DC Writers Share Their Vision for “Summer of Superman” in Exclusive Roundtable Interview

The Superman Homepage was invited to participate in an exclusive roundtable interview with the writers of the Superman comic books, Dan Slott, Mark Waid, and Joshua Williamson, to discuss DC’s “Summer of Superman” initiative. Moderated by Michael Shelling, in the interview the writers offer insights into their collaborative process for maintaining a unified vision across multiple Superman titles, tease upcoming storylines, including secrets from Superman’s past impacting his future in “Action Comics”, the emergence of a kryptonite kingdom in “Superman Unlimited”, and a more personal story set during a Smallville wedding in the “Summer of Superman Special” issue.

Dan Slott, Mark Waid, and Joshua Williamson emphasize a desire to build on Superman’s rich history while forging a relevant and hopeful direction for the character, especially within the context of DC’s overarching “All-In” storyline and the forthcoming movie. The team also expresses their admiration for artist Jorge Jiménez and their deep personal connection to the Superman legacy, aiming to honor his enduring spirit.

Collaborative Vision for Multiple Titles

The writers emphasized their commitment to maintaining a cohesive vision across multiple Superman titles while ensuring each book offers something unique. According to Waid, the collaboration involves “a lot of Zoom calls” facilitated by the Superman editorial team.

“The Superman editorial team, you know, Paul Kmenky and Britney Hoser and Jillian Grant and everybody else working on the Superman books is really good about facilitating conversation between us all, communication between us all, sharing scripts, sharing art,” Waid explained. “It’s really important that we all stay together on this and we have been very successful so far.”

Williamson elaborated on the coordination process, highlighting the crucial role of group editor Paul Kaminsky: “Paul, who’s the group editor for the Metropolis group, you know, these books are really important to him… he is sort of the focal point between all these different teams building these books. He’s really keeping an eye on coordinating everything and he’s sort of our focal point. Like he is a person we all talk to, we all go to and it is him really keeping an eye on everything we’re doing.”

The writers also revealed they meet in person to discuss ideas, creating a seamless creative environment across multiple titles.

Action Comics: Exploring Superman’s Past

Mark Waid revealed that his work on “Action Comics” will explore secrets from Superman’s past that connect to his future. Beginning with “Action Comics #1087,” Waid’s storyline will feature Superboy prominently.

“Right off the bat in that first issue of ‘Action Comics’ that stars Superboy, you’re going to see a reference to an exhibit in a museum that is also in a museum currently in the DC Universe in the Superman timeline,” Waid teased. “And that’s just one aspect of something that is going to be… obviously the focus then is there’s going to be something important about that exhibit.”

Waid also discussed his approach to expanding Superboy’s world: “Same thing with the relationships with the characters and same with trying to introduce a couple of new Superboy villains. So we have a little bit more of a rogues gallery there. As Josh pointed out, it’s a pretty shallow bench. And so giving Superboy some new obstacles to overcome then automatically gives the present day Metropolis team some fodder to play with.”

The interconnected nature of the titles became apparent when Dan Slott added, “There’s a scene in ‘Superman #28,’ too, that directly references the stuff that Mark has in his first issue. Like, we really are trying to find these… I don’t want to call them Easter eggs, but just ways to connect with each other and reflect.”

Superman Unlimited: The Kryptonite Kingdom

Dan Slott discussed “Superman Unlimited #1,” which introduces a game-changing concept that will fundamentally alter Superman’s world.

“Everyone knows that Superman’s greatest weakness is kryptonite. But in the past it’s been scarce. That’s not going to be a problem anymore,” Slott explained. “As of ‘Superman Unlimited #1’, Kryptonite will be readily available. From your big-time super villains all the way down to low-level thugs of Intergang will have like, ‘Oh, Superman’s coming’. They’ll pull out their clip of bullets and they’ll slap in their new clip of kryptonite bullets.”

This development creates new challenges while preserving Superman’s essential nature: “What it means is that Superman, he’ll still be the Superman we all know and love. He’ll still be able to lift like an ocean liner over his head and fly it to the moon, but now his Achilles heel will be a little more exposed.”

