In an interview over at the LA Times blog, Dan DiDio said, “we’re going to be making changes in Superman’s world as well. Superman has been the star of Action Comics for its entire run, essentially, and he will be leaving it and handing it over to new characters. The only time he hasn’t appeared in the book, I believe, was after “The Death of Superman,” in those years. So this is a lot of fun for us. I think that’s going to get people excited and scratching their heads and wondering what’s going on. In his own book, Superman, there will be a dramatic turn as the hero leaves Earth and it seems like he’s leaving for good. We’ll follow his adventures in space more so than his adventures on Earth, and that’s a big and exciting thing.” He also mentions what happens in Superman, and I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it seems like it could affect the books for quite a while.
They’re also going to be restarting a new numbering of the classic series Adventure Comics, which appears to be starring the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Now I… well, I just — uh, *SIGH*
Really?! Just now we’re getting to a point where there is buzz on Superman books, and this is what is going to happen? I’m guessing this is somehow related to the rumors that James Robinson’s stay on the books will be shorter lived than first hoped. Why must there always be relaunches and world shaking, and events, and all of this hullabaloo? Why can’t there just be long term, ongoing, quality stories? I do truly believe that quality will win out, but it seems like no one ever lets them get to that point.
The fact is, I don’t know much about what is actually happening, or who is behind it. But last year, I heard from Geoff Johns and James Robinson that they were planning this far reaching, involved story among themselves on Action Comics and Superman, and now that seems to have gone by the wayside in order to take the most significant superhero character, and have him leave the book he’s been in for 70 years. Now, I’m not one for blind nostalgia, but some things are a given, and Superman in Action Comics is a given. Maybe I wouldn’t feel so strongly about it if I wasn’t reading and enjoying Action Comics for the first time in my whole comic book reading like, and I know I’m not alone. Pulls have more than doubled on this site, which tells me something.
Could I be wrong? Sure. This sounds a lot like if someone told me around issue 17 or 18 of Brubaker’s Capain America run that Steve Rogers would be leaving the book indefinitely. But I have a gut feeling that this isn’t the same thing. Maybe Geoff Johns has a master plan in place, and all will be well. But with the Chuck Dixon incident, the Robinson story, along with the business about the rejiggering of Final Crisis in the same article, I worry. This doesn’t feel like the way things should be.
Thanks to cheezdog in the forums for the link.
UPDATE! Superman editor Matt Idelson has told supermanhomepage.com that the rumors about James Robinson quitting Superman are untrue. Thanks Mxyzptlk for the tip.
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Well, that’s just disappointing as hell.
welp now i dont know if i want to get Action anymore….thanks Didio
Pretty disappointing hey!! 🙁
Now there are rumours that James Robinson is leaving Superman and DC altogether!!
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18852
Errr I totally didn’t read that Josh posted that link in the article.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
*breathes hard*
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Why the hell is he doing this!? I mean Robinson leaving Superman earlier then expected is great news to me. But why the hell is he ruining Action Comics!? That title hasnt been popular since Johns got on the title and now he’s gonna just take him off of it!? I guess that’s why advance solicts show Johns not writing the series. WHY DIDO!? Why do you do this to us!? Why wont you get fired!!??
I think this may end up being a very good thing.
Whenever a character stars in multiple books, save for the few big planned crossovers like New Krypton and Death of Superman, it only causes problems. Often the creators on the books take two (or three or four) different approaches to the character, but still try and say they exist at the same time.
This is one of the reasons why Amazing Spider-man has gotten so much better. We no longer have 3 different spider-man’s dealing with different situations seemingly at the same time.
I like the idea of making Action and Adventure about more obscure and under used characters. We have plenty of Superman stories and can still get our monthly fix in Superman.
DC sounds like it should be renamed ADHD. Watching their moves is like what happens when my baby gets her hands on the remote control.
You hear these rumors about Batman RIP being launched and then having its ending changed, then you hear this stuff about the Superman plans flying out the window, now you’re hearing that Final Crisis is being delayed to have its ending changed, and on and on. I almost have to assume that none of it’s true, because… how could it be? Yipes.
