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"Ask Matt" Fan Forum Archives

Ask Matt Fan Forum Here are Matt Idelson's answers to questions fans put to him in July 2007:

Matt's Answers

Gwion Bach (bachgwion@yahoo.com) asks:
Why is it that the modern incarnation of Krypton naming rituals is so paternal? You have the males Kal-El, Jor-El, Zor-El, Lor-van, etc. Yet for the for the females you have Kara Zor-El, Lara Lor-Van, etc. Given the fact that Krypton is a civilization more advanced than ours why is it that with the reboots of continuity the statis of Kryton society is not brought more into line with the developments that our society has under gone? Wouldn't that be a better way to introduce elements of societies development into the stories and Superman's role in inspiring such development for us humans?

Matt: A fair question, Gwion, and I think the most obvious answer is that it keeps things simple to maintain the long-existing naming convention in a case like this, where it involves many alien names. Besides which, as we've seen from the actions of folks like Zod, Krypton's civilization may not have been quite as advanced as we'd like to think.



Jason Knoche (jk1978_14@hotmail.com) asks:
In the current comic books where did Superman's costume come from?

Matt: We haven't yet said, though we have a pretty good idea as to the answer! How annoying was that, Jason?



Mike (Mkahn1977@hotmail.com) asks:
Can you explain to me (cause I sure can't figure it out) how does Cyborg Superman fit into the Superman Post Infinite Crisis mythos, since they've incorporated the sunstone/crystals from the movies into the story? The Cyborg Superman is composed from parts of the birthing matrix from the Byrne era and since the origin is more confusing now than it ever was with all the changes. Hope you could explain.

Matt: Gee, I'm in a odd mood today, Mike. I'm going to annoy you, too. We do have a logic behind this seeming conundrum, but it's not one I'm prepared to reveal for reasons I also can't reveal at this time. Okay, now I'll try to be more helpful to everyone else. Nothing personal, Mike.



Monkey Chops (Email address withheld by request) asks:
Hey Matt! Thanks for taking time out of your schedule to answer our questions. I was simply wondering whether there would ever be a chance of DC putting its back-issues of Superman onto DVD format. It's something that Marvel have done with X-Men, amongst other titles. I think it would be a neat way for people to appreciate Silver Age stories without having to trawl through ebay or whatever.

Matt: That's an interesting question, er, Monkey Chops, and one that's come up before. I've passed these requests along to those who might do something about it, but thus far it hasn't come to pass. I would suspect there may be certain copy-prevention concerns that have prohibited us from doing this so far, but I can't state that with any degree of certainty. Personally, I prefer having the actual comic in my hands, be it the original, reprint or whatever. But maybe I'm just old.



Mike McDonald (eversuperman@yahoo.com) asks:
Can we get a straight answer as to the current situation regarding the Superboy case? I, and perhaps many others, am assuming Conner was offed during Infinite Crisis in response to the legal issues surrounding the Superboy property (which saddens me greatly). Will this ever be resolved?

Matt: I can't comment on the case, Mike, since it is an ongoing legal matter. But I can say that it will eventually be resolved. As to when and how, I just don't know. But it saddens me too.



Scotty (sad723@cabrini.edu) asks:
Hey Matt! I want to start by offering you and the staff my complete admiration. No matter what you put out there, I'll be with it. At any rate, after reading DiDio's reflection on the Countdown promo, I was wondering if the "parental issues" of Superman that DiDio was refering to might have something to do with Chris, rather than his own parents. Or... in a whole crazy other aspect, is it possible that the Superman in the promo was actually Chris (grown up) lamenting the loss of his adopted father (Kal-El)?

Matt: I cannot tell a lie. I can, however, confuse, baffle and otherwise inveigle until you have no idea what I am saying, when in reality I'm saying nothing. How am I doing so far?



Martin Alejandro Salinas (mas_el@yahoo.com) asks:
I was wondering if you know who did the Superman drawings in the DC logo presentation in the opening of the film "Superman Returns"? I know Jim Lee did the "Batman Begins" ones.

Matt: Great question, Martin! It was none other than the aforementioned Mr. Lee himself! And a great job he did of them, too! It's a lot of fun watching that pass across the screen before a film, let me tell you!



Zachary Cole (zchry_cole@yahoo.com) asks:
Hi Matt. I was wondering if you have considered putting a "Previosuly in..." page in the Superman books. With all the fill-ins and loose continuity, sometimes I feel as if I have to avoid Superman titles to avoid confusions and headaches.

Matt: Well that's totally the LAST thing we want to do to you, Zachary! That's a pretty excellent idea, and one we should do, in some fashion, absolutely. I will say that come fall, you're really not going to need any kind of flow chart to understand anything that's going on. And boy, does that make me happy!



Jorell Rivera (jorell_rivera@hotmail.com) asks:
Hey Matt, I was wondering if the Superman books are going to address Lois and Clark's adoption of Chris Kent in a more detailed fashion in future storylines? It seems like Kurt Busiek has made a point to mention Chris at least once in his Superman issues, and I'm glad he's doing that at least. However, I would hope we would get to see how Lois and Clark are dealing with raising a child in more detail in future issues.

Matt: Hey, Jorell. Yeah, that's definitely something we'll be addressing more, now that things are running quite a bit tighter than they were before. The challenges, the complications, the humor - we want to explore it all. It's been a little tough with some of the delays, but now we're reaching a point where we can look at this in better detail. In fact, look no further than SUPERMAN #671 for some immediate satisfaction!



Vinnie Civitillo (moonwalker1229@yahoo.com) asks:
Hey Matt! Will we be seeing Ruin again now that we're on New Earth? It would be a shame to lose such a well-developed villain.

Matt: I'd like to see Ruin return, Vinnie, but right now we have such a packed slate of stories coming up, and I just don't see how he'll fit in the immediate future. But I won't forget about Ruin, and I'm counting on you to make sure I remember as well!



Marc Hebert (superfriend1000@hotmail.com) asks:
I was wondering why, when Superman has huge fights in the comics against such villains as Doomsday and Darkseid, the writers leave out his super-speed. Because when I'm watching these fights in the comic books I'm thinking that Superman could easily punch these guys 50 times before they knew what hit them. Or do these villians also move at super-speed, so the fight is actually taking place in super-speed while it looks like their fighting at a normal pace?

Matt: I'd like to think you nailed the answer with your second supposition, Marc! But having not worked on such stories, I just don't know the true answer behind the decision. I will say that Supes' super speed will be coming into play before "Camelot Falls" is over!



Thanks Matt! It's great that you continue to share your answers with us fans.

Matt: As long as you'll have me, eh?



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