Was the "Electric Superman" Look Supposed To Be Permanent?

Russ Burlingame

03/12/2017 04:53 pm EDT

Superman #123 marked the first appearance of the "Electric Superman" look twenty years ago today -- and while earlier today we asked a number of the writers, artists, and former DC executive editor Mike Carlin just how it came to be, we neglected to ask another question that often comes up when fans are debating this period: was it meant to last?

(Photo: DC Entertainment)

The short answer is no, but the longer answer is always more interesting.

And at the time, the short answer was, "This is Superman now," meant to imply -- without actually coming right out and saying -- that the changes were permanent. It was, according to Superman artist Ron Frenz (who designed the suit), a compromise with creators who didn't want to lie outright to fans who were curious or outraged about changes made to the Man of Steel's costume and powers.

Those answers came back to haunt Superman #123 writer Dan Jurgens a little bit when, in 2011, he appeared on a panel at New York Comic Con to promote his then-upcoming run on Superman, taking over from departing New 52 Superman writer/artist George Perez.

With DC pressing the point that there was no end in sight for the (then-new) New 52 and that the collared, younger Superman was the guy fans could look forward to reading about for the foreseeable future, at least one fan asked Jurgens pointedly why they should believe that, when creators had said the same about the Electric Superman era.

Jurgens, for his part, said that he had never said it was going to be permanent, but allowed that he and others involved with the storytelling at the time had obviously nudged fans in that direction and had allowed them to believe it, to protect the story they were telling from seeming less epic than they intended it.

Numerous people involved with the Electric Superman era have said in the intervening decades that it, like Superman's death five years before, had not launched as a story they didn't have an exit strategy for -- and they always knew it was going to lead to a modernized retelling of "Superman Red/Superman Blue," followed by an eventual return to the status quo.

That said, it was more of an outline than a full plot they started with.

"We actually started this without a solution," The Adventures of Superman writer Karl Kesel told Wizard: The Guide to Comics in 1997, in quote that both implied the story was finite and foreshadowed problems that both Kesel and many readers would eventually have with the story's ending. "We have a number of ideas and one specific idea we're drifting towards, but we keep realizing all the possibilities and want to explore them as much as we can. So we're not sure when it will end yet."

During an interview with ComicBook.com, Superman artist Ron Frenz (who designed the Electric Blue costume) said that then-Action Comics writer David Michelinie had also told a reporter on the record that the changes were temporary, although at first glance we can find no record of that in the Wizard interviews. Of course, the power change storyline got wide mainstream media coverage, and Michelinie's comments could have been made to another magazine or even outside of the trade press. Either way, not everyone was so cavalier about the story's temporary nature.

"We're making a deliberate attempt to change the status quo," Jurgens told Wizard in a different issue around the same time. "I guess if we get a billion letters saying it sucks, we'll probably back out, but I highly doubt that's going to happen."

There weren't a billion, but the Superman titles of the '90s were rarely shy about printing even the most critical letters. Superman #128, the issue in which readers responded to the first appearance of the new costume, featured a letter from Betty S. Copeland from Dallas, who said in part that "anyone who can foul up a comic book as much as you have does not deserve to be called an Editorial Staff," and "I know no other way to protest this tearing out of all Superman fans' hearts except to stop reading the comic, and to go on the Internet and encourage any other Superman fans to do the same."

...Good to see not much has changed about fandom in the last 20 years.

You can check back early in the week for a wide-ranging roundtable conversation with these creators and more about the 20th anniversary of the "Electric Superman" storyline.

Thanks to Michael Bailey at the Fortress of Baileytude for providing copies of the 1997 Wizard Magazine and Previews articles that helped serve as research for this and other stories in our series on Electric Superman.

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(Photo: DC Entertainment)