Leaked covers for the Superfamily in DCNu

[schala_kid]

 

Still keeping the symbol, lost the Red undies, also armorarmorarmor boots. And that Daily Planet globe always gets destroyed.

 

Oh my God! Kon what did they do to you? (Also different design from DCNu's Teen Titans Superboy)

I am so in love with that top and the way the cape goes around her neck. Not too crazy on the bottom part and the weird boots. Also it seems Kara escaped the pants for all women policy.

 

Comments

[arbre_rieur]

I get what you're saying and agree in principle, if not in the details. Characters should evolve, and a slavish devotion to the past serves no one. Believe me, I'm not trying to argue that comics were better in the Silver Age.

My primary point (which perhaps got lost in my rambling) was that I don't think today's writers want to bring back the Silver Age, either. They want to bring back certain elements of it, but not the overall tone or style. Would anyone ever confuse a Geoff Johns story for Silver Age writing? I'm saying that just because they want timid Clark back, that doesn't mean they also want "smarmy sociopaths" and everyone acting like a six-year-old. They're selective about what they want to bring in.

[baxter2814]

Yeah, I understand that, but IMO bringing back those kind of elements from the Silver Age DOES come hand in hand with a bunch of outdated Silver Age tropes. For example: if you decide you want timid Clark back, you have to ask yourself what kind of a superhero would go around pretending to be a coward and hoping everyone has a low opinion of him when he doesn't really need to. The answer is, well, Silver Age Superman, who has memories of Krypton and doesn't really need to be liked or have a life as Clark Kent, who is a fabrication. I'm not saying that sort of thing can't work as a cool idea in a limited story (again, I cite the awesomeness that is All-Star Superman) but it won't work as an ongoing continuity. The same happens when you try to bring back almost any other Silver Age elements — and in fact, they work a lot worse when they're written in a non-Silver Age-esque style.

[icon_uk]

Thank you for encapsulating what I wanted to express better than I would have done!

[baxter2814]

Thanks! Though it does go to show I'm a nerd who's spent way too much time thinking about this :P

[arbre_rieur]

"For example: if you decide you want timid Clark back, you have to ask yourself what kind of a superhero would go around pretending to be a coward and hoping everyone has a low opinion of him when he doesn't really need to. The answer is, well, Silver Age Superman, who has memories of Krypton and doesn't really need to be liked or have a life as Clark Kent, who is a fabrication."

Alternately, someone willing to make that great a sacrifice to protect his parents.

"The same happens when you try to bring back almost any other Silver Age elements — and in fact, they work a lot worse when they're written in a non-Silver Age-esque style."

Keep in mind that if every writer had taken that attitude, we wouldn't have Brainiac the alien robot menace today, as that was a revived pre-Crisis element after Byrne/Wolfman had turned him into a carnival worker with psychic powers. Likewise for Lex Luthor's scientific genius. Byrne's version was scientifically smart but not comic book-level smart. He even had a scientist lackey who invented tech for him, didn't he? Dr. Killgrave or something. Roger Stern's decision to make Luthor himself the kind of guy who could invent crazy, sci-fi machinery was bringing back a Silver Age element.

Going more general, Batman villain Scarecrow went absent from comics for over twenty years. If some writer hadn't decided there was potential in dusting off this character from a bygone era back, we'd be missing out.

Basically, I strongly disagree that Silver Age elements can't be brought back in a way that works. I mean, looking at your icon, is something like crystal waterfalls on Krypton really that out of place in a world where there's room for the living embodiment of Martian oreo addiction?

[baxter2814]

Well, IMO there's a difference between stuff that was around during the Silver Age, and stuff that is imbued with distinctly Silver Age ideas. By your logic, bringing back Jimmy Olsen or Dick Grayson or Kryptonite or anyone or anything else that existed in the Silver Age would also constitute "bringing back the Silver Age", which isn't really what I meant. But hey — I can tell we're not going to agree on anything, so let's just agree to disagree. I always like to say comics are nothing if not very broad in their scope of ideas.

[arbre_rieur]

"Well, IMO there's a difference between stuff that was around during the Silver Age, and stuff that is imbued with distinctly Silver Age ideas."

I think the line between the two is much thinner than you do. I'm sure there were people who thought the robotic Brainiac was distinctly Silver Age ("A robot who goes around shrinking cities and their populations and collecting them? And his spaceship looks like a giant replica of his head? I'm glad we're past that sort of silliness.") and were glad Byrne/Wolfman retconned it out... up until other writers should that it could be adapted and altered to fit modern sensibilities.

I agree that there are aspects of the Silver Age that genuinely can't be adapted today, but I suspect where you and I differ is on what belongs in that category. So on that note...

"I can tell we're not going to agree on anything, so let's just agree to disagree."

Sure.

"I always like to say comics are nothing if not very broad in their scope of ideas."

On that, there's no disagreement. :)