Movie Talk - The Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen

Next up for the month is a return to DC’s Animated Movie Universe. While I’ve seen a few of them like the Batman ones and a couple of the Justice League ones, they haven’t been on my radar much. I don’t know if it’s the changes to the animation or the fact that they were heavily inspired by the New 52. While I did like that era of comics, it wasn’t all good. One thing that definitely piqued my interest was that they were going to do the Death and Return of Superman once again. Now, DC had tried this before, but Superman: Doomsday was just okay as a whole. It would’ve been nice if it felt like a true adaptation, though.

The WB released The Death of Superman in 2018 and it’s sequel, Reign of the Supermen, in 2019. The voice cast is more or less the same it’s been for this DC animated universe. We got Jerry O’Connell as Superman, Rosario Dawson as Wonder Woman, Jason O’Mara as Batman, and Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern.  There are some new voices too. Lois Lane is voiced by Rebecca Romijn, Jerry O’Connell’s wife. Lex Luthor is voiced by Rainn Wilson, Superboy is voiced by Cameron Mohonagan (Joker from Gotham), Steel (John Henry Irons) is voiced by Cress Williams (Black Lightning), and Patrick Fabian is Hank Henshaw.

Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - Superman: The Secret Years

Next up for the month is a trip to the 80’s… sort of. We’re still in the Bronze Age, but this story came out right as Crisis on Infinite Earths was ramping up. I guess one could consider this a farewell to a certain pre-Crisis feature of the Superman mythos: Superboy. Superman’s early adventures were still a thing even in the 80’s. Either he was getting into trouble in Smallville or hanging out with the Legion of Superheroes. I don’t know if there were any that talked about his college exploits. I know that there’s was a back up in Superman called “Superman: The In-Between Years.” Then, there’s this four issue story.

Superman: The Secret Years ran from February 1985 to May 1985. Bob Rozakis, the writer of the other college Superman backups, wrote this story. On pencils, we got Curt Swan, the face of Superman throughout the Bronze Age. On inks, we got Kurt Schaffenberger. Schaffenberger used to do inks for Superboy stories. Then, we got the covers drawn by Frank Miller… yeah, that Frank Miller! So, what happened during Clark Kent’s last years in college? Ohyeah, here’s a little mood music… 

Favorites - Favorite Supporting Characters for Superman

Well, September has come to an end. I was able to get to all the supporting players I wanted to get to. Yeah, I left out a couple like Krypto, Emil Hamilton, and maybe Bibbo, but I had to end it somewhere. Besides, I already got a Krypto post from a few years ago that’ll satisfy most folk. As for other personal stuff, I’ll save that for a Random Thoughts post. I’m not done with the Man of Steel’s people yet. So, it’s time for the obligatory favorites list. This time, I’ll be listing down my 12 (sort of) favorite supporting characters from the franchise. The list isn’t really in order, but my favorites are at top.

1. Lois Lane

I might as well start off with his first supporting character. Lois has been around as long as Superman has. She’s been the rival reporter, the love interest, and a cool character especially in modern times. While I’ll admit that she wasn’t always the best during her 80 years, Lois is still an essential part of Superman’s life. Without her (married or not), things feel off. You can’t keep those two separate for long.

2. Jonathan and Martha Kent

Next, we got the Earth parents of Superman. In a lot of ways, they are the ones who made Clark into Superman. Yeah, the Els helped, but the Kents had to raise him. They taught him the values of humanity and how to live in the world. They even had things to share even when they got to live and see Clark become Superman. While they aren’t needed for every story, I think it’s cool to have them around at times. I don’t need them showing up in almost every other episode, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

3. Batman

Yeah, I got the Dark Knight on this list. What of it? Of all the superheroes Superman interacts or teams up with, Batman is right up there. It’s cool to see those two interact since they approach things differently. They both tend to learn things off of one another and they’re usually the closest of friends. Batman’s not essential to Superman’s story, but he adds variety to it from time to time.

4. Jimmy Olsen

While I do rag on Olsen at times, I think that has to do with how he’s sometimes written. When written well, Jimmy can be cool. When it comes down to it, Jimmy’s is more or less us. He’s just a regular guy in an extraordinary world. He has to pay the bills like everyone else. He just happens to be friends with one of the most powerful people in existence. At times, even he can get in on the action. He is the “Man of Action” after all.

Random Smallville Episode - "Lexmas"

Hmm... Lex and Lana together? I can kinda see that... if Lex wasn't such a butthead in later seasons.

Next up is a familiar friend/foe from last year: Lex Luthor! Yeah, I’m putting him in this month too! Remember that Lex was once Superman’s friend long ago. Also, even when he’s been a foe for Superman, he’s been a supporting character in the different TV shows. Heck, he was pretty much a supporting character in the comics themselves. In the post-Crisis, he’d show up randomly and he wouldn’t even be the villain of the piece.

