DC has put a lot of effort into their major relaunch of the entire DC comics Universe beginnning in September. One of the characters most affected is Superman--in this continuity, he will be single, Lois will be dating someone else, his parents will be dead, and he will be as much isolated alien as ethical human. For a lot of people, this will be a Superman so unlike the one they've known in the past that it'll seem like a totally different character.I wish DC the very best of luck with this, but I find myself curious as to why they're embracing a concept of the Man of Steel that seems so different from the concept we saw in the most popular Superman project in the past couple of decades, Smallville. In fact, I wish they had used Smallville's alien-instilled-with-American-values-and-ethics concept as the model for the DCU. The series focused on the "nurture versus nature" argument, coming down strongly on the side of nurture--it was the Kents that made Clark a true superhero, not his alien background.
I had suggested at one point that DC should do a Smallville Season Eleven comic, continuing where the series left off. I still think it would be a great idea--and I have to admit that I find that vision of Clark Kent to be closer to the Clark that I've known than the version I've been reading about in news reports recently.
2 comments:
"In fact, I wish they had used Smallville's alien-instilled-with-American-values-and-ethics concept as the model for the DCU."
Smallville? Smallville as the best version of Superman? Surely you jest. The Clark Kent on Smallville is the most pathetic, whiny, cowardly and completely unethical version of that character that ever put on a pair of tights. I'm so utterly relieved that DC comics is dumping that version. Good for them.
Guess we're going to disagree on this one. While I was disappointed in the formulaic approach of Smallville's first three seasons, Clark's personality began to assert itself in the later seasons, and he displayed the sort of ethical motivation that defines Superman as far as I'm concerned. And I enjoyed the interrelationship between Clark and Lex, Clark and Oliver, Clark and Chloe--it seemed that every character not only functioned well on his/her own, but also as a catalyst to important steps in Clark's development. I was quite taken with the show, and would love to see it continue.
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