An Age of Silver Carved in Iron

Remember the abomination that was Superman in the late '80's and '90s? It was the period that gave us ridiculous stunts like:

1) The death of Superman.



2) Superman's new energy powers.



3) Superman-Red and Superman-Blue.



and 4) Superman, killer.



Honestly, I've never read the Superman comics of the so-called "Iron Age" beyond a handful of scattered issues, so I have no opinion of their quality. For all I know, they really do contain writing of the poorest order. But the people who're constantly criticizing it need to come up with better arguments. Take the blue energy Superman for example. The traditionalists sneer about how DC had the gall to alter the power set of one of the most iconic, well-known characters in fiction, an argument that only holds water *if the change was meant to be permanent*! But, well, it wasn't -- so it doesn't.

If Mort Weisinger's stable of creators had done a story about Superman becoming a crackling energy being and having to adjust to new powers, all those same fans would be remembering it fondly, holding it up as an example of the days when comics didn't take themselves so seriously and knew how to be wild and fun. If you want to criticize the arc's execution, fine, that's a separate issue, but don't go pretending the Man of Tomorrow exchanging powers isn't a plot straight out of the Silver Age.

The bottom line is, if you're explanation for why you dislike the Superman comics of the "Iron Age" consists of oh-so-clever witticisms along the lines of, "The Super-mullet, 'nuff said!" then no one's going to take you seriously. Because here we all thought it was characterization and creative, well-constructed plots that determined a story's quality, when it turns out that no, it's actually all about the cut of the star's hair. I don't like the long haircut either, but I'm not going be using it as evidence that a run stank, much less as evidence of "all that's wrong with the modern Superman."

Maybe the Post-Crisis Superman-Red, Superman Blue storyline really was terrible; I have no way of knowing. But if your criticism is directed at the premise itself, the very idea of a story where the Man of Steel is split in two -- and I've seen fan complainst along that exact line numerous times -- you leave me wondering just what you think a Superman story is supposed to be.

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Images were found at www.comics.org, superman.ws, and www.aardsy.com. What is the proper netiquette for yanking pictures anyway?