#Garth ennis is in limbo about this

[chaoswxlson]

i seriously cant believe how misunderstood Constantines character was by most of his writers. Hes essentially the meaning of “everyone who is human makes mistakes” and preaches about how we are not good or bad by our actions, and about how tragedy changes someone (in his case there is magic involved)…..but nooo edgy dark lord of magic who sleeps around a lot is the representation we get by most of the mainstream writers

[charlottefinn]

While it clearly isn't another full retelling of his early days, it's clear there's going to be some recapping of major history in Bendis & co's Man of Steel, and in theory there's still Miller & Romita's joint this year. Is there anyone left at this point you'd actually WANT to see do another Superman origin story? (Garth Ennis is the only name that comes to mind for me, but the end of All-Star Section Eight kind of felt like among other things him saying "okay, I'm done with Superman now.")

The cosmic brain answer to this is “everybody, because everybody should be able to write their own take on Superman, because he should be in the public domain.” But shrinking the brain back down to the level of enlightenment typified by a corporation owning an 80 year old property, the answer is: not many, surprisingly.

It has less to do with the quality of work - there’s more writers and artists of comics out there than I can count, and I’d be down for everything from Rumiko Takahashi and Kōhei Horikoshi to Marguerite Bennett, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Mags Visaggio (Mags in particular has talked about her love for Casual Fridays Superman.) It’s more to do with the fact that there’s the recountings you mentioned, and there’s the fact that the current take on Superman is the new 52 reboot meshed together with the Byrne reboot, thus debooting Secret Origin and Birthright in addition to merging the reboots into a new reboot. The history of Superman in the 21st century is the history of Superman reboots.

(You ever type a word so much, it loses all meaning, like the language virus in Ponypool?)

No one version of these reboots is bad, just like no single #1 relaunch at Marvel is bad - it’s the sheer excess thereof that’s bad. I can’t really blame Bendis or Millar for wanting to type the words “rocketed as an infant from his doomed planet” because I sure want to, myself. I’ll even admit that Superman’s origin is interesting ground to tread through because Superman’s origin is both four-panel simple and can build out to a lifetime of optional detail, because his morality doesn’t come from one inciting incident but a lifetime’s learning. (If my recently completed binge of both seasons of The Good Place has proven, ethics and moral philosophy are fascinating subjects when handled in an engaging way.)

But at this stage, the Man of Tomorrow spends so much time in yesterday that it’s impeding forward progress for the character - and not just the character, but his supporting cast and to a lesser extent the universe he’s woven into. Bendis had to step out in front of the notion that Jon was getting shuffled off to continuity limbo and the marriage was getting undone because that’s basically what we expect from a relaunch now. It’s even odds what’ll happen to Supergirl, New Super-Man, Steel, Superwoman, Jimmy Olsen, and so forth. Time spent re-establishing what’s happened is time not spent on what’s going to happen next, and I hope that DC doesn’t spend too much time touching up the paint on what’s already established instead of breaking new ground.

That said, in a universe where anyone can do a take on Superman and not have to worry about the integrity of the multi-generational game of telephone that is a shared comics universe, I’d love to see what those folks up above had to say, along with Brittney Williams, Al Ewing, Saladin Ahmed, and while we’re at it I feel like Steve Dillon and Garth Ennis could have done an OGN that would knock it out of the park. (This hypothetical universe also is one Steve Dillon is still alive in.) Also, if James Roberts has more storytelling in him after he’s done helping to make all the Transformers queer, he’d be perfect for the Legion of Super-Heroes.

[dapperfvck-arc]

36, 27 and 45 for the character development meme.

How does your character behave around people they dislike?

An absolute prick. Of course, he’s always kind of an asshole, so I’d say more accurately he’s colder, doesn’t talk as freely, is more secretive, and is 100% more likely to fuck that person over.

How does your character normally deal with confrontation?

Depends. While John does avoid violence when he can, he will absolutely fight back if he’s assaulted (as best he can anyway), verbal attacks he will defend himself, and he is not afraid of being hurt or hated. HOWEVER, I think if he believes that he deserves it (whether it’s actually true or not), he will be more apathetic about defending himself. More like just shrug and be like “yeah, I guess you’re right” or even in extreme examples let himself be hurt. An great example of this being that after Kit left, he lashed out at Chas and got his ass royally beaten down because of it. I haven’t read that issue in awhile (Garth Ennis’s run was iconic, but could be hard to read. I read recently a quote by Ennis that he hated John. Honestly, it explains a lot), but I recall John barely defending himself while Chas kicked his ass. Which kinda brings me to another point in that John does not like fighting with someone he cares about. Sometimes it’s not exactly healthy because he might just shut down and not talk about whatever’s bothering him or just disappear for awhile if he’s anticipating a fight or upsetting them unless there is an enormous amount of comfort and trust between the two of them.

What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them?

I honestly think that he doesn’t know to the point that he doesn’t think that he’ll be “allowed” to stay dead. I mean, he knows how to enter and transcend interdimentional planes of existence. (Which, if I may rant a bit, is probably a hell of a lot more interesting way to explain his being seeming agelessness and vitality even well into middle age than retconning Nergal’s blood into his veins again. Ffs, stop shitting on Paul Jenkins’ story arcs. You can’t have both demon!John and having demon blood in John because the other John came into existence BECAUSE HE EXPELLED NERGAL’S BLOOD AS A COMPONENT TO ITS CREATION. IT’S NOT THAT FUCKING HARD, DAMN.) It’s not something he really thinks about, tho if pressed, I think he’d maybe consider limbo (which I think from what I’ve read was implied at the end of Vertigo’s series. Like I think he died and went to limbo? maybe? Idk, and honestly could care less about finding out. Everything I’ve seen about Peter Milligan’s time writing Hellblazer is just awful and makes me angry af because it’s just edgelord, ooc garbage. Again, I’m so glad he did good for the Batman fandom, but he fucked Hellblazer hard and dry, so I’m bitter and 500% convinced those last 50, poorly received Hellblazer issues is exactly why the series was cancelled on Vertigo and now he’s being mishandled half the damned time on DC proper, so like yeah.)