Hi, Dave.
DJ> IF back in 1970, they would have went that route, as well with
DJ> batman, they'd have succesors to their mantle by now, as they used
DJ> to show in the words finest comix.
     With the snail's pace that these characters age... do you really
think Superman & Batman would both have successors right now if they'd
married and had kids back in 1970 (even if the Crisis had never
happened)?  I mean, Franklin Richards was born back in (I think) the
1966 "Fantastic Four Annual"... and he's still a kid.  Look how many
years it took for the Silver Age Robin to grow up.  If the "New Teen
Titans" had never come around, Dick Grayson would still be in short-
pants...  Personally, I don't think Batman and Superman will ever
(permanently) be anybody other than Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent,
respectively.  Even if DC did decide these guys should have kids... I
think it'd be a good long time (if ever) before these children would
be up to taking over for their super-dads.
     If I remember correctly, the "Super-Sons" feature in "World's
Finest Comics" didn't even occur in the proper DC Universe.  Didn't
they exist in some sort of virtual reality scenario either in the
Batcave... or in the Fortress Of Solitude?
DJ> Having supes, as well as bats now produce offspring would be the
DJ> last gimmick to pull.
     I agree that having Lois & Clark have children is last and quite
possibly, the ultimate gimmick for the writers to try... but I'm
hoping they give it some serious consideration before they pull that
one...  and not just use it to keep sales up.  Children would
complicate Lois & Clark's busy lifestyle tremendously... let alone the
way it'd impact on Superman's crime-fighting duties.  To be honest,
I'm hoping they never go that route...
DJ> Either that, or snuff Lois ala Gwen Stacy, & DC would NEVER have
DJ> the guts to do such a thing with such an old character. Tens of
DJ> thousands of fans would never buy the book again.  But boy, would
DJ> such an issue SELL!! Mayhap both gimmicks of a super son being
DJ> born, THEN a tragic death  for Lois  could be employed to boost
DJ> sales to unprecidented numbers!
     Ditto for killing Lois.  She's always been an important fixture
in the Superman books... but now that Lois & Clark are married, I
think she's become as integral to the series as he is.  As for the
baby being born and then something tragic happening to Lois... you
only have to look as far as one of the Superman "Armageddon 2001"
Annuals...  which featured a pregnant Lois dying when the super-fetus
kicked (the difference being that, in that story, the baby died too).
Also, I don't feel that killing Lois is an exercise in DC having
"guts".  That somewhat suggests you're daring DC to actually do it...
and I don't really think you want that... do you???....
DJ> As is,Whats left? To have either Perry White or Jimmy Olsen meet
DJ> his maker?
     Personally, I think that the Superman books need to STOP this
gimmick insanity.  Since his death & resurrection, all readers have
gotten from the writers is one steady stream of gimmicky storylines
(IMO, each has been progressively more disappointing than the one
before).  I think the Super-titles should (perhaps get scaled back to
2 monthly titles and) go back to the well-written character-driven-
type of stories which preceeded all this nonsense.  Killing Superman-
characters...  even supporting characters may raise the sales of his
books in the short-term... but it also depletes the character base
and, should they choose to in the future, makes it harder to go back
to the character-driven stories which attracted me to these titles in
the first place.
DJ> The "new " superman may be only 12 years old, but frankly, hes
DJ> getting as stale as the old supes had become.
     This goes along with what I was saying before about it becoming
harder and harder to come up with "new" stories to tell featuring
these classic old characters.  Revamping Superman every 25 years
doesn't really change that.  Realistically, DC buys itself a few extra
years with these characters after every revamp... 'cuz they have to go
through the obligatory re-introduction of the title character to the
new incarnations of his classic villains.  But after that is
accomplished... what types of stories (aside from the scenario you
painted above of Lois & Clark starting a family... and even that's
been dealt with before in various "Imaginary Tales") are there left
for the writers to tell about Superman.  I don't imagine most Superman
fans wouldn't want what happened to Animal Man to happen to Superman
(nor would I)...  so I can't see that being a viable alternative.
Talk to you later.
David
.
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