What's your favourite era of Superman?

[Norrin Radd]

I don't know how often you guys are asked this question. Don't shoot me. Just go with it.

You have...

Golden Age (30s to 50s)

Silver Age (60s to early 70s)

Bronze Age (mid-70s to early 80s)

Byrne Age (mid-late 80s)

Long Haired Age. (90s)

Current Age. (now)

[Lurker]

I'll cheat and go with the "Donnor Age."

[LORD FALLEN ELDOR]

I might have missed out on the 70's but thanks to a geeky uncle of mine, I read a lot of the stuff from the 70's and early 80's. That's my favorite era of comics period. I also liked the mid 90's during and after the death and return.

[PanzerMega]

I was always a Marvel kid, and didn't get into DC until the early 90s. So that whole post-Byrne, Superman dying, then being long-haired era was my first exposure to Superman stories that interested me.

Looking back now they really weren't that good, but neither have most of the Superman comics since, so 1991-1994 is sort of my golden era.

I'm sure that Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns will do much greater things.

[dancj]

Byrne age - with Bronze age a close second

[thehod]

Definatly the silver age.

Sure, we have "better" stories today that I still enjoy reading, but there is a real charm in the silver age stories that I love.

Same with Batman too.

[kane]

Byrne age, part of the long hair age and part of the current age (at the moment there are too much silver age elements and i don´t like birthright and the birthright consequences)

[Eliseu Gouveia]

Byrne age as well.
I absolutelly loved early Superman, when everything was fresh and new and even Superman dangling one of Luthor´s comatose henchmen wearing his trademark green armor felt envigorating.

When the chemistry between Clark and Lois reminded of David Adison and Madelyn Haynes in Moonlighting.

[tk421atpost]

The Byrne age, from the reboot up until the Death was all pretty decent. Since then, things have been pretty hit and miss (mostly miss).

[tomasej]

Silver and Bronze-- I don't see a huge difference between the two as far as Superman goes.

[The Shadow]

Byrne age.

By far.

[Spike-X]

Bronze, followed by Byrne.

[SuperManny]

You should of attached a poll to this thread Norrin!

Byrne age, mostly because it's the one I started reading comic books.

*still appreciates Birthright*

[Guts/Batman]

You should of attached a poll to this thread Norrin.

Can't you do that, too?

You are the mod afterall, or do you have to be a "supermod" to do that?

[SuperManny]

You are the mod afterall, or do you have to be a "supermod" to do that?

I figured it out. I tried earlier without any luck. Guess it was too late on a Saturday night to figure it out :p

Let's all update the poll above!

[Cei-U!]

I'll take the more vulnerable and more bad-ass Superman of the Golden Age over any of his later incarnations.

Cei-U!
There's nothing like the original!

[Viking Bastard]

Byrne age here, too.

That's the Supes of my childhood.

[Super Hero Guy]

Byrne age followed closely by the Golden Age.

[Norrin Radd]

Thanks for adding the poll!

I tried, but screwed it up. :o


BTW...I think I like Bronze Age Supes best, the era that was right before Crisis.

He actually seems to me to be quite similar to current Supes.

[Agentum]

Byrne age and golden age is the only supermans i can read.
I absolutly hate silver age version, but i guess that one was "written" for small children or something.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

Current Age, followed by the Byrne Age.

[LibrarianThorne]

Byrne Age to after the Return. I loved that version of Superman. He's relatable, responsible, charismatic, courageous and inspiring. He's the Superman that, to me, embodies what Superman is really about. It's not the powers, it's the man. And that's really what that age was about.

[Gingold]

My absolute two favorite versions of Superman aren't in the pages of comic books- the Fleisher cartoons and the Christopher Reeve movies.

As for the comics, I'd vote for the Golden Age- the not as powerful wiseass champion of the common man -as my favorite. It's not as polished as the later stories , but those first dozen or so stories have such vitality and energy that haven't been surpassed in the 60+ years since. And all the truly essential elements of Superman are there.

