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"QfK" Archives
Here are Kurt Busiek's answers to questions fans put to him about "Superman #663" and other relevant topics:
Kurt's Answers
Jeff (shaxpere37@netzero.com) asks:This is probably a question more suited for Dan Didio, but is there a chance that one of the 52 universes will turn out to be ours, the real one? If not, can you threaten him and make it happen?
Kurt: You mean like Earth-Prime used to be? At least, until Ultraa became their local superhero, and it turned out they had a Krypton too, and, um, well, never mind.
I have no idea. And I only threaten Dan when it's something I really want, like the last pack of Mentos in the con suite.
Connor (Kryptonman1@aol.com) asks:
I'm sure a lot of people are going to ask this, but here goes: Lightray died just last week in Countdown (complete with Superman screaming in big red letters), but is alive and well in the new issue of Superman, is this because of all the delays, or did you just want to use Lightray, and we're supposed to assume this story took place before Countdown 48? Or most sinister of all, is it just a mistake?
Kurt: It's noted on the splash page that the story takes place before Countdown 48, actually. And yeah, it was scheduled to come out earlier, but, well, we're almost out of the schedule problems of last year, but not completely. Soon, though!
Mike (kcbayliff@yahoo.com) asks:
I really enjoy seeing Clark talk through his problems with Lana & Lois in this issue. I do wish Clark was sometimes shown hanging out with guy friends (non-superhero). It seems his pal Jimmy is his main male friend but Jimmy often is shown as too immature to be really there for Clark. Any thoughts about this?
Kurt: I have to admit, I haven't really thought about it. Maybe we'll have to do something about that...
Matt Holland (mattnotis@aol.com) asks:
Since we got a small peek at Superman's "new" origin in Action Comics #850, does this mean that DC is finally deciding to give Big Blue a definite origin?
Kurt: He has one, which is why we were able to show you bits of it. Whether we'll do a project solely devoted to telling that origin remains a subject under discussion -- I've proposed it, though, and I think it'd be a great project for, oh, maybe Superman's 70th anniversary or something, but I'm not the guy who gets to say yea or nay to these things, or to put them on the schedule.
SCOTTY V (Email address withheld by request) asks:
Hi there Kurt. First, I wanted to say the quality of this Arion story arc has been very good. I was just wondering if you thought that Superman might actually have made the decision to stop doing his thing. I mean, there's no way he'd do that just cause some weird guy said he should, right?
Kurt: If he'd decided that, it wouldn't be just because some weird guy said he should, but because the weird guy was convincing, and Superman's investigations into the matter suggested that he should take the weird guy seriously. And even then, he'd have to think it over carefully, because even if he decided that the best thing he could do was continue on with the never-ending battle, that wouldn't just make the dangers the weird guy was pointing out just evaporate -- if they were out there before, they'd still be out there.
And there have been times Superman's decided to quit -- to leave the planet and exile himself to space, even, in more than one past continuity. But it hasn't stuck then, and I'd expect he'd find a way around it even now. At least, he'd try...!
kk (kkonzombi@gmail.com) asks:
As Clark was leaving Lexcorp, Lana said "Don't leave... again" What other time was she referring to? She wasn't talking about his depowered year, right?
Kurt: She was thinking about how he left Smallville -- and her -- behind years ago. Even as just a friend, these days, she doesn't want to lose him again, not from the whole planet.
bob hundhausen (rhundhausen@americanequity.com) asks:
Let me first say, I love the current storyline. Has it occurred to you that a storyline where an outside force pits alien heroes against other alien heroes has some similarities to a recent arc in "Superman/Batman"? Is this coincidence or commentary about current immigration issues in the US?
Kurt: A resemblance hadn't occurred to me, no -- and so far, the outside force (a.k.a "the weird guy") hasn't managed to pit aliens against each other, just declared that he intends to. And while I can't speak for the Superman/Batman crew, I can say that "Camelot Falls" isn't inspired by or commenting on immigration issues. It was, oddly enough, inspired by the TV show The West Wing -- at least to the extent that I thought that show consistently made the most powerful office in the world seem like an idealistic underdog with a fight on its hands, by making sure the issues it faced were big, dangerous and complex, and didn't have easy answers. That's something I hope we can get into Superman, too.
We appreciate you getting to our questions again so soon after "Action Comics #850".
Kurt: That's before you had to wait so long for me to answer! Sorry about that! Short column this time, but then, the questions determine the answers, so I can't feel too guilty about it. Maybe it'll be longer next time -- which I think will be #664, because I don't think you're going to do a QfK on Stuart Immonen's and my story in Elephantmen: The Pilot (in finer comics shops now!)...
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