Superman

First Year of Post-Crisis Superman

Posted on by popcorncatcus

1987 was a watershed year for Superman. It was the first year of Post-Crisis Superman, a new Superman after all the changes after Crisis on Infinite Earths. The changes include being less involved with his Kryptonian heritage. His adoptive parents are still alive unlike Pre-Crisis, and Lex Luthor is a ruthless businessman instead of a mad scientist. There are many more changes but those are the gist of it.

1987 had some interesting stories. There was Superman getting captured by Darkseid in Legends, Superman and Big Barda shooting a softcore movie which we will not talk about cause it is really, really weird. Then there was the time Lex Luthor’s employee used a computer to find out who Superman’s secret identity was. It said Clark Kent, but Lex didn’t believe it because someone with Superman’s power, should be using it in their normal lives instead of being a reporter.

Then there was the story were Superman imagined that all the women in his life responded to him being Superman. Lois wasn’t happy that she made him look stupid, Lana felt like she was dealing with a god, and Cat was angry that she was dating an alien.

There was also the time where Superman had a little crush on Wonder Woman after witnessing her in action in Legends.

But the three stories that I wanted to touch on are:

  • Adventures of Superman #424
  • Superman #9
  • Superman #11

Adventures of Superman #424:

This issue is actually most famous for introducing Cat Grant in the DCverse. Cat is an entertainment journalist from Los Angeles who moved to Metropolis to join The Daily Planet staff. She has been hinted as someone who would do whatever is required to get a story which isn’t put in the best light by the writers. However, I like her as a character at least how she was written in the 80’s and also in New 52 and Rebirth.

The issue begins with Lois Lane visiting her mother at the hospital with her sister Lucy and her father Sam. Lois’ mother was in an accident and fighting for her life. While that’s going on, a robot has attacked and blown up a building, meaning that’s an emergency for Superman.

But Clark is getting to work. He bumps into Cat Grant and is immediately smitten. We barely see Clark going gaga over someone that isn’t Lois Lane. But, this time, we have something different, and that’s cool. I do like the flirtatious banter between the two of them even though they don’t know who each other are.

Clark and Lois go to Perry’s office and get introduced to Cat. Lois isn’t a fan because she thinks Cat is a tabloid journalist, while Clark is really keen. Cat also likes Clark for who he is. Which is a nice change of pace. They both (Cat and Clark) go to lunch. But on their way they spot the remains of the building that was destroyed. Clark finds out what happens and Cat knows something is up because she respects that Clark knows if there’s a story somewhere. This is nice to see.

I think what I do like most about this just having Clark and someone not Lois do something. Cat was a breath of fresh air for the Superman mythos.

Superman #9

This story is basically Superman v. the Joker. A Superman robot gasses a jewellery store in Metropolis. Superman goes to find out what happens and sees the robot. He takes the robot up in the air as it explodes. Superman goes to help out Maggie Sawyer, the head detective in Metropolis. They know it’s the Joker who is involved. He hears Jimmy’s signal watch while explaining to Maggie that he and Batman aren’t friends kind of.

Turns out the Joker has kidnapped Jimmy, Lois, and Perry White and locked in lead coffins. But it turns out the Joker has just played a prank on him because they are just tied up in Joker’s truck. Unfortunately, the Joker’s happiness turns to annoyance when he finds out that Superman has already found him and Lois, Jimmy, and Perry.

Superman figured it out by traveling at super speed to each of the lead coffins and then after discovering that they were empty, he just figured they would be where the Joker was. It’s fun and nice to see Superman be more than just muscle. Plus, it is nice having the Joker who isn’t all about nihilism, powered up, and stuff.

Superman #11

Mister Mxyzptlk had always been in a thorn in Superman’s side. The imp from the 5th dimension gets bored and decides to troll Superman. In Superman #11, this is the first time we see him in post-crisis. The story begins with Lois at The Daily Planet when this handsome 80’s guy comes in and basically makes a move on Lois. His name is Ben DeRoy and he’s smooth. Lois immediately goes off with him, ditching Clark. Things start to get weird. Someone’s gets their hand on fire, rain appears out of nowhere, a gorilla toy becomes alive and clothes start floating around.

