Who can save Superman now? KURT BUSIEK!

[Captain Kal]

If you have any influence with Johns while working with him -- a must IMHO if you're working together -- would you mind passing two suggestions to him?

One, please, please, please suggest he put some more fun in his stories and stop his dismal trend for more gore and darkness.  At the very least, try to have your combined work on Superman be of a less dismal nature, if you can't influence his general comics work.

Two, please have you or someone else do the comics science and powers instead of him.  He doesn't do very well in that area -- If you've seen my criticism posts on that you know what I mean.  Heck, you're a bright guy obviously much more qualified than I am so I'm sure you've noted the same things.

[CRISISHATER]

Kurt please lobby for a Kal-el superboy in some shape or form. That's all I ask of DC...

[Uncle Mxy]

*for those now confused (.e., everyone but me), I first met Stan in the underwear section of a department store in San Diego in 1989.  Both of us were attending the San Diego Con and had underpacked...

I have to imagine that it beats meeting up in the underwear section of the San Diego Con itself!  I have this bad dream that starts with "Say, are those Spider-Man Underoos?" and ends with "Just Imagine Stan Lee's"...  oh never mind!  

But that leads me to an actual Superman question for Kurt (or at least, the simulacra that Kurt hires to write Conan and post on this board):  What are your favorite Elseworlds / alternate Superman renditions?

[Kurt Busiek]

But that leads me to an actual Superman question for Kurt (or at least, the simulacra that Kurt hires to write Conan and post on this board):  What are your favorite Elseworlds / alternate Superman renditions?

Well, the Superboy of Earth-Prime is way up there.

I also tend to think of the "Mr. & Mrs. Superman" series as an "alternate" Superman (yeah, he's actually the original, but by the time that series happened, he was an alternative to the main one), and I just loved it.

Oh, and the Super-Sons.

I can't say I was ever a big Elseworlds guy, and that imprint was very Batman-heavy anyway, but of the official "Elseworlds," I liked SUPERMAN: THE DARK SIDE a lot, and I liked SUPERMAN/TARZAN: SONS OF THE JUNGLE more than a lot of people seemed to (but then, I like Carlos Meglia art).

What else?  I liked the early episodes of "Superman 2020," but it didn't go anywhere, did it?

I liked the world of SUPERMAN FAMILY #200, even if the story itself didn't do anything for me.

I guess I'm a sucker for stories with relatively positive views of what Superman's future could be like, especially if it's got dynastic aspects, or at least kids, and roles for the rest of the Superman family...

kdb

[BMK!]

Kurt Busiek wrote:

Well, the Superboy of Earth-Prime is way up there.

I also tend to think of the "Mr. & Mrs. Superman" series as an "alternate" Superman (yeah, he's actually the original, but by the time that series happened, he was an alternative to the main one), and I just loved it.

Oh, and the Super-Sons.

I can't say I was ever a big Elseworlds guy, and that imprint was very Batman-heavy anyway, but of the official "Elseworlds," I liked SUPERMAN: THE DARK SIDE a lot, and I liked SUPERMAN/TARZAN: SONS OF THE JUNGLE more than a lot of people seemed to (but then, I like Carlos Meglia art).

What else?  I liked the early episodes of "Superman 2020," but it didn't go anywhere, did it?

I liked the world of SUPERMAN FAMILY #200, even if the story itself didn't do anything for me.

I guess I'm a sucker for stories with relatively positive views of what Superman's future could be like, especially if it's got dynastic aspects, or at least kids, and roles for the rest of the Superman family...

Besides the alternate Superman stories you mentioned, I also enjoyed the back-up stories by Bob Rozakis..."Just Imagine: The Secret Origin of Bruce(Superman)Wayne from Superman #353 (Nov 1980)...A Day In The Life of Bruce(Superman)Wayne from Superman #358 (April 1981)....A Night In The Life of Bruce(Superman)Wayne from Superman #363 (Sep. 1981)

[Kurt Busiek]

Besides the alternate Superman stories you mentioned, I also enjoyed the back-up stories by Bob Rozakis..."Just Imagine: The Secret Origin of Bruce(Superman)Wayne from Superman #353 (Nov 1980)...A Day In The Life of Bruce(Superman)Wayne from Superman #358 (April 1981)....A Night In The Life of Bruce(Superman)Wayne from Superman #363 (Sep. 1981)

To each his own -- I really didn't care for those.

kdb

[Kurt Busiek]

If you have any influence with Johns while working with him -- a must IMHO if you're working together -- would you mind passing two suggestions to him?

With all due respect -- I'm not going to do that.

First off, because collaborating with someone isn't an opportunity to remake them -- and even if it were, it may be that there's stuff I like about Geoff's work that you don't, and stuff you like that I don't, so you got no guarantee I'd be trying to remake him into something you'd like better.  We've talked through the story, each of us contributing ideas -- and whether they're grim or happy or what, you'll have to wait and see.

And second, this is comics -- it's easy enough to contact the creators that you don't need other people to carry suggestions for you.  You can send them in directly -- Geoff's even got a message board -- and the creators can accept 'em or reject 'em on their merits.

As for science and powers, remember -- I'm the guy who hates stat lists and has no problem with "The Computers That Saved Metropolis"...

kdb

[Super Monkey]

As for science and powers, remember -- I'm the guy who hates stat lists and has no problem with "The Computers That Saved Metropolis"...

Me too

I like the fact that Superman can feel Jimmy Olsen tap him on the shoulder. I don't need a scientific explanation for every little thing in a freaking comic book, in real life, it's a different story, but for a comic, to me that's like asking for scientific explanations for things in a Bugs Bunny Cartoon.

It's a comic book, you can do whatever you want in a comic, It saddens me when people limit their creative energy by putting too many rules into what can and can never be done in a story.

The very best comics for my money were those who didn't follow any rules and did whatever was best for the story to be told.

IMHO