Join us on July 27 at 2pm PT/5pm ET for a Q&A with Mark Russel and Michael Allred! Have questions about kicking off a brand new Superman storyline? Want to know what inspired the talented team behind this new journey? Drop all of your burning questions in the thread below, and come back next week for a chance to have your question answered by Mark and Michael!
Please remember to submit only one question ! We have a limited time with Mark and Michael, so we’ll try to get through as many questions as possible.
Hey guys, big fan of your writing Mark and absolutely adore your art Michael! Since this is a take that sets itself during the time period of the Pre-Crisis Superman I was wondering what you two see as the biggest difference between the Pre-Crisis version and the ones that came later.
For Mark Russell.
In comic books, fictional characters often times outlive their original creators. What will you do to show respect for the source material while retaining your style of storytelling?
Thanks for participating and answering our questions. In the promos, I’ve read the story apparently takes place over a few decades, I am wondering if we are getting a single version of Superman throughout, or different pre crisis versions of him in each decade, similar to how he was portrayed in each decade.
Hey guys, really looking forward to this. Allred interiors in anything are always great news - one of my recent cool finds in a physical bookstore was an near mint copy of the Superman/Madman trade last year.
Mark, in the publicity for this book, you are quoted as saying:
… because I’ve always found Superman such a philosophically fascinating character, one which forces us to ask how different would the world be if we chose to be our best selves?”
And I am curious, based on what you did with the Fantastic Four for DC’s main competitor recently and some of your other, more recent published sequential art stories generally, how you are hoping to explore this aspect (‘[being] our best selves’) in Space Age, or if we shouldn’t expect that and this concept was merely what interested you about Clark/Superman generically?
Wow I’m very excited to read this one, I recently completed Fantastic Four: Life Story, and I’m assuming this is a very similar concept of the comic book character actually aging and going through traditional life stages over the decades instead of remaining static as they do in the comics. My question is: how far apart did you both find yourselves at times over which direction things should go based on your personal philosophies about meaning of life, politics etc.?
We are rescheduling today’s Q&A for a later date–I’ll be updating this thread with the new date, so keep an eye out for more info. Thank you for understanding!
Nooooooo!!! Now I have to wait til after camp to check this out! Well, I hope everyone else has a great time! I’ll be sure to check this out when I get back!
Superman has always been loaded with pop culture references. Did u follow that pattern of easter eggs? I’m hoping there’s some Bowie references Mike. Mark & Mike, to me it seems like whenever there’s an absolutely horrible event (war, 9/11etc) everyone comes together? But after it’s over, we revert further back the other direction. i.e. police shootings, schools, etc. Do u think there’s anything there? Or, just something coincidental? I was reading your previous interviews. Most of the questions I wanted to ask were taken. Hello from “The Land” of the 1st Superhero. Ty for your time.
This is dealing with Superman during a period that is within spitting distance of the George Reeves Superman show. Do you consider that show relevant to the story you’re telling, and is your early 1960’s Lois Lane inspired at all by the Noel Neill Lois (since every Lois of this century has taken pains to show they’re a great departure from that version)?
MR: I think by telling an original story in your own voice is precisely how you show the most respect for long-living characters. The canon is too vast and too vital for you to really do it any harm. The best you can really hope to do is to add something new. But, that said, I have enormous respect for Superman as a character and I hope that shows in how I deal with what I consider to be his essential aspects, which are his compassion, optimism, and his humanity.
MR: The thing that interests me about Superman (and every other superhero) is how they work as a thought experiment. So, in that way, each character and story is unique. But, with Superman, the thought experiment is-- if I had his overwhelming power, and his mindset (of wanting to do what was best for humanity), what would I do? Although, more than just answering that sort of question, I also wanted to tell the story of how Superman got to that place to begin with. How that became his thought experiment. And the answer I came up with is that he is the product of the influences in his life. He gets his wisdom from Jonathan and Jor-El, his compassion from Martha, and his courage from Lois Lane.
