Things you like to read/don't like in Superman comics?

[crispy snax]

things i like:
silver age sillyness: superfamily, mutant crossdressing olsen, Luthors baldness anxiety, mass hypnotism, super****ery, sexual innuendo, superman-batman-robin love triangle, superfortress, superbaby SUPERMONKEY!

Space adventures: they are fun

Supermans goodnaturedness: the only person who can say he fights for "truth justice and the American Way" without making me wince

Krypton mythos: thats my big beef with the golden age, not enough kryton mythos

life story of superman: complicated yet fun, allways an extra fact to find in a comic book

Imaginary stories: i like these for the same reason for "what ifs" they could take it wherever they wanted

Krypto: i want one

Superman Emblem: pretty much outgrown Superman, and the only comic book thing you can have as a T-Shirt emblem or Tattoo without looking a complete dork (although the tatoo is a dodgy one)

things i dont like:
the Daxam problem: while its ripe for stories it doesnt seem to make superman so unique and special when theres an entire other planet filled with people of nearly identical power

overuse of superman robots: could basically be used as a cop out tool back in the sixties... these robots could do almost everything  superman does it seems so.... why doesnt superman make an army of super robots to patrol the planet? (i think that became obvous after the ending of Superman red/blue

evil Mxy: yes i agree this is one villian who shouldnt be a bad guy

Mind control: overdone

superman acting as a angst ridden crybaby: whatever happened to the man of tomorrow? emotional problems

reflecting on how superman cant save everyone: dont break the dream

[Criadoman]

Things I like:
1. Superboy stories, real Superboy stories.
2. Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes stories.
3. Krypto stories.
4. Steve Lombard
5. Vartox
6. Superman/Batman team-ups (although I'm quite satiated with Superman-Batman)
7. Any team up story, particularly any team up with Captain Marvel, any individual JLA member and lesser knowns.
8. Any Golden Age Superman story written in modern times (I used to LOVE All-Star by Roy Thomas, especially with Supes, and Bog's Golden Age Superman riff - wow..)
9. Superman in the JSA,
10. Superman adventures in space (cosmic level problems the Guardians have to enlist their ace in the hole - Superman, cause the Lanterns need help, or just helping out other civilizations),
11. Cosmic Superman stories (a la Sword of Superman) - boy what would that story be like redone today.
12. Superman/Kirby-verse cross-overs
13. Fun Bizarro, Prankster, Toyman and Mxy stories.
14. Deadly Luthor stories (let's keep giving reasons why Luthor is Supes number one villain please),
15. World of Krypton stories,
16. Any Superman/Mon-El team-ups,
17. Modern Superman Family team-ups (S-girl, P-girl, E2 Supes, etc.)

Dislikes
1. Any Superman whinning.  I HATE that!
2. Kryptonite stories (unless it's an ingenious Kryptonite trap.  For as many times as he's been exposed, he should either have an immunity by now - a la Kingdom Come, or he'd best be darned prepared or finally it should be so darn rare it is like an event for it to come into the possession of anyone - e.g. Kryptonite no more.)
3. Any magic story that makes it affect him like Krptonite (Virtue and Vice JLA/JSA story was one of the few clever times where it seemed to make more sense than usual.  As essentially Superman was on "another world" so-to-speak, it made sense to see Superman's powers behave erratically but magic and kryptonite don't have to be the same thing.)
4. Krypton is a "cold world",
5. Krypto isn't intelligent,
6. Where's the real Superboy? (although I did like Conner, but call him Skyboy or something, or leave him dead I guess),
7. E2 Superman is as powerful as E1 Supes (see their 1st meeting in JLA/JSA Crisis events pre-COIE),
8. Superman isn't super-intelligent,
9. Superman isn't as fast or faster than the Flash,
10. Superman and Bats aren't friends,
11. President Luthor?
12. Batman keeps a K-bullet?  Superman would never worry about going out of control, and frankly he'd turn to the Guardians to help him stay in check if it ever happened.

That's my short list.

[MatterEaterLad]

Well, this has inspired me to make a list of dislikes (sorry Angel, I just dislike a lot of what you listed )

1. Superman connected to the Green Lantern Corps, ughh, a copy of Marvel universe building that's beneath the "Man of Steel". 