Dido is just looking like a complete fool, or ass because of all these rumors right now. If this rumor of Superman is true and the Final Crisis problems are true too….then what the hell are Morrison, Robinson, Johns, and others still doing in this company? If the EIC is too busy making himself look like an ass and disrespecting you, then leaving the company is the best thing to do.
Which is a shame cause that just hurts the fans more then anyone else.
They tried this before with Action Comics Weekly back in the late 80s. They turned it into a weekly anthology with just one short Superman story and a ton of second stringer stories each week.
It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. Getting rid of Superman altogether will make for an even more disastrous run than Action Weekly was.
I’m pulling all the Superman books for the first time since the death and return and this is just the worst news of the week so far. What is happening at that company?
My favorite comics of the last year were Nightwing and Action Comics (starring Superman). Now, one is cancelled and the other is dropping the main character? Sure, things may not be as bad as they seem, but for now, it seems like they want to mess with a good thing!
Thats maybe the craziest thing i have ever heard. I hate change
This is surprising news indeed. I’m not jumping on the DiDio Hating Wagon yet, as I’ve been reading more DC than ever, which means they’ve got to be doing something right. I think we should wait to see what happens, and go from there.
wait so are they still gonna keep the numbering??
I will be suprised if Action Comics sells 20% of what it did this month after this change takes place (unless it become Action Comics featuring Batman).
I wonder if this is part of the reason Robinson’s stuff has been so weak. Maybe he knew this was coming earlier than he let on.
I don’t really see Adventure comics selling all that well either since the current Legion book doesn’t do well.
I have never been one to care about the title of the book (we usually know what it is about well before going to the store), but this seems like a very poor use of a name with very solid recognition. My mom knows what action comics is and that it is related to superman. Slapping that name on something that may be "unworthy" seems like a very poor decision. Who knows though, maybe something is coming that is very solid and fits the Action Comics name.
The Feb. solicits have Robinson writing Action Comics. Is that the new standard? I have no idea what DC is doing but I am not really looking forward to it
Seriously? Come on guys, it isn’t even April yet…enough with the jokes.
Do the big wigs even know what this idiot is doing with their properties?
This is so disappointing. So disappointing. Action Comics is Superman’s book. That’s all there is to it. It’s like Detective Comics being Batman’s book. Why are we changing that? Yeah, Superman wasn’t in every issue. Weren’t there some early ones after issue one and before they started capitalizing on Superman where he was all actiony? Batman wasn’t even IN Detective Comics for twenty six issues. But why take a person out of *his* title? It makes no sense. When can Didio get lost. I want him lost. This is insane talk of crazies.
Hoping for the best.
Damn, just when Supes is getting really good too. First, Nightwing and Robin are messed with, then this! At least there’s still John’s Flash to look forward to.
See, I’ve felt this way about DC for awhile now. It feels to me that DiDio likes to micromanage a bit too much. Yeah, I realize this is all rumor, but we’ve had enough stories from writers to make me feel as though he’s got a tight rein on what he wants to do with the DCU. That, in and of itself, is not necessarily the problem. For me, the problem comes when DiDio seems to shift gears too often, staring an idea, dumping it, moving on to another one. "Bart Allen is the new Flash — haha, no wait! Tricked ya! He’s not. We…uh… we planned that from the start!" Yeah… no.
That said: editorially speaking, I’m of the mind that you try to stay out of the writer’s way as much as possible. Let them be creative, and then just patch up the holes and make it work for the larger "universe."It seems to me that almost every classic run I can think of exists when the creative team is MOSTLY allowed to do what they want.
Honestly? I don’t mind that Superman’s leaving Action. If they writers came up with a great plan, and they were executing it, and they thought they could sell you an Action comics series about various characters in Metropolis or what-have-you. But when I hear odd rumors that writers are arguing with editorial, forced to make drastic re-writes, and leaving the company altogether…? THAT worries me.
