right now. He got his big two start crafting Detective Comics and gained critical acclaim for his Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia one-shot. Along with collaborator Ed Brubaker, he’s created a surprise hit in Gotham Central while over at Marvel he has taken Wolverine in new directions. Throughout it all, Rucka has kept up work on his fan-favorite indy series for Oni Press, Queen & Country and crafted the Top Cow project Felon. The biggest feather in Rucka’s cap to date has been his stint on Wonder Woman, which, only two issues in at the moment, is already receiving acclaim as the run that will revitalize the character. He is also currently working on the Batman: Death & The Maidens mini-series, which means that once his run on Adventures of Superman begins, he will be working on all three of DC’s flagship characters (Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman) at the same time, a feat rarely accomplished (if ever).
Artist: Matthew Clark
Like Ivan Reis, Clark is an up-and-comer who will be taking on without a doubt his highest profile project to date with Adventures of Superman. Clark’s most well-known work was his collaboration with Rucka on Felon, but he has also been making news with well-received art on Marvel’s Inhumans series under their Tsunami imprint. And, of course, like seemingly every other artist on the rise, Clark has done work on Vampirella.
The Direction: (quotes taken from Rucka’s interview with CBR)
“It’s gonna be about Superman. It’s gonna be about Clark. It’s gonna about Lois and it’s gonna be about finding the balance between being a reporter and being the Man of Steel. It’ll be about trying to balance the search for truth with the search for justice. It’s gonna be about the small things as much as the big ones: everyone knows Superman can, y’know, catch a missile, it’s a little different to see him on street-level as a crime reporter and working there, dealing with for instance, the intentional cruelty of people. I think that still somewhat flummoxes him…You know, I think one of the things that’s going on is that people have a problem relating to what they see as, it’s been used time and time again, ‘The Big Blue Boy Scout,'” contends Rucka. “They rebel against the implied simplicity of character and I can understand that. If you look at him a certain way, that’s what you get- where’s the drama there? I was reading the ‘Birthright’ interview you did with [Mark] Waid and he said that you’re not supposed to relate to Superman and that you’re supposed to relate to Clark- I think that’s a very valid point. I think one of things that happened, recently, is that Clark has become very difficult to relate to. He’s a Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times best selling novelist and you look at him saying, ‘Yeah, I know lots of people like that…There’s distance there and people find it hard to relate to him, whereas with a character like Batman, there’s a root tragedy that people can very easily empathize that. Superman does not come out of that crucible- he comes out of a very different place. Whilst one can say, ‘planet being destroyed and race being annihilated kind of trumps Batman’s parents murdered in front of him,’ you can’t relate to it. Certain things in the Superman origin go against them- he never knew his parents to lose them in a way. He can mourn Jor-El and Lara abstractly, but he can’t mourn them sincerely, because the emotional connection isn’t there. It’s like an adopted kid who knows he has biological parents somewhere feeling an intellectual connection with them, but it’s much harder to feel the full depth and breadth of the emotion, and that’s the motivating factor. We look at Superman and then we look at Batman or even Wonder Woman, and their motivations are easier to get your hands around- Batman’s certainly is. We see Batman’s motivation very easily. Superman’s motivation at the end of the day is entirely altruistic – ‘I just want to do the right thing.’ People are kind of bored by that [laughs]. It’s not as sexy as ‘I’m gonna make criminals pay for what they did to me…If you can a find a link to Clark or Superman, you have a story that people will hold onto and people will find themselves in it…I’ve talked about this in other places, but we all know what it’s like to be in love with someone who doesn’t love us back. To be frustrated in a job perhaps and to have to do something you don’t want to do, to make a very difficult decision. We all know what it’s like being lied to and discovering it. We all know those kinds of hurts and those kinds of responses, and those are touchstone moments. Those are things we all share. It doesn’t matter if we’re from Krypton or not. Those are the ways in for me…I think Lois is amazing and it comes down to portrayal. She’s the woman that Superman falls in love with- think about who that woman has to be. It’s