Byrne stuff we miss

[Sean Whitmore]

What with all the harsh words being exchanged over Byrne, I thought it'd be nice to give him a complementary thread. Of all the Superman eras, Byrne's run directly after Crisis remains my favorite by a wide margin. A lot of his stuff is still around (Clark's parents are alive, Lois isn't an evil psycho), and a lot of it is gone (sterile Krypton, that weird telekinesis theory). So...

Name something that Byrne did (that's since been retconned) that you miss.

Name something that Byrne did (that hasn't been retconned) that you're glad is still around.

--What I miss most is his Mxyzptlk revamp. Instead of saying his name backwards every time, Mxy had a new set of rules for every time he appeared. It seemed a lot more plausible that Superman could trick him into something different each time...because really, once you've tricked him into saying his name backwards once, every time after that makes him look incredibly stupid and non-threatening (the animated Mxy was funny for one episode, but notice he wasn't brought back a whole lot).

And notice something: since they've gone back to the "Kltpzyxm" thing, Superman has never actually gotten him to say it. Mxy just pops in now, breaks the 4th Wall a little, says something cryptic, and then disappears when he's done. He's more like the Phantom Stranger now than an opponent.

--What I'm glad is still around (for NOW, at least) is that Clark isn't a tremendous nerd. He's not Batman, sacrificing his real face for the sake of his "mask". He was born Clark and raised Clark. I could never buy that he'd be willing to basically give up his normal life just so nobody would suspect him of being Superman. Maybe that is how the character was originally envisioned, but I know which one I'd rather read about.

--Honorable mention (because I can't tell if it's been retconned or not) goes to Bryne's explanation for why nobody could leave Krypton but baby Kal. Rationalize all the reasons you want why Jor-el didn't just build a bigger spaceship, or why such an advanced race didn't have starships readily available. Nothing is as clear-cut as a simple "they can't leave or they'll die".


SEAN

[TomGun13]

I miss art that he put some effort into! lol

[kane]

1. I miss the Byrne Clark Kent. The Clark in the first Superman issues was a strong character, not a fool to disguise his Superman chara.

This changed slowly. Clark was not a fool like in the silver age, but he was not so respected in the eyes of the other charas compared to the beginning (remember how Cat Grant reacted to him from begining on).

And now in Birthright we see Clark as a loser without friends and social competence.

2. Superman beeing the last and only kryptonian was a good idea. It made him unique, the last survivor. There was no other like him. He was the only living reminder of Krypton.
Now there is the silly dog again and Supergirl.

3. The kryptonians beeing a sterile, logical race was a good opposite to the illogical, emotional humans.

4. Only green kryptonite was enough.

[Tony Bang]

Name something that Byrne did (that's since been retconned) that you miss.

Lex Luthor not beging a nerd. It's hard to see Luthor beging badass, if he used to be a shut-in with no freinds or life.

Name something that Byrne did (that hasn't been retconned) that you're glad is still around.

The Kents are still around. I also like that Clark's not a nerd.



One thing Byrne did I didn't like was Superman wooping up on Darkseid.

[Kojiro]

I miss the sterile Krypton. For once, Krypton actually struck you as an alien world. I'm a big MoS fan, considering MoS was the first Superman story I ever read. It fills me with nostalgia.

As for what's still around... well, Superman's still not a dick anymore.

[Andross]

One thing Byrne did I didn't like was Superman wooping up on Darkseid.

I thought Byrne did a good job on Darkseid. He also has stated that any loss Darkseid had by Superman that he had written he didn't mean for it to look like a loss. Any other encounter I have seen Bryne writing Darkseid against Superman, Bryne has had Darkseid stomp the Man of Steel.

[chriskenny]

While I don't hate the new Waid Krypton, I do kinda miss the Byrne version. Like someone else said, there was something nice and alien and tragic about that Krypton.

I do like Clark being a nerd. I like that Clark is sort of Superman's act. It seems so fundamental to the Superman mythos for him to be that way. Look at the movies and the decades of comics preceding Byrne's rectons. I just feel that is the way it should be. Otherwise, he is just a dude with a secret identity, like every other hero. The idea that he is a god pretending to be a man (a nerdy one, at that) appeals to my ideas on mythology and makes him far more unique. It is one the things that separates him from Peter Parker and others.

[cactusmaac]

I really liked his emphasis on how it was the Kents and the way he was raised which made him Superman, not just his Kryptonian DNA.

And I preferred sterile Krypton to the Birthright one.

[chriskenny]

I don't really see the Kents' influence on Clark's role as Superman to be an innovation of Byrne's at all. It is certainly more apparent in the sense that Byrne elected to keep the Kents alive through Clark's adulthood, but I remember reading a Siegal and Shuster strip where Clark's adopted father all but gave Clark an edict to become Superman and use his powers for good.

I think people often think of the post-Crisis Superman as being totally uneffected by his Earth parentage, but I do not see that as the case. Byrne just makes it more evident because Ma and Pa Kent were really never too far away in the books.

One of the things I miss about the pre-Byrne days is this idea that Superman was orphaned twice: first by the death of his parents and homeworld and second by the death of his elderly foster parents. There is a tragedy to this, an element that makes Superman feel alone... There is something there that resonates for me. And even though it is mentioned that his mother is still alive in the movies, that theme of his foster parents' mortality (his father's heart attack) and how delicate life is still there.

But I do not feel that the "nuture" aspect of Superman's upbringing is something that Byrne himself came up with.

[cactusmaac]

I didn't say he came up with it.

He emphasised it a whole lot more.