I've got a bulletin for you, folks. I am no superman. I realize that now, but I didn't always.
My thing is every generation of Americans has to answer what we call the 'Superman Question.' Superman comes, lands in America. He's illegal. He's one of these kids. He's wrapped up in a red bullfighter's cape. And you've got to decide what we're gonna do with Superman.
I will say that adapting a character like Da Vinci really wasn't that dissimilar from doing Batman or Superman. Because all three of these guys are really iconic figures, and yes, Da Vinci was historical, but there's clearly been a lot of mythmaking about him, and a lot of things have been attributed to him that may or may not have happened.
I think about it, and I realize there's been some version of a Batman or Spiderman or Superman franchise since I was a boy, since before I was a boy.
I think the character of Superman may be the greatest fictional creation of modern times, and working on the book is for me a sacred trust. I'm just doing my best not to disappoint!
I am, in fact, Superman. Every morning I wake up and go into a telephone booth and change my costume, and then go to work.
Every son's first superhero is his father, and it was the same for me. For me, he was Superman and Batman combined.
Superman tends to stand very upright, and he's very symmetrical, and those are actually the most difficult poses for me to draw.
When you're a kid, and you're a superhero lover, the holy trinity is Batman, Superman and Spider-Man, so to be able to take any of those and play with it is a huge joy.
Christopher Reeve will always be Superman in my mind.
'The Dark Knight,' 'The Rocketeer' and definitely the first 'Superman' movie by Richard Donner are the best. I tend to be softer in my judgment about what's a bad movie - I don't think anyone intends to make a bad movie, and sometimes it just doesn't click for some reason.
You can see how he changed on the surface. But at the core of it all, I think Superman has remained the same - a character with incredible powers but almost superhuman humility and restraint.
Just being attached to 'Superman' actually gave a great boost to my career.
To be able to write 'Superman,' to be able to work with the legendary artist who is John Romita Jr., I signed on as soon as I could.
I didn't have that typical high school experience of feeling ashamed of who I was. I once wore a superman cape and pajamas, and I thought that was awesome - and some people didn't! But some people did, and it was an arts high school, so nobody made me feel bad about who I was.
We've all read, I'm sure, a Superman book where we didn't really feel like we knew the character. Where the writer, often with the best of intentions, has tried put a personal stamp on the character, whether it be to try and make him more current, or cool, or have a broader appeal, etc.
Han Solo is more interesting than Superman because he's flawed. Superman's flaw is kryptonite, and that's it. He can make time go backwards, for God's sake, but with Han Solo or Indiana Jones, there's a bit of humanity there.
There's Batman, there's Superman, there's Wonder Woman. She's the full-blown real deal.
Twenty years ago my parents wouldn't know who the X-Men were, and now everybody knows that stuff. It means that deconstruction of the superhero is something you can do. All those movies have led to a point where we can finally have 'Watchmen' with a Superman character who doesn't want to save the world and a Batman who has trouble in bed.
I've always been a fan of Five For Fighting's song 'Superman.' It's like an anthem, and I love it.
For every person who passes on the opportunity to write Spider-Man or Superman, I guarantee there are 5000 hungry writers who would give their eye-teeth to do it. But just because they want to do it, it doesn't mean they are capable of doing it.
Let's be realistic - 90% of superheroes are male. Personally, I prefer Superman, Batman and Spider-Man to Wonder Woman. Not that I don't like female superheroes, but watching male superheroes gives me a high.
Jan. 26, 1979, was the most important day of my life. Because that's the day that I saw 'Superman: The Movie.' I came out of it knowing that no matter what the rest of my life was going to be like, it had to involve Superman somehow.
Studios might not be able to figure out my leanings, but anyone who visits my blog or reads my Twitter feed or meets me in person will realize right away that I am a huge superhero fan and a fanatic about Superman in particular.
I don't believe that there's a good guy and a bad guy. Unless it's like Superman or Batman, there is no good guy and bad guy.
I have a beautiful wooden Superman statue with a removable cape - I really love that piece.
When I was in middle school, some of my so-called friends found a catalog ad I did for Superman pajamas. They made as many copies as they could and pasted them up all over school.
If you look at the history of Wonder Woman, you look at the iconography, the images that have kept her alive - they're not dark. The thing I think is so important to always keep in mind about her is how positive and bright and shiny she is - very much in the same way that Superman has been.
The first Superman film took up a huge chunk of our lives, but it was a wonderful time for us. We were young, my daughter was little, we were filming in London for a year, so we became like a close family.
One of the things that I thought really worked was that you have 'Smallville' on television and 'Superman Returns' come out in the theater, and it was fine. Nobody freaked out; nobody thought they were competing.
Outside of, as a kid, just wanting to be able to fly and run faster than a speeding locomotive and being able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, we'd like to hope that, when push comes to shove, we can do the right thing. I think as long as there is that hope in our society and in the zeitgeist of superheroes, Superman will be relevant.
I really wasn't even aware that Batman and Superman had this kind of grudging friendship.
When I signed onto 'Superman,' editors Matt Idelson and Wil Moss gave me a rough outline that JMS had turned in for the remaining issues of the 'Grounded' arc, which amounted to a couple of sentences for each issue, spelling out in general terms where the issue would take place geographically, specific guest stars, things like that.
My version of Superman is essentially of a guy who has spent his whole life alone.
