Dan Jurgens Talks Superman: Lois & Clark, Reveals Their New Name, Talks Lois and Clark’s Parenting

Next month, the pre-Flashpoint Man of Steel returns to the DC Universe with Superman: Lois & Clark #1 from Dan Jurgens and Lee Weeks.

Spinning out of the events of Convergence, Kal-El brings with him his wife Lois Lane and their son Jonathan Kent, born on the battleground world of Telos during Convergence: Superman #2 while the Batman of the Flashpoint universe looked on. They’ve been shanghaied in the New 52 and Beyond universe for nearly a decade, though, during which time Jonthan has grown to nine years old while Lois and Clark have established a new life for themselves in a world where they can’t be Clark Kent and Lois Lane.

So…who are they? What’s in store for them? And why has writer Dan Jurgens teased bringing back Intergang, the Jack Kirby-created gangsters who nearly killed Cat Grant before Superman stopped them back during Jurgens’ first go-’round with the character twenty years ago.

Jurgens joined ComicBook.com to discuss the series, final order cutoff for which is Monday. You can check out the solicitation text, the first three covers and two exclusive inked pages from Superman: Lois & Clark #1 below. The Final Order Cutoff for the first issue is Monday, so pre-order it between now and Monday if you want to be guaranteed to get a copy.

You’ve talked a lot about writing Superman who is responding to the outing of the post-Flashpoint Clark Kent in this book…but who were Lois and Clark in California before that? What are their names?

When Lois and Clark first arrived, they knew they had an immediate problem simply because this world had another Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane.

The wanted anonymity and, in order to keep that and separate themselves from their counterparts, chose the last name White.

Obviously, that’s a tribute to Perry White.

You told another interviewer that they would have a mostly new supporting cast, and one familiar face “with a twist.”What can you tell us about some of those people without spoiling too much?

I don’t want to give too much away here, but it’s really only logical to point out the fact that, having been here for so long, they’ve made friends. Colleagues from work, neighbors and even parents of Jon’s friends are all going to be among their acquaintances. They are not living “in hiding”, so much as they are living a life that is different from what the knew in the pre-Flashpoint universe.

During your legendary Superman run, you did a fair amount with Intergang. What made them the foil for Lois this time around?

It’s a bit of a natural because Intergang is something that is both ground level and all pervasive. At the same time, they can be big enough that their reach can exceed much of what a more typical criminal organization might.

Superman has a fair number of villains —The Atomic Skull, Hank Henshaw, etc. —who weren’t really “evil”until something happened to them. Might we see Clark actually helping some of these people avoid their fates altogether, rather than just “take ’em down when they’re young and less powerful?”

Possibly, though this is a very different world than the one they knew. Just as we’ve seen differences in DC’s heroes, there are bound to be differences in a lot of characters.

Have you thought about bringing post-Flashpoint versions of familiar characters in down the road? I would buy SO MANY COPIES of the Bibbo issue.

As enticing as that might be, I think it’s important to focus on their lives now, which means new characters. They’re in a very different place with very different lives.

Jonathan’s revelation has to be really weird: It isn’t just “my dad is a superhero.”It’s a game-changer on so many levels. Does that shake his foundation?

Jon’s relationship with his parents is really going to be the core element of the book. After all, they’re a family. Everything spins out of that. The way they react to any element of life is built around that fact. That’s who they are.

The post-Crisis Superman was, effectively, human in many ways. Being an outsider was something he dealt with, but not a ton as he really was born here and didn’t say things like “Great Rao”or anything like that. Now that he (and Lois) are from another world, how does that shift his perspective?

The things that shape Clark now are his past experiences and new life, which is built around his responsibility to his family.

He’s no different than us, in that respect.

But I have always seen him as human first and Kryptonian second. There’s no reason he’d ever say, “Great Rao”. He had no personal relationship with Krypton.

On that note, does it kind of position Jon as being somewhat like his dad’s younger self?

Lots of people might expect Jon to be something like his dad’s younger self, but it would be a bit of a mistake. His parents are not Jonathan and Martha Kent. It’s Lois and Clark. They’re different people with different ways of parenting.

How has aging impacted Lois and Clark? Now that he’s well into middle age, has Clark started to see that he ages differently from humans?

“Well into middle age?” C’mon!

Clark’s perspective is different, not so much because of his age, but because of what’s important to him.

Is his first responsibility to his family? His young son?

Or is earth and the welfare of others his first responsibility? It’s a bit of a conflict for him and like many conflicts we face, doesn’t necessarily have an easy answer.

Practically speaking, our Kryptonite shouldn’t affect him, right? The Pocket Universe Kryptonite didn’t…!

Time will tell.

If there was one thing Clark wishes he had from before the Dome came down, what would it be?

Well, I think the ideal answer for him would be that he wishes he could have returned everyone to where they were.

If there was one thing that Dan Jurgens wishes he had as a storytelling device from that era, what would that be?

The Eradicator. Opened lots of doors.

So far, we’ve seen three covers and three slightly different looks for the black costume. What’s going on there?

Embryonic stage of a book’s creation where we’re still trying to get everyone on the same page. Those things are fairly typical in the early days.

Did Lee Weeks redesign the black costume, or was that you (or somebody else at DC altogether)?

That was Lee. And it’s great!

What does Lee bring to the table here that nobody else has?

Lee is one of the most brilliant draftsmen I have ever worked with. I just marvel at his pages when they come in. The character nuance he’s giving Clark, Lois and Jon is simply fantastic and his Superman is perfect. He is putting his heart and soul into this book and it shows.

Do you have a favorite bearded Superman story? I’d have to go with Exile, but there have been a fair number of them over the years…

“Exile” is mine as well. Kind of had the Hercules look to him and it’s one of those cases where the beard really made sense within the context of the story.

SUPERMAN: LOIS & CLARK #1

Written by DAN JURGENS
Art and cover by LEE WEEKS
1:25 Variant cover by TONY S. DANIEL
On sale OCTOBER 14 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.

Following the epic events of CONVERGENCE, here are the adventures of the last sons and daughter of the Krypton and Earth as they try to survive in a world not their own. But can they keep this world from suffering the same fate as their own? Can this Superman stop the villains he once fought before they are created on this world? What is Intergang, and why does Lois’s discovery of it place everyone she loves in jeopardy? What will happen when their nine-year-old son learns the true identity of his parents? Make way for the original power couple, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do them part!