As I said back in my villain post last year, Lex first appeared in Action Comics #23. He had been traditionally a villain for Superman, but it wasn’t until the 50’s where we basically got an origin for Lex. It turned out that he used to live in Smallville and was a scientist. He even was an okay guy until a lab experiment went wrong. Superboy saved him, but Lex ended up hating Superboy for what happened and went down a bad path. I think other stuff may have happened, but I’m not too sure. The friendship was removed in the 80’s (Lex was an older man and lived in Metropolis) then reinstated when Superman: Birthright became the new origin in the 2000’s. I think the friendship is still in play currently with the newer origin.

I was originally going to look at Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, but I decided to go back to Smallville since it did highlight the friendship between Clark and Lex. I was going to talk about the season 6 episode, “Nemesis,” but I’m going to hit something else this time. “Lexmas” was the ninth episode of Season 5. At this point, Clark and Lana are finally dating, Chloe knows Clark’s secret, and Clark and Lex’s friendship has gone sour. Also, Jonathan Kent somehow got roped into running for state senator. Lex is also running, so some of the season has been dealing with that. I’ll mention the Kryptonian plot going on here since it really doesn’t play into this episode.

Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #239

Next up for the month is the superhero team from the 31^st century: The Legion of Super-Heroes. You could say that they’re the first superhero fanboys/fangirls in comics. They were inspired by Superman to become superheroes. They were first introduced in Adventure Comics #247 as they made Superboy into a LOSH member. They spent a few years in that book until they were put into backups for Action Comics. They were then put into Superboy’s book and eventually, that book became theirs. They were probably at their height during the 70’s and 80’s. The team also had a lot of different characters with different powers. The characters would also age, die, and get married.

Things changed for the Legion when they hit the post-Crisis era. Since Superboy was removed from continuity, things got weird there. That team would go for a few years until the Legion was rebooted after Zero Hour. For LOSH fans, this would become a repeating pattern especially in the 2000’s. I think there were three Legion teams in that decade. I can kind of see why they’ve been shelved since the New 52. The Legion has also appeared in the DCAU, Smallville, and Supergirl. They also had a cartoon on the WB that lasted for a couple of years.

I was going to review their show’s first season today, but that DC Universe app kept freezing on me. I also thought about reviewing Justice League of America’s “The Lightning Saga,” but I’ll save that for later. So, I’m going to go back into the day and talk about a random LOSH issue. Superboy and Legion of Super-Heroes #239 was released May 1978. The writers were Jim Starlin and Paul Levitz. Starlin also handled the pencils for the issue. Joe Rubinstein handled the inks. So, what happens when a LOSH member is accused of murder?

Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - Superboy #8

Next up for the month is the Boy of Steel: Superboy. Yes, you read that right. While Clark Kent was once Superboy, the name has been passed around a bit. Right now, Jonathan Kent, Clark’s and Lois’s son, is Superboy. Another one held title for years, though, and his name was Conner ‘Kon-El’ Kent. Well, he didn’t have a name until a few years later. I think folk just called him “Superboy,” which was something he didn’t like at first. We all know how teenagers can be and Superboy was no different.

His first appearance was in The Adventures of Superman #500. He was a clone created by Cadmus just in case Superman “gave up the ghost,” which he did in “The Death of Superman.” Superboy was one of the four replacement Supermen from“The Reign of the Supermen.” He tried to keep Metropolis safe until the original, genuine Superman returned. After that, he was spun off into his own title, Superboy, and it lasted for years.

He’s been a part of teams like Young Justice and the Teen Titans. Like most heroes, he got retooled during DC’s New 52 phase. To put it kindly, what the ########!@$^@%#^@%#^#^##### happened? That’s all I’ll say on that matter since I still don’t get what was up with those decisions. He also made it to TV shows like Young Justice and Smallville.  He was also kind of homaged on the WB’s Legion of Super Heroes cartoon. Lately, he’s been seen in the new DCAU movie, The Death of Superman.

Today’s issue will be coming from his series from the 90’s. Superboy #8 was written by the MVP of the month, Karl Kesel. Yeah, he’s been showing up here this month. The pencils are handled by Tom Grummett. Doug Hazlewood and Dan Davis handled the inks. This issue directly ties in to an event I covered years ago: Zero Hour. So, what happens when Superboy meets… Superboy? Find out below!

