Screw you it’s written by Geoff Johns, if anything it will be a fun read.
What Goody is trying to say is that they’ve retconned Superman’s origin enough times already to the point where most of us are tired of it. Everyone knows the basics by now, why don’t they just move on from there? He’s the last son of Krypton, the end.
^Well he isn’t anymore is he? 
Me being new to comics, I find that no matter how many times an origin is retold, I wouldn’t care about how many retcons occur so long as the writing is good.
I find this retelling having to do with how comic books should written for the generation it’s in.
Take Superman: Birthright, any newcomer to comics can pick it up, read it and often easily adapt to it seeing as the events take place in our time.
Others may not be able to get into the older versions of the origins of some characters.
Furthermore, saying that his is origin is just ‘The Last son of Krypton’, isn’t enough. Just because he is considered the last person of his race doesn’t automatically make him becoming a super hero. There’s a lot behind that more behind that.
Here’s another example: DeadPool was part of the same Project that made Wolverine what he is today. That is only a quarter of the story, reading DP’s origins in the 90s book gives a shocking impressive tale of how the Merc with the Mouth became the crimson cladded chimichinga-chomper we love him as today.
Also, Geoff Johns is writing it. He did a great job with GL: Secret Origins. I never read the first GL story when Hal became a GL, but all Johns did was add in elements that set things up for Blackest Night, and I don’t see that it affected Hal’s odyssey as a GL.
opening ALL STAR SUPERMAN #1 page #1
AHEM… AHEM…
DOOMED PLANET
DESPERATE SCIENTISTS
LAST HOPE
KINDLY COUPLE
SUPERMAN
thank you very much
That’s a story that’s been told whenever Zodd shows up or an evil Kryptonian. Superman could of turned out one way, but because he was raised by the Kents, he didn’t. You don’t need to retell the origin for the billionth time to tell that story.
The Kryptonians were good. No they were bad. No they were scientists. Clark Kent was a nerd. No he was a jock. Blarg. It’s like if DC would of said Batman’s father was a doctor. No wait he was an astronaut. No wait he was a rodeo clown. But they left Batman alone pretty much other than saying he had ninja training really. His parents are still his parents.
The bad part is that this won’t be the definitive origin, forget it. This will get retconned again. Either they will purposely retcon it or other writers will come along and toss so much extra crap with regards to Krypton that they will have no choice but to retcon it again (which is the case this time around).
There’s a reason why Morrison did not retell his origin in All Star Superman in great detail. Everyone knows the basics. You either saw it in the Dini / Tim cartoon, Smallville, the first movie, etc. Hell your grandma knows his origin. It doesn’t need to be retold again.
But it’s fine for me. I just won’t read it and it won’t be retold to me and that’s it really.
The ostensible goal with retconning a character’s origin story is to streamline, simplify, and bring everything up to date. The problem is, every revision brings with it a new set of details that contradicts older details, which accomplishes exactly the opposite of the ostensible goal. Sano is spot-on: page one of All Star Superman gets it exactly right. It refreshes the basic facts that we’ve all received by pop cultural osmosis and trusts that the reader doesn’t need to be told the entire thing again for the 47th time. It doesn’t mess with established facts and it doesn’t make the mistake of trying to assert itself as the definitive version (and, ironically, functions as the definitive version as a result).
The point of all this hullabaloo is this: Superman’s origin has been retold again… and again… and again and again and again. I don’t care if Alan Moore and Grant Morrison team up and write it after eating an entire blotter sheet of acid; enough is enough.
I don’t believe you. If they ever did that, that would be the greatest Superman comic of all time.
AND YOU KNOW THIS… MAN
Nah, there’s a 99% chance it would be 256 pages of pointillism based on ancient Egyptian legend. Complete with dialogue in hieroglyphics.
I’ll take a Superma-related hieroglyphic interpretation of the Kabbalah over a Geoff Johns comic.
Hey, it worked with Promethea. Still better than any Wonder Woman comic ever.
First off what’s All-Star Superman got to do with Supes’ origin being retold? It’s just high popular author and artist given the chance to write high quality/profile stories, its the same with Astonishing X-Men.
Actually, if you read some of the info on Supes Secret Origins, you’ll see that it is basically Clark growing up with the Kents and how his life has been from his perspective since his youth, nothing to do with Krypton backgrounds or such-
Way I see it one thing this mini do is attempt to implement the elements that occured in Superboy from the 50s-60s, like how Clark met the LoSH and such.
