DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » No limits: J. Michael Straczynski on SUPERMAN, WONDER WOMAN

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » No limits: J. Michael Straczynski on SUPERMAN, WONDER WOMAN

No limits: J. Michael Straczynski on SUPERMAN, WONDER WOMAN

Monday, March 8th, 2010

By Alex Segura

One of my very earliest memories as a child is of watching one of the Superman cartoons created by Max Fleischer. In particular, a scene where Superman puts his cape around Lois Lane to protect her from an incoming tide of molten metal. I imprinted on that image like a baby duck, and a lot of what I laughingly call my personality was formed in that moment (which is why a cel-recreation of that image is one of the first things you see upon entering my home, before you get to the row of wall after wall covered with artwork by Alex Ross, Curt Swan and others, as well as just about every bit of Superman memorabilia ever produced).

sm_cv700-copy

As a kid growing up in the mean streets of New Jersey, Superman was an icon for me. It was a tough life: we moved about 21 times in my first 17 years, we didn’t have much money, and every day was a struggle. When I told grown-ups that I was going to be a writer someday, nobody listened, nobody thought I had a chance, because as far as teachers were concerned, kids like me who came from nowhere and nothing were dead-enders, destined to end up working at the gas station at best or in jail at worst. Writers were supposesd to be Ivory Tower guys with leather patches on the elbows of their smoking jackets, who went to the right schools and came from the right families. I lived in the world of No, a place populated by bullies and street fights and tenements, with no possibility of escape.

But Superman…see, Superman could do anything. If there was someplace he didn’t want to be, he could just fly away. And he couldn’t be hurt, which to a kid who got beat up pretty regularly in fights and elsewhere was a pretty attractive idea. Superman taught me the morals and ethics I draw up on to this day: to play fair, not to lie, and to be willing to put yourself between harm and those you care about.

If Superman could do anything, then maybe I had a chance. Maybe I could become a writer. Maybe I could even learn to fly. That symbol, the S, became a badge for me, and growing up I always made sure I had it somewhere on me, like a shaman’s charm. That may sound silly, and from a grown-up perspective it probably is silly, but as Henry Kissinger once said, it has the added benefit of being true. And it helped me get through the hard times, which is why I continue that practice to this day…right now it’s on a key-chain in my pocket.

For me, and I suspect for a lot of people, that symbol stands for the belief in our own potentiality, in what we think we can do, and try, and aspire to. I was watching the news recently, and they were showing Palistinian protests, followed by a story on the night life scene in LA, and later on, a live report from London about somethingorother…and in the background of each of those stories there was somebody wearing a Superman t-shirt or cap. It’s universal.

And there’s a reason for that, a secret no one knows, but I’ll tell you, because of how long I’ve known you, and our longstanding friendship.

And the secret is this:

The Superman symbol is Kryptonian for No Limits.

And whether or not you speak Kryptonian (or Kryptonese), you know that…you know that deep inside, where even the cynicism of the world cannot reach.

I’ve told this story before in other places, so at risk of being redundant…back a few years ago, I was at the Chicago Comic Con when a guy in his 20s grabbed a bunch of expensive stuff off a table in the dealer’s room and made a run for it. The ownere ran after him down the aisle, yelling “stop him!” As he came in my direction, everybody parted like the Red Sea.

I brought him down like a gazelle, and we held him untnil the police showed up.

Afterward, one of the con organizers said to me, “Why’d you do that? He’s a big guy, you could’ve gotten hurt.”

And I pointed to where I’d been standing when it happened: right in front of a ten-foot-tall cutout of Superman. “How could I stand in front of that, in front of him,” I said, “and do nothing?”

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As Superman has been for me, so Wonder Woman has been for a lot of women readers, so the chance to dive into that character is something I’m eagerly anticipating. This is a strong, mythic, powerful character who for some time now has been kind of drowning under the weight of her own mythos, so I’m looking forward to paring away some of the layers of debris and undergrowth that have piled up around her in order to get to the core of the character. Coming from the world of TV and film, the first rule you learn is to service the main character more than anything else, so I’ll be writing with an eye firmly fixed on that rule.

As part of that process, we’re going to be looking more closely at how Wonder Woman appears, and functions, and her role in the DCU…and what we have planned will, we hope, come across as dynamic and powerful as she deserves to be.

Similarly, we plan to bring Superman back to his roots, to really explore who he is…how he sees us, and how we see him, in a much more personal way than we’ve seen in a while. This is part of a larger effort that will have national ramifications, but I can’t say much more about it than that for now. Keep an eye on this website for more information when the time is right…but for now, let’s just say that Superman may be a lot closer in proximity to you, the reader, than you ever guessed.

