Superman: Secret Origin Discussion *Spoilers*

I enjoyed issue 2, but it still feels 'wrong' on so many levels to have Clark become Superboy. The Legion stuff wasn't as offensive as I thought it might be, but it was still largely pointless, other than to set up (or rather, make sense of) Johns' previous arcs involving them.

The Luthor stuff was pretty cool, I guess, although he seems to be more 'smarmy' than hateful.

So far, I just can't really see how Johns is going to pull this together and make it the new 'best' Superman origin ever. So far, it's just a bit of a mess of tributes to previous versions that don't gel well together. There's none of the magic that made 'Man of Steel' or 'Birthright' or even the various other media versions so good.
 
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I enjoyed issue 2, but it still feels 'wrong' on so many levels to have Clark become Superboy. The Legion stuff wasn't as offensive as I thought it might be, but it was still largely pointless, other than to set up (or rather, make sense of) Johns' previous arcs involving them.

The Luthor stuff was pretty cool, I guess, although he seems to be more 'smarmy' than hateful.

So far, I just can't really see how Johns is going to pull this together and make it the new 'best' Superman origin ever. So far, it's just a bit of a mess of tributes to previous versions that don't gel well together. There's none of the magic that made 'Man of Steel' or 'Birthright' or even the various other media versions so good.

I was pretty pissed off about it. It cemented that this is just another Legion reboot and not picking up at some point in the originals continuity. I was willing to let some things slide for the sake of restoration, but Johns just changed too much from the beginning.

The rest of the issue was fine, but not near the level of #1. I'm hoping #3 turns it around.

This one did have whats become my biggest problem with Johns writing anymore. Scene recycling. Like the death of Hal Jordans father in Green Lantern we yet again see the Legion/Clark Kent meetup with a few added lines at the beginning and end. Its getting annoying.
 
Just to re-iterate, I hated issue one a whole lot more than issue two.

Clark: "OMG Ma an Pa! I just saved Lana and I want to save other people and I wanna do this all the time!"

Ma: "Okay Clark! I'll make you a suit!"

Superboy: "This suit is gay."

Issue One summarised. Mark Waid spent two 22-page issues accomplishing what Geoff Johns was able to do in two panels.
 
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Issue 3. Good. Much better than 2. The name check on Metallo was odd. Doesn't the solicit for 6 have them fighting? And I'm not sure why Luthors face was hidden.

Anyway. I loved the Daily Planet bits. I think that might be my favorite part of Johns on Superman, he's really made the supporting cast pop. I'm fine with The Planet struggling too. If you'd have told me that ahead of time i'd have probably beenannoyed but I think it worked fine. And the bit where Lois uses Clark? Great stuff.
 
wow, there were a LOT of nods to Donner's Superman movie in issue three.

I think I've come to the conclusion that Superman: Secret Origin is well written, but the story is disjointed. Each issue is a vignette of different times in Supes' life with a few threads that link the issues together. I think if Johns had written a mini about Clark as superboy with the legion and a mini about Clark's first months in metropolis, etc they would all have been much cooler than this.
 
wow, there were a LOT of nods to Donner's Superman movie in issue three.

I think I've come to the conclusion that Superman: Secret Origin is well written, but the story is disjointed. Each issue is a vignette of different times in Supes' life with a few threads that link the issues together. I think if Johns had written a mini about Clark as superboy with the legion and a mini about Clark's first months in metropolis, etc they would all have been much cooler than this.

Unfortunately, I agree.
 
wow, there were a LOT of nods to Donner's Superman movie in issue three.

I think I've come to the conclusion that Superman: Secret Origin is well written, but the story is disjointed. Each issue is a vignette of different times in Supes' life with a few threads that link the issues together. I think if Johns had written a mini about Clark as superboy with the legion and a mini about Clark's first months in metropolis, etc they would all have been much cooler than this.

I concur. Something like the old Byrne minis, World of Smallville, World of Metropolis. I wish he had stayed with Smallville. He barely touched on, well, everything there. Issue two was mainly an expansion of a scene he had already written, and it ended on Krypto coming, which really deserved something more then just him barking.
 
So I read Superman: Birthright yesterday...

Secret Origins was a waste of energy. Birthright is AMAZING and no other origin need be told.

