Help. So one problem I’ve been having for some time is that I’ve lost love for Superman. But I really want to like Superman again. I’ll appreciate any comic book recommendation or whatever you have in mind. To quote The Beatles: “Won’t you please, please help me?”
I love Marvel, and I really like DC. Not the best start, but let me explain, while I generally adore the Batverse and Superman, I haven’t really been that enamored with the larger DC, despite the fact that I like certain other characters. When I was younger I was into Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and I did like Iron Man somewhat. I read comic books about these characters, I watched their animated tv shows, and I saw some of the early superhero films. I loved it. But over the years, I’ve somehow fallen out of love with only one of these characters: Superman.
I really liked Smallville, but I don’t think I really watched the show a lot after Superman Returns. It might’ve been around this time that I fell out of love with the character. You have to understand that while this all happened both Spider-Man and the X-Men had had some great films. Not long after that, Iron Man successfully revived the Marvel brand on the mainstream stage.
Batman was still very relevant to me. His movies have been either good or great (excluding Batman & Robin), and I still love reading comic books featuring the character. He has, for the last decade, almost been my only real link to DC Comics. When Man of Steel was released, I was in for a bumpy experience. I desperately wanted to love it, and for a few months, I really did. My original review, which has since been updated, is probably the worst thing I’ve written on this site, as it highlighted how hyped up I was for the DC shared universe.
But I realized how flawed the film was, eventually. What I really loved about the film was everything that happened on Krypton, and pretty much everything until Clark became a flying superhero. Now, at this moment, I don’t love the film, but I don’t really hate it either. It’s fine, I guess. I hope to love it again one day. Perhaps it’ll work in retrospect when the DC shared universe is ready to go.
And that is really why I’m writing this today. I’ve already tried reading some Justice League comics to slowly get back into stories about the character, but that only made me appreciate Batman, as well as the Flash, more than I already do. I’ve also tried reading Superman: American Alien, but I feel like I need a longer series of books to start with, or maybe some standalone books.
I want to love Superman again, like I did when I first saw Donner’s Superman: The Movie (and Christopher Reeve’s perfect performance) or Smallville. I want to read comic books about him again. I want to be more excited for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice than I am. I want to believe in Clark Kent. I need your help.
Please write any recommendations in the comments below!
– I’m Jeffrey Rex
I'm Jeffrey Rex 