To kick off both efforts by appearing in the anniversary issues of these two characters is a great opportunity, and a good jumping-on point for readers.

If there’s any other message in this to readers, it’s in these two characters as icons of hope, that it doesn’t make any difference where you come from, or where you went to school, or who you are, there’s hope. That a kid from Jersey with Superman as the icon that kept him alive for years would one day end up writing the character is as absoutely unlikely as it is utterly inevitable. And if that’s true for me, it’s true for you, if you follow your dreams and your passions in full flight.

Don’t give up.

No Limits.

It’s never too late to learn to fly.

J. Michael Straczynski

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » J. Michael Straczynski to write SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN, starting in July

I have mixed emotions on this one, I love JMS’s work; but his history of disappearing in the middle of a project (The Twelve) leaves me concerned.

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » J. Michael Straczynski to write SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN, starting in July

J. Michael Straczynski to write SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN, starting in July

Monday, March 8th, 2010

By Alex Segura

It’s go time, folks.

Starting in July with SUPERMAN #701 and WONDER WOMAN #601, superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski — a man who’s created layered and compelling characters and worlds on the big screen, on television and across the comic book spectrum — dives head-first into the DC Universe by taking the ongoing writing reins for two-thirds of the fabled DCU trinity.

We’ll have more details about who’ll be teaming with JMS on both titles — not to mention the exciting new directions he’ll be pointing our heroes toward — in the coming months. But today is about JMS and how he sees these great characters and what they stand for.

Later today we’ll be posting an essay from the writer, nailing in a few paragraphs what makes the Man of Steel and Wonder Woman such important parts of our cultural mythology. In my day-to-day here at DC, I see a lot of amazing things cross my desk. Images, new titles, plot directions, you name it. But this essay is something special. It had me rooting for these characters in a whole new way. It’s that good.

But before we get there, let’s touch base with JMS about this news. Take it away, sir:

“For as long as I’ve been doing conventions (starting in the early Cretaceous period, when it was just me and a handful of pterosaurs on a panel debating whether or not mammals with opposable thumbs were really necessary to the writing of quality comics, a point still hotly debated today), there has always been the same question from folks in the audience: “Is there any one character who is your dream character to write for?” The answer has always been the same: Superman. When I first came over to DC, that dream was realized in part by Dan DiDio’s gracious invitation to write the first of potentially many Superman original graphic novels. Now the dream has come fully true with the opportunity to write for the mainstream title, in a story that returns Superman to his roots in a way that will have the whole country talking about him in ways that we haven’t seen in a long time.

Similarly, the chance to write Wonder Woman — the nearest analogue to Superman in the DCU — is massively exciting. She’s a vital, powerful character, and we hope to bring a more contemporary sensibility to her character will retaining everything that makes her unique.

That DC is willing to jump-start these two runs in the pages of their respective anniversary issues is a great opportunity and a vote of confidence in what we have planned for these characters. I’m looking forward to this with more excitement than words can convey.

It’s gonna be a blast.”

It’s A Bird! It’s A Plane! It’s Chris Nolan! He’ll Mentor Superman 3.0 And Prep 3rd Batman – Nikki Finke on Deadline.com/hollywood

Hollywood Entertainment Breaking News – Nikki Finke on Deadline.com/hollywood

It’s A Bird! It’s A Plane! It’s Chris Nolan! He’ll Mentor Superman 3.0 And Prep 3rd Batman
By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING | Category: Uncategorized | Tuesday February 9, 2010 @ 6:50am

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is trying to ready its DC Comics stalwart Superman to soar again on the Big Screen, and the studio has turned to Chris Nolan to mentor development of the movie. Our insiders say that the brains behind rebooted Batman has been asked to play a “godfather” role and ensure The Man Of Steel gets off the ground after a 3 1/2-year hiatus. Nolan’s leadership of the project can set it in the right direction with the critics and the fans, not to mention at the box office. Besides, Nolan is considered something of a god at Warner Bros and has a strong relationship with the studio after the success of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Though he wasn’t obligated to do so, he gave the studio first crack at his spec script Inception, and Warner Bros was able to buy it before other studios even got a sniff. While Nolan completes that Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer for a July 16th release, he’s also hatched an idea for Warner Bros’ third Batman installment. Now his brother and frequent collaborator Jonah Nolan, and David Goyer who co-wrote Batman Begins and penned the story for The Dark Knight, are off scripting it. (See ‘FlashForward’ Showrunner Exits For Features).