The gorilla turns back to a toy. The lady tells Superman that some guy in white clothing was walking with Lois. Ben asks Lois to marry him and she says yes. He immediately sees a mannequin and makes her alive. He makes Lois into a mannequin in return. Superman sees Lois as a mannequin and gets to work.

Superman confronts Ben who then transforms into Mister Mxyzptlk. He will only leave Superman alone if he can make him spell, write, or say Mxyzptlk backwards (Kltpzyxm). He taunts Superman with so many close calls.

But Superman tricks him thanks to re-wiring the typewriter to make him spell out his name backwards. He tells Lois this.

Lois goes to Clark’s apartment to apologize and cook him some dinner. She feels like she might have the hots for Clark. However, she opens the door and sees Cat Grant there. She immediately is shocked and just runs off while Clark and Cat have dinner together (Team Cat!), and I guess they hooked up. I mean it’s kind of implied.

It is another fun, short story.

The early stories just have some fun to them before the lead into the Triangle Era of the 90’s. I do wish Cat was more used as a woman that loved Clark for Clark and we could have played around with that for a while. But unfortunately, they decided to make Cat go a bit drastic. Which is a shame but that’s comics/fiction for you.

DC’s Legends Event

Posted on by popcorncatcus

Legends is one of the DC’s first event since Crisis of Infinite Earths. It was an event that is somewhat relevant these days. Not because of the superheroes but hate messaging spewed upon to the masses by someone trying to cause strife which happens today. In this event, Darkseid uses his minions to stop the people of Earth to believe in their heroes thanks to this minion Glorious Godfrey. That means superheroes are outlawed, paving the way for Darkseid to take over.

Darkseid sends in Brimstone to cause chaos on Earth. Firestorm is the first hero to battle the monster. Wally West has taken over the mantle of The Flash after the death of Barry Allen during the Crisis event. He is still struggling with the fact that he has replaced Barry and is not as fast as he was (at the moment). He goes to Titans Tower and sees Changeling watching Glorious Godfrey as G. Gordon Godfrey on TV, preaching to the masses that superheroes are a menace.

A fuse went out at the TV station and Billy Batson goes to see what happens. He transforms into Shazam (back in those days, he was Captain Marvel) and fights a guy named Macro-Man. Using the powers of Shazam, he accidentally sizzles Macro-Man to death, a plan that was well executed by Glorious Godfrey. We see Cosmic Boy from the Legion of Super-Heroes enjoying a little excursion to the past with his girlfriend Night Lass. He battles Brimstone and struggles but gets help from the Justice League (the one with Vibe, Gypsy (why?) and the uncool Steel). Billy Batson seeing what has happened to Macro-Man quits being a superhero.

Godfrey’s plan is working better than ever after a TV interview and now those in the city believes him leading to them not wanting superheroes around to help them.

But things get worse when Batman stops a bank robbery. The hostages are annoyed that the Commissioner Gordon stood up for Batman and Robin while the other cops were pissed that Batman saved the day. The hostages agreed and started to attack Batman and Robin. Batman also got blinded by a bottle of perfume. Batman has to be taken away to safety but Robin was left behind. Other heroes started to feel the pinch of Godfrey’s persuading words. Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) is shot at, Guy Gardner saves a plane and is attacked by a crowd.

Ronald Reagen is in this comic and is forced to ban superheroes which Superman disagrees with the president but can’t do anything. Amanda Waller sets up the Suicide Squad and makes them battle Brimstone. Bruce Wayne talks to Jason Todd who is severely injured after being attacked by a mob of angry people. Billy Batson meets a girl named Lisa who believes in heroes but her parents were suckered in by Godfrey.

Darkseid sees this as the perfect time to unleash his warhounds. Despite the President’s edict, Batman, Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle, and Black Canary still operate, trying to save lives. Batman deals with the Joker, Black Canary deals with Count Vertigo, Blue Beetle deals with Cronos, and Gardner deals with Ms. Magnificent. It gets so bad that Dr. Fate is called back into action. Then it gets worse when Godfrey gets people into the warhounds to start overthrowing the government.