As a close second, I love the goofiness and sunny optimism of the Silver Age stories too. So many of the most imaginative and endearing parts of the canon come from this era- Bizarro, Lori Lemaris, Supergirl, the Legion, the Super-Pets, Brainiac )with Koko!), Titano, the oddball Lois and Jimmy solo titles, and all the great imaginary stories. The recent Showcase collection displays the charms of this era very well.

The early 80s stories were amond the first comics I ever read, so I have a soft spot for them, but I don't think they're the equal to the Golden or Silver Ages. The Byrne Era had its moments- I like the Action team-up stories a lot, though more because it was fun to see Byrne having a ball with the DCU after decades as a Marvel guy than because they really added anything significant to the legend. The Man of Steel revamp may have been necessary- it certainly brought a lot of new readers to Superman who would otherwise have never gone near the character- but it couldn't really sustain itself after a year or so. Once the novelty of Byrne's (and Wolfman and Ordway- who always get overlooked) relaunch wore off, people stopped caring, I think, because he stripped away most of the endearing things about the character. The primary motivation behind the changes seemed to be embarrassment, which is never a good sign.

The "mullet era", while understandably derided, at least attempted to restore some of the silver age zaniness that Byrne and co. cast aside. Grant Morrison recently referred to the Carlin/Jurgens era as the time "when all the imaginary stories really happened"- and it's true- Superman tells Lois his identity, Superman dies, "new" Supermen, Superman gets married, Superman gets new powers, Superman Red/Superman Blue... It's not deathless art, but the Superman of this period seems more like Superman than Byrne's did.

The current era seems very disjointed and lacking direction, though I did like Gail's Action stories. Hopefully Johns and Busiek can fix things up a bit. At least All-Star Superman is pretty kick-ass.

[Guts/Batman]

The current era seems very disjointed and lacking direction, though I did like Gail's Action stories. Hopefully Johns and Busiek can fix things up a bit. At least All-Star Superman is pretty kick-ass.

Definitely.

All 3 books currently feel like they are going three different directions. Rucka's Adventures is definitely moving forward with IC (which is more than underwhelming). Superman is doing that...kinda but taking it's sweet time to get there.

And Gail's Action does it somewhat...but the last two issues were good and IC free (which is awesome). To me , unquestionably the best of the Superman books currently.

It's almost as if there are 3 different Supermen out there. They all have different personalities.

And I do agree...I loved Fleisher Superman as well.

[JulianPerez]

I love the Silver Age era most of all, by an order of magnitude. And no wonder at all!

Jerry Siegel's Silver Age work was easily his best: look at the incredible, tragic emotions he could conjure up in his "Return to Krypton" story - Lyra Lerrol was the love that tainted all of Superman's own. Look at Superman's incredible genius and ingenuity with foes that could challenge him in "The Legion of Super-Villains." The Superman Mythos was added to and made all the richer by additions by Otto Binder, including various different types of Kryptonite (especially Red Kryptonite and the acid-trip genius of the stories that were created), the Interstellar Zoo in the Fortress of Solitude, the incredible tiny Kryptonian city of Kandor, and all the varying supporting cast members, from Krypto Mouse, King Krypton: the gorilla with the brain of a Kryptonian scientist, to Krypto the Super-Dog, Professor Potter, and the Jimmy Olsen Fan Club.

There were incredible features like Supermanium, the hardest metal in the universe, and all the incredible stories with Superman and Jimmy Olsen as Nightwing and Flamebird, the Batman and Robin of the Bottled City of Kandor. Don't forget the wonderful "Superman of 2965" stories told by the incomparable Edmond Hamilton (weak against SEA WATER? Whoa!)

Remember when Lois Lane learned "Klurkor," or Kryptonian Karate?

Superman used to have a machine that could synthesize chocolate milkshakes in the Fortress, right next to the Super-Univac.

