It's nearly here: After more than six months of anticipation, Brian Michael Bendis' full-length Superman writing debut arrives next Wednesday with DC's Man of Steel #1, illustrated by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado. Sure, fans have seen glimpses of Bendis' take on Superman in the Action Comics #1000 and DC Nation #0 short stories, but the six-issue weekly Man of Steel miniseries -- each chapter illustrated by a different high-profile art team -- will be the true indicator of what the longtime Marvel vet has planned now that DC is his exclusive creative home.

Superman fans have many reasons to be, as Bendis himself puts it, "excited and nervous." After all, not only is Bendis one of the most popular and acclaimed superhero writers of the modern era, he's also known for shaking up status quos in major ways, as the man who disassembled the Avengers, outed Daredevil's secret identity, killed off (a) Peter Parker and brought the original five X-Men from the Silver Age into the present.

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Bendis is taking over both Action Comics (with issue #1001, illustrated by Pat Gleason) and Superman (with a new #1, illustrated by Reis and Prado) in July, and it comes at a time when the most recent runs were the most beloved those books have been in years. While Bendis has made it clear he's not approaching it in the same way as "Avengers: Disassembled," upcoming Man of Steel solicitation text has fans worried about the fate of Lois Lane and her and Clark Kent's son, Jon Kent. (July's Man of Steel #6 is ominously teased with the words, "The fate of Lois Lane and Jon Kent is revealed!")

Yet while it may indeed be healthy to fret, Bendis makes it clear to CBR that he's a fan of Superman's relatively recent status as a family man, expressing his "deep love and affection" for the entire Super-family. In an in-depth chat with CBR on Man of Steel and his transition to DC after 18 years at Marvel, Bendis (whose final Marvel comic, Invincible Iron Man #600, was released this week) also discussed the distinction between writing Superman as a character and not an icon, working with artists like Reis for the first time, introducing new villains and supporting players and the timely importance of the Daily Planet and its staff. Most importantly, Bendis makes the case for why Superman -- despite being the first American comic book superhero -- is very relevant today, as the hope he represents is needed more than ever in this "weird and different" current era.

Man of Steel #1 cover by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

CBR: Brian, let’s start with something I’ve been curious about for a while — for you, as someone who has written so many famous superhero characters, but are writing Superman for the first time, what did it take for you to get the voice of the character “right”? More than any superhero, Superman exists as much as an idea and an icon as he does an actual character. How did you find your way to writing Superman authentically?

Brian Michael Bendis: Because I’m not writing the icon on any level, whatsoever. I’m writing the character. And that was one of the great moments I had in the DC office when I first came there. I was sitting there talking about the characters, and I was talking about Clark, and Diana, and Bruce, and [DC Group Editor] Brian Cunningham slammed his fist on the table and goes,”You’re doing it right!” I go, “Why?” “You’re talking about them as people, not icons! You’ve never called him anything other than Clark!” Yeah, he’s a dude. The icon’s what’s been thrust upon him. That takes care of itself. He just shows up and he’s an icon. To write the honest person is what you want to do. That’s what I’ve been doing.

Personally, for those who have been reading my work for a while, I realized that as I was writing Spider-Man, I was tapping into the nervous energy of Spider-Man, of which I had in my life. That was part of the element of why I connected to the character so much, is that his point of view in the world and his energy in the world, was, in a way, similar to mine. Whereas as I’ve gotten older, and you settle down and get a little more zen and know your place in the world a little bit and you don’t have to be such a gerbil, that energy is Superman. Superman doesn’t pace around. I’ve never experienced that before in my life, so having just gotten to that place in my life, and then now I’m writing a character that does that — it’s a very unique thing, but that’s how I’m writing him.

Also, knowing how big of a part of your life being a parent is…

Absolutely.

… and now that Superman is currently a parent, did that really help you connect to the character?

I’ve been a parent for a third of my life. It’s consumed every single second of my day, and I still, surprisingly, have not written a lot of families. This was kind of handed to me, and I got so excited about it. Not only am I a dad, but. I’m a unique dad. I know every dad’s kind of unique, but like, I don’t have a job. I don’t go to work. I’m home in my Superman pajamas typing all day. I’m a different kind of situation. I’m either at home in the basement or I’m on stage — it’s weird. Writing that, I connect to that. My kid’s know that we have a weird house, and we enjoy it. That’s what the Superman family does. We’re not normal.

Man of Steel #1 interior art by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

Another thing I’ve wanted to ask you about for a while — for someone who was working in the Marvel Universe as long as you did, stepping into the DC Universe, they must have some similarities, but —

Not many. I gotta tell you.

I’m six months deep into it now. As a co-author, I can tell you, DC the company does everything differently than Marvel does, including pay vouchers, to produce the same, final product. As a craft junkie, I’m obsessed with this. I love it. And there are some things that Marvel did that were a little better, and some things DC does a little better. It’s not a critique or a criticism, it’s just, they do things differently. How they all relate to each other is different. And I’m fascinated by it.