Tales From the $3.99 Bin! - Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds

Next up for the month is a more recent villain who was once a hero: Superboy-Prime. I’ve called this character by the name of “PRIME” here mostly because he ain’t worthy of the Superboy title and it gets tiring typing “Superboy-Prime” a lot. Plus, he’s actually pretty easy to make fun of. “I’ll Kill you to Death” was one phrase that was uttered from the poor, poor boy. The character first appeared in DC Comic Presents # 87 in 1985. He was from Earth-Prime which was supposed to be the “real” world of the DCU. He was a fanboy named Clark Kent who one day gained powers.

Afterwards, he went right into the action with Crisis on Infinite Earths where he, Alexander Luthor (Earth-3 version), and Superman (Earth-2 version) defeated the Anti-Monitor. He then went into limbo for 20 years only to be brought back as one of the villains for Infinite Crisis. After that, he appeared in the Sinestro Corps War as Superman-Prime since the name “Superboy” was being fought for in court. Finally, he appeared in Countdown to Final Crisis and the less said about that, the better. To make a long story short, it apparently sucked.

Today’s story is Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds. It sort of ties into Final Crisis. If you wondered where Superman was while the forces of Apokalips reigned on Earth, here you go. This story was also the continuation of re-introducing the original Legion of Superheroes into current continuity. It even served as a way to acknowledge the other rebooted Legion teams. Now that is one, long story that I won’t get into here. I also remember this mini being especially late when it was released. Geoff Johns, the pusher of that storyline, is the writer. Legendary artist George Perez is on the pencils and Scott Kolbish handles the inks.

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds

Writer: Geoff Johns

Pencils: George Perez

Inks: Scott Kolbish

Colors: Hi-Fi Design

Letters: Nick J. Napolitano

Editors: Eddie Berganza and Adam Schlagman

Trade Tales! - The Return of Superman

So, I’ve have looked at lot of homages to Superman this month. My next four (yes, four) aren’t homages as much as they are replacements. That’s right, I’ve finally gotten to this part of the Death/Return of Superman story arc from the 90’s. The Return of Superman pretty much contains all of “Reign of the Supermen,” the arc that had four heroes posing as Superman. I’ve already looked at the Death and the Funeral and enjoyed them both. Today, I’ll be seeing how well this stacks up with the rest of the story line.

The trade more or less has every issue from “Reign of the Supermen.” We have Superman: The Man of Steel #22-26, Superman #78-82, The Adventures of Superman #500-505, Action Comics #687-691, and Green Lantern #46. Pretty much everyone from the previous arcs are here on the book. The biggest change is that Karl Kesel replaced Jerry Ordway as writer of The Adventures of Superman. We also have Gerard Jones, M.D. Bright, and Romeo Tangal for the Green Lantern tie-in. So, sit back because this may be a long one.

The Return of Superman

Writers: Dan Jurgens, Louise Simonsen, Roger Stern, Karl Kesel, and Gerard Jones

Pencils: Dan Jurgens, John Bogdanove, Jackson Guice, Tom Grummett, and M.D. Bright

Inks: Brett Breeding, Dennis Janke, Denis Rodier, Doug Hazelewood, and Romeo Tangal

Colors: Glen Whitmore and Anthony Tomlin

Letters:  John Costanza, Albert DeGuzman, and Bill Oakley

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - The Adventures of Superman #624

Hello and hello. Well, I have one more Super-Analogue for the month before the grandness of… some four dudes. Anyway, today’s analogue is another one I really know little about: Mister Majestic aka Lord Majestros. He is also from the Wildstorm Universe exactly like Apollo.  Unlike Apollo (who was apparently a government experiment), Majestic is a Kheribum from another planet. He lived on Earth for centuries and was also fought against the Daemonites. I know he had to have been one of the Wild C.A.T.S. at one time. I actually saw him in one episode of the short-lived animated series from the 90’s.

When Wildstorm was acquired by DC, it was decided to have him interact with the then-current DC universe for a while. He was brought in during a story-arc in Superman that involved time shenanigans.  Also, Superman’s missing for some reason. This was right before the “Godfall” arc, so I guess that’s why he’s missing. The Adventures of Superman #624 was where he made his mark. It was written by both Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. The pencils were done by Karl Kerschl.

The Adventures of Superman #624

Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning

Pencils: Karl Kerschl

Inks: Renato Guedes and Oclair Albert

Colors: Tanya and Richard Horie

Letters: Nick J. Napolitano

Associate Editor: Tom Palmer Jr.

Editor: Eddie Berganza

TV Talk - Young Justice

Here's a little story. Originally, I was going to let this post be about unaired pilots like the Justice League of America pilot from the 90's and the somewhat recent Wonder Woman pilot from 2011. I've now decided not to view those potentially dreadful things (I also couldn't find a whole airing of them on YouTube) and have decided to look at a good show that sort of featured the Justice League: Young Justice.