I’m not only generally ambivalent about Superman… Depending on who’s at the helm I quite often actively dislike him. So to say I’ve been reading Action is something in and of itself. To say it’s been one of my top books is just… sheer lunacy.
Why convert me and then turn around and alienate me? Complete nonsense.
Action Comics without superman we’ll see how long that lasts and whats with fucking with Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis ending!!!
with the rumors of Robinson leaving DC whats gonna happen with his Justice League book?
All i know is that I’m reeeeaaaaallllly starting to dislike DiDio and how hes handling DC.
This news makes me uneasy. I’m a hater right now.
Yikes – with all of the changes and apparent lack of long-term planning (everything seems to change daily), it looks like I won’t be reading too many DC books come 2009. It’s sad as I was really enjoying Action Comics because of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. If they are not on the book then I am going to jump off.
Where is Geoff Johns in all this? He was planning this long, long run where he would be on Action, Robinson on Superman, and the books would weave in and out of each other. That is apparently OUT now.
Will Johns move over and write Superman in the Superman book now, with Robinson apparently leaving?
Even if he does, Johns was really building up the supporting cast for Supes– the whole Daily Planet crew, etc. What was the point of that, if Supes is now going off into space…?
Was the rug just pulled out from under Geoff Johns…?
If so, kudos, DC– way to take your best writer, writing your best books, and start screwing with his stories.
If Robinson left DC with ill will, I could see Johns not moving ahead with any story they worked out together. On the other hand, a trip to space could have been part of that story. Robinson took Starman into space after building Opal City into a real character.
So, is Geoff Johns leaving Action as well as Superman? or is he going to write Superman not Action? I confused at the Adventure Comics news. So they cancel Legion of Superheroes I’m guessing because of sales to give them a new book with a different title? Thats just bait and switch.
@Tad. I was thinking the same thing. John’s would more than likely take the helm.
The shame is that Superman, Batman and most of the other iconic, flagship DC characters are so far beyond help it’s ridiculous. I believe that Bendis’ run on Ultimate Spider-Man is unique. Maybe what would work for Superman or Batman is one writer or artist for a twelve issue arc. No crossovers. No mutltiple tie-ins. Something like what Paul Dini seems to be doing almost unnoticed over in Detective Comics. Something like "Hush" or "For Tomorrow". Maybe one of these mini-series concepts within the series. Like "Cacophony". For now, I’ll stick with Green Lantern and look forward to Flash: Rebirth (hopefully that won’t suck!)
I’m really trying to resist the natural inclination to decry something before it comes out. In a certain sense, this makes Jimski’s article all the more relevant (go read it!), but in this case Didio aired the info in an open forum and is inviting to see the the sausage made as the pork is being slaughtered.
If he belivies that this is the right direction to go for the company, why does he have to stump for support by revealing salient plot points? Let the stories speak for themselves.
If Robinson does indeed leave, maybe he channel these unused ideas into a creator owned propety?
Really though, as Paul said, I’m hoping for the best. If it turns out to be a flop, then maybe the energy spent on speculating how good Action/Superman could have been can be rechanelled into discussing how good other books are.
You know whats funny is that I brought this up when Detective Comics came out last week. Detective wasnt always a 24/7 Batman book. It started out as a random comic with various mystery stories. Then when Batman debuted he became bigger then 10 superbowls and now it’s a Bat title. Problem is, Action Comics has always been Superman and always will be Superman, If they changed the perspective of Detective then I can understand the change.
But you dont do this with such a big named title right now. Hell when was the last time Superman was this popular? Even major news print like USA Today is paying attention to it! It makes no sense to drastically change your biggest title right now for absolutely no reason. Does this mean Johns is off the title for good? Cause advance solicts do show he isnt writing on this in the future.
Somebody correct me if i’m wrong but they took Superman off of Action Comics when it went weekly in the 80’s right? It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. If this is actually happening it’s a VERY stupid move.
-Gregg
Aside from all the obvious things wrong, the timing on this really blows! I was excited to see how the New Krypton arc was going to play out. And now I find out that Superman is leaving Action and Earth. WTF?! Way to ruin a great story, Didio.
man, DC is just really making bad desicions. Action Comics is Superman! when people think of Superman, they think action comics #1.
