Last week, Polygon had a chance to sit down to a roundtable interview with comics luminaries Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, Daredevil), Joshua Williamson (The Flash, Batman & Robin), and Dan Slott (She-Hulk, Superior Spider-Man). Together, they’re behind DC Comics’ biggest current ongoing Superman books, and co-authors of Summer of Superman Special, the kickoff to a seasonal celebration of the Man of Steel ahead of James Gunn’s character-redefining flagship DC Films endeavor, Superman.
Williamson has been writing the character’s flagship book since 2023, while Waid penned the iconic, Superman-starring Kingdom Come series. Slott is new to DC, but not to superhero comics — between the three of them, their years of experience in writing superheroes adds up to about as long as Superman has existed. And yet, when asked what it means to be a caretaker of Superman right now, the whole group paused for several seconds. Then Waid answered: “Don’t screw up.”
“Don’t screw up,” Slott agreed.
“Yeah!” Williamson exclaimed. “It’s intimidating! I’m glad you guys said that, because I don’t want to bullshit anybody. Definitely, it’s intimidating.”
All three writers are carving out their own Superman silos this summer, in three series either launching or starting new arcs in April, May, and June.
Williamson — one of the architects of DC’s All In initiative, encompassing new creative teams, new directions for books, and the highly successful Absolute Universe — is first out of the gate with a new story arc that starts in the double-length Superman #25, drawn by Dan Mora and hitting shelves on April 23. And he said that Superman remains at the heart of DC Comics’ biggest plans for 2025 and beyond.
“Everything in the DCU really centers around Superman,” he said, referring especially to All In. While the Absolute Universe, created by Darkseid for nebulous and nefarious reasons, is one half of All In’s overarching narrative throughline, he says Superman stands at the core of All In’s story in the main timeline.
“That’s a major piece of what we’re doing with All In,” Williamson said, “and you’re going to see that over the course of the next year. I’m glad we called it Summer of Superman, but it isn’t just going to be a summer of Superman, it’s going to be much more. […] In terms of the actual publishing footprint, you’re going to see a lot of Superman stuff over the next year and plus; there’s a lot of really cool stuff that’s coming. Obviously, with Dan’s book that’s hitting right now, the movie’s coming out — Superman is very, very crucial to DC right now.”
Waid will take the writer’s reins on Action Comics starting with #1087, when he and artist Skylar Patridge will turn the book toward stories of Superman’s childhood in Smallville and his adventures as Superboy. The writer said he was looking forward to showcasing one citizen of the small Kansas town in particular.
“There’s a real joy to taking underserved characters, a lot of times — showing your take on them and explaining to people why you like them. […] Ma Kent actually plays a huge part [in Action Comics] not because anything’s wrong with Pa — Pa’s great, and Pa will be there. But I think Superman stories tend to be about fathers and sons a lot, and I think that we haven’t really done a huge deep dive in a long time on how much of an influence Martha, specifically, was on Clark growing up. And that’s a lot of fun to play with.”
Slott’s new title, Superman Unlimited, kicks off on May 21 and will focus on present Metropolis and the Daily Planet while featuring a new and nuanced threat. An asteroid has made kryptonite abundant and plentiful on Earth (again), and beneficial uses of the mineral have been discovered, dissuading Superman from finding some way to destroy it all. Superman will “still be able to lift an ocean liner over his head and fly it to the moon, but now his Achilles’ heel will be a little more exposed,” Slott said. But his intentions were far from a gritty or grounded take on Superman. He says he hoped to have the same shocking, outlandish hooks as he remembered on Silver Age Superman covers.
A longtime Marvel Comics writer best known for his wide-ranging run on Amazing Spider-Man, Slott said that after getting Unlimited, he went on the hunt for a Superman action figure for his desk. But he ran into a problem: In “all the action figures, he was scowling and angry and mean, and that wasn’t my Superman. It took me forever to find one where Superman was smiling.” He had a similar note for his Superman Unlimited collaborator, Rafael Albuquerque.
Slott described the cover of Superman Unlimited #2, featuring a battered, bloody Man of Steel raising his fists to defend against off-panel attackers armed with kryptonite knives and brass knuckles.
“My note to Rafa when he turned in the first sketch was, ‘He should still be smiling.’ He should be like, All right, show me what you got. I’m down, I’m hit, I’m hurt, but I’m still Superman. […] The minute we hit that one smile, everything’s been a cakewalk, because Superman has a whole wide range of feelings, but if you can get that smile… When you think of Christopher Reeve or George Reeves or all these classic Superman moments, Superman makes you feel good when he’s around, Superman’s looking out for you.”
All long-running comic book characters come with some tonal variance: Is this stoic detective Batman, or grim vigilante Batman? Quipping trickster Spider-Man, or dramatic soap opera hero Spider-Man? For creators, picking one of those tones inevitably earns pushback from the section of the audience that prefers another. This is especially true for characters whose cultural footprint exceeds the reach of their actual media — like Superman.
The phenomenon has been particularly apparent in the last year, in the response to clips and photos from James Gunn’s Superman. It seems like each new look at the movie summons a wave of hot takes about how a picture of Superman putting his boots on is insufficiently masculine, or that showing him responding to pain with less than unflappable stoicism is insufficiently heroic. Bad-faith comments or not, there are plenty of folks out there who are perfectly fine, if not fully positive, on a scowling Superman action figure.
But though Waid, Slott, and Williamson might worry about screwing it up, or find all that attention intimidating, they’re forging ahead with their own visions of Superman, in the character’s home: comic books. Being one of Superman’s caretakers can be intimidating, but to Williamson, it’s more important now than ever. “Superman is really easy to get wrong and really easy to get right. I would rather take the ‘Get it right’ path, especially in this moment where I think there are a lot of eyes on Superman. But we need Superman. […] You just don’t want to screw it up.”
Summer of Superman Special hits shelves on April 16, with art from Jorge Jiménez.
Source：https://www.polygon.com/comics/559501/superman-summer-special-dc-comics-waid-williamson-slott
