RUCKA ON SUPERMAN AND HAT TRICKS

[MattBrady]

It’s been thirty years. Three decades since a writer had a Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman book out at the same time from DC Comics. Back then; the guy’s name who pulled it off was Denny O’Neil. Come March 2004, the guy’s name will be Greg Rucka. Newsarama spoke with Rucka briefly about his upcoming Superman gig.

(For those keeping track, O'Neil had Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman issues published the same month with April 1974 and June 1974 cover dates.)

As was confirmed by DC yesterday, Rucka will, with a to-be-confirmed artist, tackle the Man of Steel monthly in Adventures of Superman, joining Jim Lee and Brian Azzarello on Superman, and Chuck Austen (and a yet to be named artist) on Action in a revitalization of the Superman titles.

But as for what puts him into the DC record books - the Superman job will kick in a good eight months into Rucka's run as the regular writer of Wonder Woman, and for the very beginning of his Adventures, his and Klaus Janson’s Batman: Death and the Maidens will just be wrapping up.

Three icons. Three books. One writer.

And yes, the realization has already made an impact.

“I’m not sure if DC’s even realized this yet – sometimes I’m almost expecting a phone call from one of my editors saying, ‘Greg, there’s been a mistake – we didn’t realize…’” Rucka told Newsarama. “But seriously – it’s pretty daunting – and thrilling.

“It’s a quirk of fate, but of course it’s also a fanboy wish. It’s Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The chance to work with any of them in any environment is precious. The extraordinary sequence of events that leads to a month in 2004 where there will be a book with each character’s name in the title written by myself – that’s something that I never dreamed would happen. If I think about it for too long, I can get really scared – I mean, dear God, what happens if I’m not serving them really well? What happens if I don’t give them the stories they need?”

As to why he chose to add Adventures of Superman to his lineup of commitments to DC, the answer is simple. “It’s a really stupid answer, but the basic reason is that, well…it’s Superman,” Rucka said. “this wasn’t the first time I’d been offered a job writing the character, or the first time I’d been offered one of the regular titles. But in the past, I felt that I wasn’t in a place where I could do him justice – as hokey or pretentious as that might sound, I hope the meaning comes through.

“There are certain characters that I think you can go in on with some ideas, but without having everything in place. For me, Superman is not one of them. He’s like writing Wonder Woman or Batman. Speaking again only for myself, if I’m going to write a character like Superman, I have to have a really good grasp of not only the character, but the things that I want to say with the character – what serves him best?”

Rucka said that when he was asked most recently about writing the character, his fairly quick affirmative answer surprised him slightly, but things quickly flowed from there, indicating to Rucka that he was right in his decision.

“I spoke with Eddie Berganza at length about the books and some of the things that they’re planning on doing with the books, and where they want them to be and ways that they sort of want to redefine the world of Metropolis and Clark’s world and Lois’ world, and the nature of what they do, both as superheroes and as journalists,” Rucka said. “All of that fell in very neatly with some of the ideas I was working on, so it’s pretty exciting.”

In regards to his “high concept” of Superman, Rucka said that the character is all about the first part of his age-old motto: “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”

“In my view, the Paul Dini/Alex Ross book, Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth, bearing no comment on the merit of the work, wouldn’t have been called that, exactly, because in my eyes, that’s not Diana’s role. Wonder Woman is not the Spirit of Truth for me – that’s Superman. It applies both to Superman as the hero and the icon to the world that he exists in, and to Clark Kent, the reporter. Superman is not justice and then truth – according to the saying, ‘justice’ comes after ‘truth.’

“One of the things that we’re looking at doing is looking at how the character struggles for the truth - how he fights lies and untruths, and how these are his toughest battles, because you can’t beat up a lie or punch a lie into the sun. With Superman, you can get into an interesting situation when Clark knows something as Superman that he cannot prove, because Superman cannot write the article. Clark has to write the story, and Perry’s not going to let him run something that he doesn’t have backup on, and that’s at least two sources. So that’s one of the first things we’re looking at – those kinds of conflicts are interesting to play with, because the physical conflicts with Superman are almost silly. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with Superman lifting and throwing tanks – that’s wonderful, and we’re going to have punch-ups and so on.

“But that’s never really his problem. The problem isn’t, ‘is he going to be strong enough?’- the problem is how do you fight the things that you can’t just pick up and move? How do you save the people that you can’t simply lift out of the tidal wave’s path?”

