DC Revamp

[Lee Semmens]

But I have to say that there were some pretty big changes in the 50s, 60s ...and to my chagrin (because I didn't like them), the 70s..

Why is that, MEL?

Although I am a big fan of fan of Superman in the 1960s, I am an even bigger fan of his in the 1970s, especially when Murphy Anderson was inking Curt Swan's pencils.

[Aldous]

Yes, from '71 up to late-70s......... A great period. He's never again reached those heights. That's the zenith of Superman in comics for me.

[MatterEaterLad]

The 70s were not a zenith for me. I disliked the seriousness of the stories and more backstory than I wanted for a comic hero.

But that's just me. The point is that people create comics and that they do change - often to hold on to sales in the face of competition. We're just at a point where it's no longer working in print media - Superman selling a tiny fraction of what it did in the late 60s.

[Aldous]

They were the modern comics (contemporary) when I was a little kid, so that's what had an effect on me... (although I was reading a lot of Silver Age Superman as well, which I love).

I think the other factor that gives 70s the edge for me -- Lee already touched on it -- is the art. Swan - Anderson - Oksner.......... Superman and his supporting cast just never looked so darned good. The art in this period has never been equalled.

Have a look at the opening comics to Sand-Superman Saga then compare with Byrne or any other later period. The masters were at work in the period I mention, '71 to late-ish 70s.

[India Ink]

But they never had to reboot Superman to make those changes. Heck, even Electric Superman was done without a reboot.

If you want to tell a different kind of story, you just have to go ahead and tell a different kind of story. But you shouldn't have to eliminate every other comic that came before just to do that.

[nightwing]

Agreed.  They can't see the trees for the forest.

DC: "We need more people to buy our books.  The problem is there's too much history piled on and it makes it hard for new readers to get into them.  We need a fresh start; change Superman's costume and origin, make him younger with a Justin Bieber haircut, and start over with a new #1."

POTENTIAL NEW READERS:  "What is that?  It says 'Superman' but it sure doesn't look like him.  Pass."

[DBN]

Agreed.  They can't see the trees for the forest.

DC: "We need more people to buy our books.  The problem is there's too much history piled on and it makes it hard for new readers to get into them.  We need a fresh start; change Superman's costume and origin, make him younger with a Justin Bieber haircut, and start over with a new #1."

POTENTIAL NEW READERS:  "What is that?  It says 'Superman' but it sure doesn't look like him.  Pass."


The above plus the $3 price point is going to be a hard sell for any new reader. They need to at least drop the price of the digital additions to $1.99. It just doesn't make sense to price the digital titles the same as the print ones.

Especially in this day and age of mobile apps. A person can get a longer experience from a $2.99 game app than they would from a comic priced the same.

[MatterEaterLad]

Even Julian might remember that I thought the original Crisis was clever. Poorly done, but clever. DC was universe "happy" - to the point of creating a unverse of "real life" (Earth Prime) and then not even resisting the temptation to make THAT universe different (its own heros and alternate timeline).

I do have to say that while I can't argue that Swan was at his greatest in the Bronze Age, making Clark a TV reporter, having stories of him at his apartment, tossing in a "relevant" Lois and Lombard, Olsen "Man of Action", and making Superman some sort of intergalactic force of destiny was almost like a "reboot" to me. Exciting to some, but it just didn't appeal to me. I was not recognizing him.

It's funny, I bought the "Sandman" saga and the next issue after - and never bought another Superman comic since.

It was fun catching up on the 70s storylines to work on "Supermanica" - but nothing makes me like them like the simpler, self-contained stories of the 60s.

I kept reading DC, I just re-read my brother's comics from 1959 - 1968, and my own from 1968-1971 over and over.