Impact
From 1986 until 2003, The Man of Steel was the official Superman origin story. The 1998 limited series, Superman for All Seasons added to the story, but did not remove it from continuity. Byrne followed the story with three four-issue mini-series that retold and explored the new world of Superman: The World of Krypton (December 1987 - March 1988), The World of Smallville (April - July 1988), and The World of Metropolis (August - November 1988). In addition to these stories, three on-going monthly comics featuring the new Superman's adventures were published by DC Comics. Byrne continued his stories in the brand new Superman #1, and continued with Action Comics #584, while Marv Wolfman wrote Adventures of Superman which had been retitled from the original Superman book and began with #424.
Byrne and Wolfman continued the changes presented in The Man of Steel in these on-going stories. Although most of Superman's powers remained unchanged, they did become limited to make him more believable. Additionally, he could no longer survive in space indefinitely without an air supply. These changes eliminated intergalactic and time travel stories. They also wanted to establish Clark Kent as the real person, with Superman being the disguise. Clark was no longer "mild-mannered," but became more assertive. He worked out to explain his muscular build and had written a "best-selling" novel before becoming a Daily Planet reporter. Additionally, most stories of other characters trying to find out Superman's secret identity were eliminated, as it wasn't believed that he had an alter-ego. Byrne also limited the use of Superman's weakness, Kryptonite. He removed all other forms besides the green variety, and made it an extremely rare element that came to Earth in one large rock with Superman's rocket. Lex Luthor believed early on that the radiation emanating from Kryptonite was within safe limits for humans, but was proved wrong in later stories.
Two of the biggest changes to Superman was reestablishing him as the sole survivor of the planet Krypton and the removal of his career as Superboy. These alterations in continuity would have a serious impact on the Legion of Super-Heroes. The Legion was formed based on the legends of Superman's adventures as a boy, and since they were still in continuity this was a problem. Additionally, Supergirl visited and worked with the Legion in many of their stories. Since Supergirl did not exist either, Byrne had to correct this incongruity. He created a storyline in his two books where the Legion travels back in time to confront the post-Crisis Superman to find an explanation on Superboy's apparent disappearance. It was revealed that the Legion's enemy, the Time Trapper had created a "pocket universe" where Superboy existed. Whenever that Superboy would travel to the future or the Legion would travel to the past, the Time Trapper shifted them in and out of the pocket universe. This would also be used to explain the existence of Supergirl in the Legion stories.
The Man of Steel was highly regarded as an origin story for Superman. The first issue sold 200000 copies. The cover to that issue was named one of the "75 Most Iconic DC Covers of All-Time" by Comic Book Resources, while users on that site voted it (along with the rest of Byrne's Superman run) as one of the "Top 100 Comic Book Runs" in 2012. Issue 3, where Superman met Batman, was named by IGN as one of "The Greatest Superman/Batman Stories." The website io9 called the mini-series "Must Read," while others gave many examples of why it is loved.
Although many people praised the story, it did have some detractors. Some claimed the series discarded the true Superman, while others claimed that DC and Byrne did not understand the character of Superman. Others gave numerous examples of why the new Superman was overthought and did not work as a character.
Read more about this topic: The Man Of Steel (comics)
Famous quotes containing the word impact:
“Conquest is the missionary of valour, and the hard impact of military virtues beats meanness out of the world.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“Television does not dominate or insist, as movies do. It is not sensational, but taken for granted. Insistence would destroy it, for its message is so dire that it relies on being the background drone that counters silence. For most of us, it is something turned on and off as we would the light. It is a service, not a luxury or a thing of choice.”
—David Thomson, U.S. film historian. America in the Dark: The Impact of Hollywood Films on American Culture, ch. 8, William Morrow (1977)
“The question confronting the Church today is not any longer whether the man in the street can grasp a religious message, but how to employ the communications media so as to let him have the full impact of the Gospel message.”
—Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)