Guess I made a wise decision in dropping Action and Superman before New Krypton (albeit due to financial constraints rather than my dissatisfaction with the actual books). I’m just going to play amused bystander here and see what happens.
I’m absolutely still interested in the New Krypton story…now that Doomsday is out of it.
It seems to me the DC is shooting themselves in the foot here. The buzz on Final Crisis, RIP and New Krypton has all been overwhelmingly positive, and now in a matter of days all of that buzz has soured. Meanwhile, Marvel is nearing the end of a universally underwhelming "Secret Invasion", but there is seemingly no discord among members of the House of Ideas. They’ve got everyone "on message", it would appear. Just when DC was primed to stand alone on top of the industry’s creative hill, all of this nonsense breaks, leaving Marvel in a prime position to recover from their negative SI buzz, swoop in, and take advantage of the situation.
I am slightly disappointed about this because of the fact that Geoff Johns has been awesome on Action along with Gary Frank. I’m really curious how this is going to pan out. I know that there is also some interesting stuff going on with trying to find a replacement for DiDio. I’m pretty unhappy with what I read of Final Crisis and the stuff that went down with Chuck Dixon.
Why does it always seem like DC almost goes back into a positive light and then someone does something to turn them back into a laughing stock?
thats what happens when the people making up the body don’t agree with the head
what. the. fuck.
I usually take a wait and see stance on stuff like this and I get annoyed with fanboy tantrums in general but fucking hell. I don’t like this. I don’t like it all. This could be my first fanboy tantrum. Someone needs to talk me off the ledge.
I can’t say I’m happy or excited about what is in the future of the Superman books. Especially having him leave Earth. I don’t think I want to know why he would and how that would last.
I really don’t know what everyone is getting so worked up about.
OK, my 2¢ (or speculation)…
I think what will happen is Superman will leave Action comics and the title will be a story telling device for all these new Kryptonians. Keep in mind DC’s theme for the beginning of next year is Origins & Omens, this would play perfectly into a large number of new characters.
Now, in regards to Supes going off into space… what big event is happening in space next year? BLACKEST NIGHT. Oh, and who is writing it? Geoff Johns. With a dead Pa Kent and a now dead Doomsday… it gets pretty interesting. Kinda works now huh?
the Tiki
Just tell me where Robinson ends up next. 🙂
@thefreakytiki: You could be onto something there.
Overall it seems like it might be a bit too early for all of this worrying, even though this does seem to substantiate the Robinson rumor. If this whole new idea for Action doesn’t go over well, we all know that Supes will be back in the book in a heartbeat.
@Tiki – I have no problem with sending Superman into space, or any story decision on any major character, as long as it makes for good story. I think the disconcerting part of all this is the sense that the decisions of DC editorial, and particularly DiDio, aren’t jiving with the creators who are working on the books, and that’s rarely a good thing. Jury’s out until the stories are in our hands, but it gives off a bad smell, at least.
Consider this too…
Every fanboy across the net is crying out for Dan Didio’s head on a pole. No one seems to consider that maybe, just maybe, James Robinson may be playing the role of Prima Donna here. We automatically go for Didio’s jugular instead.
the Tiki
Thanks Tiki. I’ve backed off the ledge a bit.
I suspect they’re not planning ot turn Action into another Action Comics Weekly. That was an anthology book and an utter disaster. My hunch is that they’ll continue to tell stories set in metropolis, starring other characters. Tiki mentions the Kryptonians, but i suspect they’re be gone by then. I’m thinking more of Guardian, Vigilante, and other side characters that Johns and Robinson seemed bent on developing. That said, if Robinson’s actually leaving, who knows? Maybe they’ll kill the Supergirl book, fold her into Action and put Gates on it while Johns takes over Superman and takes him into space. Of course, this is all pure speculation. We really don’t know anything about how any of this will play out. Maybe it will all be for the better… My biggest worry is that I tend to have faith in the WRITERS, and when guys like Morrison and Robinson are struggling with management, it raises a red flag.
