Are the Perez Issues of Superman Any Good?

[thwhtGuardian]

I thought it was pretty decent and it had some interesting concepts, they weren't always perfectly executed but they were fun none the less. Traditional is probably the best word I can think of to describe his recent run on Superman, some people will take that to mean boring but I certainly don't.

[MajorHoy]

I thought it was pretty decent and it had some interesting concepts, they weren't always perfectly executed but they were fun none the less. Traditional is probably the best word I can think of to describe his recent run on Superman, some people will take that to mean boring but I certainly don't.

And, again, we don't know how much of the problem was editorial-side interfering (and eventually doing any rewrites when Pérez got sick of the whole mess and stopped making changes himself).

[thwhtGuardian]

And, again, we don't know how much of the problem was editorial-side interfering (and eventually doing any rewrites when Pérez got sick of the whole mess and stopped making changes himself).

Indeed, his take paints editorial in a pretty poor light. I wish we had seen the story he wanted to tell with out interference.

[Sacred Knight]

The Perez run I still think all in all was rather decent, just not quite the story I feel should have been aimed for in a rebooted title. This seemed like a secondary arc to me rather than the opening chapter of a rebooted book. But I do think its painted in a far worse light than it really deserves.

[MajorHoy]

The Perez run I still think all in all was rather decent, just not quite the story I feel should have been aimed for in a rebooted title. This seemed like a secondary arc to me rather than the opening chapter of a rebooted book. But I do think its painted in a far worse light than it really deserves.

But the problem was, how much could he really establish in Superman while Morrison was establishing the character in a mega-storyline that took place five years in the past? How much of that was that roughly outlined in advance so Pérez had a clear idea of what he could (and should not) do in the present-day-setting book?

[manofsteel1979]

But the problem was, how much could he really establish in Superman while Morrison was establishing the character in a mega-storyline that took place five years in the past? How much of that was that roughly outlined in advance so Pérez had a clear idea of what he could (and should not) do in the present-day-setting book?

That was the big problem. He had no idea what was or wasn't canon anymore from the previous continuity. We're Ma and Pa Kent dead or alive? Did 'Grounded" or "Reign of Doomsdays" or any of the stories that just occured prior to FLASHPOINT still happen? (I seem to remember there was a throw away line in SUPERMAN #1 to the effect that Superman had been away from Metropolis for awhile, and it was never mentioned again.) About the only things Perez had to work with was that he was wearing an armored suit and he was no longer married to Lois. That was it. So really, aside from the Daily Planet stuff, Perez couldn't really do any establishing on who everyone was in the new 52. Even Scott Lobdell's original pitch for Superboy apparently took into account most of his Pre-Flashpoint history, until the 11th hour which he was told that it was to be a complete revamp.

Now, that's not to totally absolve Perez's culpability in the somewhat blandness of his run, but he was handcuffed really by bad Editorial decisions and a lack of communication between the different writers. Would the book have been better? We will never know, but it couldn't have hurt to have had some simple answers to some basic questions from the get go.

It would have made more sense to have Morrison write both books for their first 6 months or to have had Solly Finch write SUPERMAN with Morrison in an advisory role that first year so there would have been a common vision and assured that everyone was on the same page, and then turned SUPERMAN over to a regular team with issue #0.

It's sad that it took a year to finally get all their ducks in a row in terms of the tone and continuity between the books.

[MajorHoy]

. . . It would have made more sense to have Morrison write both books for their first 6 months or to have had Solly Finch write SUPERMAN with Morrison in an advisory role that first year so there would have been a common vision and assured that everyone was on the same page, and then turned SUPERMAN over to a regular team with issue #0.

It's sad that it took a year to finally get all their ducks in a row in terms of the tone and continuity between the books.

I don't know about having Morrison writing both of the books in the beginning (I may not have bought Superman, either, since I wasn't interested in Morrison's Action), but I know in the ancient days (like in the late 1980's / early 1990's) they seemed to have periodic "Superman-summits" where the main editor and the writers would get together and hash out where the books would all be going for the next several months so that everyone would have an idea of what would be going on . . . something that DC should have revived for the launch of the New 52, but seems not to have bothered with.

[dupersuper]

I liked them: reminded me a bit of the triangle era.

[md62]

They were average with some occasional great ideas.

[thepenguin]

No. Unless you like redundant old school stuff. 6 issues than could have been 1. Superman/Clark is very emo/pining and not quite bright imo.

[dupersuper]

No. Unless you like redundant old school stuff. 6 issues than could have been 1. Superman/Clark is very emo/pining and not quite bright imo.

Old school sure, but how was it redundant? As for any "emo/pining": the whole story is that he's not acting like himself because of the parasites mental control.

[Self-DCeit]

Superman/Clark is very emo/pining and not quite bright imo.

As opposed to what? Nonchalantly waving off the fact that a woman he had grown fond of got involved with another guy? And it's a gross exaggeration to say he was being emo or pining for Lois in that run, since all we saw was an awkward meeting at her apartment in #1 and an adult conversation at #2.