People talking about Superman

Kurt Busiek on the Superman plots he’s leaving behind:

“But one of the great things about working in the DC Universe is that leaving a series doesn’t mean you have to drop all the ideas. Some of what I had planned for Superman will find its way into the mystery project, just as some of what I had planned for JLA turned up in Superman. And I certainly intend to do more with Khyber and Subjekt-17 and Arion in the future somewhere, and hope I’ll get to do more with Karsta Wor-Ul and the Insect Queen and Krypto and the Rude Mechanicals and the issues raised in #666. If Geoff and whoever follows me on Superman pick up the stuff I put in the book, then great. If they don’t, it’s there for me to pick up at another point.”

Geoff Johns on Kurt Busiek’s replacement:

“And with the new writer coming in on Superman, too – I have a great relationship with him, he’s one of my favorite writers of all time, and I’m psyched about moving things forward between Superman and Action. There’s a third writer we’re talking to that I’m hoping will be involved in this Superman explosion we’re cooking up. I want to bring the same level of excitement to the books that was there when I was a kid.”

Phil Hester on Superman Artists:

“It begins and ends with Joe Shuster. His Superman had a raw, coiled energy that no one’s captured since. Joe’s Superman also exhibited a playfulness contrasting the wild-eyed power. I worked on the Superman TV series very briefly as a storyboard guy and Bruce Timm’s notes on Superman distilled everything I ever felt about how he should look and move. Even when Bruce’s Superman is standing still it looks like he’s exerting some graceful power, like by standing there he’s holding the earth in place. “

Bill (David Carradine) exposed Tarantino’s view of the Silver Age Clark Kent: (from Kill Bill, somebody finally loaded the scene onto You Tube)

As you know I’m quite keen on comic books, especially the ones on super-heroes. I find the whole mythology surrounding super-heroes fascinating. Take my favourite super-hero, Superman. Not a great comic book, not particularly well drawn, [slugs a whisky] … but the mythology! The mythology is not only great, it is unique. [...] Now a staple of the super-hero mythology is that there is the super-hero and there is the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning he’s Peter Parker, he has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic that Superman stands alone.

Superman didn’t become Superman; Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning he’s Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big-red-S, that’s the blanket it was wrapped in as a baby when the Kent’s found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears, the glasses, the business suit, that’s the costume. That’s the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman view’s us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent: he’s weak, he’s unsure of himself, he’s a coward. Clark Kent is Superman’s critique on the whole human race!”