"Obviously, one of the most SUCCESSFUL Periods with Superman was The Fifties [ which is -- Fandom, please take note -- the exact OPOSITE of what most people THINK it is, if you canvas Public Opinion ], the Mort Weisinger stuff, which were HUGELY successful, they were read by KIDS, they were read by little girls, little boys....
I think what was great was that
he took things that we all
understood, like --
Superman suddenly has a DOG!
And he's got a DEN,
that's got all His STUFF in it,
and He's got RELATIVES
(who are ALIENS), and
he's got FRIENDS,
from The Future --
But the actual STORIES are still
all about Guilt, and Loss,
and Fear, and Love,
and EVERYTHING
That We UNDERSTAND,
but on an EPIC SCALE --
So, when Superman walks The Dog,
He walks it past SATURN --
....but he's STILL Walking The Dog...!!
He's like Your Dad, y'know? --
He's STILL gotta go
out, walk the dog,
and he still goes home, and
Lois gives him a hard time --
And I thought,
'Those are all the things
that MAKE The Story', y'know?
Because the thing with Superman is,
even when He can JUGGLE STARS,
He can still Go Home, and
Lois Lane can undermine
him with ONE Cruel Word...(!!)
And that's why we made him
even MORE Powerful than ever,
because everyone was saying,
"Oh, you can't Do a Superman story,
'coz, if He can Do ANYTHING, then
What conflicts are there...?"
And I thought, "Well....
EMOTIONAL Conflicts..!
The BIGGEST ones,
The ones We ALL understand -- "