After seeing Lisa get hit on the head after a riot, Billy realizes that he needs to be a hero and immediately transforms to Shazam (Captain Marvel). He is stopped by Dr. Fate who needs his help. Fate gathers Black Canary, Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle, Batman, The Flash, Changeling, and Superman along with the Suicide Squad to help once Captain Boomerang gets captured.

Dr. Fate interrupts a Godfrey rally at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and shows off the heroes ready to fight him and fight for truth and justice. Then parademons rock up and immediately Superman knows it is the work of Darkseid. The parademons knock off Dr. Fate’s helmet off and he goes to find his helmet. Godfrey retreats and finds Captain Boomerang.

While Batman and Guy Gardner are fighting the warhounds, a surprise shows up. It’s Wonder Woman who has arrived from Themyscira for the first time in this new universe. She immediately starts to fight and tells Gardner off. Martian Manhunter helps the President who in response removes his edict and now superheroes are not illegal.

The fight keeps on going but Robin pulls out a trump card by rounding up children who all stop the adults from attacking the superheroes. This pisses off Godfrey who slaps Lisa (the girl we met before), relinquishing control over the adults. Godfrey uses the helmet of Nabu to become stronger than Darkseid but it destroys his mind.

Superman forgives people for what they did under Godfrey’s spell but Gardner disagrees. Like Jason and to a certain extent Batman, they believe that there is a seed planted there that people don’t really trust heroes because of how powerful they are, a sense of feeling inadequate. Dr. Fate creates a new Justice League with Martian Manhunter, Guy Gardner, Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Batman, and Shazam. But Changeling who is still with the Titans, The Flash who is sorting out his life, Superman who has too much on his plate, and Wonder Woman who disappeared, all decline the invitation.

Darkseid isn’t happy that his plan didn’t work but he knows that this was just the beginning.

A quick look at DC Comics back in the 80’s!

Posted on by popcorncatcus

The 1980’s was a turning point in DC Comics. It was a decade that can be broken in two eras for DC. The first half and a bit of the 80’s was the period just before Crisis of Infinite Earths, while the second part of the decade was a focus on a new era, the post-Crisis universe that is still kind of running today. The decade saw some amazing stories being told across many different characters.

The 80’s was a huge turning points in comics. Gone where the days when people bought their comics in supermarkets and news corners, now they could buy comics from specialised stores known as comic book stores. At the same time, comics were now being made into trade paperbacks collecting current or stories from the past, and now there were graphic novels. Comics also shifted in tone. While the 70’s was starting to get a little serious, the 80’s took it up a notch. There weren’t many stories you could say that were aimed at children, now the stories were starting to take a serious tone tackling complex issues. It was both a good thing and a bad thing for the industry that led to the 90’s era of storytelling.

There were still content for kids to enjoy, but they were on TV screens. DC Comics continued to have cartoons that ran from the start of the decade to the end of the decade. DC also had a few movie pictures thanks to their parent company Warner Bros. Some were successful and critically acclaimed, others not so much. There were also video games on the Atari, NES and SNES released based on DC characters.

Comics:

1980 saw characters being added as back-ups but now they were well known characters. Aquaman took over the pages of Adventure Comics along with the likes of Starman and Plastic Man, and Robin and Batgirl would have their stories in Detective Comics. Superboy came back with a new book after being removed from Legion of Super-Heroes. But, the biggest thing of 1980 was the New Teen Titans. The Teen Titans were a series back in the 60’s to the 70’s. They came back after a hiatus and added some new characters and a different tone. They added future fan favourite characters in Starfire, Raven, Changeling/Beast Boy, and Cyborg to join the likes of Robin (Dick Grayson), Wonder Girl (Donna Troy), and Kid Flash (Wally West). The series was a more mature take on Teen Titans with a lot of focus on romance, friendships, politics, social issues, and villains such as Deathstroke, Trigon, and Brother Blood.

