I have a couple of very specific loves in comics. The X-Men, the Legion of Super-Heroes, the New Warriors. Those are all teams, and when it comes to solo superheroes, it always comes back to Superman for me.

I’m very particular with Superman. As a kid with some fairly simple views, there was too much of the feeling that Superman = establishment = Reaganism and American militarism. Child Charlie was dumb and hadn’t read much Superman at the time.

The original film was breathtaking, and while I saw the Batman films far more than the Supermans, there was always something there which interested me. This powerful person up in the light, whose thoughts were always for other people. All that against the capitalist monster of Lex Luthor, the true form the billionaires take compared to Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark.

Compared to the team books, I pick up and drop Superman comics more often based on the people behind it and their version of Superman.

Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman was this perfect benevolent being who’s still incredibly human. The great idea of the god who thinks he’s a man versus Lex Luthor’s man who thinks he’s god. The selfless versus the selfish. When faced with his own mortality, Superman has to ‘fix’ anything he can as quick as he can. He needs to make sure the menagerie of alien monsters he looked after are safe, reveal his true self to Lois Lane, redeem Lex Luthor and save the world. And he does in beautiful fashion. 

Here’s Grant explaining some of what Superman means to them:

Kurt Busiek, Mark Waid and even Brian Michael Bendis have got it, with a Superman who’s nice, a bit cheesy, but never boringly grimdark or an easy stooge for the powerful. Bendis’ version had some rubbish villains but cemented him as a slightly cheesy dad type. For Superman, this feels like his true form. He is the ultimate dad after all. 

There was an attempt by JM Straczynski to have Superman get ‘Grounded’ and walk across America making very questionable JM Straczynski proclamations. The series itself almost had me bail from the comic until Chris Roberson came on board and in the second half of the arc it was revealed that someone’s misguided vengeance was forcing Superman to be conflicted, filled with doubt and making rubbish choices like supporting polluting companies against protestors because… jobs, I think? It ended with multi-dimensional Supermen creating a “Fortress of Solidarity”, a counter to the Fortress of Solitude. Another moment that had me welling up.

The current Absolute Superman has been a joy to read, with Superman going back to his socialist roots. The S doesn’t stand for ‘hope’ in this reality as it’s a grim reality. Instead it’s the sign for the labor caste of Kryptonians, with Lara and Jor-El raising Kal on a farm, their scientific minds banned from contributing. In the present, Superman’s helping miners and being hunted by private military contractors. It’s great.

So I’m quite particular with my Superman. He means a lot to me.

When Zack Snyder released a trailer for Man of Steel, my heart leapt. I found it awe-inspiring. My friend Steve and I watched MovieBob’s defences of Snyder’s other works, having only seen 300 and Watchmen by him. I checked the Twitter account of Chris Haley, a person who’s another very good, very specific Superman fan. He was optimistic.

Then I saw the film. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Snyder’s objectivism was incredibly present, the product placement, the prettily vengeful Clark Kent, the choice of his father to simply die rather than get rescued, the continued presence of Jor-El (he’s never good whenever he pops up). It was all disappointing. I remember a fight scene so long and uninteresting I could see phones lighting up like a sea of stars in the cinema.

And then Clark murdered Zod. The pair’s fight had caused several 9/11’s worth of damage, definitely killed people and then he killed Zod. There have already been thinkpieces about the scene, the many ways Superman could have avoided murdering. Snyder’s defence of Superman having to commit murder in order not to murder in the future and… that’s not how it works. Most of us have not murdered and wouldn’t murder people. I was so upset and have ranted for many more hours than a sane person should have about it.

I like James Gunn. Super felt like a dark, cynical superhero film but was still enjoyable unlike Kick-Ass which was better than its comic equivalent but had issues anyway. The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy are some of the better MCU movies and somehow managed to get normal people talking about people like Groot. The Suicide Squad was great, too. 

He’s not a perfect creator, but he gets the heart of these creations even when he’s taking darker and weirder edges. There’s an amount of MCU, “Well, that happened” humour, but it’s not always the case. When The Rock changed the balance of the DCEU by ending it and James Gunn was announced as the person behind the next version of DC in cinemas, I was okay with it. He cited some comics which weren’t just Dark Knight Returns and Death of Superman. His first choice of thing to show was Creature Commandos.

And now there’s a teaser for Superman: Legacy.

I watched it, and I feel like I’m in the same space as I was with the trailer for Man of Steel. There are some great visuals. There’s not enough to get too much of a feel for the characters, but we get way more than just Superman. There’s Krypto! You know, the super-dog! I love that it’s embracing things like Krypto and the pants-on-the-outside look which makes Superman’s costume look less like some generic MCU body armour. There’s Kekex, Superman’s robot. We get glimpses of Lois Lane, Mr Terrific and the wonderful weirdo Nicholas Hoult playing Lex Luthor. There are giant monsters and people chanting Superman’s name. 

I have my hopes up again. Hopefully this time it’ll be for good reason.