DC has allowed Superman to grow stale and #MyPalSuperman can fix that. Hear me out…
A major bucket-list item got checked off when I thanked Dan Jurgens at the 2022 NYC Comic Con for helping me become a reader. For those of you who don’t know, Dan Jurgens is the man who wrote The Death of Superman comic book ark in the early 90s. And as we come up on the 30th anniversary, I’m reminded that the whole event not only had a major impact on the comic book world but on my life as well.
To be honest, I wasn’t much of a reader until well into high school. The first full book I ever willingly read cover-to-cover was the Rodger Stern’s novelization of Superman’s death and return.
And then I just kept reading. You may have noticed.
I’m now an AP English Language teacher who has written a dozen books and a dozen more short stories. I have a good career and a happy life and I feel that I owe a lot of that to the Strange Visitor from another planet that got me reading in the first place.
So now it’s my turn to do some good for #MyPalSuperman.
While I was talking to Dan Jurgens, I asked him if the panel had any plans on restoring Superman’s image. Over the last decade, people have been more interested in twisted versions like Homelander, Omni-man, and Brightburn. DC capitalized on this fad in the short term with the Injustice storyline, but that doesn’t fix the problem I recognized in my teens during the 90s. Superman had been allowed to become corny in a way that made him unwelcome. Edgier heroes like Wolverine and Spawn started gripping readers. Antiheroes became cool and true heroes became silly. Now, even the people who Superman rescues roll their eyes at him on the Harley Quinn show.
So Dan Jurgens, the man to whom I owe much of my voluntary literacy, stood there nodding as I rambled this at him and, to my surprise, this famous author shook his head and agreed with me, saying, “I don’t know why DC would degenerate their own IP.”
That got me thinking. About a week later, I figured out how to rehabilitate Superman to a modern audience.
The best part is that #MyPalSuperman is not a new haircut or an updated suit or grumpier personality. It’s not a recast or a cheap gimmick or fad that will be cringy in ten years. The work I’m doing is a shift in how Superman is SEEN by the people who owe him their lives.
As of right now, the #MyPalSuperman folder has a half-dozen ideas for scenes that show an ESTABLISHED Superman that can be added to the upcoming Man of Steel 2 or Black Adam vs Superman movies without interfering with the long-term plans that are being worked out as you read this.
Dwayne Johnson already said that Black Adam should be the one who throws the first punch against Superman. Don’t you want that moment to matter? #MyPalSuperman has that moment mastered along with a finish to this matchup that develops both characters further without either one losing face.
And I’m willing to tell James Gunn and Dwayne Johnson these ideas for nothing. Nothing. If they’re not interested, then I’ll happily thank them for their work and genuinely wish them well. If they like what I have to say, then we can keep talking because my ideas don’t stop here. That’s all I really want. For real, I have a great teaching job in Perth Amboy with top-tier students and a pension and health benefits. Yeah, I have a mortgage and car payments because I’m a regular guy, but I’m not struggling or looking for a change in my lifestyle at all.
I just want to do right by Superman.
So what’s it going to be? Three minutes on a video call with me will change how this world sees Superman for a generation.
I’m asking all of you, everyone reading this, to please share this post or video below until I get three minutes to pitch #MyPalSuperman to Dwayne Johnson and James Gunn. You won’t regret it. They won’t regret it. Promise.
Please share this video: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremiahkleckner/video/7161158980570582314?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en
Let’s restore superman’s image!
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Jeremiah Kleckner 