1981 saw the sales of Teen Titans increasing, even going as high as Marvel’s X-Men. It was a resounding success for DC. Speaking of Marvel, DC and Marvel had team-ups during the year and after. The Hulk had a story with Batman, and Superman teamed up with Spiderman yet again. Earth-2 also had a few interesting stories, and Madame Xanadu had her debut in her own comic. 1982 saw the introduction of Firestorm who was brought back after the 70’s along with Supergirl, and Green Arrow (in Detective Comics backups). The Titans had a fun series with The X-Men.

1983 saw the introduction of the Outsiders, a team that Batman stars in, after moving away from the Justice League. Jason Todd made his introduction as Robin but with a circus origin instead of the homeless kid origin. Amethyst made her debut in a series aimed for girls apparently. Other important parts of ’83 was Frank Miller’s Ronin which was a ground-breaking miniseries released by DC. It was the way to the future. The Infinity Inc. also made their debut while The Flash ended up in the important stories of his life, killing Reverse Flash after the villain tried to kill his fiancée.

1984 saw the debut of Nightwing. Dick Grayson moved from the mantle of Robin to Nightwing. It would be part of the biggest story in Teen Titans history, the Judas Contract where Terra joined the team as a mole, and helped Deathstroke capture the Titans. That same year Dick Giordano was promoted the VC and executive editor of DC Comics. Comics were starting to use Baxter paper which made it a lot prettier to look at. New Teen Titans was the first major comic to get the Baxter format treatment. In other parts of DC, John Stewart became Green Lantern full time after Hal resigned, and the Justice League was remade with Aquaman leading the team.

1985 was the biggest year in DC Comics since the 30’s. DC decided to reset the universe by eliminating many universes and moving everything into one Earth. Many characters were affected like Supergirl and Barry Allen who died, and Wally West who had his sickness recovered. Many Earth-2 characters were moved to main Earth or killed off. This also meant that a lot of heroes had a new origin like Jason Todd, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The year saw cult character John Constantine created. He became bigger as the years went on.

1986 was the start of a new era. This was the modern era, the post-crisis era, the era that we know now. DC remade a lot of new origins like Wonder Woman and Superman. So, while they were moving on to new stories, many characters continued on like nothing happened. This was also the year of really adult books like the iconic Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, both having massive pop culture impact for better and somewhat for worse. DC also released Legends, their first main crossover since Crisis of Infinite Earths, and showed why heroes were important as Darkseid tries to create discourse. That created a new Justice League, in a more comedic tone with lesser known characters like Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner and Booster Gold joining the likes of Batman and Martian Manhunter.

1987 was the year when Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One took center stage and it was an immediate hit. It was a new telling of Batman’s origin in a more gritty and realistic fashion than the previous origin. Wonder Woman’s new origins began with her starting from scratch and nothing to do with Wonder Girl, Wonder Tot, and so on in their adventures. She was more attached to the Greek pantheon than before. The year also saw a mature Green Arrow, the first version of Damian Wayne in Son of the Demon, the first Suicide Squad since the 60’s, and a new Flash (Wally West).

1988 was the year of Millennium, another crossover. But it was the year where John Constantine got his own book, Hellblazer. DC also released Batman: The Killing Joke, a story that was really mature, and gave Joker an origin. The story is much loved unfortunately. I believe it to be a blight on Batman, but at least DC writers salvaged what happened to Barbara Gordon. The dark stories followed with Batman: The Cult, V for Vendetta, the death of Jason Todd, and Animal Man. There were also two other crossovers alongside Millennium. They were Cosmic Odyssey and Invasion. DC also released Hawk & Dove after a while. Hawk was still Hank Hall but Dove wasn’t Don Hall, it was a Dawn Granger, a college student at Hank’s college.

1989 was the biggest year for DC outside comics. But in the comics, Catwoman, The Sandman, and Aquaman all had titles. There were also more and more Batman stories like Batman: Arkham Asylum (written by Grant Morrison), Batman: Year Three, Gotham by Gaslight, and Legends of the Dark Knight to capture the Bat crazy that came off from the hype of the movie. That same year saw a new Robin after the death of Jason Todd. That Robin was Tim Drake who would last as Robin for about 2 decades. 1989 saw Legion become adults, trying to fight back against their oppressors.

It was a huge decade for DC Comics.

