Here are my thoughts on the various eras:

1) Siegel and Shuster Era - 1938-about 1941 The original crusader Superman who, more often than not, took the law into his own hands to fight injustices that the law couldn't/wouldn't.

This was the original, and template for everything that came after, so by definition, they couldn't get it wrong. I'd say it's my second favorite Superman because most of the elements I value most were present and Superman was self-confident and powerful, but not overly so. I prefer a stronger, more realistic Clark (ala George Reeves, Dean Cain, and Tom Welling) but other than that I have no criticisms of the era.
2) Middle Golden Age - About 1942-1948 This is the era that saw Superman become more a friend of the police than an adversary. Meanwhile, the stories gradually turned more towards the fantastic, and the art gradually simplified. The rough edges became more polished for parental approval.

Still very good, but not as good as it had been. A new status quo was set with the goal of being wholesome entertainment. I'm all for that, I LOVE Captain Marvel, but Superman lost something during this period, especially with Ira Yarbrough drawing so many stories at the end. At least we got some great new elements like Prankster, Toyman, and best of all, Mxyzptlk!

3) Pre-Silver Age - 1948-1958 It looked like the Silver Age Superman, at times it read like the Silver Age Superman, but it lacked the innovations of the Silver Age Superman. Nonetheless, it saw the introduction of Kryptonite, the beginning of team-ups with Batman, and an increased role for Jimmy Olsen. It's also called Superman's "lost decade" by some because of the sparce reprinting from this era compared to periods before and after.

From

what I have seen, these are pretty much the same as the Silver Age. If you take the early World's Finest team-up stories, and the early Jimmy Olsen stories, and compare them to those series' stories from the late 1950s and the early 1960s, it's about the same comparison. So currently I'd rank it just behind the Silver Age just because it was mostly the same, but lacked some of the better innovations that came on later on.
4) Silver Age - 1958-1970 The Weisinger years. Well, technically the decade prior also saw Weisinger at the helm, but this was his decade + of innovations. We got Kandor, Braniac, Bizarro, a rainbow of Kryptonite, Supergirl, and a legion of other super-characters, both human and animal.

I began reading these stories when I started collecting, so they have the same nostalgic feel to me, and the Silver Age Superman is almost as much MY Superman as the Byrne/Jurgens one is. Like with the Siegel/Shuster era, my only complaint is the milksop Clark. I just never found that version of the character credible. By playinf the weak, bumbling fool, he was drawing more attention to himself than if he had just tried to act like an average man.

5) The Schwartz Era - 1971-1986 A period that broke Superman's status quo, and depowered him, then turned around and embraced it, powering him back up, and then turned around again and gradually matured the stories and characters.

I've always had something against the 1970s that I just can't place my finger on. Something about the styles and attitudes of the era tend to turn me off a little bit. Nonetheless, I like this era of Superman a little less than the Silver Age/Pre-Silver Age, but I like it nonetheless. In fact, now that I've finished my Byrne/Jurgens era collecting, this has become my new focus.

6) The Byrne/Jurgens/etc. Era - 1986-1999 Superman was brought back to basics, removing some of the more fantastic elements, giving new twists to others, and returning him to his roots, while updating him for the 80s/90s. A tight continuity was formed, becoming a weekly story, Lois and Clark got engaged, Superman died and returned, and Lois and Clark eventually married.


THIS is my Superman. I came in with the Death and Return, and bought up the back issues with a ravenous hunger that I've never had for any other comic book. I love just about everything about this period in Superman's history (except for perhaps the last few major storylines when they were losing steam...). It has all of the excitement of the Siegel/Shuster era, but with a better Clark, so this wins as my favorite Superman.

As EPT said, my Superboy is a clone (of Cadmus Director Paul Westfield and Superman, not Lex Luthor and Superman), my Supergirl is a blob of goo (well, a blob of goo later merged with a human to become an earth-born angel), and my Lex Luthor is a businessman. And this Lex always has made, and always will make, more sense to me than a fugitive mad scientist.

7) The Loeb/Kelly/Casey/etc. Era - 2000-2004 After the previous era lost steam, a new team was brought in. The weekly continuity was dropped, there was a drastic change in art and story style, and much of the large supporting cast was forgotten and trimmed down to the classics; Lois, Jimmy, Perry, Ma and Pa Kent, Lana, etc.

GAG!!! The WORST Superman ever published!!!!! I had a hard time trying to sum this era up without expressing my pure distain. I feel toward this era how Fyrcyning does toward Byrne/Jurgens. I LOVED the weekly continuity and the large supporting cast. They made Superman's world seem real. This era destroyed those elements, and turned a very realistic, and interesting Metropolis into a futuristic nightmare. I HATE the B13 Metropolis!!! I HATE Joe Kelly and Joe Casey!!!! I HATE the string of sub-par to horrible artists that populated the books!!!! And I HATE this whiny, unconfident Superman and his equally annoying wife, Lois Lane: Super-B****!!!!!!

That said, there is one, well two good things that came out of this period, and they are Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. They made the era tollerable. Not long after they left, I did as well, something I NEVER thought I would do!

8) The In-Between Era - 2004-2006 A transitional period for Superman A more traditional art style returned, but the stories were not quite those of either of the two previous periods, and lacked the big changes of the following. Kind of like a condinced version of the pre-Silver Age. Perhaps the most notable run from this era was that of Gail Simone and John Byrne on Action Comics.

I came back to Superman when this era started, but the only things that interested me were Greg Rucka and Matthew Clark on Adventures, and Ivan Reis and Jim Lee's art on Action and Superman. The storylines in those books though just did not interest me at all. So when Clark, Reis, and Lee left I did again. Sadly, it was just before the Simone/Byrne run. I almost came back for that, but I swore to myself that I was done with new Superman stories for good, and I didn't want to come back just to be disapointed again.

9) The Johns/Busiek/Robinson Era - 2006-Present Following Infinite Crisis, Superman took a new direction, keeping with some of the elements, cast members, and story/art styles that made the Byrne/Jurgens era a success, but gradually folding in more elements and continuity from the Silver Age and Schwartz era.


I did finally come back just before Johns' Brainiac storyline started, and made a very concintrated effort to catch up on what I had missed. That's when I discovered how great the Simone/Byrne stuff was, and then how great Superman and Action became after Infinite Crisis. It started out like a return to the greatness of the 90s, and I was thrilled. I could even overlook the little young Clark with the Legion retcon. Then they killed Jonathan Kent. Then brought back Kandor, and then launched into the SUPER-long World of New Krypton storyline. I don't dislike the current Superman (other than a few elements which go against what I think made Byrne's reboot so special and interesting), but I am getting bored. I want Superman back in costume, back on Earth, and back to the status quo. This current storyline was new and interesting at first, but now it's just grown stale. Plus I really hate Chris all grown up. I would much rather see him as a little boy living with Lois and Clark. His was perhaps my favorite storyline when I was playing catch-up.

So here are my rankings:

1) Byrne/Jurgens
2) Siegel and Shuster
3) Middle Golden Age
4) Silver Age
5) Pre-Siver Age (aka "The Lost Decade")
6) Schwartz
7) Johns/Busiek/Robinson
8) In-Between Era
9) Loeb/Kelly/Casey

Nos. 1 and 2 are pretty much tied, with 1 just edging out for reasons I've stated; 3-5 are also pretty much tied with each other, there is a slow but steady decline in my opinion of 6-8, and 9 is a far, far, FAR distant last place!!!

-Eric