Slott also revealed an additional moral complexity to the storyline: “It’s also going to have major ramifications for the rest of the world as this plentiful kryptonite we start finding out has lots of different beneficial uses. It’s something that if you were Superman, you would feel bad if you took it away from everyone.”

Superman #28: A Pivotal Moment in the All-In Saga

Joshua Williamson discussed “Superman #28,” described as a pivotal moment in DC’s “All-In” saga, featuring Superman confronting Darkseid’s Legion.

“It’s rough for Clark because, you know, again, we had this ending where we teased up that the Legion was coming, the Darkseid Legion was in the All-In special and we’ve been kind of seeding it across Superman that they were coming,” Williamson said. “They’re really trying to break him. I mean, that’s really what this is in a lot of ways.”

The storyline explores an emotional dimension for Superman as well: “It’s still an emotional story for Clark because the Legion of Superheroes were his friends when he was a kid and they were really important to him. There’s a scene where he’s talking to Martha about this where it’s like he had, we had people on it and it was great. Like he had these friends, but they were never quite, he could never quite be himself completely as a kid, right? Couldn’t connect completely.”

Williamson emphasized the significant stakes: “And now all of that is being twisted and corrupted. And so that’s really hard for him to see, this thing that’s not only important to his childhood, but important to the future being very very corrupted and now as a danger, a threat against him. It’s really going to test him in I think some different ways.”

The writer positioned this issue as the beginning of much larger developments: “I would really say #28 is the beginning of a prelude to something much bigger.”

Summer of Superman Special: A Return to Smallville

The writers also highlighted the “Summer of Superman Special,” which centers around Lana Lang’s wedding in Smallville. This more personal, family-oriented story represents a deliberate creative choice.

Williamson reflected on how the decision evolved: “I don’t remember where that idea started from… I think once we started getting into one of the themes being a little bit of past, present, and future and something as important as Smallville, the mythology, it was like I think this is a good location for us to stay in. And I remember we had talked a bit about John and Lana’s wedding and how that we’ve been kind of teasing for a while. And it’s just nice to have nice moments in these books, especially right now.”

Slott added: “I remember Paul jumping in and going we have the Lana/John wedding as a great focal point. And it would be something that could, not because you don’t want to throw just any old special out there, you want there to be an event. You want there to be like Superman fans to go, ‘Oh, we don’t want to miss this big moment of Superman lore.'”

The writers emphasized that this approach allowed them to explore different facets of Superman’s world, with Williamson explaining: “I like Smallville a lot and it was like an opportunity to tell a story there… And so when it was that opportunity, it was like, ‘Hell yeah, let’s do that.’ You know, and you get to tell this more emotional story. Like, yeah, we’re doing all this big picture stuff that we’re going to be playing with, but allowed us to have these more emotional moments with this cast that we love.”

Superman’s Relevance and Direction in 2025

When asked about what makes the current direction right for Superman and what the character should represent in 2025, the writers offered thoughtful perspectives.

“Open positivity is what Superman needs to be and stand for in the months and years ahead,” Waid stated simply.

Slott elaborated on Superman’s contemporary relevance: “I think there’s a scene, we talked about this a bit, where Lois said this thing a few issues ago where she talks about being afraid of the future. And I think it feels very real right now. The idea of being afraid of the future, but for having somebody like Superman to come in and still be able to find hope in those things right now, I think is particularly relevant.”

“The world feels very scary right now and it’s really nice to have this specific hero, the greatest hero of all time. Someone who’s going to look after everyone, every single one of us and lift us all up,” Slott added.

Waid reflected on Superman’s essential character: “There’s something that Clark as a character is someone who sees the good in everyone. And who sees the good in every moment like where we’re heading now. Not that there’s a way out, but that I like to feel like with my book, with with all these books, that for 30 minutes, you can like pick up this book and go somewhere else. You can get a bit of a relief that a sense of relief that you’re like for the time you’re reading this book, everything’s okay. Superman’s there.”

