Revamp : the late 80s Superman

So, those of us that care (and some that don't) know that in September DC is relaunching their universe.
Books by new creative teams (mostly) and a general desire to freshen things up.
Clearly it's too early to tell if it'll be any good. Whether we have Heroes Reborn (dire) or Ultimates (somewhat better but not flawless).
Though it's made me think back to the DC of the late 80s. In the UK, London Editions reprinted recent DC stories, often with articles explaining characters and storylines. It was through these that I first learnt of Crisis On Infinite Earths. Crisis (just in case you didn't know) was an epic story arc that allowed DC to tweak characters and their history in an effort to make the comic universe more accessible.
And few were more tweaked about with than Superman.
You know what? It excited me to know that I was reading about a fairly new Superman. (I did find myself looking down the nose at some pre-Crisis material as, for Supes, most of that stuff now hadn't happened.)
DC had entrusted John Byrne with reinventing the Man of Steel. And his version was very much of its time. Luthor was a corporate crook with underworld connections as opposed to a mad scientist. The sillier trappings like the Fortress of Solitude and Krypto the superdog were gone. And Supes was not all powerful. Also stripped back was a lot of the Kryptonianess. Supergirl no longer existed. Clark was on his own. And all the various different non-green colours of Kryptonite (and their different effects) were gone too.
Probably one of the strongest ideas was the doing away with Clark's time as Superboy (seriously, any crook with a brain would compare Smallville phonebooks of the Superboy era with those from Metropolis - yeah, it would take a while then but the rewards would pay dividends.)
Another strong idea was having Superman and Batman not get on. The grudging respect they showed made more sense given their vastly different attitudes and approaches.
But possibly the most crucial change was the overall grounding of Clark in his humanity. Ma and Pa Kent were now still alive, allowing us to see his human side. (Some of my favourite scenes were Clark hanging out back home.) Yes, this was a powerful being but he was relatable. See the issue of Man Of Steel when Clark comes home after his first heroic feat, saving a space-plane. He is overcome by the public reaction. "They all wanted a piece of me, Ma".
Byrne and fellow writer Marv Wolfman had modelled a fair bit on the Christopher Reeves films, to be sure. Though the paring back paid dividends. We were allowed to discover a hero who whilst morally strong could fail. And that could make for interesting reading.
The first issue of anything that I definitely remember having is Superman 9. It features the Joker attacking Metropolis. The Joker-smiles on his gassed victims scared my 8 year-old self but what really terrified me was the Joker's response when ultimately asked why he'd attacked another city. "Why ever not?"
That isn't the best part of that issue. The best part is a back-up story featuring Luthor appearing in a diner 900 miles from Metropolis. This is small-scale evil. He asks his waitress if she wants to give up her life, her husband and come with him for a month. She has ten minutes to decide.
There's no super-heroics at all. Just a moral dilemma and a great character-piece.
It's the characterisation that makes this era.
At the same time, over in Adventures of Superman, Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway created two of the more interesting recent additions to the supporting cast. Cat Grant (a bolshy single mother colleague of Clark's, who had designs on him) and Jose Delgado. Yeah, Jose's got a bit of a stereotypical name but his introductory storyline was great. Gang Wars focussed on turf wars between gangs and Superman's realisation that this was a problem that couldn't be punched into submission. Jose eventually becomes Gangbuster in an effort to help police his neighbourhood. Which led to another issue that I adored, Adventures of Superman 437. There are two narrators, on facing pages. Lois Lane and Luthor. Lois is discussing her date with Jose and how it is interrupted by a hired thug called Combattor. Luthor (who has funded said thug) tells his dinner-date of a hypothetical fight between Combattor and Superman and how neither are really the good guys. It's narratively daring (for a comic) and I remember being shocked that Combattor crippled Jose. It also made me hate Luthor even more.
To conclude, yes, this brave new world of 1986 had a few mis-steps in its first 2-3 years but it entertained the hell out of my kiddy self. And took risks when doing it.