Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Action Comics #13

Well, it’s time to get back to that Grant Morrison fellow. Just know that this isn’t the only Morrison-related story I’ll be looking at this month. I’ve already looked at most of his work on the rebooted Action Comics. Today is no different. I sort of looked at the first 8 issues a couple of years ago and at his “Death of Clark Kent” arc last year. Originally, I was going to look at Action Comics #9 (Black Superman ,ya’ll!!), but I’ve decided to look at Action Comics #13 today.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my family’s dogs, Spot, died from a heat stroke. Unlike most dogs we’ve had, Spot was around for the long haul. My dad got him back in 2001, I believe. He’s been at the house since then. He knew to stay away from the highway. He also tried to sneak in our house during thunderstorms. He was a cool dog and he will be missed. Anyway, Morrison was the writer of the main issue while Sholly Fisch handled the back-up. Instead of Rags Morales, Travel Foreman handles the art duties for the main story. Brad Walker pencils the back-up story.

Action Comics #13

Writers: Grant Morrison and Sholly Fisch

Artists: Travel Foreman (main) and Brad Walker (back-up)

Inker: Andrew Hennessy (back-up)

Colorists: Brad Anderson (main) and Jay David Ramos (back-up)

"It's A Video Game!" - Ideas for a Superman Video Game

When it comes to video games, there is one superhero that’s drawn the short straw: Superman. Heroes like Batman, Spider-Man, and the X-Men have mostly had a lot of well-received games. For Batman, there are the Arkham games. For Spider-Man, there were the movie-based games and the one on the PS1. Unfortunately, Superman can barely even get a decent game. Now, I’m not talking about fighting games like Injustice: Gods Among Us since that was a Justice League game that featured Superman.

I’ve really only played two Superman games: The Death and Return of Superman and Superman Returns. They were the only ones that were on the consoles I had. They were… less than stellar. I know Superman Returns was. I remember renting that game and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance one weekend. I started out playing M: UA for a while and then played SR for a while. I got to the third level of that game and I was done with it. I went back to playing the M: UA which was definitely the better of the two games. It’s not that SR was crap through and through. It was just boring. I’ve seen other comments online and they more or less say the same thing.

So, what can make a good Superman game? I heard some ideas running around a few months ago and it really got me thinking about it. I’ve heard that Superman can’t work in a game because he’s so powerful. To me, that’s a pretty lazy comment. I do believe that one could do a pretty decent Superman game if they really know their stuff and understand the character. So, here are some ideas that could work.

Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - Adventures of Superman #627-628

The 2000’s for Superman (especially the late 2000’s) was weird. I wasn’t reading comics much in the earlier part of the decade since there was really no way for me to read any. The only time I’d peruse any would be at a bookstore in a mall. I know I saw Superman: Birthright on the shelves at the time, but that was it for me. I know the early part of the 2000’s had two soft reboots before Infinite Crisis. They had Jim Lee on a book. They also had Chuck Austen on a Superman book… no comment.

Today’s issues are Adventures of Superman #627-628. They’re both written by Greg Rucka. He came on during the “Godfall” arc (haven’t read it but might someday). This was the beginning of his run and I think he was also on Wonder Woman at the time. Rucka has also written for books like The OMAC Project, 52, Batwoman, Detective Comics, Batman, and Gotham Central. I will say it sucks that he’s not with DC anymore. Personally, I kind of can’t blame him. Both issues are penciled by Matthew Clark who’s done work on books like the Outsiders. The inker for both issues is Nelson.

Trade Tales! - The Death of Superman

I think I'm going to try out a new title for now. It just makes more sense. 

The 90’s were a big time for comics. It was when I started reading them. It was also when DC Comics decided to shake up the status quo for their major characters. I’ve talked about Batman’s shakeup with Knightfall, so it’s time for me to finally look at The Death of Superman. I’m sorry if I’ve spoiled for you. Now, I didn’t read any of this when it came out. The podcast, From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast, somewhat fueled my interest in the storyline. I was actually able to find the complete storyline of the Death, the Funeral, and the Return at McKay’s in 2011, I believe.

Sometime later, I found out how this storyline came about. Originally, Lois and Clark were going to get married during this time. Then, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman came and killed that story for a long while. I think upper management wanted the comics and TV to have them get married at the same time or something. Anyway, someone came up with an idea of killing Superman and that idea came to fruition here. The issues in this trade are Superman: The Man of Steel #17-19, Superman #73-75, The Adventures of Superman #496-497, Action Comics #683-684, and Justice League America #69. We got some of the most well-known writers on the books. Dan Jurgens, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and Roger Stern handle the writing. The pencils are handled by Dan Jurgens, John Bogdanove, Tom Grummett, and Jackson Guice.

The Death of Superman

Writers: Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, and Jerry Ordway

Pencillers: Dan Jurgens, Tom Grummett, John Bogdanove, and Jackson Guice

Inkers: Brett Breeding, Rick Burchett, Doug Hazelwood, Dennis Janke, and Denis Rodier

TV Talk - Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Season 1

Well, it took a while, but it’s finally time to look at a somewhat fond TV show from my childhood: Lois and Clark – The New Adventures of Superman. The show came out when I was in 2^nd grade. If I had to pinpoint where my fandom began with Superman, it would have to be around this time. I think I had seen a couple of the Christopher Reeve movies by now and read some of the comics, so I already knew about Superman. The show aired on Sunday nights after America’s Funniest Home Videos. I think I watched all of the first season. I know I saw the pilot in full and I vividly remember only seeing some of the Season 1 finale. I think we had a long service at church or something.

Since I vaguely remember this show changing throughout the four seasons, I’m looking at this show by season instead of the whole series. Don’t worry, Amy, I’m not stealing your format. It’s just that I got the first two seasons for really cheap a while back and I’ve been going through them. I’m currently watching Season 2 and I may get to it this month.

The overall premise of the show is that it would mostly focus on Lois, Clark, and the Daily Planet staff instead of showing Superman constantly fighting that never-ending battle. The show borrowed a lot of stuff from the Byrne reboot. Clark Kent is a fully-realized character instead of a disguise and Superman is essentially the job and nothing else. The Kents are also still alive and Clark doesn’t really learn of his origins until this season. There are plenty of villains for the first season but only one of them is from the comics: Lex Luthor. Luthor is really the only recurring villain for the first season.