I don't keep up with these things too much anymore, so finding a Dan Jurgens story inside the issue was a nice surprise. It was a good story, but I'm disappointed that Jurgens is so often used as a go-to guy for stories set in the past. I feel that DC would do better to have him, and other writers and artists like him, doing a bigger percentage of their contemporary stories.

Aside from Jurgens ...

For such a big milestone, 700 issues, the book felt surprisingly low-key. The opening story was fairly dull, and didn't ring so true for me ... unless Lois is a doormat who still just basically waits around for Superman to come back ... and their dialogue approached Reed/Sue depths of baby/honey/darling-ness.

The preview of Superman's "bold new direction" wasn't especially compelling.

I bought it but haven't read it yet. Flipping through, it looked pretty ho-hum.

Flipped through it and it looked dull so i put it back on the shelf.

I thumbed through it and put it back myself. A 700th issue of Superman deserves something spectacular.

I bought it so I can decide if I want to read the new direction.

When I heard about this new direction it killed the momentum the Super-titles built up for me. I have been reading since John's Legion storyline and stopped after the War of the Supermen.

Frying pan = New Krypton garbage
X = J. Michael Strackzinsky

A riddle.

Guys, guys! Not just a new direction ... a bold new direction.

As much as I complained and whined about the New Krypton thing, at least it held some interest for me to read.

This I don't even want to download.

?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtih-rOXXPw[/youtube]

I just looked up JMS's bold new take on Superman, and wow does it ever sound boring. How did this stuff get approved?

I just shit myself a little.

This would seem to be further proof that DC and Marvel (as well as the rest of the NYC periodical publishing community) live in a vacuum. It's as though they are writing for each other rather than the fans... that they consider their audience to be the staff members of other comic book and print media publishers rather than kids and big kids. It's incestuous, to a degree.

"I see UFOs around the egg, but it's still an egg. There's a hobbit on a unicorn eating the egg, but it's still a fuckin' egg." -- Bill Hicks.

Yeah, I read about the bold new direction and it sounded boring as shit.

Call me when Superman is back to being Superman and doing the things he is supposed to, like flying around and fighting powerful bad guys in Metropolis. I really want to buy your books Superman. I bought all of World of New Krypton because it was "close enough".

I have to agree with the sentiments here. It boggles the mind why DC keeps taking Superman out of Superman comics. After Johns & Frank had a brief run that felt like finally a return to well-done super tales, he is replaced for a year by C and D listers. I thought after the New Krypton stuff we'd be back to normal stories, but Action will be the Adventures of Lex Luthor, and JMS seems more interested in writing Superman Gump.

JMS has talent, but his stores read like they would be better novels than comics. Too often they are so caught up in navel gazing that there is very little visual flair. Since I pre-order with Westfield, I am locked into at least the first few issues, hopefully it is more exciting than it sounds.

I'd love to be optimistic for you, but honestly, I don't see how it can be. I expect a lot of walking around and soliliquy or however the fuck you spell that word.

In my opinion, they should have put Bruce Timm in some level of creative control of the DCU after his outstanding JLU series ended.

Can I have my brain on drugs with a side of bacon, please?

Agreed. Whenever I watch those shows I always think, "Why don't they just these guys in charge of the comics?"

If Superman doesn't visualize a lynx by #703, they're half-steppin'.

You know what? It is bold.

You have to have balls to pull out a concept that has been done to death since 1971 and publicize it as a daring new direction.