Background

I watched Young Justice when it premiered on Cartoon Network back in 2011. I tried to stick with the show on TV, but I would miss some episodes because of work. So, I had to YouTube them after they aired. I had to do the same for all of Season 2 especially since our family basically got rid of cable. It was a pretty frustrated second season. CN would air episodes and then not air them. When I found out that the show wouldn't get renewed for a third season, I was (and in some ways still am) pretty annoyed about the treatment of that show.

Graphic Novels - Infinite Crisis: Part Six - Touchdown (sobs...)

Graphic Novels is brought to you by the makers of the Phantom Zone Arrow….Yes, I’m still on that. WTC?

I’m back with the 6th issue to the event known as Infinite Crisis. Right now, it’s Wednesday, I just got off work and I’m not ready to sleep yet. I sort of remember when I got this issue. It was a Friday in March or April 2006, and I decided I was going to walk and get this issue. One problem: there was rain in the forecast. So, I decided to head out in the morning before all of the rain came. Before I left, I prayed to God the He would hold back all the rain till when I got back (Yeah, I prayed for that. So what? I always prayed before I did a walk like that.). Well, it worked, I got the issue and got back before all sorts of rain AND hail fell down. It was nuts. Everyone in Nicks Hall was watching that stuff fall. The creative team for the issue is pretty much the same, with Jerry Ordway, George Perez, and Ivan Reis doing pencils along with the main artist, Phil Jimenez. The covers are well done, with one being awesome and one being okay. Guess which one. Well, here we go…

Graphic Novels - Teen Titans Vol. 5: Life and Death - Part Two

Sup guys. It’s arw1985 back with part 2 of Life and Death. At this moment, it’s the 22nd, I’m listening to my iTunes, and I’m thinking about someone from lunch yesterday (Who? None ya business! Ha!). I also got a new camera this weekend, and I like it. Anyway, let me get on to the creative team for these parts. By the way, it’s big.

• Geoff Johns - … ‘Nuff Said (lol).
• Marv Wolfman – Let’s see,... the man’s a legend! Because of this guy, Teen Titans (or should I say New Teen Titans) became a household name in the 80’s. This guy also wrote that other ‘Crisis’ (COIE) event too. He’s also written on countless books, so look him up.
• Bill Willingham – writer of the Robin issues.
• Bill Williams - ...I have no freaking clue what he does.
• Todd Nanuck – He does the artwork in TT #31 and #32.
• Ed Benes – Nice artist. He does some pencils in the Titans Annual.
• Phil Jimenez – The main penciller from the main crossover book. His artwork is from IC #6 (which won’t be talked about for a while because…_______ ______.
• Ivan Reis – Some of his work from IC is included.
• Scott McDaniel – the artist of the Robin issues.
• Dale Eaglesham – a good artist. He does some of the art in the Titans Annual.
• Tom Grindburg – He also does some art in the Annual.
• Elton Ramalho – He also does a little art in the Annual (wow! Those are a lot of pencilers).

Since I didn’t note it last time, I’ll note it here. This volume contains Teen Titans #29-33, Robin #146-147, Teen Titans Annual #1, and some stuff from Infinite Crisis #5 and 6. So let’s start to end this.

Graphic Novels - Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Insiders

Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Insiders
Writers: Geoff Johns and Judd Winnick
Artists: Matthew Clark, Carlos D'anda, and Tony Daniel

This installment of Graphic Novels is brought to you by this dude.

Hey, all of you out there. I’m back and ready to nip this tpb in the bud. As I said above, this is a crossover between the Titans and the Outsiders (And no, not these guys. I do have to say though that any group with Patrick Swayze in it is an awesome group. WOLVERINES!!!!) . Anyway, a guide to this version of the Outsiders is HERE. This tpb contains Teen Titans #24-26 and Outsiders #24, 25, and 28. Let’s get on to the creative team:

• Geoff Johns – Johns! We meet again.
• Judd Winnick – The writer of the Outsiders. His writing credits include this book, Green Arrow, Justice League: Generation Lost, and Power Girl. This is also the same guy who brought back Jaso…Oh, I’ll spoil that later.
• Matthew Clark – Clark pencils the first two Titans issues and the last Outsiders issue. I don’t know much about this dude. All I know is that it looks good.
• Carlos D’anda – This guy pencils the first two Outsiders issues. I don’t know about this guy either.
• Tony Daniel – Daniel does the last Titans’ issue. His artwork is real good. His credits include Teen Titans, Batman, and others. He’s also a writer, writing and doing artwork on Batman.

In a way, this crossover can be seen as a sequel to Graduation Day, which Winnick also wrote. So let's get to it!