Let us emphasize that Superman 3.0 is in the early stages of development. And we doubt Nolan would direct. This wouldn’t be a sequel to Superman Returns but a completely fresh franchise. As one of our insiders reassures: “It would definitely not be a followup to Superman Returns.” Nolan coming on board follows a hiatus period for Superman after that 2006 reboot as the studio tried to figure out whether or not to make a sequel to that version starring Brandon Routh directed by Bryan Singer. As recently as this summer, Warner Bros was still contemplating how to proceed. We were told that “Bryan or Brandon are not completely out of it yet. But Warner Bros doesn’t have a handle yet on it, either. [Producer] Jon Peters is trying to make something happen since he stands to benefit financially. But they [the studio] need to hear a great story that makes sense.” Another insider explained to us, “We know what we don’t want to do. But we don’t know what we want to do. We learned a lot from the last movie, and we want to get it right this time.”

Fans have long been yearning for Superman to finally get the big screen Nolan-ized treatment this classic superhero deserves. Warner Bros clearly has learned from its attempt to follow the mediocre 1978-1985 quartet of movies starring Christopher Reeve and produced by Ilya and Alexander Salkind, with 2006’s underwhelming Superman Returns. That inbetween period was plagued by long delays and budget troubles and script misses. In 1997, original Batman director Tim Burton tried to make a Superman movie starring Nicolas Cage. Around 2004, J.J. Abrams wrote a film that was the first leg of a trilogy. Abrams wanted to direct, but had only directed episodes of his TV series (and wouldn’t make his feature directing debut until 2006’s Mission:Impossible III. McG and Brett Ratner separately were attached to that film. Ratner got closest, but Warner Bros was wary of a budget that swelled to $250 million, and which seemed risky after established star Josh Hartnett turned down the 3-picture deal that could have brought him $100 million in salary. After that, Warner Bros bosses didn’t embrace Ratner’s s choice of soap opera actor Matt Bomer to star.

Other prominent filmmakers were reportedly in the loop, but Warner Bros never pulled the trigger on the picture until Bryan Singer’s involvement. Singer’s Superman Returns was respectably reviewed for the genre. But it turned in only $52 million opening weekend, and $391 million worldwide gross. Problem was it cost too much (the budget was reportedly $270 million), and the promotion was lousy (Joel Silver was brought in at the last minute to inject macho into the marketing campaign). Worse, it left diehard fans only “meh” about a sequel starring Routh. Singer fared better, but it seems doubtful he’ll be asked for an encore now. After all, Singer is now developing the spinoff X-Men: First Class for 20th Century Fox whose bosses were furious when he took on The Man Of Steel reboot instead of helming X-Men 3. But Singer and the studio subsequently made peace and he’s back in the Fox fold and on board.

The restructuring of Warner Bros’ business with DC Comics became Warner Bros Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov’s first priority since having his contract reupped by Time Warner last summer. Problems have plagued the DC Comics-Warner Bros relationship for more than a decade. But the biggest failure has been to leave the most valuable DC Comics characters in movie development limbo by chaotically starting and stopping development on the high profile live action pics. Most recently, Warner Bros and DC Comics are finally getting their act together as evidenced by the progress on Green Lantern.

Superman 3.0 would test Warner Bros veteran executive Diane Nelson, the head of DC Entertainment Inc, that new company founded to fully realize and integrate the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms into Warner Bros Entertainment’s content and distribution businesses. Nelson especially was charged with suping up Superman again because it’s way too valuable to leave dormant like this. Besides, the clock is ticking.

Attorney Marc Toberoff, who keeps suing Warner Bros on behalf of creative rightsholders, warns that, in 2013, the Jerome Siegel heirs along with the estate of co-creator Joe Shuster will own the entire original copyright to Superman — “and neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros will be able to exploit any new Superman works without a license from the Siegels and Shusters”. He’s also pointed out that, if Warner Bros does not start production on a new Superman sequel or reboot by 2011, the Siegels could sue to recover their damages on the grounds that the deal should have contained a clause in which the rights returned to the owners after a given time if no film was in development. The heirs of Siegel have already been awarded half the copyright for Superman. And in 2013 the heirs of co-creator Joe Shuster get the remaining half. After that, neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros will be able to use Superman without a financial agreement with the heirs. There are also stipulations on what parts of the origins story can be used in future Superman movies and which require re-negotiations with the creators’ heirs or estates.