Superman’s Central Role in DC’s Publishing Plans

Williamson emphasized Superman’s central role in DC’s broader publishing strategy: “Well, we’re building to a big, I guess in terms of the story, we’re building right now. I mean, the stuff that we’re doing ever since All-In, at the very beginning of that story we really established that there was two sides to All-In. There was Darkseid side and there was a Superman side… And so what we’re doing with Superman, like we’re really shaping this story, the All-In story, that everything in the DCU really centers around Superman, right?”

He described this as a long-term commitment rather than a temporary initiative: “I’m glad we called it ‘Summer of Superman’ but it isn’t just for the Summer, it’s going to be a lot more than that, what we’re doing. Like the story doesn’t end in in the Fall because the Fall comes. It’s going to be a much bigger story.”

Slott highlighted how the initiative aligns with the upcoming Superman film: “If you’re someone who hasn’t been reading DC books and you’re in a void and you felt all this like magnetism drawing you to DC and now there’s going to be this fantastic movie coming out… You go see this and you’re filled with this huge desire of ‘I want more Superman.’ That’s where Superman, a book like ‘Superman Unlimited’ comes in where you can walk into this fresh.”

Williamson concluded by emphasizing the breadth of offerings: “There’s a Superman book for everybody and hopefully you’ll want to get them all.”

Artistic Collaborations

The writers expressed unanimous admiration for artist Jorge Jiménez, who illustrated the “Summer of Superman Special.”

“When we were doing Metal we had this one shot was called Batman Lost… And I remember when those pages came in, me, James, and Scott, every time they came in, we were like, ‘This dude’s the future.’ We were like, ‘This guy’s stunning.’ We were like, ‘Oh, he should be drawing everything,'” Williamson recalled.

Waid praised Jiménez’s versatility: “He did such a really good job of also differentiating the characters. From the past and the present, which I really like. And he knows how to draw kids. And a lot of comic book artists will tell you it’s really easy to just draw them as short adults. So he gets all that across the Superboy chapter, he gets all the emotion across in the wedding.”

Slott highlighted a memorable moment in their collaboration: “Remember when the first splash page of Superboy came in? Remember were people like, ‘Oh, that’s a cool cover.’ And it was like, ‘That’s just a splash, guys.'”

Waid emphasized Jiménez’s personal connection to the character: “The thing about Jorge is he’s a Superman fan through and through and it shows in every single page. He’s not just somebody drawing like, you know, a character for this assignment. This is a guy that wants to draw Superman and wants to draw Superman’s world.”

Williamson added a more personal observation: “It’s funny you did the cosplay thing because there’s times where that dude will just dress up in like a blue suit and you’re like, ‘All he has to do is put glasses on.’ You’re like, ‘Yep, you’ve seen those pictures, right?'”

Slott also discussed his collaboration with Rafael Albuquerque on “Superman Unlimited,” focusing on capturing Superman’s iconic smile: “When I first started working on Superman, one of the things, one of my challenges was to go out and find an action figure for my desk and I kept getting really upset because all the action figures, he was scowlling and angry and mean, and that wasn’t my Superman.”

He detailed a specific creative direction: “My note to Rafa when he turned in the first sketch was ‘he should still be smiling’. This is like, ‘alright show me what you got’. You know ‘I’m down, I’m hit, I’m hurt but I’m still Superman’… Superman makes you feel good. When he’s around, Superman’s looking out for you. You’re okay. Everything’s going to be okay when Superman’s there.”

Championing Superman’s Supporting Cast

When asked about minor Superman characters they were looking forward to highlighting, Slott enthusiastically championed Ron Troupe.

“When I was at Marvel and I started up again in 2004, I was like, ‘I’m going to make everyone love Squirrel Girl. I’m going to stick Squirrel Girl in everything and she’s going to be the greatest Marvel character ever.’ And I fully intend to do that in the Superman universe with Beppo and Ultra the Multi-Alien, like I’m championing them. But on the human side of things, Ron Troupe,” Slott declared.