not the most beautiful person in the world, but that’s somebody who can so shake his view and once again – I have to quote Waid – and ‘surprise’ Superman. This is a man who can fly around the planet and for Lois to do or say something that sets him on his ear – this is a guy who’s seen wonders we’ll never see and Lois is to him, one of those wonders. The biggest thing that gets me, and one of the reasons that Lois gets tarred with the ‘bitch’ appellation, is that we assume rightly that Clark would be attracted to a woman who is strong, passionate and capable. But those very positive traits can be portrayed – if you’re not careful – as very negative things, especially when issues of gender get involved. It’s very easy to go from strong and outspoken woman to ‘bitch.’ A lot of that’s societal, there’s a sexism involved that allows that kind of self-confidence can be read as arrogance. Consequently, that’s one of the landmines you have to dodge when you work with Lois, but I don’t mind – she fascinates me. I actually think that one of the reasons that Lois is there, one of the secret brilliances of Siegel & Schuster’s work whether or not it was intentional, is that we see not only as a love interest for Clark, but through Lois we see the wonder of Superman. It’s easy to take for granted that bullets bounce off Superman. When Lois sees this as a reporter, she says, ‘Wow! Bullets bouncing off him!’…Clark is no longer a super star at the Daily Planet- he has a crap beat relatively speaking. Lois is jetting around the world and it’s Lois who gets the big ticket items. Clark works out of ‘The Shack,’ which is where the crime beat reporters work, at the equivalent of Metropolis’ One Police Plaza. He’s working with 3-4 other journalists, working nights, following cops around. Also changing and insulating him is that he no longer reports to Perry- there’s a new editor that Clark reports to with his work and this is an editor that isn’t going to cut him much slack. Again, we’re talking about emotional touchstones – how many times have you told someone something that you know is true, only to have it absolutely denied to your face? You’re called a liar and you have to prove it. How do you prove something you know as Superman when you’re Clark? There are things that Superman would be able to know that Clark is going to have a very difficult time finding corroboration for. If five different reporters follow the story they think happened because that’s the evidence they see and he, because he’s Superman, knows that’s not the case… Clark Kent has to find a way to back it up before he can write it up…Superman is the prototypical superhero. What’s the superlative there? For me, it’s not the fact that he’s the strongest and it’s not the fact that he can fly, it’s the fact that, perhaps, at the end of the day he’s the purest [laughs]. His motivation is the most unpolluted. It is essentially the most heroic motivation, not to diminish the heroism of everyone else. He is the hero they all look up to…He is the superhero- you are either a superhero in the vein of Superman or you’re not. You’re either hero or anti-hero in that sense. You can color it however you want, using the Batman example, shading it down and make it darker, but at the end of the day, Batman is essentially the same superhero, doing the same superheroic things. All that comes out of Superman…I want the core of Superman to be Superman. It’s those traits, trying to make it clear why the book is still around and why the character is so amazing, maybe in a way that people haven’t seen before, and to do it with passion and energy and respect…â€
My Take: Interesting how Rucka echoes many of the things that Austen said. Both touched on re-establishing the Clark/Superman dynamic and both say they’ll rectify that at least in part by “demoting†Clark somewhat in his job at the Daily Planet. On a sidenote, it will be interesting to see how they handle that; what will be the reason given for Clark’s demotion? And will Rucka and Austen coordinate, or will we see Clark working out of “The Shack†in one book and then working out of the regular newsroom, but being overshadowed by a younger reporter, in the other?
Aside from that, Rucka seems to have already gotten started on what he does best: getting inside the character’s head. While he can write some great action sequences (and has demonstrated this in Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia and Wolverine), Rucka’s real strength lies in his characterization, really making the reader feel like they know the character. He’s done it with Wolverine, he’s done it with Wonder Woman, he’s done it with the cast of Gotham Central and it sounds like he’s ready to do it again with Superman. I also really really like his idea about using Lois as a point of view character for the readers; what a great idea that is so obvious and yet so neat.