At first, Warner Bros felt no pressure to rush out another Superman pic. As Warner Bros chairman Alan Horn told a court hearing about rights to Superman, he hoped to make another Superman movie but no film was in development, no script had been written, and the earliest he foresaw another Superman film released would be 2012. He told the judge: “We had hopes to keep the character alive and to once again reinvent Superman. Our hope is to develop a Superman property and to try again. What hurt us is that the reviews and so on for the Superman movie did not get the kind of critical acclaim that Batman got, and we have other issues with Superman that concern us.”

So Warner Bros is now bringing in Batman’s saviour. What Nolan would do with the Superman character and story is intriguing to say the least. And he has the experience necessary of prepping and pepping a played-out franchise. The 2005 Batman Begins grossed $373 million worldwide on a reported $150 million budget. And of course 2008’s The Dark Knight crossed the $1 billion worldwide gross mark on a reported $185 million budget (and Heath Ledger posthumously won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor).

But Batman has always been The Dark Knight. But there’s a big difference between Superman’s cinematic incarnation and comic-book version. Warner Brothers and DC Comics for a long time weren’t sure which version they liked better. The cinematic version has been squeaky clean, occasionally campy, and has more-or-less unlimited power except when confronted with Kryptonite. The comic book version has some limits on his powers, can be darker, and fights aliens a lot more. Shortly after Dark Knight hit it big, fans assumed that Superman would be taken to the “dark” side as well. That’s because Warner Bros mogul Jeff Robinov stressed post-Dark Knight that “we have to look at how to make these movies edgier”. One of our insiders interpreted this to say: “He meant more sophisticated.”

A more comic-accurate Superman seems like the way to go. No need to worry: Chris Nolan knows what he’s doing

Book Review: The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J. Anderson – Blogger News Network

» Book Review: The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J. Anderson – Blogger News Network

Book Review: The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J. Anderson
Posted on September 30th, 2008
by Fitz in All News, Book Reviews, Reviews
Read 153 times.

Hi all…

Wow. It’s been a long time since I’ve been drawn into a story where I already knew the ending, let alone a science fiction story straight from the comic book universe. Kevin J Anderson has written a compelling tale of the end of days on Krypton and the birth of a comic book legend… Kal-El, also known as Superman.

It’s strange reading or watching a story where you know what’s going to happen. We’ve seen the end of the planet Krypton on the big screen and in comic books over the years, but never to this kind of detail. I now feel like I know Superman’s parents — Jor-El and Lara — and some of his extended family, and how bits and pieces from Superman lore fit into his past. And I was sad when it all ended.

The Last Days of Krypton, Paperback CoverLike watching the Titanic sink in the movie, you knew it was coming. It wasn’t a secret. In this case, we knew Krypton was going to explode into a bazillion pieces killing nearly everyone. Kal-El was the sole survivor (well, sort of), sent in a small spaceship to earth to survive his destroyed world.

We knew of General Zod, Aethyr, and Namek, the three Kryptonian super-villains who tormented the Earth in Superman II. Clark gave up a normal, happy life to stop these foes from doing to Earth what they did to Krypton. But we never knew why they were really locked in the Phantom Zone all those years. They were criminals of the highest order, but how did they become those criminals?

All of these questions are answered in spectacular fashion by Anderson’s prose.

This should be required reading for all Superman fans. How else can you come to understand the underpinnings of all Kal-El stands for? Truth and justice? Yes, but why? Because he was raised by John and Martha Kent? Well, yes, but it goes back much farther than that to his biological father.

I am still amazed at how much of the DC Superman lore was worked into this book, and how seamlessly it all flows together. How did Krypton die? Read the book. You won’t be disappointed.

Learn amazing things like…

* Kal-El had an Aunt and Uncle! And a Grandmother and Grandfather!
* Lara (Kal-El’s Mother) was much more than just a pretty face in Superman The Movie!
* Aethyr and Namek actually had back stories!
* Jonn J’onzz (the Martian Manhunter) sent a signal from Mars actually received by Jor-El on Krypton!
* And much much more!

The paperback version of the book that I read has a beautifully rendered lenticular cover with the Superman logo. It’s now on sale in bookstores everywhere and retails for $7.99.

Kevin J. Anderson, the author, has written and published more than 90 novels, and been nominated for several awards including the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and teh SFX Reader’s Choice Award. He’s not only written several novels himself, but collaborated on a number of novel series, including Star Wars, the X-Files, and Dune. And he also writes comic books in his spare time.

Plus, it’s always nice to find a Colorado connection… He lives in Monument, Colorado, which is just north of Colorado Springs, Colorado where I live.

Check out his website at http://www.wordfire.com.

This is a great book and a “must read” for any true Superman fan!

–Fitz