Ben wrote:
I'm a bit scared that, yes, we're going to get "Superman Begins"...not so much worried about the tone or (actually a lack of) darkness, but that the story might just be the same over again (my guess is these scenes show Clark finding himself).
Let's face it: if Goyer's big idea was just to say there have been no Superman films previously, that's a little nuts. Donner's movie casts a long, long shadow, although I'd be interested to know what you mean by "the first half hour", Eric, because Krypton takes up the first 25 minutes, and it's the second half hour that has all the Smallville stuff in it. In a brilliant movie, we don't meet Superman until over 50 minutes in.
Until I see more I can't say I'm more excited than I was for Singer's evil film, and look how THAT turned out!
IMHO, David Goyer is an awful writer...
Why comic fans think he's great is beyond me; my own experience is that most comic fans barely understand English let alone story construction --- and that's why we have so many hacks in the comic industry now. Ditto for the majority of the film adaptations, too.
Haven't cared for any of the films Goyer's written and his comics have been forgettable.
He's only part of the problem at any rate. You can't blame it all on one person. It's a whole mess of mediocre personnel -- bunch of business types and suck-ups -- who have no business being in creative positions/power of authority that are screwing everything up at DC nowadays. I half-expected this to happen when Warner Bros announced the DC Comics consolidation -- there was going to be little good coming out of that reorganization once the bean counters and their suck-ups at WB took over the company. This was a move that the past DC executive regime tried to stall for well over 20 years according to rumor; they knew what was going to happen when the studio took over and the Hollywood types (Didio, Johns, and yes, even Jim Lee) took over DC. The officers of that regime retired/resigned when the cattle finally got rounded up and the rebranding of the characters began!
Right now, DC Comics' editorial board on Superman the comic series is essentially the same production team that worked on the Man of Steel movie.
That many cooks -- and especially people who have no idea of the history beyond Cliffs Notes (they MAYBE watched one of the Christopher Reeve movies -- or god help us, Superman Returns!) -- doesn't generally lead to anything but mediocrity. There's basically little to no big plan in place... It's all about throwing @#$@ at the wall and seeing what sticks.
The past year of the "new 52" initiative has been uninspiring and put the whole DC Universe into a creative rut as editorial (Dan Didio/Jim Lee/Geoff Johns/studio production staff) tries to figure out WHAT characters still exist and what the history is. In their "inestimable" wisdom, the powers-that-be compressed the DCU into FIVE years of existence and wiped out the vast majority of continuity and stories that existed before.
There is no longer a Golden Age...
There is a general loathing for any MATURE character that's over 30 years old now...
No Justice Society existed to inspire the Justice League...
Batman operated with at least 3 Robin's over 5 years... (Huh?)
The charm and hope the big characters brought (in the past) has been replaced by fear, mistrust, and a general isolation from the population and outright disdain for the people they're SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING!
And
this is supposed to bring in new readers or attract children????
None of this makes no sense!
The whole initiative was NOT PLANNED OUT anything like well in advance (a project like this should have been a minimum of three years prep, five years being better prep time -- instead it was planned in less than a year with most of the major subplots and history being left blank) and it has had an impact on DC's film projects outside of the (presumably concluding) Batman series.
Meanwhile, Superman is NOT doing well as three creative teams have left the self-titled comic in the past year and the main creative engine (the writer) over on Action Comics is NOT TELLING ANYONE WHAT HE'S UP TO!
Same old story with DC there -- massive egos and lack of communication.
Maybe this upcoming movie will be more cohesive than the comics are now????