I’m not very familiar with Matthew Clark’s work. From what I’ve seen of it, it looks good. He’s been described as having something of a “Top Cow house style,†which isn’t a bad thing commercially, but hopefully he’ll refine his work here. The fact that he’s worked with Rucka before, that the writer feels comfortable enough with him to obviously request him, is a plus.
I’m pegging Adventures of Superman to be the most cerebral character-driven of the new books (ironic considering its title…but then again, Joe Casey has also written it as the most cerebral of the bunch). The only concern for me would be that Rucka is spreading himself too thin; obviously he’ll be dropping Wolverine (now that he’s DC exclusive), but that’s still four titles. Even if he leaves Gotham Central (which, with Brubaker as a co-writer already, is the most realistic move), he’s still got Queen & Country, a book he’s very personally invested in, not to mention Wonder Woman. Writing two characters as iconic as Superman and Wonder Woman simultaneously could prove to be a lot of pressure; then again, Jeph Loeb is writing Superman and Batman simultaneously and doing a fine job of it. I think Adventures of Superman is going to be a book that is pretty good month in and month out, but will produce some truly memorable standalone one issue stories that make you take a good long look at Superman, Lois & their world (not unlike Joe Kelly’s classic Action Comics #775).
Superman
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Recognized as one of the very best pure writers in comics, Azzarello is an interesting choice for Superman in that he’s forged his reputation almost exclusively on darker, more down-to-earth books of the crime noir genre. His best-known work to date is 100 Bullets, Vertigo’s multi-layered crime drama mystery. He’s also had a nice stint on Hellblazer and wrote the controversial Cage limited series for Marvel’s MAX imprint as well as the quirky but clever Banner limited series. Not only is he being handed the keys to DC’s flagship come the winter, he’s also (along with 100 Bullets collaborator Eduardo Risso) taking on the heavy responsibility of following Jeph Loeb & Jim Lee’s incredible run on Batman.
Artist: Jim Lee
Speak of the devil…Lee is one of the biggest fan-favorite artists of the past twenty years, breaking out on Uncanny X-Men & X-Men in the late eighties and early nineties, establishing a groundbreaking style that would pave the way for the nineties and redefining the look of the X-Men, designing costumes that would become well-known via Fox’s X-Men cartoon and endure for over a decade. He would go on to found Image and create WildC.A.T.S., Deathblow and others before settling into more of a management role in his Wildstorm imprint. When DC acquired Wildstorm, Lee became active in recruiting and grooming talents like Azzarello, Mark Millar and others. Lee proved to the comics world he still had “it†with a dynamic 12-issue run on Batman with Jeph Loeb in 2003 that set sales records and was one of the most visually stunning bodies of work in recent years.
The Direction: (quotes taken from Azzarellos’s interview with Wizard)
“I think Superman can be extremely cool if played the right way. I mean, in the ‘Justice League’ cartoon, Superman’s a badass. That’s what’s missing right now. He needs to throw his weight around a bit…It’s very strange that the only place Superman’s not cool is in the comics. He’s cool everywhere else—look at ‘Smallville.’ But in comics, readers don’t think Superman’s cool. So I’m gonna do something about that…Just think about his abilities—and I mean, really think about them—he tends to get dismissed because he can do anything, and people roll their eyes. Yeah, he can do anything. Now think about that. He can do anything…Luthor views Superman as a threat. Maybe Luthor loves humanity more than Superman does. Well, in his mind. If I can get the readers to understand the way Luthor thinks, I did my job…Jim and I will create some new villains. I mean, Jim’s full of so many ideas, and he’d like to leave something permanent behind. I’m all for that.â€
My Take: This will, of course, be the book everybody is watching. As with Loeb & Lee’s run on Batman, this is a limited, 12 issue engagement, which could affect how the team tackles the book; Azzarello gets to go in with a pretty good outline of where he wants to go within a year and how he wants to end his run. At the same time, the duo has said that unlike “Hush,†this run will not be a single story running all twelve issues. Still, one has to think there will be some sort of arc to the run, moreso than on the other two titles.
