JLA Grant Morrison Blue Superman?

So I started reading this.
Issue #1-4: I see regular looking Superman.

But on issue #5 and on, Superman is now blue. Was there an issue I have to read to know why Superman is now blue?

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Superman #123 if you want to read the actual issue where the change happens, but you don’t have to.

During his run on the book, he had to deal with changes like that that happened in the characters main books, so there are at least a couple more that happen that get referenced.

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Superman gets the Blues near the beginning of The Triangle Era Volume 3, shortly after he lost the mullet and married Lois. It’s a storyline that stirred up a bit of controversy at the time, but it has since become just another half-forgotten quirk of 90s comics.

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Pretty amazing that people were up in arms about this change, as though it was ever going to last for more than a few months. Never change, comic fans. Never change.

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I don’t think they ever gave a reason for the change. They just let it run it’s course, then changed him back. I’ve retconned it in my head to believe it was Mr. Mxyzptlk because he was bored with Superman.

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Don’t forget Superman Red.
I will admit I kind of liked the costume.

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I remember the comments from the fans, “Why did you take the suit away?” “This is not Superman!” I thought it looked really cool, after a few months later I started missing the old Superman. It sure was a huge risk from DC. They even made toys of Superman Red/Superman Blue.:slightly_smiling_face:

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I’ve been reading through all of Superman in the 90’s. I’m about to hit '97 when Blue Superman became a thing. I’ll admit, I trashed on it back in the day. My reaction to it now is just… why?

“We’re going to give Superman lightning powers and put him in an all blue suit.”

“Great. … Wait… why are you doing that…?”

They were probably just trying to freshen things up to drum in new readers and keep the character fun to write, but it’s still one of the most out-of-left field changes to a major character that has ever been done.

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@TheCosmicMoth The only reason was $$$

This was a less thought out, big event cash grab that was trying to follow-up the Death of Superman (which was very well thought out). They wanted something that might grab everyday peoples attentions and bring them into comic shops, the way they were able to do that with the Death of story.

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@TheTerribleToyman I do remember them getting some news coverage with Blue Supes. Not as much as they did with Death of Superman, but some.

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"The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue from Superman #162, (Vol1, July, 1963) was the progenitor for this 90’s run with the execution of splitting Supes into two separate individuals. The two mentally superior Superman effectively create utopia on Earth and re-create Krypton for the denizens of Kandor. The story guest stars the entire Superman family, the LSH, Luthor, Brainiac, The Phantom Zone criminals, The Superman Revenge Squad and–believe it or not–Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro! The two Superman marry, each taking a bride (Lois and Lana) and retire with their respective families to live happily-ever-after. All this is done in 24 out-of -continuity “imaginary” pages. It was an era where you could have your cake and eat it too.

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From the this JLA Morrison alone, I didn’t see any point of Blue Superman other than the reasons mentioned already.

As mentioned earlier, Morrison was trying to play nice and accommodate whatever was happening in the rest of the DC Universe. Another change that happens that affects the comic is that in the Wonder Woman comics, Hippolyta temporarily takes on the role of Wonder Woman instead of Diana, so expect to see her filling in for her daughter within the pages of Morrison’s JLA. I don’t remember in which issues that happens.

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@RufusPentecost It’s first referenced that Diana is out of action in JLA 10, and Hippolyta takes over for her beginning in issue 16.

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