So, Jim Shooter has been sharing some of John Byrne’s ideas about how to revamp Superman from before the 1986 Man of Steel reboot – These come from the never-happened-but-almost-did Marvel buyout of DC in the early ’80s, apparently – over on his blog:
At the perfect moment, Jor-El waves to Lara in the little ship and launches the rocket. Lara looks back at dying Krypton—which explodes, sending forth a burst of “searing radiation”—the mysterious, additional factor, maybe? John doesn’t say. Lara feels the radiation affecting her just before the rocket enters hyper space.
Over on John Byrne’s forum, he’s not so happy about this – complaining that he was never paid for the work, and that what was shared was more “spitballing” than an actual pitch. He also throws this odd comment into the mix of whether or not Shooter’s recollection of DC almost being bought out by Marvel is even true:
It didn’t [happen]. Shooter was convinced, during his later years as EiC, that Marvel was on the verge of buying DC.
Take from that what you will.
The whole idea that DC was almost licensed out prior to its mid-80s renaissance has been surprising from the start; it’d be interesting to hear someone who was at DC or Warners at the time having some input into whether or not it’s true or not.
October 28th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
I’m personally inclined to believe Shooter over Byrne in this case; mostly the basis of how insufferable Byrne is.
October 28th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Sorry, but Shooter has no credibility with this.
October 29th, 2011 at 10:16 am
Both guys are known to… shall we say fib a little upon occasion when it’s to make themselves look good. However when it comes to general memories and giving facts, Jim wins hands down on who I’d believe in a he said/he said situation between the two.
October 29th, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Can’t speak for Byrne, but unless Shooter gets his documentation from the same source as Dan Rather, he has a paper trail for a heck of a lot of what he posts.