Not that I spend much time there but I was on the Newsarama forums earlier and Jamal Igle was on there posting in a thread similar to this one and said something along the lines of ‘don’t worry, it’s all part of the plan..’
We shall see, I’m all up for change but Action Comics has just so frickin good lately, it seems like it couldn;t be happening to a less apt title.
Yeah, that’s a good point, Kartoffelkopf — we’re also connecting DiDio’s comments about Action to the subsequent RUMOR about Robinson. They may not be concurrent. Johns & Robinson may have planned the whole change and set it in motion. DiDio approved and is now marketing it. But… in the meantime, Robinson and DiDio may have begun to argue, and Robinson may have left. But it doesn’t mean that the changes are DUE to this rumor.
Crap I just renewed my subscription!
@daccampo: Yeah, Action Weekly had Guardian as one of it’s regular features back then as well. So if it is as you describe, how is that different from an anthology book with regular recurring characters, just like Action Weekly?
It’d be one thing if sales were down, and the books sucked…
It didn’t work for Super Shloomper…
The stories in space were the ones of lesser quality.
http://www.sf-f.org.il/images/164-5.jpg
Maybe DC wants the success Hulk in Space gets.
@Josh: Exactely! That’s exactley my point on this debacle.
If Action Comics was terrible, or we’re in the year 1996, then changing the aspects of the comic would make sense. But not when the comic is like the biggest thing in the world right now and has been highly regarded as the best comic out today. Heck you got the most famous comic writer on this as well and your gonna just fart in his face and ruin his vision for the comic? It just….at least Dark Reign makes sense in some regard when it comes to changing comics….this doesnt make any lick of sense what so ever.
@IronCladMerc – there’s a subtle difference, I think. ACW was a true anthology book — short, serialized tales, all separate, all with different creators. They didn’t intertwine or interelate.
However, if Johns and Robinson plotted it out, it could be that they set up a ensemble cast, and they’re playing out a "Metropolis drama," for lack of a better word. Like a TV show continuing as an ensemble drama after the lead has left. Same plot threads, same overall vision. Just removing the lead from the setting.
Superman will meet the devil and his father will return and everybody will just forget…
I do believe this is all much ado about nothing. Everyone take a deep breath. Have a drink of water. Everything is gonna be alright.
the Tiki
@Tiki – please God they don’t make Superman an adjunct of Green Lantern. He’s his own character and shouldn’t be chained to someone else’s event.
As for a Metropolis slant on Action Comics, Agent Liberty, Gangbuster, Vigilante and Guardian are hardly marquee names, and they’re all street-level. Where’s the variety?
Now, if they put Sindbad in there. And Yellow Peri . . .
What I suspect will happen is that Superman will not be "gone" from the title at all just not the main star for a storyline or two and then come back for a big "Return of Superman part deux" after a few months being away and have some minor costume change to accompany the return to Earth (similar to Superman Returns with the return spilling over into other books like Jesus returning or something). The space adventure will be shown in the other Supes books.
Well I think it’s like… Why would they put Superman in space so he can participate in Blackest Night? Why can’t they put Superman in there in the main Green Lantern book proper? Why does his book need to tie that heavily into Green Lantern. They’re two separate stories and Green Lantern isn’t a Superman book. It’s not a Superman story. I can see it tying in, but putting Superman in space purely so he can participate in Blackest Night makes little to no sense.
Why would he do that?
Why mess with it now that Action is finally rocking and rolling?
Well–actually, I should thank him; I will save a few bucks a month now!!
I understand Tiki saying take a deep breath, but, this situation seems to speak to a deep pent-up fear that many fans have about DiDio. It’s like they’ve all been waiting for him to screw up and now they’re taking this as a sign. The torches have been soaked in pitch and the pitchforks sharpened. All they needed was the spark to be struck. This looks less like a spark and more like a possible inferno.
I personally enjoyed the DCU before Infinite Crisis. Post IC, except for certain writers and their corners, has left me more puzzled than compelled 9 times out of 10.