Well its not like this is the first time a retcon occured. In Batman RiP, it is revealed that the death of Bruce’s parents was in fact planned from the very begging, but even that didn’t affect much of the Batman future stories.
Likewise, Ed Brubaker introduced another retcon to X-Men with Vulcan and Dr. MacTagort’s first students.
Why do you even need to tell his origins in the first place? I never even considered that I would read am abridged version of Kal-El’s rocket to earth when I read the book I only expected to read some interesting Superman adventures.
Whatever happened to ‘good reading is good reading’? Ignore the fact that this is a retelling, or a more informed telling of Clark becoming Superman and read it for the good writing of Geoff Johns.
I’ll agree to this though, some readers can relate better to origins if they are of a time they can relate to. This is for some characters of course, others may need to be told from a certain time period, like Magneto’s.
I tend to interpret certain retcons differently, like how the real events that happened Krakoa and Vulcan occured.
…but a quick summary of his origins could even be used as introduction or openning for the book.
Actually how many times has been retold but with vary glaring contradictions?
Even though I like Superman: Birthright, and would recommend it to someone who would want to read Superman’s origins, I myself would partially consider it as the one true origin of Superman.
I have a feeling you would, and if not for the origin story than for the writing.
May you be trapped within the labyrinth of Jeph Loeb’s mind for all eternity heathen.
For all intents and purposes the All-Star books are like Ultimate books. He could of retold his origin, but he didn’t. Why he didn’t was expressed by Morrison himself in that omega long 10 part 'Rama interview. But I’ve already said why.
With retcons there’s a big difference with adding information that wasn’t there (Batman RIP, X-Men) then changing the way events happened (Superman’s origin). What happened to Superman is comparible to Byrne’s Chapter One where he tried to rewrite Spider-Man’s origin. No one liked it and it didn’t stick. JMS kept the origin, but added mystical properties to it. Some don’t like that, some do but it’s better since his origin story is still intact. Neither Batman RIP or X-Men alter the stories the way you read them, what you read still occurred it’s just that stuff was happening in the background you didn’t know about. With Superman, it’s always “What you read did not happen but it happened this way.” There’s a big difference.
I don’t want to drag this out but the attitude that people in the industry seem to have sometimes comes off as “Oh the people who came up with that story are hacks even though said character has ENDURED for 70 + years, I’m such a better writer and our editorial staff is so SUPERIOR that we can tell the same exact story for the same exact universe even though it was already established.” There is nothing in Superman’s origin that needs to be altered, modernized or updated. Everything Man of Steel accomplished could of been done with storytelling without a retcon. You want Lex to be a business tycoon? You can get there in steps, have him build himself up from being a crook. But no, they tend to want to do things here and now.
Like in all honesty, what difference does Clark’s past matter now that he’s married and everything else is such a footnote of his past? Does it freaking matter if he played football or was in the chess club? Who cares.
I like Johns’ writing, I’m sure it will be a fine story. Just not going to bother with it. For the same reason I don’t read mystery books if I know the ending. Only here I know the beginning, middle and end. So does everyone else on planet Earth.
So they finally got a writer for Supes origin and they are gonna retell it for the millionth time? Ugh. DC needs to just leave it alone. How many times are gonna eff with the origin story? I mean, he’s been around for 70 years! Do they think Supes is gonna lose his appeal if his origin isn’t retold every few years? That’s retarded.
i better have not just seen zephy hating on johns…
Not Hating on johns or anything i think his Brainiac and LOSH arcs were amazing. but the New Krypton story was horrible
I wasn’t hating on Johns. I was just pointing out that nobody can ever match Alan Moore’s genius, not even Morrison on every single drug and foreign substance on Earth.
pointilism is serious…u an art major or sumtin?
Nah. Professional writing major, double minor in theater and musicology. However, it behooves me to consider things outside of my purview.
(For Zeph: it’s good to know other shit, too.)
You don’t have to use words like “behoove” and “purview” to impress me, bub. But thanks for the translation.
ahhh gotcha.
Hey, everyone, don’t forget: the second hardcover volume of All Star Superman is due out in less than a month. It’ll be a great opportunity for anyone who didn’t follow this groin-grabbingly excellent series during its run.