Something else Rucka is planning on exploring in Adventures is the different ways in which Clark and Lois approach their day jobs. “They both pursue similar agendas in very different ways and on very different levels,” Rucka said. “Lois is far more likely to find herself embedded in a unit in Iraq, and also to find herself really pissed off when she realizes that no embedded reporter is getting within five miles of the front. I think everyone knows the Lois Lane solution to that. She’ll wait until no one’s looking and head out on her own.

“So there are things in that relationship that I find intriguing. I think Lois, subconsciously, relies on Superman. I also think that if you accused her of it, she would tell you that you were full of it, because she doesn’t see it in herself. Lois does crazy, dangerous things in pursuit of a story that; perhaps she would hesitate to do if there were not a Man of Steel in her life.”

All told, Rucka is looking forward to his time in Metropolis very much. “Again, I just go back to the simplest of things - it’s Superman,” Rucka said. “Superman. I’ve been extremely lucky so far in my comics career, and very grateful and flattered by the fact that DC is entrusting their most recognizable character to me for a time. This is going to be fun.”

[SAINT TY]

I love Rucka as a writer & I'm sure this will be solid but this sounds like more conservative Berganza. I've met Eddie before & he is a seriously nice guy ; but why he is still overseeing the Superman line when his reign has been such an undisputed commercial & critical failure is beyond my comprehension.
$2.95 a pop is way too expensive for ass paper & until Berganza is gone & Morrison is writing DC can forget about my $$$$$$$$

[SAINT TY]

More gutless status quo from DC

[Kerouac]

$2.95 a pop is way too expensive for ass paper & until Berganza is gone & Morrison is writing DC can forget about my $$$$$$$$

...The core Superman books are all $2.25. So unless they mentioned a price increase somewhere else...

Matt

[Tom Daylight]

Austen with Ivan Reis?

[gOgIver]

Why attack the editor?

[Mr Wesley]

Congratulations to Rucka on the Hat Trick!

but why he is still overseeing the Superman line when his reign has been such an undisputed commercial & critical failure is beyond my comprehension.

I think this is revitalization might be a move on Berganza's and DC's parts to move the focus on Superman back from the Super more to the Man.

[TVerBeek]

Originally posted by SAINT TY
More gutless status quo from DC

More childish whining from the fankids.

[Kevin T. Brown]

Originally posted by SAINT TY
More gutless status quo from DC

Trolling.....

Originally posted by Fetsur
Austen with Ivan Reis?

I thought Ivan Reis was exclusive to CrossGen, working on Lady Death.

[Tobey Cook]

Originally posted by SAINT TY
I love Rucka as a writer & I'm sure this will be solid but this sounds like more conservative Berganza. I've met Eddie before & he is a seriously nice guy ; but why he is still overseeing the Superman line when his reign has been such an undisputed commercial & critical failure is beyond my comprehension.
$2.95 a pop is way too expensive for ass paper & until Berganza is gone & Morrison is writing DC can forget about my $$$$$$$$

Why not wait until the books are released before you pass judgement on them? Rucka may surprise you. If you love his work as a writer, give him a chance.

It's obvious Berganza realizes it's time for a changing of the guard on the titles, and Dan Didio is trying to deliver quality writing to the Superman books, something it's been lacking for quite a while.

Personally, I'm going to give it a look come March... Rucka's never disappointed me with his attention to detail on characters.

[Cliffy]

No, Reis is a freelancer for CrossGen. The only CrossGen exclusive creators are the employees who create the main CrossGen in-house titles; Lady Death is not one of these.

--Cliffy

[DarthRandall]

Great news on Rucka's hattrick. Wow, three of the biggest characters in American pop culture, all written by one man. Oh, to be Mr. Rucka. I'd love to be the guy who could do this.

Anyway, about the Supes changes in general, I'm looking forward to Rucka and the Azzerello/Lee (puts a huge f'n smile on my face to type that) runs. Not too sure on Austen's book however, and it all has to do with Superman: Metropolis. That book just suprises me more and more each month on how great it is, but Superman isn't even a character in it. I'll give him a few issues based on his Metropolis work, but I'm least looking forward to this run.

