Superman in the New Millennium Part 2: Jurgens's Action and Tomasi's Superman.

The Rebirth initiative inaugurated arguably the greatest era of Superman comics in more than a decade and a half not for the typical reasons of reinventing and innovating the titular hero, like so many writers trying to craft a "classic" run try to do, but merely on the basis that the comics were good.

Writers given the burden of writing Superman in his various titles have been pondering for decades on how to default Superman back to his position as comics' greatest hero, and this means changing the cardinal foundation of the character. In Godfall and For Tomorrow, Superman was placed in science fiction setting more appropriate for a Michael Bay film or a Marc Silvestri comic rather than a something that felt natural for the Man of Steel. Robinson, Rucka, Loeb, and Kelly built the character up to be the linchpin of company wide events such as Our Worlds at War and New Krypton. Austen attempted to inject a love triangle between Lana Lang, Clark Kent, and Lois Lane. Finally, J. Michael Straczynski haphazardly attempted to translate O'Neil's dated Green Lantern/Green Arrow to Superman. The New Fifty Two doubled down on the gimmicks: Replacing his tights with Jim Lee armor, gifting him with a new angst ridden, brash personality, and as a final nail on the coffin, outing his secret identity to the public. All of these falling flat on their face.

While Rebirth did change some aspects to the Superman status quo, these changes didn't alter the Superman formula a s we know it. In the Rebirth 'Action Comics' and 'Superman' Clark Kent was once more in a fruitful marriage with longtime love interest Lois Lane fighting extraordinary threats with the same 'gee whizz' attitude that has been a staple of the character in his most iconic forms. Lex Luthor becoming a hero, while being a problematic notion in the long term, was a very entertaining subplot in Action Comics, and didn't overstate it's welcome. The emergence of Jon Kent in 'Superman' marked, in my opinion, one of the most engaging new creations in the Superman mythos since Steel and Superboy during Reign of the Superman more than two decades prior.

Jurgens and Tomasi were not great successors to the Superman throne mind you: There was the odd subpar storyline and the stellar status quo of the two creative teams were breaker up by writers and artists of lesser quality in a likelyhood due to breakneck scheduling pace caused by the premier titles of the DC Rebirth li ne being bimonthly. Nonetheles, Tomasi and Jurgens managed to return Superman, not to his past heights of popularity, as every past contemporary Superman writer had failed to accomplish, but to a level of dependable competency in his titles.

Superman is a character whose milquetoast toast nature leads to a situation wherein it is best not to rock the boat. While someone such as Batman is heavily malleable,  as he can be a campy science fiction hero, a semiserous pulp detective, or a troubled verteran antihero and have all interpretations work equally well, Superman is comparatively rigid in terms of characterization, location, and tone. Superman doesn't succeed as a bully for the working class as in Morrison's run, or a man on the run as in Yang's run, or a straight up ass as in Austen's.

Elseworlds and Imaginary Tales put aside, Superman should be the kindhearted but bold from equal part Krypton and Kansas with Lois Lane by his side. These are the fundamentals of the character, and what made both Jurgens and Tomasi's takes on him work in contrast to the past near two decades.