I belatedly picked up Superman Unchained no. 1 yesterday and wow, I've got to say I love this comic. It sums up why a good Superman comic/graphic novel is always top of the tree for me. Just love the intelligent, caring but strong Superman that Snyder gives us, using his muscles WITH his brains. Not just the needless blood and carnage you get with many other comic book titles these days, particularly with some of Marvel's powerhouses. People who find Superman boring need to read this comic. Anyway, in many ways it rights some of the wrongs from the MOS movie, so I just wonder if the wrong Snyder is working on MOS 2?!

A good comic book script writer does not necessarily make for a good movie director.

@bombardier_beetle: agreed and actually there is no positive correlation between comic book writing and movie directing. Actually if anything i would say they are negatively correlated. At least that's what I hear about Frank Miller as a director.

So if anything from what we know, avoid comic writers from directing your movie at any cost. But then again I say avoid Zac Snyder as well soooooo yeah I think it sucks regardless.

@extremis: To be fair, Frank Miller lost his marbles after 9/11, and after he wrote Sin City he kind of never stopped writing Sin City.

Writing and Directing isn't the same thing duh

Ask Jeph "Teen Wolf 2" Loeb about how well comic writers do on screenplays.

snyder barely writes a decent superman and you want him to direct a movie. some people just want to see the world burn.

Yeah, definitely. It's not like Snyder made the two best comic book films of all time without Batman in them (Watchmen and Man of Steel)

(Facepalm)

Writing and directing aren't the same thing. Just because Scott Snyder can write an awesome Superman series doesn't mean he'd be any better than Zack Snyder at directing/writing the script for the film. I still have some issues with Zack's directing myself. And I wholeheartedly agree with you on Unchained, it's the Superman series fans have been waiting for. It's actually living up to the hype it generated. The next two issues are already out so I'd recommend picking those up.

@lvenger: Unchained has been pretty good up until this point, I would agree.

300 was a pretty great adaptation of a graphic novel as well.

@deranged_midget: Agreed, but it's not as good as the other two, imo.

@deranged_midget: Mind if I inquire what you mean by up to this point? I haven't read issue 3 yet. Has Snyder gone off the rails in the latest issue?

Well to be fair, 300 was a film that was far less story driven than Man of Steel or Watchmen. The entire spectacle behind 300 was the action and I think that's well established ;)

Nah, it's more so how I've viewed the title up until this point. While I think it's a good title and arguably the best solo Superman title, I don't think that's saying much to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's overrated or anything, I just think the title was unfairly set with ridiculous expectations and I may have been thoroughly underwhelmed. Most of this I acknowledge is of my own doing but I just haven't been blown away as I was with most of Morrison's run on Action Comics or Pak with Batman/Superman thus far. I hope with time that will change.

Yeah... To be honest, like I mentioned with Lvenger, I've just been underwhelmed by the title thus far. And honestly, I think Snyder's Superman is just as impulsive and arrogant as Lobdell's has been portrayed to be in my opinion save for a few quieter moments.

@deranged_midget: Ah I see. So far the first two issues have lived up to my expectations but I can see where you're coming from in that regard. The hype for this title was massive and it's understandable if it falters occasionally. But I haven't been blown away by Pak's series so far. Certainly not in his handling of the younger Morrison esque Superman who Morrison handled much better IMO. And there have been some other nitpicks I've had with that title. Still to each their own. Pak and Snyder are both just starting out in their writing of Superman anyway.

What? You serious about that? If that's the case, I'm gonna be disappointed if Snyder drops the ball here after two brilliant issues so far. Wraith is supposed to be the villain here and I hope Snyder doesn't try and make him too sympathetic a character if that's what he's doing here.

Then you may or may not like the next issue of Unchained. That's all I have to say. Overall, I think it's a good title and Lee's art is absolutely gorgeous but there hasn't been much of a middle ground for me on the title. It's either extremely quiet moments or high intensity action packed scenes. To be fair though, it's still extremely early in the series and Snyder's still finding his groove so I am more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

@theacidskull: OK thanks for that. I haven't been looking at yours and DM's spoiler filled conversation. I know the Earth 2 Superman was written well but it came at the cost of making the younger Superman seem a bit like a jerk and sort of douchey which isn't how he was portrayed in Morrison's series. That's all.