2. Any Guardian "lecture" to Superman - who are these cats, late 1950s additions to a re-written character?

3. "Sword of Superman" and all that jazz, Superman is obviously already the greatest man in the cosmos, he's seen it all and defeated it all.  DC might have benefited from remaining true to its characters' own identities with a yearly JLA crossover rather than ape the Marvel grand universe concept.  Why should DC have copied Marvel, Marvel (Timely, or whatever) tanked in the 40s and was dead for almost 20 years!  During the late 60s, DC had a small opportunity to do something different - while they still had sales and distribution advantages.

4. Anything WGBS, good gravy, why was the "Man of Tomorrow" saddled with a hip TV station, dated caricatures like Lombard, and taken away from his primary role as hard reporter?  And then put on television (total destruction of a believable secret identity)!!!!

5. The demise of the innocence of Smallville - young Kents, stories of Superboy abandoning his parents and hurting them to trap Nazis (etc.), Superboy meeting "Bigfoot", Lana sexually frustrating the "Master Jailer" in her youth - overwrought stories like that.

[JulianPerez]

I'm probably going to get a lot of flak for saying this, because it's so ingrained in people's minds, but I really don't see what's so great and vital and important about the Superman/Batman team.

It's become such a "tradition" that I don't think anyone's thought over how little the team-up makes sense.

Apart from all questions of a severe difference in power level and the fact Batman and Superman are hardly a "balanced" team...the two characters are thematically not compatible.

Batman is a pulp-style adventurer detective dealing with madmen, gangsters, killers, and jewel heists. He'd be buds with the Shadow and Doc Savage, and all superficiality aside, he and fellow urban vigilante Spider-Man would have a lot in common. It's ridiculous to imagine Batman in an alien space arena or on the bridge of the Millennium Falcon.

Superman is a science fiction hero that fights space conquerors. He's from another planet, fights aliens, goes into space, etc.

It's not even a question of a power level difference. Superman and Flash Gordon are compatible with each other, for example.

What the Superman/Batman Team is, is a crashing together of two very different kinds of characters in very different kinds of stories. It feels like one of those embarassing "crossover" fanfics that combine two things in a way that totally miss the point of both - Astro Boy meets Conan.

2. Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes stories.

Amen, especially if Dave Cockrum is involved.

You know, it's funny: except for Plastino, I can't really think of a single "bad" Legion of Super-Heroes artist. Even someone like Mike Grell, whom I don't usually like, produced workable, good Legion art. The Legion art pedigree is astonishing: Curt Swan, Cockrum, Stanton, Starlin, even the weird and detailed Joe Sherman (who did Earthwar, the best and biggest of Levitz's "everything but the kitchen sink" Legion tales).

I'd buy the Legion without Superboy, of course (they're just interesting enough on their own) but Superboy always added something.

13. Fun Bizarro, Prankster, Toyman and Mxy stories.

No, I can't agree.

Matching wits with a fat man in a bow tie that hurls cream pies is totally beneath Superman in every way.

4. Krypton is a "cold world",

Really? I always liked the idea of Krypton as an ice planet (which it most likely would be, with a weak, dying red sun). The best example would be the semi-polar Krypton seen in The Animated Series, which had a very fascinating look.

[Klar Ken T5477]

Bad LSH artist, Julian?  Two words -- Pete Costanza.  Hate, hate his DC work on LSH and Jimmy Olsen.  Over at ACh where the house style was Lou Wahl (Kurt Schaffenberger) and Ogden Whitney somebody polished Costanza's pencils to look like the house style.

I thought Plastino was fine on the LSH but I favor John Forte and Curt Swan. By the time of Cockrum's run I wasn't reading funny books anymore (for awhile anyway) 

[MatterEaterLad]

I think a case can be made for not liking the Superman/Batman team, it is a little weird to see Batman in space etc. Superman being helpless in a classic Batman "mystery" wouldn't have worked that well either.

But since the team-up was a relatively early occurence, I was used to it and liked it as a kid.

[Klar Ken T5477]

I, too, was a big fan of the World's Finest team especially the stories scripted by Ed Hamilton.

Who could ever forget Batman's sudden inferiority complex and Superman ("Anything for a pal") taking the cowed crusader to Kandor so Batman could wail on him with a sword?

Classic stuff.

[MatterEaterLad]

Yep, Hamilton explored the relationship well by equalizing the guys, Kandor was a great way to do it, really some of the classic World's Finest stories.