Is Azzarello out of his element? He’s definitely said the least about his plans publicly, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any. I think the twelve-issue format will help Azzarello out a lot; as one can see from his 100 Bullets work, Azzarello works best in a framework where he can lay down clues and build a mystery or conflict and then resolve it all. I also like his take on Luthor a lot; if there is one thing that has always held Luthor back from reaching the level of Magneto or Dr. Doom (as far as complexity of character, not recognition) it is that he lacks the sympathetic drive. ‘Smallville’ has shown what a cool character Lex can be if he has a fan-favorite side. If Azzarello can transform Luthor from a cool but one-dimensional villain motivated by greed or power into the three dimensional character he’s always threatened to become, he will have made one of the most significant contributions to the Superman mythos in years.
But, as was the case with Batman, Azzarello is just the appetizer, Lee is the main course. Even people who only kind of like Azzarello or don’t know him at all will pick up the book to see Lee’s art. Lee is a proven commodity; fans know what they’re getting with Lee and if they like that (which the success of “Hush†seems to indicate many do) they’ll love the stuff he’ll do with the Man of Steel. There aren’t as many iconic villains and supporting cast members for Lee to draw as in Batman, but he’ll get to draw another distinctive environment (Metropolis) and even more high-powered fight scenes. Lee is the main draw of the entire revamp and does not look to disappoint.
The Final Word
I think DC has gone out and found a good mix of creators with varying styles who each bring a lot to the table. But the most important element in the mix is thus: all six men are genuinely excited to be working on the most famous character in comics. I think that is what’s going to make this revamp work. To work on Superman is a privilege second to none in comics, but just as with any other character, writers will get burnt out eventually; I think that is the case with Joe Kelly & Joe Casey at this point, both excellent writers who seem ready to move on to other things. And of course not all talented writers even get out of the blocks with Superman (Stephen Seagle). But all three of these guys have a combination of talent and enthusiasm that I believe will serve them well.
Ivan Reis and Matthew Clark are going to have the misfortune of living in the shadow of Jim Lee for at least a year. But the most important thing is that the Superman titles will have a consistent look for the first time since what seems like forever after years of a rotating door of artistic teams. All three artists share a clean, smooth style which will make the character of Superman more accessible and set a new template.
Laying it all on the line…
–Superman is the blockbuster; it will be the most commercially successful. I think Brian Azzarello will fit into his role better than even he may expect and may stick around longer than a year. I think his writing style may be just what the franchise needs and he does indeed stand a chance of becoming the definitive Lex Luthor writer (if nothing else).
–Adventures of Superman will be the steady achiever, kind of like The Flash in the context of the DC universe as a whole. The story and art will always be good at its worst and phenomenal at its best. However, I don’t think Rucka will stay on the book more than a year and a half; he’s going to have to focus on where his passion lies eventually and I think Wonder Woman, Queen & Country and even Gotham Central all come first for him. I think Matthew Clark will find his artistic self, so to say, working on this title.
–Action Comics, and more specifically, Chuck Austen, are going to have to win over an audience. I think it will take time. Ironically enough, Austen finds himself in the same position as the man he replaced on Uncanny X-Men and who is leaving the Superman franchise as he enters, Joe Casey, did during the X-Revamp of 2001. He is the least heralded of the three writers and the most controversial. I think, at best, the book will achieve the same polarized critical success that Uncanny X-Men has. I think Austen, despite having a loaded schedule, will be around for some time to come; he wants to write the character and I don’t think he’ll do anything so bad to warrant removal by DC management. A bold prediction: Ivan Reis will be the breakout star of the entire revamp.
So there you have it, everything you need to know about what I think about the big changes on comics’ biggest character. It’s an exciting time to be a comics fan and an even more exciting time to be a fan of the Man of Steel.
In lieu of a decent tag line, this is Ben Morse, signing off.
