"The trailers I've seen (for the movie) have been interesting," he said, reflecting on what is to come. He said that he thought the new man in the blue spandex suit, newcomer Brandon Routh, could do a good job in the role. "Going with an unknown was a good idea."
He also praises the movie's villain, Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. "Spacey looks like he's having a grand old time with the role," he said.
The new movie is the first Superman movie to hit the big screen since 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, a movie that was universally panned. But even if the character has sat on Hollywood's sidelines while other comic-book heroes took their time in the sun, Superman hasn't been completely out of the limelight.
In addition to the comic books he starred in on an almost weekly basis in the late-1990s, Superman was featured in three animated series, two live-action TV series, books and even a web-based adventure game.
"Superman has been featured in every medium known to man," Stern said. "And when they come up with new ones, he'll be in that, too."
Stern's relationship with Superman is a strong one. After writing the character for DC Comics in various forms for 10 years, between 1987 and 1997, he also wrote Superman novels and is back to writing the character in an upcoming story for the comic JLA: Classified, which tells stories about DC Comics' super group at various stages of their career. The new story, a collaboration with John Byrne, another notable former Superman writer, will be released sometime next year.
"I keep ending up writing Superman in one way or another," he said.
The death of a superhero
Stern's feelings toward the Man of Steel are obvious to anyone who speaks to him for any length of time. He speaks about Superman with passion and knowledge about his history. He can discuss the golden age of comics with as sure a tone as he can the modern age, an age that he helped shape almost 15 years ago, when DC Comics decided to kill off their icon.
Even the biggest detractor of comic books has heard of the Death of Superman. But what some may not know is that the industry's biggest story started out as a joke to replace one nixed by another medium.
"We were a victim of our own success there," Stern said.
At the time, the group of Superman writers were building up to finally marry off Lois Lane and Clark Kent, Superman's alter ego. But because the story had evolved so well, it turned into a television show, ABC's "Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman." The payoff to the show was the marriage between the two main characters. And they wanted the comics to wait on the big event.
"It was one of Jerry's (Ordway, another Superman writer) basic jokes: 'Well, we could always kill him.' It was either that or Superman vs. the Werewolf," Stern said with a laugh. "And we agreed. This would definitely be able to delay the wedding."
So the build-up to the wedding became a fight to the death with a creature named Doomsday, created specifically to kill Superman. "Superman #75," what should have been the happiest day in Superman's life, became the worst day for Metropolis, Superman's adopted city.
It wasn't the death that intrigued Stern, however. To him, the story came in the aftermath. What happens next? "That struck a chord somehow," he said. "There's a story there."
The death of Superman and the ensuing story was the cap to a whirlwind year for Stern and the rest of the writers of the world's first superhero. Stern calls it the year of 10,000 miles. That year, 1992, Stern traveled to Minneapolis, Minn., for that year's Super Summit (a meeting of Superman writers plotting out the next year's worth of comics), and traveled down to Florida for a benefit event for victims of Hurricane Andrew. Afterwards, Stern flew to the West Coast to do an episode of "Lois & Clark," and later attended the San Diego Comic-Con (the biggest convention in the country) to promote the death storyline. For his last stop, Stern headed out to Phoenix, Ariz., for a book signing. All the while, he was writing Action Comics (the comic book in which Superman debuted, way back in 1938) and the adaptation of the death storyline into a novel.
"I tallied it up at the end of the year and I think it was close to 10,000 miles I traveled that year," he said.
Despite the hectic schedules, he said he enjoyed being a part of the Superman writing team and working with creators like Jerry Ordway, George Perez, Mike Carlin and Curt Swan, who is recognized as one of the definitive Superman artists.
"Curt's drawn Superman in every pose imaginable," Stern said. "He's an incredible resource. It was great working with him. He was in his 70s and still just as good as ever."
The world without
When the word got out that DC was planning on killing Superman, a media frenzy ensued. Stern credited the huge amount of press the story got on a slow news week.
"If one thing had happened that week, it would have been back-page news," he noted.
Despite all the interviews and all the news coverage the story was getting, it was something more personal that made Stern realize that the Death of Superman had captivated the country.
"When my barber and the guys at the hardware store started asking about it, I knew this was a pretty big deal," he said.
The return
Just like he did on the big screen last week, Superman returned to comics, and Stern was there to ease him back in. He was even there when Clark Kent married Lois Lane, four years after the original plan was conceived. But gone are the days when comic-book writers stay on a book for decades-although Stern's decade with Superman is an impressive tally even with the year he took off after killing the legend.
Stern has moved on, as has Superman. In recent years, the question of whether Superman is relevant to society has become stronger. Even when Stern was a regular writer, the character was called naïve, a goody-goody. Superman is a bright character, meant for good, living in a comic-book industry that was getting darker. And while his death sold millions of comic books, the interest wasn't sustained. Superman wasn't relevant. He wasn't interesting. He was too much of a boy scout.
"While I don't know when being a boy scout became such a pejorative, when has Superman ever been portrayed as a boy scout?" Stern questioned.
The writer said that Superman is more closely relatable to the parable of the Good Samaritan, helping those not of his tribe. Another comparison, Stern said, could be to Moses, a baby sent downstream to safety.
"It really is more the story of Moses. Only downstream just happens to be several light years away," he said, making reference to Superman's trip from his home planet of Krypton to Earth.
Stern even combines the two parables in comparing Superman, calling Jonathon and Martha Kent, Superman's adoptive parents, the first Good Samaritans, raising their son Clark upright, to respect truth, justice and the American way.
"And if that's too corny for you, well, that's too bad."
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