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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 August/September 2011:

Matt's Answers

Duncan Bennett (Email address withheld by request) asks:
Hey Matt! Thanks for doing this for us. Do you at all feel that DC has made Lois and Clark's marriage a scapegoat for poor writing? I felt alot of your writers struggled to write it in an interesting way, which is a shortcoming of the writers not the concept surely? Why was the decision made not to go with a 'Whatever happened to the Man of Steel'? story for this version? I think that's a great shame.

Matt: Well thanks for being so patient with my irregular timing of responses, Duncan! I know I would have fired me by now. Thankfully, Steve is a much kinder person than that. It wasn't poor writing that contributed to the doing away of the marriage (though I won't deny there's been poor writing at times), rather the desire to de-age all of the characters across the line as part of the overall reboot. The marriage is certainly one of the more visible aspects to have changed, but hardly the only one.



Hemen (Email address withheld by request) asks:
In the relaunch will the new Superman in the SUPERMAN comic by George Perez have the same power level as he had in the Silver Age (when Superman coud lift planets, go 1000 times faster than the speed of light and doing anything)?

Matt: Oh, gosh, no, Hemen. We definitely wanted to take advantage of the relaunch to power Superman down quite a bit, and he wasn't even in the weight class the last few years that he was during the Silver Age.



Mike Urvand (Email address withheld by request) asks:
Hi Matt, I guess I have a question and a statement. There is a very large segment of the fanbase who loves Superman as he is. Why was there a need for such a radical change in his story? Why turn your back on us? Also, some of the other changes made might have been palatable if you'd kept Lois and Clark together. Once again, however, the comics industry feels the need to poo poo the idea of marriage. First Spidey and MJ and now Lois and Clark.

Matt: Well I can't speak to what Marvel did, Mike, but I can say that there was a great deal of animated debate regarding the marriage being a part of what would be changed, and for the reason you stated. I had a lot of concern about how readers would be alienated, but ultimately the decision to make Clark and Lois single again obviously won out. I guess the best way to look at this is to liken it to the Star Trek movie reboot - they didn't undo all the stuff that had come before, but rebooted things in a way that took that past history into account while resetting the table for new stories.



Frank (Email address withheld by request) asks:
Grant Morrison has stated that he has a plan for Superman which is pretty extensive and it seems like he will on-board as the writer for ACTION COMICS for quite some time. Has Morrison given you a rough draft of where he plans to take Superman on his run, or does he just give you a detailed description of the arc he is currently writing? Also how long will George Perez be writing the SUPERMAN comic? We don't get much information on the other Superman book.

Matt: Grant has indeed given me a pretty window into his thoughts on the book well past the first twelve issues, and at the risk of sounding like a rah-rah company man, I'm really incredibly excited by what he has in mind. Grant is one guy who definitely thinks big picture and makes sure each and every little detail combines to form the overall mosaic. (Man, that sounded rather high falootin'.) George's plans for Superman were revealed in more detail during the New York convention, Frank.



Kevin (Email address withheld by request) asks:
As someone who feels disenfranchised with the upcoming changes to Superman and his world with the September Relaunch how would you the editor sell me on this idea?

Matt: Hey, Kevin. Okay, first, I'd direct you to my answer to Mike's question above, with the Star Trek analogy. There's a specific story reason as to why we've ended up where we have, continuity-wise with the reboot, and it's much more than just a business decision to try and enable new readers to try out our product. I think you're going to find a pretty cool blend of facts you know about the character, his cast, and his foes, and some really interesting updates and changes to what you know. It's almost like we're making a new cake based on a recipe you love, but with some added ingredients to form something new and exciting. Was that a decent sell job?



Rick Mohr (Email address withheld by request) asks:
I cannot be the only one wondering how is Superman going to hide this new uniform with the high collar, an apparently raised S, a belt supporting nothing (it seems) and (I still don't understand why) body armor. I'm 54 and been a tremendous fan and collector for 48 years, will I even know this new guy?

