MOTHER PUSS BUCKET

Two things here:

1. Hey look, the “S” stands for Superman! What a novel idea! None of this ridiculous over-explanation that the “S” just happens to be his Kryptonian family crest or the Kryptonian symbol for hope while his name just happens to be Superman. It’s an “S” because his name is Superman. Don’t make shit more complicated than it needs to be.
2. “One for the front, and one for the back.” One of the things that disappoints me about the costume for MAN OF STEEL is the fact that the cape has no symbol on it. Without that, it’s just kind of a red piece of cloth.

This is just one of several things that got streamlined in John Byrne’s ”Man of Steel” series. It’s not perfect, I guess, but so much of it still works because a lot of it just makes sense.

Of course, it’s also been undone about a half dozen different times since then, thanks to things like Smallville, Mark Waid’s Birthright, Geoff Johns’ run on “Action” and his “Secret Origin” revamp (all now completely irrelevant in terms of continuity, of course), and the persistence of the damn Richard Donner movies as influences on the character. I swear to God if I never see another crystal in a Superman comic/movie/series it’ll be too soon.

I mentioned it in another post, but the John Byrne take on Superman’s origin is the one that I like the most. It works for me because it keeps Superman basically the same as a character, but gets rid of a lot of the baggage he had been carrying for years.