From that, all the way to the energy of the shared universe — working on the Marvel shared universe is completely different than working in the shared universe at DC, and you’ll have to ask me a year from now how, because I can’t even wrap my head around what’s different. I was thinking, if I was writing the Star Wars universe or the Westworld universe, it would feel as different to me, I guess. The story and the characters demand a different type of different energy and a different type of mindset from me, and that is fascinating.

Well, let’s circle back in a year and get more into it.

It’s cool, because I’m actively working on the sequel to Words for Pictures, and I’m right now in the middle of the most existential, trying to figure out the craft of this.

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On a similar note, you’ve talked in past interviews about how you didn’t want to come in and blow up everything that had come directly before, and in fact had no desire to, due to your admiration for the recent runs on both of the Superman books.

It was coming from two different angles. For people who know their history, they know the original Man of Steel miniseries was as hardcore of a reboot as we’ve ever had. That was throwing everything out and starting over again. So when they hear Man of Steel, older fans go, “What? Huh?” No, no, no — it’s a celebration. There are a lot of secrets in our story, and we’re not telling you what’s going on with Jon and Lois right now. With that comes a little bit of trepidation — some people get excited, some people get nervous. That is kind of our job, to get people excited and nervous. I’ll take my hits where they come with that, but people will see in about a year’s time, when the story’s really unfolding, the deep love and affection we have for this family.

What Dan [Jurgens], Peter [Tomasi] and Pat [Gleason] have done with the Superman mythology is second to none. Almost every day I want to write Dan a tweet saying, “Dude, thank you,” because he set me up so well. I’ve never been set up with such gold. It’s fascinating.

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Given all that, and your admiration for these runs, you wouldn’t take this on unless there were things you wanted to do with the character that you hadn’t seen recently — or maybe at all — in Superman, both in comics and in pop culture in general. What were some elements you were looking to highlight?

What he represents to our culture. He represents hope, and he was created in a time when there wasn’t a lot. He was created at a time where the world couldn’t be more fractured. Though we are not in the middle of a World War, we are in a very fractured time in our society. Everything feels different and off to a lot of people, no matter where you are on the global spectrum. Things are weird and different, and it feels less connected — even though it’s so weird, because we’re all connected. That’s when you need Superman.

Superman relating to the world as it is right now is something I haven’t seen before. That struggle that he’s going through as a father, with demands of responsibility more than you’d ever thought you’d have, I can relate to, as well. I’m not Superman, but I can relate to having as much responsibility as one person could have. Writing all of these things feels very truthful, feels very honest — if you have that, the rest is gravy. Having him punch Toyman after that is easy.

Man of Steel #1 interior art by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

You have such a long history of forming true partnerships with artists, and there are so many artists you’ve been working with for years — and now, already at DC you’re working with multiple artists for the first time in Man of Steel. What has that been like — jumping into the deep end working with so many new artistic collaborators in a short amount of time?

It was one of those great, crazy ideas that we come up with every once in a while. It is an insane amount of work and paperwork behind the scenes for the editors. Not only is Man of Steel going on with all of these collaborations, but people don’t know Steve Rude actually hopped on, as well — we have seven legends of comic book art working on Man of Steel.

At the same time, [Marvel Senior Vice President of Publishing] Tom Brevoort had created a situation at the Iron Man office where all of my favorite collaborators from the past were joining me on Iron Man #600. So there was a a time in January when I was working with dozens of the greatest artists in comic books at the exact same time; there was this almost smorgasbord celebration of everything I love about comics, with these dozen collaborators, working on their most passionate level.

It was crazy. It was saying at least goodbye for now to a lot of my favorite collaborators, while at the same time, equally great collaborators appeared at my door. You’ve seen Man of Steel #1 — by page 4, Ivan and I have connected at a level that you can’t fake or force. “Oh good, because he’s the guy I wanted to draw Superman when we do the ongoing!” It was exciting to find that not only was the collaboration going well, not only was the celebration and excitement and craft junkie craziness that I love, but I knew that if this book looks this good by page 4, imagine what Superman #1’s going to look like in a few months. And that is exactly what happened.

It’s just the best. You hope for your whole life for moments like this, or that your philosophy about creation would bring about moments like this. They so rarely happen, and they happened all at once. It was really something.

It’s a noticeably classic, but still modern, take on Superman, which I’m guessing was the intention.

You’ll see as they come in — there was an email thread where all of the artists on Man of Steel were sending each other sketches and designs, and they were all inspiring each other — and also torturing each other. It’s fantastic. And we all benefit. They’re all motivating each other to do the best work they’ve ever done, and who benefits? Us!

Man of Steel #1 interior art by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

Based on the few stories published thus far, you’re clearly interested in focusing on the Daily Planet and its staff. What that made that such an important part of the Superman mythos to you?

