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Scott Snyder and Jim Lee to produce a third Superman title
Chuck_Melville
Posts: 3,003
DC announces a new Superman title in 2013, to be produced by Scott Snyder and Jim Lee.
dccomics.com/blog/2012/10/11/jim-lee-and-scott-snyder-team-up-for-2013-superman-project
Frankly, all I see is just another Superman title to not add to my list. This is just about the last writer-artist team I wanted to see on a Superman book.
On the other hand, the main title, which I'd already given up on after hearing that Lobdell and Rocafort were taking over... after reading the 0 issue, I might just have to reconsider. It was actually better -- a lot better -- than I'd been expecting. Especially Rocafort's art, of which I'd been unfavorably impressed with before. I'll have to give it some serious reconsideration now.
dccomics.com/blog/2012/10/11/jim-lee-and-scott-snyder-team-up-for-2013-superman-project
Frankly, all I see is just another Superman title to not add to my list. This is just about the last writer-artist team I wanted to see on a Superman book.
On the other hand, the main title, which I'd already given up on after hearing that Lobdell and Rocafort were taking over... after reading the 0 issue, I might just have to reconsider. It was actually better -- a lot better -- than I'd been expecting. Especially Rocafort's art, of which I'd been unfavorably impressed with before. I'll have to give it some serious reconsideration now.
Comments
Dam I'm old! :(
Take this with the caveat that I am not a Superman fan. So I always come to a Superman book with one foot already out the door. But... I am game. I am not a huge Lee fan, I don't dislike him, but I don't get that excited about his art. But I have been impressed by Snyder, and I am intrigued to see what he brings to this. I think they would have been better off taking on Superman, as I feel that book had a weak launch, and I hear it has been a mess since. But even if it ends up being a third book (and I am also intrigued by Diggle on Action following Morrison) I will give this a try.
I don't think that Action Comics has been a mess at all; in fact, I love Morrison's run on the title. Superman has been more of a mess -- I enjoyed the art, but the stories were lacking, and, given George Perez's complaints, obviously the result of a lot of heavy-handed editorial micro-managing. Can we really expect any less of the new title, or even Action once Morrison leaves?
And why a new title, when they really need to do something with the prime book? (Although, as I noted earlier, the Lobdell/Rocafort effort in #0 was actually far better than I feared, so maybe, maybe that's finally under control...)
Unless I am missing some, I have counted all of a 2 book increase in Bat and Super books since the New 52 launched- this new Superman book, and Batman Inc. (which really was just an old book returning). Which surprised me, actually. Cynically, I thought when esoteric or slightly less superhero books failed, they would immediately be replaced with more Bat, Super, and Green Lantern family things. And for the most part that has not been the case. In fact, I would argue with books like Dial H, they have actually gotten even more esoteric and risky as the waves have gone on.
Even if you count Talon as a Bat Family book, as it spun off from Batman (though the creative team insists he is heading off on his own direction and won't be a Batman ally. Rather he is a character that started as a Batman villain, and later became his own thing. Which only makes Talon a Bat book if you consider Punisher a Spider-Man book.
But even if we count Talon and call it an expansion of 3 Bat and Super titles since the launch of the New 52, that is still not that many. Even with the addition of this Superman title, they are still not even close to half the line. Probably all told the are 16 or 17 titles out of 52. Is that a lot? Absolutely. But there is also still a lot of room left in that more than 50% of the DCU that gets to be something else.
Matthew
PS
I remember the Byrne revamp the good ol' days of comics when they were 75 cents & the story & art delivered every issue.
Put another way, they found out back then there was enough demand for more than one title. I don't think that will change.
There were also no concerns about continuity. They just wrote stand-alone stories by the dozen which could have appeared in any order whatsoever, and quite often did. Completed artwork was just stored in files and pulled for publication whenever there was an open slot. Just try and get away with that today!
Plus, they were only a dime.
Fans: "We want more of the really, really good stuff -- with the very best artists and writers, doing stories that are real stories! And none of that seventeen-hundred chapter junk that bleeds into multi-reality crossovers for eighteen months every year!"
Publishers: "You want more stuff? No problem!"
Put another way- to listen to us on the Internet, you'd think a James Robinson return to Starman would be a huge deal. And that maxi-series sold so poorly they almost didn't complete it. You know what I mean? Whatever we as individuals may want, sometimes when what we say we want gets made, we turn out to be a vocal minority. And the same is shown when what we say we don't want is successful.
I do understand why the companies do what they do though. If there was only one batman title and it stunk, the company is in trouble. Having batman in 5 or more titles even if some are just average reduces risk to the company in the short term although long term you might be digging yourself a hole with continuity and attracting the ever elusive new reader.
I think I would be fine with multiple character titles if there was no crossovers. If Snyder wrote a great superman that existed within its own world without touching the other books, great. Once the crossover starts, I would drop the title and wait for the trade to have a complete story like I have just done with Green Lantern.
Hopefully the same will be true with his super book.