Editing Superman (section)

===Editors===
Initially, [[Jerry Siegel]] was allowed to write Superman more or less as he saw fit because nobody had anticipated the success and rapid expansion of the franchise.<ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman'', p. 49: "Initially Harry [Donenfeld], Jack [Liebowitz], and the managers they hired to oversee their growing editorial empire had let Jerry [Siegel] do as he wished with the character..."</ref><ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman'', p. 41: "Neither Harry [Donenfeld] nor Jack [Liebowitz] had planned for a separate Superman comic book, or for that to be ongoing. Having Superman's story play out across different venues presented a challenge for Jerry [Siegel] and the writers who came after him: Each installment needed to seem original yet part of a whole, stylistically and narratively. Their solution, at the beginning, was to wing it..."</ref> But soon Siegel and Shuster's work was put under careful oversight for fear of trouble with censors.<ref>{{harvp|Daniels|1998}}. ''Superman: The Complete History'', p. 42: "...the publisher was anxious to avoid any repetition of the censorship problems associated with his early pulp magazines (such as the lurid ''Spicy Detective'')."</ref> Siegel was forced to tone down the violence and social crusading that characterized his early stories.<ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman'', p. 49: "Once Superman became big business, however, plots had to be sent to New York for vetting. Not only did editors tell Jerry to cut out the guns and knives and cut back on social crusading, they started calling the shots on minute details of script and drawing."</ref> Editor [[Whitney Ellsworth]], hired in 1940, dictated that Superman not kill.<ref>{{harvp|Daniels|1998}}. ''Superman: The Complete History'', p. 42: "It was left to Ellsworth to impose tight editorial controls on Jerry Siegel. Henceforth, Superman would be forbidden to use his powers to kill anyone, even a villain."</ref> Sexuality was banned, and colorfully outlandish villains such as [[Ultra-Humanite]] and [[Toyman]] were favored over gangsters as they were thought to be less frightening to young readers.<ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman'', p. 47: "No hint of sex. No alienating parents or teachers. Evil geniuses like the Ultra-Humanite were too otherworldly to give kids nightmares... The Prankster, the Toyman, the Puzzler, and J. Wilbur Wolngham, a W. C. Fields lookalike, used tricks and gags instead of a bow and arrows in their bids to conquer Superman. For editors wary of controversy, 1940s villains like those were a way to avoid the sharp edges of the real world."</ref>

[[Mort Weisinger]] was the editor on Superman comics from 1941 to 1970, his tenure briefly interrupted by military service. Siegel and his fellow writers had developed the character with little thought of building a coherent mythology, but as the number of Superman titles and the pool of writers grew, Weisinger demanded a more disciplined approach.<ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman'', p. 162: "Before Mort came along, Superman's world was ad hoc and seat-of-the-pants, with Jerry and other writers adding elements as they went along without any planning or anyone worrying whether it all hung together. That worked fine when all the books centered around Superman and all the writing was done by a small stable. Now the pool of writers had grown and there were eight different comic books with hundreds of Superman stories a year to worry about."</ref> Weisinger assigned story ideas, and the logic of Superman's powers, his origin, the locales, and his relationships with his growing cast of supporting characters were carefully planned. Elements such as [[Bizarro]], his cousin [[Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)|Supergirl]], the [[Phantom Zone]], the [[Fortress of Solitude]], alternate varieties of [[kryptonite]], [[Superman robots|robot doppelgangers]], and [[Krypto]] were introduced during this era. The complicated universe built under Weisinger was beguiling to devoted readers but alienating to casuals.<ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman'', p. 173: "But Weisinger's innovations were taking a quiet toll on the story. Superman's world had become so complicated that readers needed a map or even an encyclopedia to keep track of everyone and everything. (There would eventually be encyclopedias, two in fact, but the first did not appear until 1978.) All the plot complications were beguiling to devoted readers, who loved the challenge of keeping current, but to more casual fans they could be exhausting."</ref> Weisinger favored lighthearted stories over serious drama, and avoided sensitive subjects such as the [[Vietnam War]] and the [[civil rights movement|American civil rights movement]] because he feared his [[right-wing]] views would alienate his left-leaning writers and readers.<ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman'', p. 165: "Weisinger stories steered clear of the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, the black power movement, and other issues that red the 1960s. There was none of what Mort would have called "touchy-feely" either, much as readers might have liked to know how Clark felt about his split personality, or whether Superman and Lois engaged in the battles between the sexes that were a hallmark of the era. Mort wanted his comics to be a haven for young readers, and he knew his right-leaning politics wouldn't sit well with his leftist writers and many of his Superman fans."</ref> Weisinger also introduced [[Comic book letter column|letters columns]] in 1958 to encourage feedback and build intimacy with readers.<ref>{{harvp|Daniels|1998}}. ''Superman: The Complete History'', p. 102: "One of the ways the editor kept in touch with his young audience was through a letters column, 'Metropolis Mailbag,' introduced in 1958."</ref>

Weisinger retired in 1970 and [[Julius Schwartz]] took over. By his own admission, Weisinger had grown out of touch with newer readers.<ref>{{harvp|Tye|2012}}. ''Superman: The Complete History'', p. 168: "He admitted later he was losing touch with a new generation of kids and their notions about heroes and villains."</ref> Starting with [[The Sandman Saga (Superman)|The Sandman Saga]], Schwartz updated Superman by making Clark Kent a television anchor, and he retired overused plot elements such as kryptonite and robot doppelgangers.<ref>Julius Schwartz, quoted in {{harvp|Daniels|1998}}: "I said, 'I want to get rid of all the kryptonite. I want to get rid of all the robots that are used to get him out of situations. And I'm sick and tired of that stupid suit Clark Kent wears all the time. I want to give him more up-to-date clothes.  And maybe the most important thing I want to do is take him out of the Daily Planet and put him into television.' I said 'Our readers are not that familiar with newspapers. Most of them get their news on television, and I think it's high time after all these years.'"</ref> Schwartz also scaled Superman's powers down to a level closer to Siegel's depiction. These changes would eventually be reversed by later writers. Schwartz allowed stories with serious drama such as "[[For the Man Who Has Everything]]" (''Superman Annual'' #11), in which the villain [[Mongul]] torments Superman with an illusion of happy family life on a living Krypton.

Schwartz retired from DC Comics in 1986 and was succeeded by [[Mike Carlin]] as an editor on Superman comics. His retirement coincided with DC Comics' decision to [[Reboot (fiction)|reboot]] the [[DC Universe]] with the companywide-crossover storyline "[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]". In [[The Man of Steel (comics)|The Man of Steel]] writer [[John Byrne (comics)|John Byrne]] rewrote the Superman mythos, again reducing Superman's powers, which writers had slowly re-strengthened, and revised many supporting characters, such as making [[Lex Luthor]] a billionaire industrialist rather than a mad scientist, and making Supergirl an [[Supergirl#Matrix|artificial shapeshifting organism]] because DC wanted Superman to be the sole surviving [[Kryptonian]].

Carlin was promoted to Executive Editor for the [[DC Universe]] books in 1996, a position he held until 2002. K.C. Carlson took his place as editor of the Superman comics.