The DC Comics Superman panel just concluded. It was attended by Superman Unchained writer Scott Snyder, Superman/Batman writer Greg Pak, Superman/Wonder Woman writer Charles Soule and artist Tony Daniels, Action Comics artist Aaron Kuder and Superman and Action Comics writer Scott Lobdell.

All the audience were given Superman capes as a sorry for the slide show not functioning in the beginning but they were able to make it work fairly quickly.

Scott Snyder was first to talk and said the difference between writing Batman and Superman is Clark is emotionally open and vulnerable while Bruce who tells you he's fine and that's when you know he's not. He says that the bigger elements of Wraith's background will come to play starting in issue #5 of Superman Unchained, with Lex Luthor and Jimmy Olsen caught in the middle.

Charles Soule then spoke of the relationship between Superman and Wonder Woman, explaining how it's not a make-out book. There will be some quiet moments, but the first six issues are a race. He also promised Zod would be showing up fairly early in the series and he compared Clark going to meet Diana's family to Meet The Parents with more fighting.

Greg Pak was next (and I think he's on every panel this year) and spoke about how much fun he was having telling of the first time Batman and Superman meet. He said the they bring out things in each other that each didn't know they had… that they are making each other better heroes. He also said the Brett Booth would be coming on the book with issue #5 to give Jae Lee a break.

Scott Lobdell talked about the Krypton Returns storyline that runs across the 25th issues of Action Comics, Supergirl, Superboy and Superman. The Super Family was going back in time to stop the destruction of Krypton. He also said that Superboy would die at the end of #25 and the series would then be about John Wayne Kent, the original son of Clark and Lois. Also that Supergirl will be moving on to a new title. Lobdell also said that Parasite would show up in Action Comics and start to feed off of Lois, which Superman allows. The writer explained that he's not interested in a character that does the right thing every time.

Pak then jumped in and talked about his and Aaron Kuder's upcoming Action Comics run that would tie into Zero Year and have Superman learn about what's going on in Gotham City and how he thinks he can take care of everything. This will also include the return of a classic supporting character.

Update – Andy Bentley sent in this recap of the Q & A portions of the panel.

There was a brief Q+A where a Superman fan of 50 years expressed his love of the character and praised the writers for making the stories better than ever. For that, he received a Google Nexus 7 from the moderator.

That was followed up by yours truly who admitted to having less experience reading the character but not particularly enjoying the punch first-ask questions later attitude of the new 52 Superman. I questioned his heroic nature and asked the panel 'does their Superman kill?'. Snyder deferred to the ending of Superman Unchained and elaborated that he has a character in Wraith who's pushing the Man of Tomorrow towards that type of decision. Soule said his Superman was as likely to murder as he or anyone else in the room and implicitly stated it's off the table. This was followed up by one of the panelists in a hushed voice asking if they all had the same editor. Pak explained that getting the character to that point of desperation is what he finds fascinating. Lobdell was the most amenable to the idea, citing our 3 recent wars and necessary force used by law enforcement. He went on to explain that the George Reeves TV show pushed the character into this high moral judgement (I'd argue that the stressing of the American nuclear family at the onset of the cold war is more the cause with the TV show being an effect).

The final major question was if the panel enjoyed Man of Steel to which none gave a resounding 'YES'. Lobdell praised their decision to break more than a few eggs and cited the opening on Krypton as his favorite part. Snyder lamented not happening upon the idea for Lois to search for a guardian angel which he thought was brilliant. Pak enjoyed the Smallville segments particularly Clark's powers manifesting in class. The panel wrapped early in order to hussle Snyder to the Batman panel.