I think Johns really should have just written a Superboy and the Legion mini that involved the Legion meeting him as a kid, giving him a suit to wear, and then after several adventures, Brainiac 5 erasing them from his memory. There was no reason to retcon Birthright, Johns should have worked within its continuity.
 
I have read both. I feel that Birthright is an excellent Superman origin but Secret Origin is different - it's an origin of the Superman mythos in general. That's why we're getting Superboy, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and now the villains... it's not just about Superman. I think Johns knew Birthright was a great origin and that it would be hard to beat, which is why he is focusing on all of these other things as well.
 
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I have read both. I feel that Birthright is an excellent Superman origin but Secret Origin is different - it's an origin of the Superman mythos in general. That's why we're getting Superboy, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and now the villains... it's not just about Superman. I think Johns knew Birthright was a great origin and that it would be hard to beat, which is why he is focusing on all of these other things as well.

Well then he should have made it fit in with Birthright's continuity rather than ignoring it. Like I said before, I think Secret Origins should have been a mini about his time with the Legion as a boy, which he was then made to forget in order to protect the time stream.

I don't mind that Supes met the legion as a kid, I think that's a cool idea. But it does annoy me that an amazing origin story was written 5-6 years ago and it's being retconned this soon with something that isn't as well written or interesting. I love Geoff John's stuff, but Secret Origins isn't a story, it's a bunch of snapshots of Clark Kent's life, each underdeveloped. Birthright only addresses a few parts of Clarks childhood through flashbacks, Secret Origins should have just filled in the gaps.
 
captaincanuck66 said:
Well then he should have made it fit in with Birthright's continuity rather than ignoring it.

Birthright hasn't been in continuity since Infinite Crisis. I doubt Geoff Johns even has the option to reference it (as I presume it's an editorial thing to establish the "current" Superman origin the fans were demanding (and there's also that whole thing about how DC told Mark Waid he would never write Superman again but I don't know if that has anything to do with it)).

Johns is doing the same thing he did with Green Lantern's origin in that arc. He's going back and telling specific bits rather than the whole thing, which we've all seen before, and throwing in hints to what is to come.

I am going to wait until it is over before I declare it a failure... I'm sure the same sort of arguments appeared when Birthright was announced and fans said that it was unnecessary because Man of Steel was so good.
 
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Birthright hasn't been in continuity since Infinite Crisis. I doubt Geoff Johns even has the option to reference it (as I presume it's an editorial thing to establish the "current" Superman origin the fans were demanding (and there's also that whole thing about how DC told Mark Waid he would never write Superman again but I don't know if that has anything to do with it)).

Johns is doing the same thing he did with Green Lantern's origin in that arc. He's going back and telling specific bits rather than the whole thing, which we've all seen before, and throwing in hints to what is to come.

I am going to wait until it is over before I declare it a failure... I'm sure the same sort of arguments appeared when Birthright was announced and fans said that it was unnecessary because Man of Steel was so good.

okay, fair enough. I didn't mean to call the whole project a failure or blame Johns for usurping Waid. I understand that this has been in the works since Infinite Crisis and I have no idea what DC told Waid about him writing Superman. What I do know is that I don't even care much for Superman, but that I was hooked from the first page of Birthright. It's not often that I read something that I read in one sitting, especially when it's 12 issues long. But Superman: Birthright was one of those rare stories that just sucked me in. I loved every minute of it, from page one to page done. (i know that was lame, but i don't know how many pages there were).

Whoever decided that Superman needed a new origin after Infinite Crisis was wrong.
 
Whoever decided that Superman needed a new origin after Infinite Crisis was wrong.

Indeed. And now he's going to have another one in this Earth One book... they just feel way too close together. It's like a remake of a movie coming out a year after the original.
 
So I read Superman: Birthright yesterday...

Secret Origins was a waste of energy. Birthright is AMAZING and no other origin need be told.

I think Johns really should have just written a Superboy and the Legion mini that involved the Legion meeting him as a kid, giving him a suit to wear, and then after several adventures, Brainiac 5 erasing them from his memory. There was no reason to retcon Birthright, Johns should have worked within its continuity.

I just got Birthright for Christmas and you know what I think mister...

You're absolutely right. Poor idea DC, this is what your next movie should based off of.
 

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