Do you want to know how much Dan Slott loves Superman? So much so he actually changed my mind regarding the Man of Steel’s most embarrassing moment.
“What destroys me is everyone thinks Superman turns the Earth backwards,” said Slott of that iconic moment in 1978’s Superman. “He isn’t turning the Earth backwards. He’s going so fast that he’s going backwards, and he’s perceiving everything as going backwards. If you pull out in the solar system, everyone on Thanagar is still going forward.”
Of course, if you grew up loving Superman, you too, might have unique perspectives regarding the hero of heroes.
“When I was a kid, before I had bought comics, before I knew there were these things to buy, I was watching the George Reeves (Superman),” Slott said. “When we had Purim at my temple, the guy who ran a local movie theater would show the Fleischer Superman cartoons. They had these two books in the library at school. One was the Jules Feiffer superhero book, and one was Superman: From the Thirties to the Seventies. When you looked at the library card, it was just my name repeated over and over.”
Slott added, “There’s a quote often attributed to a science fiction author, but it’s actually a fan that came up with the quote. Someone said, ‘What’s the greatest age of science fiction?’ Is it H.G. Wells? Is it the ’70s?’ And the greatest age is 12. Whatever you were reading (at 12) is bathed in nostalgia and magic and pixie dust and becomes the greatest thing ever. So for me, that was Christopher Reeve Superman, with a basis of George Reeves Superman and Superman: From the Thirties to the Seventies.”
Slott had a chance to write Supes before, most notably with a handful of early 2000s issues of Superman Adventures. But, as he’s quick to point out, that title is an especially distinct version of Superman.
“It’s the difference between writing a poem and writing a haiku,” Slott said. “There’s a strict feeling that you want to get into those books.” He would’ve done more, but he said Marvel “kept locking me in for 20 years,” and so his love of Superman was relegated to filing ideas away until the right moment came along.
And it looks like that moment’s already arrived.
Variant cover by Mahmud Asrar. Courtesy of DC Comics.
As previously announced, Slott is joining writers Mark Waid and Joshua Williamson, alongside artist Jorge Jiménez and colorist Tomeu Morey, for the Summer of Superman Special. Each writer crafted one-third of a larger story that sets up some massive changes for the entire Superman family across the various titles.
Despite the seemingly complicated nature of the project, it actually went off more smoothly than you might’ve expected.
“I really enjoyed working on this project in the three-writer format,” Jiménez said in a separate email interview. “It wasn’t difficult at all — mainly because all three of them are brilliant and managed to structure a very well-balanced issue in three acts. Each one has its share of action, emotion, surprise, etc., and they all work perfectly together as a whole while also standing strong on their own. I was just here to have fun with my Superman! It gave me a bit of a breath of fresh air since I had just wrapped up a run on Batman, and working with Clark felt like a mental reset that helped me return to the Batman series’ new stage more excited than ever!”
It was a proper dream come true for Slott, even if it proved a touch nerve-wracking.
“It feels intimidating,” Slott said. “Especially when you’re the ice cream between Mark Waid, the greatest Superman scribe and keeper of the flame, and Joshua Williamson, the current heavyweight champion of the Superman legacy.”
Slott added, “You look at my wall behind me, and there’s some Mighty Mouse and Ghost Rider and all these different things. Mark, he lives in the Legion of Superheroes’ Superman Museum. He’s sitting in his red, yellow, and blue chair. Josh over there will have like his current stuff on the wall. When they were filming the (Richard) Donner movies, Donner had that sign, ‘Verisimilitude.’ That had to be the watchword that you walked in and you believed. Not just the flying, the whole package. The gee golly whiz of it all. Waid is the living embodiment of that.”
But there were real upsides to working with the sage of Superman (and not just any corresponding freebies.)
“The nice thing about Mark is the safety net,” Slott said. “Mark is the guy that can always go, ‘I see what you’re going for here. You should read this Superman story. You should pull out these Action Comics. I’ll send you a copy of this or that.’ Or I’ll tell Mark my take on why I’m doing something in a book and he’ll be like, ‘OK, all right.’”
Of course, Slott was no slouch when it came to tackling the many nuances and robust power of Superman.
“Dan has been amazing from minute one — you can really tell he loves Superman,” Jiménez said. “I remember his reaction when I sent the first page where Clark appears in all his glory; Dan was clearly excited to receive it, and that made us connect instantly. We’re both fans of the first superhero!”
Jiménez added, “Without giving any spoilers, I do want to mention that in his part of the script, he already showed he’s here to bring a lot of ideas to the table. There’s one sequence told visually with a very specific double-pages layout, and it was so cool for me to draw! I’m sure this great writer is going to tell us incredible stories about Superman, and I can’t wait to read what he comes up with (for) the new run!”
It’s not just Superman that’s getting the A-list treatment in the special. There’s one supporting figure who also makes big moves as this new era further coalesces.