I think Dido has had the torch on him long before this revelation came out. To me he’s 100x worse then Joey Q. At least that man wont cancel books on the fly and just change courses of titles without the advice of the writers.
If this is the beginning of the end for that man that it would be the best Christmas present in the world.
I have limited DCU experience, so I don’t really have an opinion on Didio. What’s his rapsheet? How long has he been in charge and what wrong moves has he made?
It’s funny how everyone hates Didio yet everyone raves about so many projects under his watch. The guy is the Rodney Dangerfield of Comics. Have you ever met him at a con? Easily one of the nicest guys in the biz.
the Tiki
There’s a line of Didio’s that I think a lot of people are missing: "So this is a lot of fun for us. I think that’s going to get people excited and scratching their heads and wondering what’s going on"
In other words, Superman’s absence is supposed to be a conscious concern. Right now, it doesn’t sound like they’re pulling Superman out of Action Comics in order to change the actual conceit of Action. It sounds more like they’re putting together a story where Superman leaves for a while, Action doesn’t follow him while Superman does.
I wouldn’t put too much weight into what Rich Johnston says. Johns and Robinson have supposed to be working very close on the direction of Superman. I don’t see why Didio would be calling shots that are pissing off Robinson without Johns in the crossfire as well.
I’m willing to bet that this no-Superman-Action schtick is part of the larger story Johns and Robinson are working on. I’ll believe Robinson’s gone, and the current structure of the books broken, when I see an official announcement or a change in writers on the solicits.
@muady – very well said. I’m pretty disappointed that he spoiled the fact that Superman is leaving Earth, but other than that, I’m content with a wait-and-see approach
I just want to chime in with the general frustration about the sharp changes. I’m enjoying Legion of Super-Heroes with Jim Shooter. He was pretty unhappy on Newsarama. Also with the loud no comment by Chuck Dixon after he left his books makes it feel like it could happen again. I’m hopeful this just stirs things up and it comes out alright but I’ve had reason to worry in the past.
UPDATE: Superman comic book editor Matt Idelson contacted the Superman Homepage today to debunk this story. It’s not true. James Robinson has NOT quit the Superman comic books.
http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php
@IronCladLad While I can’t say for certain he never appeared as a recurring guest in the 42 issues of Action Comics Weekly, The Guardian was never one of the main focuses of ACW. Green Lantern was the "star" of the anthologies up until 36, where after a great story with Lord Malvolio, the character randomly disappeared from the title. Black Canary’s return to the fishnets, the Death of Katma Tui, and the revamping of the Phantom lady all occurred during the run. It’s not the best comic ever, but the GL stories aren’t terrible. And while the product wasn’t top quality, I was pretty sure the reason it was canned was that it never shipped on time.
As for this news… I’m not really concerned. I don’t really buy this Didio news, though it’s not out of the realm of possibility. And frankly… I don’t think Action Comics is that recognizable a name for the character to non-fans. We accept it as a given of being comics fans that Superman appeared in Action Comics #1 and Batman in Detective #27. If you were to ask a bunch of people, most would probably say "Uhhh… Superman #1?" While I’m enjoying Action, I’m not a Superman fan. I’m a Geoff Johns fan, so… I’ll just follow him to Legion, I guess. Err… I mean Adventure Comics.
Does anyone know if Gary Frank will be collaborating with Johns in the near future on Action? When is their run on Action going to end (hopefully NOT ending)? I ntbeatever followed Supes until Frank started working on Action. Great stuff, instant classic run. Foolish not to keep it going on DC’s part.
Supes in space sounds good to me, provided Johns and Frank are still in the mix, but I will drop Action in a heartbeat if Superman, Johns, or Frank leave the title. Need all three to stay interested.
So, rather than having Adventure Comics be their "miscellaneous" title, they’re essentially launching two titles that probably won’t sell as well as Action Comics with Superman. Combined.
Smart.
