I know you edit Superman even less than you edit Spider-Man, but... could you explain why marriage is bad for Superman as a character? The Superman titles are easily among the best DC has done with the character in nigh on a decade, and a big part of that for me is the family dynamic.

Sure–I can do that.

First of all, I should say that I have not read the current Superman books. I think I read the first, like…2 issues of the Rebirth Superman comics and then just sort of forgot to ever read the rest. I may at some point.



Second, let me say that something not being good for a character doesn’t mean you can’t write good stories about that thing, and being able to write good stories about something doesn’t mean it’s good for the character. Taking Dorothy, Wendy, and Alice and telling sex stories about them is pretty far from the original core of the characters and not necessarily great for their ongoing longevity…but that does not mean Lost Girls is not a really well written work. A good writer can craft a good story probably regardless. I think the story where Aunt May died in ASM 400 was a great one…but I don’t think it was a good idea for her to be killed off.



OK, Superman.

Basically, TO ME as a reader, Superman works best when he is a little removed from humanity. When he really IS super good at everything and better than everyone else. Silver Age Superman is my favorite Superman, so my favorite Superman stories that get closest to that, in tone.

So, for example…in Silver Age Superman comics…SUPERMAN was the real person, and Clark Kent was a guy he pretended to be. “Clark” was a loser, a klutz, someone people made fun of and overlooked. And it was important to Superman to get that perspective on things, it meant a lot to him. But the version of him that was the real guy was Superman. When he would relax at the end of the day, he would take OFF the Clark suit, put ON the Superman one, fly to the Fortress of Solitude and hang out with robots he made of all his friends.

In those days, when Lois would fantasize about marrying Superman (or would even DO it through some trick or hoax or dream or imaginary story) it was SUPERMAN she was marrying, not Clark. Because again…Clark was a putz. She had no interest in him. Clark was Superman ACTING like a NERD.

But…with Lois in on the secret, AND married to Clark… it kind of necessitates a change in what Clark is. He can’t be a total boring schulb if Lois is going to be married to him. Once the marriage happens…married Clark is now the real guy. At night, he is going to kick off his shoes and sit on his couch with his wife, not build creepy robots or experiment in a superlab or work on his alien zoo. It made him a little more normal.

And I get it–some people don’t like a Superman that doesn’t feel “relatable”. But I don’t want a relatable Superman, I want an aspirational Superman. I want a Superman that is better than me in every way– smarter, stronger, faster, and even more moral…but he exists for me to try to aspire to be like him. Again… kind of like a religious figure.