“When I read the script for the first time, I realized just how important Lana Lang is to Clark’s personality,” Jiménez said. “And the way Mark, for example, portrayed Clark’s teenage years — with such care and sensitivity — was a real breath of fresh air for me. I thought it was brilliant. From the start, I understood that Lana Lang was not only a key character in this special, but also in Superman’s life. So I also knew that my mission here was to try and make all of you, when you read this, see Lana the way Clark has always seen her.”
Main cover by Rafael Albuquerque and Marcelo Maiolo. Courtesy of DC Comics.
After the special, though, Slott gets to try his hand at the Last Son of Krypton with his very own title, Superman Unlimited (alongside artist Rafael Albuquerque and colorist Marcelo Maiolo).
To some extent, Slott intimately knew what he had to do with his role in Superman’s “new era.” And he wasn’t afraid to get it done, either.
“You’re going to to get so many earnest comics from the three of us,” Slott said. “The way it’s shaking out is Action Comics is the adventures of Superboy. Mark is bringing back Superboy into the canon. It’s Superboy taking his first steps, taking his first flights, and learning to be Superboy. Josh’s book is the DC All In book. If you’ve been following all the amazing things that have been happening in the DCU since All In started, it’s got this momentum, and it’s got this wave. What Superman Unlimited is…there’s a big new movie.”
OK, the book’s not a mere cash grab by DC. Rather, Slott is hoping to use the attention of the James Gunn-led flick to recruit a new wave of Superman devotees.
“There’s going to be all this buzz from early screenings that are going to get people even more excited,” Slott said. “And then the movie is going to come out and it’s going to be fantastic. Wrong word: It’s going to be super. You’re going to want to see the adventures of Superman and Lois Lane and Krypto. Here is a comic you can pick up if you’ve never read a Superman comic before. If you’ve never read a DC comic before. If you’ve never read a comic book before and you’re now excited. You can jump on and we’re going to hold your hand and we’re going to welcome you into this new world that you’re discovering.”
And even as Superman Unlimited maintains a rather specific set of goals/objectives, Slott leaned into all of his childhood dreams/ideas and deep, abiding love for the character. The end result is hopefully a story that gets at something essential to the Superman mythos.
“The Superman I’m getting to write is the Superman from 1938 onward,” Slott said. “The guy that holds that torch and moves it through all the generations. Is the fantasy that he could fly, or is it the fantasy that he’s the strongest or the best? And the real answer is the fantasy is that someone with all that power would want to help. Someone who has been given this gift and has been given these great powers, and they’re looking out for you. I just spent, like, 12 years of my life writing a character who is guilted into doing the right thing. And there’s this great feeling you have when you’re writing Superman and you’re in the zone.”
To some extent, getting into the zone was less of an intellectual exercise, as it is with some other comics characters. Instead, it was about letting go of certain feelings and urges that dominate our personal lives.
“When you’re writing a clever character, like The Riddler or Lex Luthor, it’s easy to write them if you’re a normal human because you have the advantage of time,” Slott said. “You can put hundreds of hours of thought into something that they put two minutes of thought into when it’s time to put it on the page. When you’re writing a character like Superman, you have to let go of all pettiness. You have to let go of these things that you would love to pretend to do. ‘Hey, you’re pushing the elevator button close!’ You didn’t want to stop at three other people’s floor. (Superman) is always going to try their best to do the right thing and help out. You can have the worst day and you start writing Superman and you just feel better.”
Variant cover by Leinil Francis Yu. Courtesy of DC Comics.
While he was talking specifically about the Superman special, Jiménez made a very important point: Superman’s goodness and decency aren’t just in his words, but just as much as he carries himself in the world.
“That said, for me, drawing Superman is not only an honor but also a huge responsibility,” Jiménez said. “I believe his way of expressing himself, moving, and conveying emotion must be as consistent and perfect as possible. Because this character isn’t just a figure of entertainment for fans — he’s also, for many, an icon that represents goodness. And that makes him a role model. A fictional one, yes, but still a compass we can turn to, one that helps guide us. This character represents the search within ourselves for the common good, and the hope of building a better world. And that…needs to be drawn good! To me, as an artist who loves superheroes, there’s nothing more exciting than taking on that challenge.”
But Superman Unlimited is more than just adding to the list of reasons why the Man of Steel so dang cool and important. Slott and the team are using the book to field some big changes and tell some very real stories.
That whole process centers, oddly enough, with a unexpected enough focus across Superman Unlimited.
“There is a whole new take on the Daily Planet, and this will be the Daily Planet as it goes to all the other books,” Slott said. “There will be a branch of the Daily Planet in every major DC city: Gotham, Star City, Themyscira. You’ll get Jimmy setting up an office in Gotham and he will get, instead of a Superman signal watch, a Bat signal watch. We’re going to look at journalists in a way that could only exist in a comic book.”
The idea emerges at a time when good, important journalism seems more vital than ever. And Slott seems to agree, as he’s tapped into the news cycle to extend and bolster this segment of Supes’ universe.
