Superman Is Back To Basics

A few years ago, writer Brian Michael Bendis left Marvel for DC to write Superman where he made some... changes. 

 Groundbreaking or questionable, your mileage may vary.

One was to age up super son Jon Kent to a young adult.

And another was for Superman to decide the whole secret identity didn't make sense. 

So he told the whole world Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same.  

Then Bendis left Superman and other writers sent our Man of Steel into SPACE to deliver SPACE justice to SPACE people oppressed by SPACE monsters of SPACE evil.

In SPACE!   

On Earth, Jon Kent took on the mantle of responsibility to protect the planet as....

No, not Superboy.

Or Superlad or even Superman Jr.

Nope Jon Kent was SUPERMAN!  

And he's gay! 

(OK, technically Jon Kent is bi-sexual but that's how corporations hedge their bets. Yeah, he likes boys now but he could like girls again. You never know. But seriously, I think Jon's had one boyfriend and zero girlfriends so...gay.)    

Now comic books are always changing up the status quo in some kind of dramatic "things will never be the same again" way.

Until the time comes 'round as it inevitably does to get "back to basics". 

Kal-El of Krypton, mild mannered Clark Kent, the O.G. Superman is back. 

And somehow his secret identity will be restored. 

And Jon Kent will be relegated to emergency back up Superman.  

In the case of Superman's identity issues, I was never on board with the whole let's tell the whole world who he really is. Yeah, I understood Clark's whole ethical dilemma about asking the world to trust him when he's lying to that same world about who he really is.  But that twisted logic forgets why Clark Kent is integral to who Superman is, a connection to humanity, to understanding his limits. 

But going back to basics also shows the problems with making changes to promote diversity.   

The Atom becomes Asian Ryan Choi.  Back to basics means dull white guy Ray Palmer is the Atom.

African American John Stewart is Green Lantern. Until it's back to basics time and it's back to regular old white guy Hal Jordan. 

We've got ourselves a female Thor. Then back to basics brings back Thor Odinson.

African American Jim Rhodes is Iron Man. But then it's Back To Basic time! And it's Tony Stark back in the armor again.  

It's not that back to basics is in and of itself bad. But when you move forward with something new, a new version of a character that looks like the changing world around us but then go back, well, it can be a slap in the face of comic fans who finally saw themselves in the role of a super hero.

Now I have to admit to be a bit of an old stick in the mud and kind of want Superman to be disguised as Clark Kent, a mild mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper.  

But to regain what we lost, we should not have to lose what new discoveries we found as we move forward.