Matt: Oh, for sure, Rick! Superman's personality certainly harkens back to his earliest days in ACTION, and to a lesser, somewhat tempered extent five years later in current-day SUPERMAN. Styles come and go, as we all see in observing the people around us. I certainly dress differently than I did ten, twenty, (gulp) thirty years ago, and not just as a product of aging. I will confess I had some discomfort in getting used to the new costume, initially, but it really grew on me surprisingly quickly. As for why the suit is the way it is (including the armored aspect), all will be revealed within ACTION in the early portion of 2012.



Dave "AKalel" MacLean (imasuperfan@hotmail.com) asks:
Great to read your answers. I am curious why ACTION COMICS will be selling at $3.99? It is my understanding that DC would not be pricing anything except for one shots and Annuals more then $2.99. Also any plans for a SUPERMAN/BATMAN relauch? Finally, will any of the relaunched titles have any Annuals before their respective title gets to issue 12?

Matt: Great to be asked questions, Dave. The reason we're keeping ACTION at $3.99 (along with a select handful of other titles) is because we'll be including extra pages of material. As you know by now, issue #2 gave a behind the scenes look at things for the book, and we're extending the tour to include the other three titles in the Superman "family" in issue #3. And then with #4 or #5, we'll be starting to run stories that connect to the lead story each month.



Robert (Email address withheld by request) asks:
This question is not directly related to the Superman mythos, but I was wondering where comic book writers come from? What sort of schooling do they get, and how do they get started in the industry? Is it mostly about finding an agent and then getting lucky?

Matt: Great question, Robert. There isn't one path that leads to the hallowed halls of comicdom. Some people come into our industry as novelists or movie/tv writers, and either have their agent reach out to us or are approached by us because we like their work. Sometimes it's a case of a writer from another medium (be it books, movies, tv or magazines) meeting established writers from our industry, and that writer introducing them to their editor. Often it's a case of a young writer getting hired by another company, usually not one of the "Big Two," and having their work noticed by an editor or writer here, or else self-publishing and getting noticed just the same. Luck definitely plays a role in this, but so does persistence and desire (not to mention talent).



Mike Stumbo (Email address withheld by request) asks:
Will the continuity in the Superman books be a lot tighter? Will his costume be drawn the same from book to book, and not allow an artist to give it a slightly different look just because he/she liked something from what they saw in the films? Will DC please leave story idea elements from the movies out of the comics Universe?

Matt: Ah, drawing some battle lines are we, Mike? Yeah, costumes will indeed be remaining consistent from title to title across the whole DCU. Batman's ears won't be changing length from book to book or anything like that. We've all worked very hard to create a look for each character that will be The Look for that character, and we're not about to undermine it by shooting ourselves in the foot. And I don't believe you'll see cross-pollination between what's going on in the movies and the books - certainly not to the extent that if, say, Superman has a fauxhawk in his next film he'd be adopting it in the comics.



T. David Brown (Email address withheld by request) asks:
I was just wondering if the digital download for comic books was only restricted to the iPad or iPods, or if they're available for someone who only has a computer?

Matt: Oh, you can absolutely get the books on a desktop computer, T! (Or should I say "T. David"?) Just go to read.dccomics.com, create an account, and begin the joy of digital reading!



p. singh (Email address withheld by request) asks:
I love the plans for the new Supergirl, so I was wondering if you could clear something up for me? The writers said something about the yellow sun affecting male and female Kryptonians differently. It was mentioned that Supergirl gets an extra ability because of it, but is their anything the male Kryptonians (like Superman) have in terms of powers that the females don't? It seems a tiny bit unfair that the female Kryptonians get all the normal powers "and" something extra.

Matt: Well, nature's not really fair now is it, Singh? Nope, only females get that extra benefit, and since Kara's the only other Kryptonian out there, she gets to hog it all for herself!



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