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"Ask Matt" Fan Forum Archives
Here are Matt Idelson's answers to questions fans put to him from July 2006:
Matt's Answers
Rob Howard (rokeho@hotmail.com) asks:In the Superman comics, what is with the sleeves of Supe's uniform covering the lower portion of his hands? Did the sleeves stretch during the year between the end of "Infinite Crisis #7" and the beginning of "One Year Later"? Did Clark lose so much body mass that his suit doesn't fit anymore? Maybe Ma Kent should be called in for a little tailoring before he heads out to face off against the bad guys again?
Matt: Hey, Rob! Well, I tried coming up with a witty answer but failed completely. Sorry, man. I assume you're referring to Pete Woods' rendition of Supes' forearms in the "Up, Up and Away!" story. Certainly, Carlos doesn't handle the sleeves differently than you're used to, nor does Adam K. (you'll have to take my word on the latter for now). It really just comes down to the interpretation of the character by a given artist, sort of like how Batman's ears seem to constantly change length depending on who's drawing him. Having said that, I will be sure to give Pete a robust caning.
Bud Conner (budconner1@yahoo.com) asks:
First of all, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. What I would like to know is, does the age of a star have any bearing on how it affects Superman's powers, or is it just the color? Since Rao would be a dying star and our sun would be younger, it made me wonder.
Matt: That's a really excellent question, Bud! The simple answer is "no". Certainly, if Supes were affected by such a thing we'd have seen it long before now. Try retconning that into history!
Chris Clow (demolitionist@gmail.com) asks:
Hey, Matt. Thanks for picking this little chore up. Pass on to Busiek that "Superman #654" was a hit, I thoroughly enjoyed it! I was just wondering, from a Superman editor's standpoint, what is your personal philosophy on Batman, and what do you look for in a story teaming the World's Finest together? Is Bats there to build up Superman's character? Vice versa? What purpose do you look for in a team up of the world's most popular heroes?
Matt: Hola, Chris! I'll be sure to let Kurt know you approved of SUPES #654. My personal philosophy regarding Batman is that he is the ultimate cynic. Where Superman sees the inherent good and potential for greatness in humanity, Batman sees the inherent evil (or short-sightedness or selfishness) in humanity and feels like his job in part is to save humanity from its worst traits. He's much more a fan of Darwin's evolution theory, except he wants to protect the good and the weak from the strong and evil. In teaming them together, I personally would look for a story which brings out the contrast in their styles, and I think the true purpose of teaming them up is to show that being a hero, no matter what angle you approach it from, is ultimately a good thing with positive results.
Ricardo Matos (theartist29@hotmail.com) asks:
Will you keep the notion that Lex and Clark were friends in Smallville in future comic books?
Matt: We have some "early years" type stories in the works, Ricardo, and I expect we'll get to answering your question there.
Tim (timinator0887@gmail.com) asks:
With the Absolute Editions of classic stories in the DCU like "Crisis," "Kingdom Come" and now the "Dark Knight" books, can we expect any Superman stories to get the "Absolute" treatment anytime soon?
Matt: We've certainly suggested a few different stories for the Absolute line, Tim. I don't yet know what the final decision will be, though. Got any suggestions?
Eddie Fernandez (eddie362@juno.com) asks:
Hi Matt, thanks for the great work you do, keep it up! I'm sure you've been asked this before, but I'm fairly new to comics as a whole. I LOVE Superman however, I've never really been that into comics, until now. I'm interested in subscribing to Superman comics, but I'm not sure which one to subscribe to. I just found out that there are 3 seperate Superman comics, "Action Comics", "Superman", & "Superman/Batman". My question is, for someone brand-new to comics, which one would be the best to subscribe to?
Matt: Gosh, that's a tough one for me to answer. There was a time when I would have said SUPERMAN/BATMAN since it's only loosely set in continuity, is pretty self-contained, and introduces the reader to a lot of different characters and concepts from the DCU. Now, though, I think since we're striving to make ACTION and SUPERMAN as reader-friendly as possible (without dumbing them down even slightly), it'd be hard for me to suggest a single title. Plus, the folks on the other two books would gang up and destroy me. Anyone want to suggest a single title Eddie here should choose?
Captain Kal (captain.kal@gmail.com) asks:
First, kudos on the great recent work on the superbooks. I know the credit is shared also amongst the 'big plan' Didio has that stretches to 2008 and the great writers like Kurt Busiek working with you. Given the recent revelation that Krypton's starfleet under Admiral Dru-Zod dominated entire galaxies at one point in their past, I presume Kurt or someone else has some backstory on Krypton's history that will be filled in later. Luthor was right in that story: Why would Krypton give up that kind of power and domination? Also related to that, why didn't Kryptonians on those fleets to other solar systems ever discover their super-powers in at least yellow sun systems?
Matt: The back story behind Krypton's starfleet and distant past was totally worked out before anything was put into print, oh Captain, my Captain. You raise an interesting question there at the end, one which we certainly have an answer to (right, Kurt?).
Andrew Whitehead (segafanboy@hotmail.com) asks:
My question is when will the changes to continuity resulting from Infinite Crisis be addressed in Superman comics? Right now it seems like the changes made in Birthright are being swept under the rug when all any Superman fan wants is an answer. Right now Birthright is ignoring many great stories, such as President Lex and Death of Superman by changing the current continuity for no good reason. DC now has an out and can use a device (i.e. Superboy punching the wall) to fix all this, but is holding back from doing so. Why is this so? Every week it's another wait and see statement, but Birthright ended mid to late 2004 and we still haven't got an answer.
Matt: We've kind of covered this ground already, Andrew, though I guess not to your total satisfaction. There are things that have changed since CRISIS, things that have been incorporated or kept from past stories (including Birthright) and things that haven't. Rather than just giving you a list of what has and hasn't changed, we've preferred to sort of seed them into stories, sometimes as major plot points, usually not. The idea is just to enjoy the ride, learn along the way what is and what isn't, and debate the decisions that are made. Hope that works for ya, man!
Thanks for answering our questions yet again!
Matt: Anytime, Steve! And thanks to everyone for their great questions! It's nice to work on something that has such a passionate and intelligent fan base!
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