Other Media:

Superfriends still ran on Saturday morning. It was perfect viewing for kids and still showed their heroes even though they had little characterisation. But, it introduced Firestorm and Cyborg to TV audience. Shazam even had his own cartoon. but yet again it was standard Saturday morning fair. Things changed in the late 80’s with Superboy, a live action show which was more set in pre-crisis Superman history. Clark would go to college with Lana but he fights crime as Superboy, battling villains such as Lex Luthor, Yellow Peri, Metallo, Bizzaro, and Mister Mxyzptlk. It was a pretty successful show and lasted 4 seasons. Superman was also reanimated in a cartoon that would help to shape animated DC cartoons for the future. This cartoon was still monster of the week fare, but gave more characterisation to Clark, Lex, Lois, and Jimmy, and also showed us post-crisis Wonder Woman.

The 80’s were about the movies thought. Superman II, III, and IV all came out in the decade along with Supergirl. Superman II focused on Superman’s Kryptonian heritage while Lois finds out that Clark is Superman. Superman gives away his power to be with Lois but when Zod, Ursa, and Non take over the globe, Clark realises he needs to be for Earth than just Lois. It was the last serious Superman movie until Superman Returns or The Man of Steel.

Superman III and Superman IV were more comedies than the previous two. Superman III focused on Clark going back to Smallville and getting involved with Lana, while Richard Pryor’s character Gus Gorman helps a Lex type character control coffee but also destroy Superman through computers. This is the first time we see an evil Superman in TV/movies, and it was the only bright spot. IV was a complete weird disaster. It had a good idea of Superman trying to stop nuclear war but turned out for naught with how the movie played out. Supergirl was also part of the series. It starred Helen Slater as Supergirl who lands on Earth and becomes a hero and falls in love. It was more about magic than the other films but was just average.

Swamp Thing also got a movie. It was more a B-Movie than others. It was a cult movie that did well in the home video market along with TV. A sequel was released 7 years later in 1989.

However, the biggest thing in DC was Batman. Tim Burton was the director for that film and he wanted to go more noir-ish while focusing more on the villains than a guy in a bat suit fighting crime. It was a controversial pick to have Michael Keaton as Batman, so much so that people sent letters complaining because they saw him on Mr. Mom. He did an amazing job as a serious Batman. Jack Nicholson played the Joker, and Kim Basinger played Vicki Vale (although originally it was supposed to be Silver St. Cloud but Vicki Vale was in the comics and Silver wasn’t). The movie was a marketers dream. The poster just had the Batman logo. People lined up to watch the movie, and a lot of merchandise was sold. It was the marketing dream. The movie itself showed how well comic book movies can be made. Truly iconic but more on that film and the other DC films and shows in another time.

When Lois and Bruce Wayne got married!

Posted on by popcorncatcus

Superman was generally Lois Lane’s romantic interest in Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane vol. 1. But sometimes Lois would eye other men as romantic interests. There was Comet the Super Horse, a bunch of aliens from other planets, Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen and then there was Bruce Wayne. In issue no. 89 of Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane, Lois Lane marries Bruce Wayne. This story took place in 1969 and was an imaginary tale with no connection to connectivity of the DC world.

The story begins with Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson returning home after a mission. Bruce Wayne goes to a secret door that he wouldn’t let Dick Grayson in. It turns out it is a bunch of stuff he bought for Lois Lane but couldn’t give to her because she’s into Superman which I might add is really freaky on so many messed up levels. Like Bruce, calm down! It’s just Lois Lane. Also, how much he spent on all those. Could have used it on something else…

Bruce and Dick go to a costume ball with Bruce dressed as Achilles and Dick dressed as Robin Hood. Lois is there dressed as Joan of Arc. A lot of people are pretending to be Superman and that spooks Lois’ horse because she needs a horse for some reason. Bruce protects her and Superman rescues the fake Supermen with the help from Wonder Woman. Bruce gets sad that Lois is into Superman. Lois gets sad and angry that Superman must help go on missions and attacks verbally him regarding Wonder Woman. Bruce uses this opportunity to try to get with Lois and it works.

