Superman by Byrne

I really like how you put this. Is that what I see out of Byrne’s Superman? No. But I really like how you put this.

I also, for the most part, agree with your assessment on Zack Snyder’s take on Superman.

That being said, I have to point out the many, many similarities between Snyder’s Superman and the Post-Byrne Superman. To start, Snyder’s version of Krypton was taken directly from Byrne’s World of Krypton. Both versions of the planet cloned their children instead of having natural births which is why both Byrne and Snyder’s version of Superman were sent to earth in a gestation pod. Both versions of the planet are, mostly, negative portrayals of it.

Next, Snyder’s Superman infamously killed Zod at the end of Man of Steel. Similarly, Byrne’s Superman executed an alternate universe version of Zod, Quex-Ui, and Zaora in Superman #22.

Going back to your assessment of Snyder’s Superman:

I think I get your meaning there. When I watched BvS, Superman seemed conflicted and pained about everything he did as Superman. To take a specific moment, he rescued Lois from the warlord in Africa and then spent a lot of time after that looking pained at the criticism he took for it. What this reminded me of was the Post-Crisis Superman unilaterally crossing the Quraci border in Adventures of Superman #427 (which, to be fair, was Wolfman-not Byrne). Following those actions, Superman took a lot of criticism for it and it pained him in the same way the Africa controversy pained him in BvS. In fact, the combination of the heat he took from the Quraci episode and the guilt from executing Zod and co. lead Superman to have a split-personality nervous breakdown. It never seemed to me that being Superman and saving people was a pleasure to the Post-Crisis Superman much in the same way it wasn’t to Snyder’s.

There are other similarities I could go into, but some of them would be a bit conceptual. The three similarities I mentioned are the most obvious. Again, I like how you summed up how you see or want to see Supes. I’m just not convinced that was the reality of what Byrne’s Superman really was and I definitely see too many similarities between his version and Snyder’s for it to be coincidence.

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Right there with you @Vroom. I’m knocking on 40 myself. Little depressing for me lol

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Going on 40 in 3 months.

My first Superman issue was Superman Vol 2 #86. I was picking up random issues at the drugstore when I had money. Random X-Men issues here, random Simpsons issues there. It would be years before I had steady income to buy everything I wanted, but only a couple years before I read my first silver age book. I traded one of my Simpsons books for a ratty copy of Action Comics #500. The issue was a retelling of his life story. And while I enjoyed his silver age origin, I found a lot of it silly. There’s a lot to love, but I couldn’t read that month to month, week to week. But modern age, with it’s easy to follow triangle era, I eagerly ate up. I love continuity.

I’ll go into detail later, as I’ve got to go do something.

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40 is the new 20! Live it up! :partying_face:

Me too (well, two and a half months, but close enough)! Let’s go celebrate with TS and Willam at the mall! :tada:

I tell you Planet bullpen, I can’t wait until I turn 41 (21), then I can get carded for booze at the local Kwik-E-Mart like a true 40/20-something. :sunglasses:

Is that kid back on the escalator? He is, isn’t he?

steps outside of Buy Me Toys to look at the nearby escalator

He is! Get off the escalator, you!

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I remember Jonathan and Martha Kent being alive again. I enjoyed the Lois and Clark TV show based on the comics. Doomsday Clock 12 also brought back Jonathan and Martha Kent so maybe there are plenty of fans of the post crisis Superman.

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Oh, I’m well aware… :laughing:

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Agree that Man Of Steel took a lot from Byrne, including feeling a certain burden/ambivalence.

There’s differences of course, but the idea is hardly new. Always been a bit baffling to me how folks tout Clark’s humanity, yet at the first sign of showing some human traits, like uncertainty or ambivalence, they balk at it.

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Oh, I just left the food court to go get some snacks from the cookie stand.

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tugs on his “Post-Crisis Sooperman is my fav’rit” t-shirt

Ah, the cookie stand. Clearly not part of the food court, as we all know.

sees Jay and Silent Bob run past in a frantic manner

Those guys.

LaFours zips past

What a running man. I wonder what he thinks of Byrne’s Superman?

