Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Great Moments In Bad Predictions--"Probably Not"

From DC's Ask The Answer Man column in February 1980 issues:

Uh, sorry, Bob Rozakis...

...but the question did say "ever."

Yeah, I know that Lex has had his own books before--assorted one-shots and mini-series--but now Luthor's taking over Action Comics!! And DC is actually bragging that they've kicked Superman out (again) of the magazine he started in!!

I've nothing against Luthor getting some spotlight time (although it's sad that DC seems to think that such a great character needs to piggyback on Blackest Night to be interesting). But Action Comics? It's now been 15 issues since Kal-El has appeared in Action Comics, and while it's not clear yet how long this Luthor story will run, it seems likely we'll be pushing two years without Superman in the comic that started it all...

Again...is DC weaning us off of Superman? 943 days...

2 comments:

Mark Engblom said...

Once again, I think you're on to something, Snell. There really does seem to be some under-playing of Superman afoot, and the legal mess seems to be the most likely culprit.

As for the Luthor stint in Action, I'm not buying it....literally! This will be the first new issue of Action Comics I haven't picked up since the mid-80's (shortly before the Byrne reboot). Believe me, I've stuck with Action through some horrendously bad periods (and many more flat-out bland periods), but following a year with no Superman with more of the same thing is the last straw. I suppose focusing on a major cast member like Luthor is a step up from the coma-inducing boredom of the new Flamebird and Nightwing (and it's cringe-worthy artwork), but the Orange Lantern angle leaves me cold. An illogical minor element of Blackest Night (at best), Luthor pursuing Orange Lantern-like power...and back at LexCorp...holds zero appeal for me.

So....sayonara to Action Comics for the foreseeable future.

snell said...

Well, I'll give it a couple of issues. I sat out the Rucka Nightwing/Flamebird stuff, but a) I like Luthor as a character (albeit not the way he's been handled the past few years) and b) I've got a lot of respect for Cornell's writing. So they've got a couple of issues to convince me...