Superman Beyond

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/05/02/dc-to-publish-superman-beyond/

DC To Publish Superman Beyond
Submitted by Rich Johnston on May 2, 2011 – 1:35 pm (21) comments



Last week, Bleeding Cool reported that DC were to publish a Justice League Of The Future comic, with links to Batman Beyond continuity.

Well I think it will very likely be called JLA Beyond, or something similar. Why?

Because I understand it will be spinning out of another new comic, possibly a oneshot, titled Superman Beyond #0.

Not only that, but Superman Beyond will be written by a former Marvel writer and editor-in-chief with a history of writing future superheroes… accompanied by the art team known for drawing them.

I wonder who that could be…?

I remember seeing the two episodes of 'Batman Beyond' that had the future JL in it. Wasn't a fan of that costume.

Stan Lee- Yeah right.

Roy Thomas- Can't think of anything the guy's ever done that was specifically future-oriented. He's one helluva writer though. But for his intervention, I probably wouldn't care as much about DC's Earth-2 characters.

Len Wein- He's got an AWESOME resume but, again, I can't think of any future superheroes he ever wrote.

Marv Wolfman- Dude's just AWESOME, let's say that. If you don't respect him, it's because you don't know his work. Period.

Gerry Conway- Ibid. The guy's work speaks for itself. But, again, lack of future credentials here (at least that I know about).

Archie Goodwin- The guy's dead so I think we can rule him out.

Tom DeFalco- As far as I know, he's primarily known for Spider-Man work. But then, wasn't Spider-Girl set in the future? Still, he always seemed like the ultimate Marvel guy.

Bob Harras- As far as I know, he's primarily known for being the X-Men editor back in the 90's. Although he's a writer too, obviously, I can't think of anything specific he's ever written relating to future-based superheroes. Still, (A) I could be missing something and (B) he *IS* the EIC at DC these days.

Joe Quesada- He did recently leave his post at Marvel. And he did write Sleepwaker, which took place in the future (at least in part). Plus, DC fucking MADE Quesada back in the 90's.

But my guess?

Jim Shooter- How many people can say "I retired from writing comics because I was busy with high school graduation"? And what were those comics? Legion of Super-Heroes. Hell, he created three of them during that time. Plus, he was Marvel EIC for almost ten years. I haven't read much of his Legion of Super-Heroes "Threeboot" run but I dig what I've seen.

I wouldn't be surprised if Shooter is the one who gets the gig.

Sounds pretty onteresting. I did enjoy those batman beyond episodes. Also like you guys wonder who the writer is.

Picked this up today, read it a while ago.

Overall, I liked it but you get the idea that Bob Harras and his many and varied Marvel influences color this story. Tom DeFalco as the writer? Ron Frenz as the artist?

Yeah.

Anyway. The story. I s'pose it's good and everything but, context being what it is, this thing isn't what it could've been. The basic premise is that an aged Superman has doubts about his place in the world.

Because, y'know, we haven't seen enough of that theme in New Krypton. Or Grounded. Or Earth One. Or arguably Smallville.

The other thing? The quasi-Timmverse setting. I mean, yeah, the name "Superman Beyond" should be kind of a clue but this is pretty much a sequel to The Call two-parter from Batman Beyond. I can't say I understand why either. Why not simple create a hypothetical/imaginary future for Superman and use that to tell the story? The art style isn't completely consistent with the Timmverse and neither is the continuity. But at the same time, the invented slang, the future JLU, all that stuff's here. There are several mixed messages being given here.

There are many references too Batman Beyond, in fact. The most offensive examples were the pages with Bruce and Terry. Look, I realize Batman is probably DC's main bread and butter right now, and that's cool. But, seriously, does Batman have to be the coolest motherfucker in the room EVERY TIME?! Cuz, see, I thought this was a Superman book.


Anyway. Apart from those things, it really is a pretty decent read. My bead on Superman (if you go with the "immortal" approach that Grant Morrison and SV ran with) is that he'd pretty much sever all ties with Earth after Lois died. She'd be his final link to this world and once she's gone, Superman's days on Earth are numbered. Sooner or later, he'd pack up and leave.

But in this story, although he certainly takes quite a break, he never out-and-out calls it a day (and the "returns" sequence in this issue is everything Singerman thought it was but we all know wasn't). He keeps fighting for what's right, even though the world has clearly grown to see him as a dinosaur. A legendary dinosaur, but still a dinosaur.

It's worth reading if you're up for it, esp as it seems to set up subplots to be explored in a possible future ongoing or miniseries, but if you never get around to it... eh.

Sounds interesting. I remember those episodes from 'Batman Beyond', even though I wasn't a fan of the costume they came up with.

I might search it out.