“The people who work at the Daily Planet fight a never-ending battle for truth and justice,” Slott said. “They are going to give you truthful journalism. So you’re going to see that they’re going to have enemies. One of the main foils is going to be Jack Ryder, who gives his conspiracy theory nonsense through his website and his brand of journalism. His site will be called No Laughing Matter, and I think you can guess who’s going to be a semi-recurring character.”
And, if you’re wondering, there will also be a “new Newsboy Legion, who are “using their phones to get the news out as quickly as possible. And maybe they’re not getting it right.”
Superman Unlimited will also present stakes beyond Clark Kent’s journalism. For instance, Slott is really looking to re-contextualize how we see Superman as a pillar of true superheroes.
“One of the reasons I kept reading every month was that I was worried he was going to lose,” Slott said of his childhood reading Spider-Man. “Every time I picked up an issue, I was worried he was going to get his butt kicked and things weren’t going to work out for him. And he’d be in a worse spot than he was when the issue started. I never had that worry for Superman. I knew Superman was going to save the day. If Superman shows up, he’s already won.”
Variant cover by Sebastián Fiumara. Courtesy of DC Comics.
So, how does one throw a wrench into the heroics of the world’s mightiest man? Well, you play a little dirty, that’s how.
“We’re going to throw so much kryptonite into the Earth. Kryptonite will be so much easier to get,” Slott said. “Does that stop Superman from being super? No, he can still lift an ocean liner over his head. He can still do all the super feats we all know, but he’s going to have to sweat for it. There are certain things that will raise the stakes. Now it’s not quite so sure if he’s going to win.”
Meanwhile, if the Kryptonite doesn’t do the trick, Slott and company have another method to cutting Superman as deeply as possible.
“You can jump right into my book without having read the special,” Slott said. “But there’s something that happens (in the special) which is going to greatly affect the present-day Smallville. That will be picked up in our book. We’re going to change how things in Smallville work. Superman’s got three worlds: Krypton, the world he’s lost; Smallville, where he grew up; and Metropolis.”
Jiménez proved especially up for the task of exploring Smallville in the special, and he tried to really honor Clark’s hometown in alignment with the sheer weight of “Summer of Superman.”
“It’s really exciting, because just like Gotham is another character in the Batman series, Metropolis and Smallville are the same in Superman stories,” Jiménez said. “And while there are hundreds of references for massive cities, it’s much harder to find the right context to portray Smallville in the most effective way. That’s why I did a lot of research and looked for all kinds of references—because I wanted to capture the essence and simplicity of a place like that, from the farms to the town center. It’s been a really fun and refreshing experience for me.”
And speaking of locations, the Unlimited team also have plans to “open up a new country, a new DC Universe country you’ve never seen before. It’ll be a regular place we check in on in Superman Unlimited and hopefully in other DC books, too.”
Depending on the book’s reception, and how long it runs, Slott has some other things he’d like to work into Superman Unlimited. That includes possible cameos from the Dial H for Hero device and even Ultra the Multi-Alien. And there’s even more stuff around some long-time Superman villains that Slott isn’t yet ready to discuss.
“I’m having fun playing around with the bits and pieces of the DCU that most people wouldn’t assume,” Slott said. “I like taking Superman villains and either putting them in a new set of circumstances or giving them an upgrade. I can’t wait for people to see what we’re going to do to the Prankster. I’m going to make the Prankster your favorite.”
It’s clear that whoever eventually pops up in Superman Unlimited, Slott is having the time of his life. There’s a certain kind of joy and innocence to his love of Superman — he’s clearly someone who sees the essence of this character and what it says about us as these wholly imperfect people trying to do better however we can. It’s a pure hope and optimism that looks at humanity as capable of great things, and all we need to do is look up (how’s that for a movie tie-in?) to see ourselves truly soar.
Courtesy of DC Comics.
The only thing left is to let Slott tell you about his favorite Superman story ever, “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” It may be a beloved favorite of many readers, but Slott’s perspective really makes you think about it in a new light. And if there’s anything Slott is good at, it’s showing us the greater power of Superman.
“Before the first Crisis on Infinite Earths came out, DC said, ‘We’re going to redo a massive reboot of everything,’” Slott said. “It really felt, as a kid in the ’80s, that this was as big of a reboot as the Silver Age. And before that happened, they let Alan Moore tell this story that put to bed the entire Curt Swan era of Superman. It was so masterfully done. It wasn’t just about the toys; it was about the characters and the emotions that you get in a final story.”
Slott added, “At that point in continuity, Supergirl was dead. And the most amazing Superman panel for me, and it’s of all time, is the night before Superman knows he’s going to have his final battle. He’s visited by the other heroes. Supergirl is wondering, ‘Don’t I exist in this time period, too? Am I Superwoman in this time?’ Superman gets to say to her, ‘Yes, you’re in the past.’ And you’re just reading this like, ‘Oh my god.’ Superman has three weaknesses: kryptonite, red sun energy, and his heart. (Not magic; everyone’s vulnerable to magic.) The easiest way to get to Superman is his heart.”