I’m scared for the future of DC comics. First they start screwing with Morrison’s ending to Final Crisis (one that was part of the pitch, no doubt.) Robinson is pissed and fighting with them. They’ve lost Dixon. It seems like they’re going through they’re great writers one by one. Not sure what that’s gonna accomplish. I guess as long as Johns, Morrison and Tomasi stay, I’ll be fairly happy. Too bad it looks like Morrison might be the next to go. He doesn’t seem like a dude who would be very happy with people fucking up his stories.
I am strictly the DC Outsider, but I’m still not convinced that any of this is actually going to happen. Having said that, none of this scuttlebutt makes me particularly interested in taking a chance on a DC book I’m not already reading.
@Anson17 Similar concerns with how he wanted to end New X-Men soured his opinion of Marvel as well which is what pushed him back toward DC exclusively in 2004. His preponderance of work at DC from that time points to this: Seven Soldiers was 2005, We3 & Seaguy came out just before New X-Men #150, I believe. I forget what the changes were, but Marvel gave him a hard time with the original ending. So then Xorn mystically became Magneto. Leading to a small headache for continuity. However, only 3 months later Magneto was back, alive and claiming the Magneto who appeared in Morrison’s run was an imposter. Making the small headache a very large migraine. And from that moment on Marvel tried there best to ignore/destro everything Morrison did for the X-Men. The only person who seems to have enjoyed what Morrison did and who used the concepts to a degree was Joss Whedon.
Morrison had once before had Marvel make one of his stories magically disappear. Until Civil War, Marvel Boy (the mini Morrison did many years ago with JG Jones) existed in a weird possibly 616 Marvei Universe/possibly the "first" Ultimate Marvel Universe story binary for years. They didn’t know where to place it because of some of the story elements. And the character more or less disappeared from Marvel until Civil War. (Funny, how Secret Invasion seems to be using both Marvel Boy and the Skrull Kill Krew? Coincidence?)
It’s amazing to think that Morrison and Robinson did much of their work unmolested (to an extent) with Animal Man and Starman, but once they touch the larger franchises they are told their concepts won’t fly.
This is a very weird decision, but my guess is it won’t last more than a year at most (I hope). With a lot of his recent moves, tt seems like Didio is deliberatley trying to piss off the people who pay his salary — us!
Josh said:
"Why must there always be relaunches and world shaking, and events, and all of this hullabaloo? Why can’t there just be long term, ongoing, quality stories? I do truly believe that quality will win out, but it seems like no one ever lets them get to that point."
Exactly!! I would love to get a solid answer on this from the men in charge, like Joe Q & Didio.
Let the writers write. Damn, give em’ some space to write solid lengthy runs. Action Comics has been SO GOOD with Johns & Frank … why try to fix what isn’t broken???
By always trying to shake things up & bring in new readers — you’re probably losing more old ones.
Actually, Robinson’s stand-up argument was about Josh.
Over the past few years DC have been walking a tightrope between the uncertainty of respectful experimentation and the solidarity of a (relatively) cohesive vision. Since the 52 year it seems the desire has been to catch lightning in a bottle again, and while that hasn’t been universally popular, I think we’ve done alright out of it. Cautiously looking forward to the future!
I feel like I remember Green Lantern (and maybe Deadman) taking possession of Action sometime in the late eighties. As much as there’s brand association, I like the idea of exploring more of the DC Universe through books like Action and Detective.
Should be interesting!
Way to report the (big) news, iFanboy! Cheers!
Why do I feel like Didio knows exactly what he’s doing, except that his goal is to make the netroots flip out. Btw–I had an opportunity to send Didio a resume and cover letter once and I completely fucked it up by spelling his name "Dido"
I think making the web flip out is more Quesada’s game. DiDio is just a very strong armed captain of the ship.
You’ve got to think this is just some build up to the next big event – Superman: Coming Home or whatever. While I don’t really agree with getting Superman off Earth – it’s a key factor that makes the character great. However, if Johns and Robinson are steering the ship, I’ve got to put my faith into it.
Take Superman out and make Action the next weekly. DC porn with a House of Mystery style, three stories in one book. Do wacky junk like accepting short stories from fans.
