Superman to go AWOL from ‘Action’

Robert Greenberger

Robert Greenberger is best known to comics fans as the editor of Who's Who In The DC Universe, Suicide Squad, and Doom Patrol. He's written and edited several Star Trek novels and is the author of The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. He's known for his work as an editor for Comics Scene, Starlog, and Weekly World News, as well as holding executive positions at both Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

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21 Responses

  1. Delmo Walters Jr. says:

    God, I hate Dan Dildo.

  2. Rick Taylor says:

    Doesn't he get that the readership is event-weary enough?

    • RD Francis says:

      When the sales start to show that the comics that go on without tying into the events maintain steady sales, while the comics that tie into the events have reduced sales, they'll stop. When the main event mini-series are no longer in the top ten comics saleswise, they'll stop. No matter how much you and those you know may complain about the situation, as long as the sales show that most of the buying audience snaps this stuff up like Thin Mints in May, they'll keep doing it.

    • Bob Rozakis says:

      I'm not seeing the marketing logic behind having Superman leave ACTION COMICS. Do they think people will buy the book because its star has left?

  3. Paul1963 says:

    Can I just have one! Stinking! Year! of good, solid Superman stories that aren't tied into some giant event that has to be written by two or three different people and drawn by an army? Can I just have one! Stinking! Year! of good, solid Batman stories where he solves crimes–crimes that aren't directed at him personally? God, I miss Chuck Dixon. Hell, I miss David V. Reed! (Yes, I am old.)

    • Goodman says:

      Didn't Busiek and Paul Dini deliver that quite recently in Superman and Detective Comics? Or did nobody notice.

      • Paul1963 says:

        You're right, Goodman, I wasn't even thinking about that. I was focusing more on "Batman R.I.P."

    • RD Francis says:

      I'm old enough to have enjoyed David V. Reed as well (aside from odd moments of out-of-place banter (I remember one where Batman's asking for an ice cream cone with sprinkles – appropriate for Spider-Man, maybe for Robin, weird for Batman even at that time)).My favorite opponent from that era was the Spook. I know he was brought back as an ex-CIA assassin or something in LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT, and I think he's been brought back even more recently than that. However, I don't know that anyone's really caught on to the hook I see for the character.The Batman of the past fifteen or twenty years has seemed almost to be supernatural. This effect has been accomplished by Batman's incredible knowledge of his surroundings, of people, etc. A frequent scene has been Batman almost seeming to teleport into the path of people he's chasing, because he knows the area so well.The Spook's gimmick seemed to be preparing an area for seemingly supernatural events, that were really carefully planned tricks.In approach and in effect, the two characters could be played as opposite sides of the same coin. Not that this is an uncommon approach to a Batman story – but it's more common to see Batman's sense of justice and order against the Joker's insanity and chaos, or a criminal who lost his parents at a young age.

  4. Glenn Hauman says:

    Chutzpah. Lots of chutzpah.

  5. Lee Houston, Junior says:

    Okay…I'm all for the revival of Adventure Comics, depending upon how it's handled.But if Superman is leaving Action Comics, even if it is on a temporary basis, who or what is taking over the title???

  6. David says:

    I wonder if the reason why Robinson might be leaving Superman is because of the space thing. He's been doing a great job setting up Metropolis-focused characters and I wonder if he didn't want to stop writing them because Superman was in space.

  7. Ian Kirk says:

    I suppose we can expect another Grant Morrison extraviganza – "The Superman of Zur-en-Arrh"The death of his father will make him have a meltdown.He'll have a pink & mauve outfit, and fly in circles until he finds the mythical world of Nih.There he can fight a rabbit with big, pointy teeth.Denny, where art thou?

  8. Steve Chaput says:

    Now I remember why I'm buying mostly Marvels and other publishers, as I drop one DC title after another.

  9. Stephen Bergstrom says:

    Meh. I say meh. Didio's already angered both Grant Morrison and James Robinson over his plans for the DCU post-Final Crisis. Robinson's leaving Superman, and Morrison may or may not write the DCU proper for the foreseeable future.And I still say we've not seen Bill Jemas and Dan Didio in the same room together… If it happened, it was a trick of the light, I assure you.

  10. Rick Taylor says:

    I repeat.So this is better?

  11. Linda Gold says:

    Okay, DiDi and this bullshit convinced me last week to drop all my Batman books after 20 years of dedicated reading and I had just gotten interested in Superman again because of James Robinson so there goes that as well. That pretty much leaves me with the Green Lantern books so i wonder how long it will be before they drive me out of the DCU entirely. I am an extremely devoted GL fan but they drove me off once (with the bullshit mess they made of Guy Gardner for several years) so I know they can do it again and I'm thinking it's just a matter of time. Oh well, I have lots of manga just waiting to be read and Clamp never pushes me away with stupid stunts.

  12. Stephen Bergstrom says:

    Well, apparently DC had to do some massive backpedaling in order to keep Robinson on the Superman titles, but they upset his hastily-gathered replacement, whose first name rhymes with Marque, and last name rhymes with Weighed. So now they're looking for a Superman-related project to appease him.Also, the problem with Didio and Robinson wasn't professional, apparently.

  13. Paul1963 says:

    I was glad to read today that Robinson is apparently no longer off Superman, but now I'm wishing there was still a third monthly S-book for Waid to write……And the fanboy in me wants the new Adventure Comics to start with #504.