Episode 40 - A Conversation With Mark Waid

About this episode

Michael Bailey interviews Mark Waid about his work on Superman: Birthright and various aspects of the Superman mythos.

This time out I finish my look at Superman: Birthright by having a conversation with the man who wrote it! That's right, I got the chance to sit down (so to speak) with Mark to talk about Birthright . We talked about other things as well, but most of the conversation was about that series. We go over why DC wanted a new origin in 2003, why Mark kept the Kents alive despite his personal feelings on their deaths in previous versions of the origin, why Clark and Lex were friends during their time in Smallville, the "controversy" over making Clark a vegetarian, his take on Lois Lane, and what it was like seeing parts of this series end up in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel. You'll also get to hear the sad story of what happened to his first comic book collection, which of his stories he might want to see adapted into audio form, and which friend, Jimmy Olsen or Pete Ross, is the better friend to Clark. I'd once again like to thank Mark for agreeing to be on the show and being so generous with his time. Feedback for the show can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com . You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , iHeart Radio , Audible . This show is part of The…

People in this episode

Host: Michael Bailey

Guest: Mark Waid

Topics covered

• Superman origins
• comic book adaptations
• character relationships
• creator insights
• comic book history

Keywords

• Superman
• Mark Waid
• Birthright
• comic books
• DC Comics
• Clark Kent
• Lex Luthor
• Lois Lane
• Man of Steel

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Superman: Birthright, Man of Steel

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• Episode 39 - Many Lives, Many Origins Installment 2 - Superman: Birthright Part 2 · February 18, 2026 · 1h 33m
• Episode 38 - Many Lives, Many Origins Installment 1 - Superman: Birthright Part 1 · February 10, 2026 · 1h 5m
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