Has Batman been taken out of Detective since his run there began?
@Dan…I sort of agree with your speculation, although I think it’s kind of sad that so much of comic events winds up being not the event, but the event that undoes the event’s ‘game changer’
I have three predictions:
1. Doesn’t happen
2. If it happens, it’ll happen for a hand full of issues, then revert back
3. This shift will occur in issue 875, then revert back with Superman’s smashing return to his title in issu 900. Comic companies like big events around milestone issue numbers.
bah!
Can you believe how jaded and cynical we all are about comic events?
@Muady I’m with you. It makes perfect sense to me that Superman would take some time away from Earth, possibly leaving it in the hands of sane Kryptonians (Supergirl? Nightwing and Flamebird?). His father just died. How many twenty-somethings have started off on road trips for just that reason? Superman’s dead-father-angst-filled road trip will just be… bigger. Because he’s Superman. It makes perfect sense. As for Action: There are hundreds of characters in Metropolis to deal with, including Agent Liberty, any remaining Kryptonians, Olsen, Lane and many, many more. If Action takes a year to explore the extended Superman cast, so that they are more rich and more interesting when he comes back, all grown up, so much the better.
I’m willing to trust Johns on the others. I can’t believe that everyone has so little faith in Geoff, after all this time. Remember the Green Lantern origin story that was widely bemoaned as a waste of perfectly good capital? Remember how well that turned out? Yeah.
As for Adventure, the Legion is far more interesting to me than Superman, so I’m psyched.
Grrr… I have faith in Geoff Johns, but this is starting to be a trend. I got into Action and Batman following One Year Later – so I could read SUPERMAN AND BATMAN STORIES !!! I’ve already dropped JLA, which I also jumped on with One Year Later and now is going in incomprehensible directions, I’ve told my shop I’m considering dropping Batman if Bruce ends up not being the Bat (but if Greg Rucka or some other quality author can write good stories with —- as the Bat I may change my mind), and now I may seriously drop Action. At least I’ve got GL to fill in the blanks; maybe I’ll check out GLC too if my list opens up more thanks to this.
I have dropped Superman and Action Comics from my pull-list at my comic shop. I will read them until they don’t interest me anymore then I will drop them. I will wait and see how this turns out because I have faith in Johns and Robinson. But I don’t like the idea of shaking up the Superman titles just when they have gotten so good.
This sucks but as long as Geoff Johns and Gary Frank continue doing Superman stories, even if they are in space, i’ll be happy.
From Newsarama:
The Superman series will be keeping James Robinson and Renato Guedes will be the team on that title through 2009, but as the story begins in March, we should subtitle the story, "World Without Superman." That’s the story James will be telling, and he will be leading the charge on the Superman title itself.
In Action, we’re going to see some major changes – Superman will not be featured in Action Comics. The stars of Action will be the new team of Flamebird and Nightwing. Flamebird is a character we’ve seen, but this is the first time we’re seeing her in costume. Nightwing is a character that we’ve known in the DCU for a little while, but he’s new to the Nightwing costume as well. The team on that book will be Greg Rucka with Eddy Barrows. Eddy will be moving over from Teen Titans.
Next after that, Supergirl will keep its team, with Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle.
We’ll be introducing a new series called Superman: New Krypton which will be written by Andrew Kreisberg and drawn by Pete Woods.
The big question is where Geoff Johns and Gary Frank are going. They will be doing Superman: Secret Origin as a miniseries coming up later in the year. We decided to run that as its own miniseries, different from what Geoff just did in Green Lantern. It gives them a little more time to work it, they don’t have to struggle against the ongoing schedule, and it won’t throw off the triangles on the covers which keep track of the story. They’ll be doing the definitive origin of Superman as we’ve seen it all take place, and incorporating the changes that we’ve seen or suggested since Infinite Crisis.
What about Adventure Comics? That one I won’t answer right now – but there are big plans for Adventure Comics, and they’re just a couple of months away.
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/110826-Didio3.html