Krypton itself was never greater than it was as a wondrous, Gernsback-esque scientific utopia. Krypton featured such incredible places as the Fire Falls, the Gold Volcano, the Scarlet Jungle, and such technology as the brains of their greatest scientists kept alive to keep on inventing, the Thought-tracker Eye, the computers that determined marriages. There also were all the impressive Kryptonians: from Dr. Kim-Da, to Van-Zee, to the Phantom Zone criminals, to Circe, who was from Krypton all along, using Kryptonian science to simulate "magic."

Gold was the most common element on Krypton; the planet's core, however, was made of Uranium (which explains the KA-BOOM!). Krypton had five moons, including Wegethor, which was inhabited.

Let's not forget all the wondrous Kryptonian animals right out of Edgar Rice Burroughs: the metal-eating mole of Kandor, the Flame Dragon (the few Superman foes more powerful than he was) the Thought-Projector Beast that showed thoughts on its screen, the psychic hound dogs used to "hunt" by brainwaves. the giant rideable birds...

And then there was the tragic, wonderful love between Comet and Supergirl. "If only I were human," he thinks, "I could tell her how I really feel."

I can't leave out Curt Swan, one of the cleanest, greatest comics artist that ever lived, that worked on Superman from the 1950s to his regrettable, abysmal, unnecessary "Byrned" reboot.

One eighty page SUPERMAN FAMILY had more story in it in 100 pages than all four Superman Titles today do in a year. "Decompressed storytelling" my ass. Kudos to the always professional and talented Geoff Johns for restoring many of the wildly imaginative Silver Age elements, and kudos to Alan Moore for keeping the flame alive with his SUPREME.

Superman's best age may have been the Silver Age, but Jimmy Olsen's had to have been the Bronze Age. Jimmy was never better than when he was "Mr. Action," the competent two-fisted smuggler buster in WAY over his head. Diana Savage was a great villainess, Jimmy's own personal criminal archenemy. The art by Kurt Schaffenberger didn't exactly hurt, either.

[Hellfan]

I grew up with Byrne, so that's a given for me....

[Rik Levins]

Chalk up another Silver Age fan.

Of course, I started reading Superman in 1957, so that's not too surprising. I loved those old stories, especially with Wayne Boring's barrel-chested Superman, and the eerie science-fiction settings (corny by today's standards, but still powerful in my opinion).
And of course, the incomparable Curt Swan. One of the great regrets of my life: in the early nineties, during my years as a Marvel artist, I was once invited to be a guest at a convention in Texas along with Swan. I had wanted to meet him for years, as he (along with Wally Wood) was one of the two major influences on my own artwork. Unfortunately, circumstances prevented me from attending that con, and all too soon afterward my chance was gone forever.

Julian, did you ever read "Superman versus the Futuremen"? I recently contributed scans of that book to the superman.ws site, and I see they've got it up. Along with "Green Sun" it's one of my favorites from the early SA.

[JulianPerez]

And of course, the incomparable Curt Swan. One of the great regrets of my life: in the early nineties, during my years as a Marvel artist, I was once invited to be a guest at a convention in Texas along with Swan. I had wanted to meet him for years, as he (along with Wally Wood) was one of the two major influences on my own artwork. Unfortunately, circumstances prevented me from attending that con, and all too soon afterward my chance was gone forever.

I'm sorry to hear about that. Curt Swan was an incredible artist with clean, correct lines and an endless iimagination for monsters and machinery; I'm sure he would have a lot to say.

I have a similar disappointing story: artists that meet me tend to die not soon after, unfortunately. On the other hand, maybe I'm lucky instead of unlucky: I managed to meet these people before their deaths. For instance, I met Don Heck a few months before his death for the first and only time, and I met Will Eisner at the Miami Book Fair in 2004 only a month before his passed on. He complimented me on a question I asked and thought it was intelligent, which was a thrill to hear something like that from somebody so guru-ish.