[saiyanspider]

if there good, and considering rucka's track record they will be, but honestly i'm tired of the whole "focus more on the man than the super". I think people ignore the super too much. to me characters like superman silver surfer need more action they are powerhouses I want more fights. I think there needs to be more of a balance in regards to that.

[Mr Wesley]

Hey, I just thought of something: By the time his first Adventures hits the stands, Rucka will still have several issues of Wolverine left before he completes his run. That's four. Admittedly, Wolverine's not as big as DC's Big Three, but he's at least as iconic as most of Marvel's heroes.

[aphterburn]

Originally posted by saiyanspider
if there good, and considering rucka's track record they will be, but honestly i'm tired of the whole "focus more on the man than the super". I think people ignore the super too much. to me characters like superman silver surfer need more action they are powerhouses I want more fights. I think there needs to be more of a balance in regards to that.

I disagree. It's starting to become cliche, but comics need to move on. You want more fights? Read back issues. Superman punching someone has been done in every conceivable manner. It's tired.

Originally posted by MattBrady
“Lois is far more likely to find herself embedded in a unit in Iraq, and also to find herself really pissed off when she realizes that no until with an embedded reporter is getting within five miles of the front. I think everyone knows the Lois Lane solution to that. She’s wait until no one’s looking and head out on her own.

Finally someone that gets it.

No more 'cardboard cut out' Lois Lane standing in the background.

I had a hunch that Rucka's run would focus on the reporter side of the characters.

Now if they could get rid of the morbid dye job...

[MattBrady]

Originally posted by ManofTheAtom
Now if they could get rid of the morbid dye job...

As far as I know, Greg's hair is naturally salt-and-pepper.



MattB

[aphterburn]

Originally posted by SAINT TY
More gutless status quo from DC

More MZ quips. If you want to see classic characters become gay, go make yours Marvel.

Originally posted by MattBrady
As far as I know, Greg's hair is naturally salt-and-pepper.



MattB

Lol

[carnivalkilljoy]

greg rucka, and superman. what bloody more do you need to say.

[TIP]

This is great news.

T

[HulkSmashNow]

I used to collect all of the Superman books, particularly when they were linked by the triangle numbers, and I sat through a lot of hackneyed, tired stories. However, I stuck with them because it was Superman and ever since I was a little kid, he's been my hero.

However, I have since quit all of the books except Superman, due to financial reasons, and the fact that I don't have to have all of the books to keep up with the storyline.

I've enjoyed Steven T. Seagle and Scott McDaniel's work on Superman. McDaniel's been one of my favorite artists since his great run on Nightwing. I hope he gets another high profile job (I think he'd be great on The Flash or Green Lantern).

I'll continue to read Superman...I haven't read Brian Azzarello's work, but God knows I love Jim Lee's stuff. Hopefully, they'll do a good job. I'll rely on the rest of you Supes readers to let me know if the other books with their new teams are worth my hard-earned money.

[saiyanspider]

Originally posted by aphterburn
I disagree. It's starting to become cliche, but comics need to move on. You want more fights? Read back issues. Superman punching someone has been done in every conceivable manner. It's tired.

I disagree, Superman can throw tanks and fly at the speed of light. To waste him pondering ethical journalistic issues is BORING. I'm not saying 22 pages of fights every month but I sure as hell don't want 22 pages of him yammering away about how his hands are tide because Superman knows something but Clark doesn't. FIGHTS PEOPLE!

Before you categorize me as some moronic action junkie, I like human drama, and serious stories. Take movies for example, I love mi familia because it's and excellent story about the struggles of 3 generations of one Mexican family. But I wouldn't want that storyline in a jet li movie. I watch action flicks for one thing, and drama for another.

All I'm saying is I want action, and it seems that the last time I picked up a Superman title it was lacking.

[jclem3]

Originally posted by SAINT TY
More gutless status quo from DC

I love mindless one-liners like this. And you don't even expound on what you said.

And Ivan Reis is also the regular artist on Captain Marvel.

[saiyanspider]

I also want to add, that I want comics to grow, and to be respected for telling serious stories. But why do we have to shoe horn it into superhero comics. why not make comics devoted to serious storys, and have superhero comics be the escapism they were intended to be.

I want comics that talk about serious issues, about the human condition, or just plain good stories. I'm not saying this can't be placed into super hero comics, hell I think it's good.

I just think there seems to be a trend to move away from the more simple minded fun. look at new x-men. the stories are good, but soooo boring.