How to write superman well.

Many people are convinced that superman is a character that is impossible to write relatable or approachable. He's too powerful, he's too perfect, yadda yadda yadda. The way to make superman interesting is very simple, write him like clark Kent. Don't write him as an infallible, uber confident alien God, but instead as the somewhat dorky, affable farm boy. I think this my problem with a lot of superman stories, particularly Man of Steel. When he's written like the alien superman, he's too perfect to be approachable, and he doesn't have the wisdom or trauma of J'onn J'onzz to make him interesting.

No sh*t, Sherlock

@fuzzylittlerodent: then why do so many writers make this mistake?

@darktimecop: IMO it's impossible to make Superman interesting

Actually writers have been writing Superman well from decades. Grant Morrison , Mark Waid , Elliot S Maggin, Joe Kelly , Alan Moore ,Greg Rucka, Jeph Loeb, John Bryne even Garth Ennis (same guy who doesn't cares about superheroes) wrote him just fine.

youmhave completly missed the point of the character if that's what you. Clark Kent and Superman are not two separate characters like Batman and Bruce they are the same person. Superman even thought he is an alien is the most human character in the DCU. So to have his mythos filled with tradable and dylema just changes the character to much for it to be superman. The whole point of the character is to inspire hope, he is just as lickly to save a cat from a tree as he is to save the world from a giant comet.

@moul: seriously, did somebody kill your dog while wearing a Superman t-shirt when you were a kid? You seem to have some sort of personal vendeta against Superman

@fuzzylittlerodent: you win comment of the day.

@moul: True

It's not impossible to make Supes interesting, it's just hard.

Supermans only hard to write interestingly when restricted to a single comic or forced to be a generic superhero.

@fuzzylittlerodent: seriously, is Superman your father or brother? you seem to have some personal vendeta against who don't like him :-)

@moul: do you actually see me geting into arguments and defending him that often? No I believe every person has a right to have an opinion. But seriously, I see you all the time with your discrimination against kryptonians. Feels like you try to prove something

@fuzzylittlerodent: Nope, I don't like him, that's all. "Discrimination against kryptonians" LOL

Well, the New 52 stripped away most of his connection with the human world (killing the Kents, his marriage to Lois, etc) DC seems to be uninterested in Clark Kent. That's a major problem with DC's approach to Superman for the last several years. Almost all the time he is in costume in his comics, there is hardly any time when we get to see him as Clark.

@rdclip: One of the many reasons the new 52 sucks hard.

I like Superman: Earth One.

Ask Greg Pak

Write him like Grant Morrison and you're on the right track in my book.

I don't get the popular belief that Superman is unrelateable. Anybody who picks up anything of his by Waid, Rucka, Straczynski, or Morrison would relate.

All Star Superman should be required reading, for people who want to write the character.

Just get him out of the JL and let him be his own hero. Cut out the dependability and the inconsistencies, more time for Lois, Jimmy and the rest. He already has the best, dynamic and most formidable villains just make every show down dynamically epic . Perhaps more space exploration with acquisition of knowledge from all over.

make him do more destruction like marvel's heavy hitters

....................cuz feats >>>>>>>>>>>> story > character

Superman is arguably the most uninteresting and unrelatable superhero in all of comics.

For me, Kingdom Come is the definitive way to write Superman. Just felt that way to me.

He definitely needs a really badass protagonist to become interesting to me. I'm good on the Clark Kent angle, we already have a lot of humanistic comics. Superman to me is at his best fighting hyper-cosmic vampires and ancient evil supergods.

Superman should be written as god level character but shouldn't defeat every villain by himself

@kramotz: because no one could relate to the farmboy from Kansas who felt like an outsider growing up? God, there is a difference between an opinion and plain ignorancy

There are several themes that should properly be tackled when writing Superman. Lonliness is a big part of it. I view Superman's desire to be accepted by his adopted home world being a large motivator to his day to day crime fighting, A lot of the best aspects of Superman's method to crime fighting, I feel, would be when he tries diplomacy first.

Johnathan Kent dying of a heart attack is probably one of his turning points that I don't think is used as a part of his character. One of the first times something happens that he can't prevent, it's a very close family member. Imagine being so caught up in how capable you are, and then that happens. You'd be crushed, right?

Superman Vs The Elite, For The Man Who Has Everything and All Star Superman are amazing examples of a well-written Superman, presented with challenges beyond using a chunk of kryptonite and instead testing the resolve of the Man of Steel.

@darktimecop: As Deadgod pointed out already, many writers never had a problem writing a Superman book before. The whole "you must do this, do that to make him interesting" is getting old pretty quickly. He's not broken, no need to fix him. Just because a half assed writer lik Scott Lobdel that can't write a good book to save his life did not write the Superman story of the century doesnt mean that nobody knows what to do with him

Screw being able to relate.

I just want an awesome story, and Superman is entirely capable of giving me that without me seeing myself as Clark/Kal.

Don't challenge his strength, challenge his characters and will.

+1

Categorically disagreed. Write like yourself.

There's no shame in using another writer's interpretation as your blueprint.

You do not want to relate... you wish to see someone you aspire to be.

Do the wolverine/batman thing, shameless tie-ins and crazy promotion

@veshark: Ehh. I prefer going with my own interpretation. But different strokes.

I do agree, it shouldn't be too hard to write about a character who has the ability to defy gravity and shoot lasers out of his eyes. He's a god living among men, nobody said that his life was supposed to be easy to write in the first place. I don't like the whole Jesus symbolism Snyder had during the films. Superman is supposed to inspire people to do the right thing, now adding the whole dilemma about both his identities would be a good idea. Having his Dad wanting him to be a superhero isn't really what I had in mind for him, I mean given the choice to choose from being a hero or hiding his powers for the rest of his life is suppose to be a choice not an order. Being thrown out into the world with these new found powers is extremely scary and not knowing what to do is even scarier. But being presented with the possibilities of doing what he wants with the powers and hide in society or do something good with them for society. The most important part about writing Supes, is the fact that he considers himself to be a human, despite the abilities he has.

@darktimecop: no way, really?! DC quick, call this guy

Very bad he's power levels are all over the place (Same with Wonder Woman) BTW the character is fine...

Okay.