Superman 80th Anniversary Thread

[The Joker]

DC Comics house advertisement for late 1993 following the conclusion of the "Death of Superman/Funeral for a Friend/Reign of the Supermen" trilogy story arcs.

[thecolorsblend]

An interesting tidbit about Superman's return during/after the Reign Of The Supermen storyline was how his uniform was subtly different from what it was before.

First, arguably, the chest symbol was bigger than it had been before. This is a little subjective, granted. But it looked TO ME like the symbol was larger than it used to be.

Second, the cape seemed to get noticeably longer. Which, again, is kind of subjective. Different artists, different interpretations and so forth. But I always got the idea that the cape was longer, fuller and more "billowy".

Third, what's NOT subjective is the blue bodysuit shifting from a softer powder blue (which is what it had been up through the Doomsday storyline) over to more of a shade of navy blue. The bodysuit is undeniably darker than it had been before.

Fourth, there's obviously his long hair. Again, different artists interpreted "long hair" in different ways. Jackson Guice drew it as slightly mullety. Jon Bogdanove drew it like a rock star's hair. Finally, Tom Grummett and Dan Jurgens drew it as thick, flowing and just a bit longer than before.

Basically, after ROTS, Superman was drawn to more greatly resemble Dean Cain in the first few episodes of Lois & Clark. The larger chest symbol, the royal cape, the darker bodysuit and the hair were intended to match up with Dean Cain.

In the L&C pilot and in the first few episodes of L&C, Dean Cain had thick hair. And obviously, the various Superman artists interpreted "longer hair" in their own individual ways. And eventually, comic book Superman's hair looked not very much at all like Dean Cain's hair, esp after Cain got a haircut in the first season. But still, the intent seems to have been there.

For anyone who doubts this, keep in mind that the only reason that the Doomsday/Funeral For A Friend/Reign Of The Supermen trilogy ever existed in the first place is because Mike Carlin delayed Lois and Clark's wedding to (eventually) coincidence with Lois & Clark's eventual wedding. So, if Carlin was willing to throw out firmly laid plans for Lois and Clark to get married in the comics (and obviously, he was willing to do that), then why wouldn't he visually realign comic book Superman's appearance with TV Superman?

I can't prove any of the above about Superman's appearance. But the changes simply look too big and substantial AND TOO SIMILAR to L&C for me to think it was all just a big coincidence.

No, I think there was an editorial agenda going on with that stuff.