2016 Comic Book News Archives

September 30, 2016: Tomasi and Gleason Talk About Making Superman Popular Again

Superman #8 In a new interview with ComicBookResources.com, the "Superman" creative team of Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason speak about why Superman's comic books have regained a lot of popularity in recent months, the inspiration behind the "Return to Dinosaur Island" story, and much more. Here's part of the interview...

Readers are talking about Superman for the first time in a long time. Why do you think comic book readers - and the industry - needed this version of Superman at this time?

Gleason: Dan Jurgens really got the ball rolling in "Superman: Lois and Clark." That was something that I picked up early on. And I think we just wanted to take it and run with it. We had this great opportunity to make this the real, ongoing Superman. We could say: "This is Superman. And this Superman is for everybody." That was a conversation that Pete and I had very early on. It was important that we didn't alienate readers. People that read "Superman" would continue reading it. It would be a fresh, new take on a character that they were familiar with. And one that new people could relate to and come in and read it. And I think Clark and Jon's relationship is a big part of that. And I also want to bring in Lois, because everybody always leaves out Lois. She's a big part of our story, and writing her is just as much fun as writing Jon.

The family dynamic is something that pretty much anyone can relate to - whether you're a kid or a parent, a mother or a father. We've all been there in one way or another. And bringing that to the forefront puts Superman into a whole new situation. We know what he can do and what he stands for but now he has a family and that can throw a monkey wrench into things. At the same time, this family is likeable and it's really about them and the world outside of them. They're a real tight family unit and we want to see them stay that way.

I think people are hungry for that kind of stuff. We do like to see people get along sometimes. [Laughs] I know we're going against the odds, but come on. When you think about "The Incredibles" or "Fantastic Four," there is a lot of precedent for that. And that's something that we talked about being missing.

Read the complete interview at the CBR website.


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