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I actually haven’t read Action #500, and it’s not currently digitized. However, since the issue summary of it on the DC wiki suggests it does a recap of Pre-Crisis Superman’s life, I think I could take a stab on what aspects of Superman’s Pre-Crisis life were covered. It possibly mentioned how Ma and Pa Kent died of a rare, nearly-extinct virus that they caught from pirate treasure Superboy had dug up for their anniversary. Maybe it went over the giant cake Superboy baked to celebrate his last day in Smallville before leaving for Metropolis. And, yeah, those things are silly. Of course they’re silly. The 50’s and 60’s stories were specifically designed to appeal to kids.

However, I’ve always maintained that there’s more to them than meets the eye (and I’ll be heavily quoting myself in the following paragraphs as I’ve written this stuff before). The reason has a lot to do with Mort Weisinger. Mort was the editor of the Superman comics from about the mid-1950’s to the late 1960’s. In Superman stories that were told while Mort was editor, you can often see some pretty humbling and human neuroses slip through the cracks.

Take the story of “Superman’s Mystery Power,” (from Superman #125) for instance. In that story, Superman is close to a diminutive alien rocket as it explodes. At first, it seems like this causes him to lose his powers. It actually gives him one, new superpower: He shoots rainbows out of his fingers and a tiny version of himself flies out of them. This tiny version of Superman possesses all of the powers Superman lost (strength, speed, flight, heat vision, etc.). Superman starts handling problems by using this tiny Superman that flies out of his rainbow fingers. Eventually, this causes Superman to feel useless and underappreciated as everyone starts to care more about tiny Superman than they do about him. He starts to get jealous of his proxy and does not handle this jealousy well.

In the end, tiny Superman sacrifices himself for Kal, Superman gets his powers back, and everything returns to normal. I love the story because it’s so bizarre and because it’s not exactly flattering to Supes… being jealous of the little guy. This is a great example of how editor Mort Weisinger’s own neuroses ended up in Silver Age Superman stories. Legend has it that Mort had a nervous breakdown over how Superman’s legacy would outlive his personal, professional accomplishments. Almost like this tiny piece of himself was overshadowing the real man…

Long explanation, I know, but it’s the ability to air these shameful yet honest conceits (in fact, I read that Alan Moore once referred to them as the “miracle conceits”) about the human condition through the character that really sold me on Superman. There are many examples of this throughout the Superman books of the 50’s and 60’s. When I was reading them in my 20’s, it kind of felt like I was uncovering secrets of the modern, American soul.

Not all the Silver Age stories were like this. Some were really just silly and fun. However, I did write on two other examples in my posts on “Clark Kent’s Incredible Delusion” and “The Sweetheart Superman Forgot.” These “miracle conceits” are unique to the Silver Age stories. I haven’t seen them replicated in any other era. Could you do them the exact same way today? Probably not. However, I think you could do something like them.

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I started from the bronze age so I remember action 500 which has superman retelling his life story. There were many bronze age origins of superman and the most memorable was probably the origin with layouts by carmine infantino, pencils by curt swan.

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1986 Post Crisis Superman by John Byrne

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The very first trade release of TMOS, if memory serves.

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“The Sweetheart Superman Forgot” from Superman #165 is one of my favorite tales from the Silver Age. There is no one in comics today who could write such a touching, bittersweet story.

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And that first dream sequence is just wild…

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the first time I saw the Byrne Superman

March 1988, it had been four years since I bought a comic book

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I could be remembering this incorrectly, but wasn’t the text of that cover (specifically the use of the term “supernatural powers”) one of the reasons that led to Byrne and DC’s breakup?

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Byrne had his last Superman comics come out three months later. He says he left because DC wasn’t all in on his version. While Superman had changes in the comics, the Pre-Crisis Superman was still being used in merchandising. The Ruby Spears Superman cartoon that came out in 1988 also used elements from both versions.

A perceived slight, boredom after two years, who knows?

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In hindsight, I always felt this was ironic considering the lengths DC has gone to to both preserve the Post-Crisis Superman or to bring him back over the years.

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Byrne has a history of feeling slightly slighted and quiting. He did it with Claremont’s X-Men. He also would ban commenters from his site if they weren’t 100% on board with his vision on things.

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