The Decline of Superman, Part One: The Problem

As someone who has hosted an old time radio Superman podcast for five years, you'd think I'd be happy that Superman is returning to theater next year seven years after the forgettable Superman Returns. You'd be wrong.

Both the early trailers, pictures, and sneak peeks we've gotten of the plot indicate we're in for a darker Superman story and everything I see on the official website seems to bare that out..

Paul Asay, a big-time Batman fan shares the concern:

Man of Steel will be directed by Zack Snyder (he of 300 fame) and produced by Christopher Nolan—a guy who worked such dark wonders with our modern Dark Knight. I wonder whether a similar remake may be on the docket for Superman—an angsty, dark, traumatized hero. He’d become Batman, only with X-ray vision and without the cool car.

I hope not. As much as I like Batman, I think we need heroes like Superman, too—heroes we can embrace without reservation. Sometimes, we need heroes that are too good for us, too good for our age. We need heroes that don’t reflect ourselves, but represent something better, something purer.

The soon to be 75-year old Superman franchise has been in decline for a decade or so at least. Not only was the 2006 film sub-par, but the Superman comics have been lagging as well.

The best of them is Action Comics, which ranked #12 in October being outsold by not only Batman and Detective Comics but also Justice League and Green Lantern. (Yep, Green Lantern is outselling Superman's best title.)

The Adventures of Superman ranked #31 behind Aquaman (#27). Yes, Aquaman is now outselling the Adventures of Superman. The title is on its third creative team since the New 52 relaunch.

Keep in mind that at his height Superman had like five titles based on his character including, "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen," "Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane," and "Superboy."

Of course, what makes this ironic is that the Man of Steel still has a lot of fans. His merchandise still flies off shelves and many have fond memories and positive opinion of the big guy.

So what's behind the decline of the Superman franchise? We'll take a look in upcoming blog posts.