Well, a couple things happened. Number one, as I’ve discussed, when you start pulling apart Clark as a character you realize he’s one of these characters that a lot has been thrust upon him. He was sent here. He was told what to do. He was given the legacy, right? The one giant choice he made for himself was to be a reporter. He chose that. He could do anything — he could do nothing! He’s got a Fortress of Solitude. He could sit around and watch TV all day. But he chose to be part of us, he chose to be involved, and he chose to be a reporter. And if you think about why, it’s pretty obvious: because a reporter can look for the truth in a place where Superman can’t. There are places Superman can find truth, and then there are places Clark can. He needs Clark to get to the full truth. That is beautiful.

I used to work at a newspaper, I love journalism, it has always been a cornerstone of what I’ve been writing, no matter if it was at DC or elsewhere. To write the most famous fictional reporters at the most famous fictional newspaper in this modern time is the real treat.

But also, I gotta tell you, it just so happens that journalists have never had a higher profile than they have right now. It’s a thing that people are interested in and care about, and see the value of — they may have taken it for granted up until recently. That’s a lot of fun to write about.

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Let’s talk about Rogol Zaar and the processing of building that character. He’s first seen in Action Comics #1000, and his motivations are much more fleshed out in Man of Steel #1. How did that character develop, want made you curious to go back to Superman’s earliest origins and the destruction of Krypton?

A-number-one, you’re faced with a bench of outstanding villains, but a surprisingly slight bench in comparison to like Spider-Man or Batman. Superman has really good villains, but not as many of them. I had a similar frustration with Iron Man — there are a few good villains, but boy, he needs more. There’s a lot more to be built here. So I made that note. And also, I see the same villains being used over and over and over again, and I thought maybe the audience would appreciate some different flavor. Though those stories are excellent, sometimes the mixture is what you really need.

Then I started my deep re-read — this deep, deep, deep, 80-year-plus, radio shows, TV and serials — as you go, ideas start popping in your head. I would call over to DC, not with full pitches, just with a, “Hey, here’s an idea in my head, is there a reason I should let this idea go?” — because if you have an idea in your head and you can’t let it go, it’s sometimes very difficult. So I call up [DC Co-Publisher] Dan [DiDio] and go, “So I have this idea — have you guys ever done a story about what really happened on Krypton?” And he goes, “What really happened on Krypton?” And I knew from the sound of that voice that we were going to have a very good time together, because that’s a guy who wants to hear a story.

So we started digging in. It was all in purpose of creating a villain that would get under Clark’s skin like no one else has ever gotten under his skin. From there, we started building. I told Jim Lee the ideas, and he started cooking all these designs, and it really started coming together in a beautiful way.

And then I named him after the doctor who saved my life. Because I think that’s what you’re supposed to do.

Man of Steel #1 interior art by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

There’s a lot to explore with Superman himself, but his relationship with other superheroes has always been a big part of the character, Supergirl was in the Action #1000 story, and she’s on the cover of Man of Steel #6 —

She’ll be, going forward [past issue #1], in every issue of Man of Steel.

How much are you looking to explore Superman’s relationship with the many other DC heroes he’s had long-term partnerships with over the years?

I am happy to report that I immediately started turning Man of Steel into DC Comics Presents/Brave and the Bold/Marvel Team-Up. There’s a lot going on in this story, and there are points where Green Lantern and Batman would absolutely stop by. Where the Justice League would absolutely come and at least try to help. It was like, “Oh, I get to write them!” It was as dorky and as stupid as people would assume it would be when you write the words “Green Lantern” for the first time and you’re actually supposed to — it’s official. It was very exciting.

And writing Perry White for the first time was really exciting. It’s not just the icons, it’s, “Oh my god, I wrote Cat Grant. I wrote Cat Grant!” I’m like, running around telling people.

There’s also a new character introduced in Man of Steel #1 — what can you say about deputy fire chief Melody Moore, and if she’ll continue to play a role in the story?

I think people are getting a sense, we’re adding new characters at almost every turn. Superman’s a person who would meet a lot of people, and he keeps meeting the same eight people. We’re going to introduce a lot of people, and they’re going bring story with them. We have Melody Moore, we have Robinson Goode. Over at the Daily Planet, we have Trish Q. Antagonists and protagonists — we’re going to be bringing tons of new flavor into Clark and Lois’ life.

RELATED: Bendis Starts His Superman Run with Major Change to Man of Steel History

The solicitations for future issues of Man of Steel hint towards a big mystery involving Lois and Jon — how worried should fans be? Is there a little bit of almost meta fun in teasing their fate, given that people might be worried about Bendis coming in and blowing things up?

I get it. What I’m looking forward to is all good fans of Superman, being good people top of bottom, that I will accept, graciously, all of the apologies I’m getting in a few months. People will see how much I love Lois and Jon.

It’s OK — I get it. It’s part of the game. By the way, we are messing with you, as well — something’s happened with Jon and Lois. That’s not baloney. There’s something going on. But the worry that people have that we don’t love these characters, or that we’re going to do something to them, that I can only prove with time. And I will prove it.

Man of Steel #1 is scheduled for release on May 30.