ComicsAlliance.com caught up for a chat with “Action Comics” writer Dan Jurgens and “Superman” writer Peter J. Tomasi to talk to them about the “Superman Reborn” saga currently playing out across both titles, the plan to use Mr. Mxyzptlk, and where things are headed for the Man of Steel and his family. Here’s part of the interview…
ComicsAlliance: How was Mr. Mxyzptlk chosen as the bad guy for Superman Reborn?
Dan Jurgens: Back when we were pulling the Lois and Clark series together, I realized that part of the problem of integrating that version of Clark/Superman into the DCU was the fact that Superman’s identity (New 52 Superman’s) had been exposed. The world knew Clark and Superman were the same person.
As I moved onto Action, I knew we should deal with that right away. So, from day one, I said, “We need a second Clark Kent, and the guy who can pull that off is Mxyzptlk.”
We set it up as a longer term play, and as the story got bigger, we decided to cross the story over with Superman and make it a big event. It really worked out well.
CA: Mxy is somewhat terrifying in this story, but not so much that it’s a drastic reinvention that does a disservice to the character. Was it tough to walk the line there?
Peter J. Tomasi: In my mind, this is all part of the “Rebirth” initiative. Take a strange character like Mxy, yet still maintain his foundational DNA, and play with him a bit. Shake him up. Add some shadings and craziness.
What’s great about a character like Mxy is that he can be several things within the blink of an eye: fun, scary, childlike, psychotic, etc. Within the context of the story, Mxy has been imprisoned, everything he knows and loves was taken from him – especially the number one element that makes his life complete; the attention and focus of Superman. At our summit several months back, Pat, Dan, and I realized that without that central factor in Mxy’s life, he would become unhinged, so we took that concept and ran with it.
So in other words, no, it wasn’t tough to walk the line with Mxy’s character once we all starting exploring what it meant for him to live in a world without Superman. And in regards to Pat [Gleason] and Doug [Mahnke]’s artwork, I feel they beautifully captured a whole spectrum of emotions that only make Mxy an even more interesting character as we move forward.
I was wrong that it would be the impostor Clark Kent, but I was right that the Pre 52 and New 52 Supermen would merge. Yay for me!
After Convergence showed us that there were 2 supermen, my colleagues and I joked that they would just fuse together down the road. And boom, here we are. I predicted that this would either be done by Kismet or that Cosmic Oracle from the H’eL on Earth storyline. I didnt think it would’ve been Mxy becuz I coulda swore he died at the end of the Grant Morrison Action run. I guess I was mistaken. LoL
Never thought that it would Mxyzptlk. Not in a million years.
Yet it somehow makes sense
I kind of enjoy the notion that while there are multiple Earths or Multiverses or whatever that account for damn near any version of Superman you have ever seen or can think of the Mxy in all of them is the exact same guy. That being said, start using your STAS form full time Mxy! Also no more Joker grins.
Yes I think that’s brilliant on their part. MXY is the same person across all media. Briliant!
I loved it. I’ll keep on saying it, it’s a great time to be a Superman fan. Rebirth and now Reborn has been amazing, DC delivered on it’s promise of bringing back hope and optimism into the DC Universe.
As much as I love the current DCEU (Man of Steel, BVS, and SS) I hope they give this kind of characterization and love to Superman when he comes back from the dead.
So now New 52 Superman and pre-Flashpoint Superman have merged, which sort of makes sense – and they filled the issue with winks to those of us who remember the old Superman Red/Superman Blue story (which I don’t think was strictly necessary, since that story was already redone once – badly – with the Electric Blue Superman suit in the 90s, and has been sort-of referenced again in the ‘Superwoman’ comic). That’s all well and good, but I find it frustrating that we STILL don’t know who was responsible for splitting Superman and Lois in the first place, nor why.… Read more »
I’m not sure what that indicates. During the aughts they threw so many versions of his origin at the wall in nearly rapid succession trying to see what sticks. I remember working at B&N and realizing that everything of Superman we happened to had in stock in our graphic novel department was all origin stories. Birthright, Secret Origin, New 52, and Earth One. The only other thing we had was Death/Return which was of course working off of Byrne’s Man Of Steel from 1986. I also remember a point just before the whole Return to Krypton thing where the origin… Read more »
It’s interesting to ponder just “when” the split happened. For example, when you consider the history of Rebirth’s Lois and Clark, it’s kind of hard to find a good place for it to happen. They were abducted by God-Brainiac right before Flashpoint (meaning they’d be the Secret Origin version). They lived under the Dome, with a Jimmy and Prof Hamilton too, it’s interesting to add (so does that mean New 52 Jimmy is only half-Jimmy?). Then escaped with their son, and went back in time to undo the original Crisis along with Parallax Hal Jordan, and Bronze Age Supergirl and… Read more »
WoW dude, I really Love this. I hope this is what explains it. Its perfect really. Nice Job.
There would still need to be someone who helps them achieve this. An ally who is sitting outside of Time and Space. WaveRider? One of the Monitors?
Thanks! It just locked into place as I was writing it, lol.
If the original COIE is prevented then the entire timeline married Superman and Lois came from wouldn’t have happened because the Earth’s never merged to create what some fans call “Earth Sigma”. So it seems like he would have been reset to the Bronze Age but that’s not how Rebirth Supermans personality is written so it seems to me that Byrne’s Superman and New 52 are what have merged. But they had been mucking around with where his backstory stood before n52 so I guess he’s Byrne Superman by way of Secret Origins with some Birthright and Busiek in there… Read more »
Initially, I thought that if the original Crisis was prevented, it could explain why Post-Crisis Lois and Clark couldn’t find their world, and settled on Earth-0.
But now I’m thinking stopping the Original Crisis lead the rebirth of an Infinite Multiverse, grouped together in bunches of 52 or so, explaining the Multiple Multiverses mentioned in Multiversity.
I think you answered your own question there. LoL. The answers will come whenever DC decides to do the ReBirth Conclusion
I had my doubts once Fusion was on the table, but I have to admit, they stuck the landing! It did exactly what any good comic should do: made me ravenous for the next issue!
I’m pretty split on Reborn; on one hand, adding Mr. Mxyzptlk in the mix was pure genius. I should’ve seen it coming and yet I couldn’t see it coming. I also really enjoyed the Superman: Reborn storyline. On the other hand, I’m still a bit annoyed that I have a conclusion to a story that I’m still not sure how it begun. Okay, New52 and SO Superman/Lois merged into one, fine, but how were they split in the first place? Everyone else in the DCU seemed to be the same person they were, but suffering the effects of time alteration.… Read more »
I think BOTH mysteries are still at play here. 1)Somebody “stole 10 years” from the timeline, which affected EVERYONE. Obviously the lack of experience has weakened the heroes, but Wally surmised that LOVE was the real target of the theft (in the n52, all the heroes were unmarried/single again). 2)Somebody split Superman into 2 separate beings. Why? My guess is to weaken him even more so than the time-theft. He is the most powerful hero in the DCU, so he requires additional attention from our hidden antagonist. There’s also a cool theory floating around the web that Mr. Oz being… Read more »
2017 is the 20 year anniversary of the Electric Blue/Red Superman story. This was a nice little homage. It actual makes a whole lotta sense too. The n52 Superman (Red) was a bit more brash and aggressive, while ReBirth Superman (blue) was very calm and collected. As much as I enjoyed this story, it did feel somewhat rushed. I think they could’ve stretched it to 5 or 6 issues.