Julian, did you ever read "Superman versus the Futuremen"? I recently contributed scans of that book to the superman.ws site, and I see they've got it up. Along with "Green Sun" it's one of my favorites from the early SA.

I read it a WHILE ago (possibly reprinted in SUPERMAN FAMILY; I don't think I had the actual issue), but after you mentioned it, I went immediately to STTA to check the page out.

It's always interesting to see Superman battling men in flying saucers; the original Superman Revenge Squad were fascinating for this reason (as were their sons, who often bedeviled young Jimmy Olsen, who together with Diana Savage, composed Jimmy's own gallery of foes).

The story was awesome, and it kept me guessing. It didn't make me lose my curiosity at any point. It was pretty obvious that the Future FBI men were up to no good, but nonetheless, their presence still raised questions whose answers were not predictable.

The comic also raises one interesting point that is disturbing, but isn't touched on: the comic is meant to imply that, come the year 2000, Superman won't be around anymore. Hmmm!

God, what a look the comic had! Wayne Boring used to strike me as the Chris Sprouse of his day: a guy that drew most of his figures with the same head and body type. Looking back, though, one gets the sense of style his work had; notice how stylish an outfit the Futuremen from the year 2000 had; the hat and the tasseled shoulders; like Alex Raymond and Mac Raboy's FLASH GORDON, it looked like it was from the past and the future at the same time.

It also shows how well Bill Finger thought the whole thing through. The reason, according to the story, that Superman wears an "S" on his chest? Because EVERYBODY in the year 2000 wears something on their chest! I didn't catch that until the second time reading that over; a sign that Finger, in his usual style, put thought into his worldbuilding; everything happened for a reason.

Here's a page-by-page comment guide:

pg. 2, panel 1: Notice that Perry White doesn't say "Great Caesar's Ghost!"

pg. 5, panel 5: It's unfortunate they got rid of this idea; the notion that there was something in Krypton's atmosphere that deactivated superpowered potential. This idea was maintained in the Kandor years, as Kandor had its own air supply.

pg. 6, panel 5: "Green Kryptonite? That stuff is incredibly rare!" Hehe...ri-i-ight.

pg. 7, panel 1: This may be one of the few examples of Red Kryptonite that do not last for 24 hours.

pg. 17, panel 5: "Our history books did not exaggerate your greatness." Whoa, so does that mean come the year 2000, Superman isn't around? Kryptonian lifespans are about 1,000 years; and that's on Krypton, where they have no superpowers. Hmmm...

[JKCarrier]

Tough call -- I like the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages for different reasons. I ended up going with Bronze, because I thought they struck a really good balance between making the stories accessible to kids, while giving older readers a bit of subtext to chew on. Plus you had Curt Swan at his absolute peak, delivering beautiful work month after month.

[Pinnacle]

I voted for the Byrne age because that was the one of my childhood and the one that defined my version of Superman. In reality, I like tidbits from each of the last three (haven't read enough of the pre-Crisis era to judge those three). I like the Byrne era because that's the origin I'm familiar with and the Action team-ups really put him in context of the entire DCU. The Mullet era was good because the death and resurrection storyline were what really made me a collector of Superman comics plus my favorite version of Lois was in that era. My personal favorite mini-era (and I know I'm in the minority here) was the Loeb work since it had all of the Silver Age stuff but with some believability. Plus I loved the idea of Luthor being president. I hated the work of Chuck Austen and Steven Seagle and the Superman Red/Blue period of the Jurgens era. Looking forward to Morrison and Johns.

[MicroZone]

The Silver Age Superman for me. That sense of wonder and unchecked imagination cannot be beat.

[MythicBrawn]

I definitely have to go with the Byrne age. Byrne has rewrote some other hero's histories but I think he was the most successful with Superman. The fat was trimmed and they made him more believable. It was almost like a new character discovering himself. But, now he is becoming as convoluted as he was pre-Crisis. He can be interesting at times.