@deranged_midget Right I see. Thanks for the heads up. I would say that the inner narrative paints the picture of what Superman's thinking and how he views the situation around him. This time around, Snyder's choice of narration works well in the story whilst it doesn't always gel in Batman for me. I feel the same way with Snyder and Pak too. Both are just starting out as Superman writers and there are liable to be some slip ups early on.

Snyder's narrative is very well written IMO yes and I cannot agree with you more on the last portion of you comment. I am more than willing to give Snyder the benefit of the doubt as it is an early series and he has very little prior experience in writing the character. Additionally just to clarify again, I don't think the title is bad or even close to that level by any means. It's just my own fault that I unrealistically rose my expectations and I would do my best to keep them centralized in the future! :)

@deranged_midget: No I understand completely. It's how I felt after I'd seen Man of Steel. It may be good but my expectations were set too high and the product didn't deliver on what I ultimately wanted.

Understandable, everyone has their own preferences and opinions :)

@deranged_midget: Indeed. It wouldn't be as fun if we all agreed on the same thing or didn't have specific niggles with certain things :)

Well that's just your opinion. I like MOS a lot (I've even got a long running thread going on here titled, "these critics of MOS are doing my head in"), but its not perfect and personally I think it sits behind Superman 1 and possibly 2, in the all time Superman film list in my book. Also, if you take account of Marvels films, I'd place Avengers Assemble ahead of it too (just).

I was just impressed by issue one of Unchained in the way Superman was dealing with the falling space station thing and how he applied intelligence to the situation and sensitivity to those frightened astronauts. I realise Scott Snyder is a writer not a director, but he seems to have got a good understanding of who Superman is, based on this first issue. I'm gonna get 2 and 3 this week.

Indubitably! Even though I do enjoy Snyder's Batman :P

Exactly! It's always fun to have differing opinions and perspective as it makes for the most interesting of discussions!

Dude...Chill... New 52 Superman is not a boyscout. Hell...Pre-Flashpoint Superman wasn't that much of a boyscout. When that dude got angry, it was scary.

As for Snyder...I don't know...I like MOS...But...I want it more character driven now. Something he is not good at, but all in all, its Goyer's fault if you disliked MOS. That one needs to go...Can't believe WB gave him the keys to JL and Superman.

No need to be defensive. We're just discussing little tid-bits of the series that have both worked for and against the character thus far.

@deranged_midget: Whatchu talking about willis? :P

Everything in the spoilers above, which have spoiler blocks for the other users safety :)

Why do I get the feeling you are making fun of me?

I was referring to Lvenger as he hasn't read the latest issue.

Why do I still get the feeling you are making fun of me? :P

Anyway, New 52 Superman is supposed to be more cocky and angry driven.

Well you do kind of slip up with spoiling things from time to time bro :)

I actually think Wraith should be the more mature one - since he's been here doing whatever he's been doing for 75 years - for me that fitted perfectly with the setup of the story. I agree they've not made Superman quite the mature, well rounded, "let's just talk this out" type character we had pre-N52, but I think that's because he's still young overall. He isn't the mid-late 30-something hero that's been doing this for the last decade or two and is adored the world over yet. He has some resentment with regard to the US military (and rightly so) and hasn't moved on and above that as yet (it's only been 6 years or so right since the events of Action Comics?). For me, it would be boring and odd if he suddenly was THAT version of Superman - like they just skipped a whole lot of emotional maturing and development. They've already tried to develop the character through time skips between Action and Superman, but the character in the Unchained & Superman titles and various cross-overs I've seen on the whole are coherent in this regard (mature, but still happy to fight instead of just talk if someone is willing), but still more mature than Morrison's Action Comics version who really was "hot headed".

So personally I'm enjoying this portrayal as long as they keep it moving forward in a natural way.

@deranged_midget: He's sup[posed to be. He shouldn't take sh*t from anyone Superman....Jesus...no cohesion through the new 52?

Don’t really understand what so wrong with third issue of S U?

Supes already have a bad bone with military from his early Morrison run (trapped, tortured and so on); in second issue of Unchained he said that he wanted just talk and get some answers, then for all his trouble he got that black-hole- weapon in his face, and then add to that “ surrender and get to your knees” speech.

If he had swallowed this insult and went all “let’s talk peacefully, let’s forget that you just nearly fried me with anty-kryptonian weapon”, then I would be really disappointed.

And let’s not forget – they all in the middle of deserted environment, without innocent bystanders, so nothing wrong with little brawling.