He explained his appreciation for the character: “Ron Troupe is the greatest reporter at the Daily Planet because when you hear it from like other people, every time like Clark is in the Daily Planet and something bad’s happening, the bad guy picks him up and throws Clark out the window and Superman immediately flies in and goes, ‘Oh, don’t worry. I caught Clark. He’s on a lower ledge.’ And every time Lois is in trouble, Superman can come in and help her. And Jimmy has a watch. Ron Troupe does it without anything. Ron Troupe doesn’t need a watch. There’s no Superman flying in every time to put Ron Troupe on a ledge. No, Ron Troupe is the greatest. We’re going to make you love Ron.”

Williamson added his perspective: “Ron always has I feel like he always has adult in the room energy, you know? It’s like Lois and Clark are a certain way. And then obviously, even though Perry was this like seasoned person in the room, but Perry is still like because he could be a grump, you know? I’ve always thought of Ron as being, he’s a little more adult in the room energy in those moments.”

Waid revealed his own focus on an underserved character: “Martha actually plays a huge part in the Action Comics stuff, not because anything’s wrong with Pa. He’s great and Pa will be there but I think Superman stories tend to be about fathers and sons a lot, and I think that we haven’t really done a huge deep dive in a long time on how much of an influence Martha specifically was on Clark growing up and that’s a lot of fun to play with.”

Personal Connections to Superman

Throughout the interview, the writers shared their personal connections to Superman and what it means to guide the character’s story.

When asked what it means to be a caretaker of Superman’s story right now, Williamson responded simply: “Don’t screw up.”

Waid reflected on how writing Superman affects him personally: “On a very personal level, it means something to me in that it gives me hope. It’s really easy to succumb to this existential dread that is just permeating our society and it’s easy for even me sometimes to get grumpy and go we got nothing ahead… but the act of sitting down at the keyboard and writing Superman just helps me get in the right mindset about, ‘No, no. There is hope for the future’. We got to work for it, but it’s there.”

Williamson shared his journey to writing Superman: “I never thought I would write Superman. I remember when I, you know, my time at DC, I’ve been at DC for a long time, and I have worked on a lot of books for them. But I never thought like Superman was something I always wanted to do, but maybe it was a self-esteem thing. I don’t know. I never thought I would write it, right? Like it was always that’s like the bar to me, right?”

He described his surprise at being offered the opportunity: “When Paul finally called me and was like, ‘I want to like formally offer you Superman.’ I thought I was going to do a completely different book… it was super intimidating. But it really, it meant a lot to me. Like it really meant a lot of that trust in me in that moment from Paul from DC. I never thought was possible. But that’s really what Clark is about to me in a lot of ways, is he is so much about being able to believe and doing the impossible.”

The writers also discussed their favorite interpretations of Superman outside their own work, with Slott recalling his childhood experience with the Fleischer Superman cartoons: “When I was a kid, we’d have these carnivals and this one guy who owned a local theater, he had like an old movie projector and he had all the Fleischer Superman cartoons and he would just run them in his stand at the perm carnival in this room and no one would see me. I would disappear. Everyone’s playing all these ring toss games and things. I was alone in that room just watching like it was only for me.”

Williamson expressed his appreciation for Christopher Reeve’s portrayal: “In the terms of media, like there’s nothing better than Christopher Reeve. I mean, you can’t, you watch it and you’re just like ‘That’s it’! That’s it.”

He also reminisced about his connection to the “triangle era” of Superman comics: “I’m a ’90s kid, you know, I remember going to the comic book store with my dad, waiting in line to buy ‘Death of Superman’… The triangle era of Superman is one that will always hold like a special place in my heart like forever.”

Looking Forward

As DC’s “Summer of Superman” initiative unfolds across multiple titles, these writers are clearly focused on honoring Superman’s legacy while ensuring the character remains relevant and hopeful for readers today. The extensive interview revealed not only their detailed plans for upcoming storylines but also their deep personal connections to a character who continues to represent hope and possibility after more than eight decades.

With storylines that explore his past, challenge his present, and shape his future – from the Kryptonite Kingdom to Darkseid’s Legion to personal moments in Smallville – Superman remains the cornerstone of the DC Universe under the guidance of these passionate creators.