Bruce asks her to marry him, and she accepts after a few weeks of dating cause 60’s I guess? I don’t know. Superman gets emotional and starts breaking stuff. I mean Supes, you had your chance. At least there’s always Wonder Woman or Lana Lang that you could try to strike a romance. Lana would be happy. Anyway, Bruce and Lois get married and now she’s Lois Lane-Wayne or something like that.

Bruce shows her the Batcave and then that he’s Batman. They have a kid named Bruce Wayne Jr. and Robin thinks that he is done. If I was Robin, I would just leave and be part of the Teen Titans forever but nope, he has to mope around. Batman tells him that Bruce Wayne Jr. aka Batman Jr. will be taking over the mantle which doesn’t make Dick Grayson much happy. Dick however trains Batman Jr. while being Robin. Really Dick…you need to leave now.

Somehow some criminals want to find out who Batman is, so they kidnap a bunch of people and play a broadcast that Batman has died. Everyone gets a shock, but Lois gets a bigger shock, so they now think she knows who Batman is and basically torture her. She says Batman is Clark Kent instead. Batman tells Superman what’s happening and they set a trap with Lois’ help but Lois doesn’t know that Clark Kent is Superman.

They go to an opera and Clark is used as bait to stop the criminals. Everything goes to plan and the story ends with Superman telling Batman that’s why he didn’t marry Lois because she be caught in a lot of situations which I don’t know about that. I feel like most of the time, it’s Lois getting herself in those situations by doing something stupid. Although, he has a point.

It’s weird story. I mean it is an interesting premise and it is executed well by Silver Age times but, it is just feels like you could have beefed out the story with Bruce and Lois living their lives, how Bruce fell for Lois, and possibly Superman moving along (as long as it is not his cousin…that was not a good idea of a story). Nonetheless, it is a fun romp.

Superman the dead beat father?

Posted on by popcorncatcus

Superman’s stories throughout the Silver Age of comics have always been a laugh. The covers would suggest that Superman or one of his allies and friends are doing something so absolutely bonkers that you had to read it to believe it. One of the said issues was Superman vol. 1 issue number 218 released back in 1969. The cover has Superman being told he has a son and that he is married, and hijinks ensure!

The story begins at Lake City somewhere in USA. It is Superman Day at Lake City because Superman saved their city. So, they decided to celebrate a day for him once a year where all the kids dress up in Superman costumes and they have a parade running through the city. Sueprman senses trouble when he sees a little kid playing with diamonds. Superman assumes that the kid has stolen them from the jewellery store. So, he and Lois take the kid back to his mother.

We find out that the kid’s name is Carl and is he actually Superman’s son. Her name is Larissa Lenox, a woman he married 5 years ago when he saved Lake City. He doesn’t believe it and doesn’t even know who she is. She shows him her ring which was apparently engraved by Superman but he still doesn’t believe it. She then shows him a photo album of their honeymoon which he still doesn’t believe. He noticed Mr. Mxyzptlk in the photo and Lois suggests that people his fight with Mr. Mxyzptlk caused amnesia. Larissa notes that she didn’t get in contact with Superman because he told her not to.

Carl shows Superman the feats that Superman can do like flying, making coal into diamonds and other such feats that makes Superman believe that Carl is his son. Carl takes Lois to show her around which means hijinks such as Lois dealing with a bear. Superman tests Carl more time with a Kryptonite ray and Carl gets sick. Superman cedes that Carl is his son. After more chaos, Superman takes Carl to the Fortress of Solitude. He asks Carl to read a Kryptonian Oath but since Carl can’t read the language, Superman decides to have Carl repeat him.

The trick works as Mr. Mxyzptlk says his name backwards meaning that he gets sent back to the 5th dimension. Larissa is a magical creation that starts to melt after the imp leaves to the 5th dimension. Superman explains to Lois that he knew Carl wasn’t his son because he used fake Kryptonite to see if Carl would react and he just played along to figure out who was behind it.

I feel like Lois was quite calm for Silver Age Lois considering the stories where she gets jealous of Lana, Lucy, Lori, and even Wonder Woman…but for some reason she is kind of calm about this. Maybe she really was like there’s a story behind this, or maybe she just couldn’t be arsed to give a hoot about Superman being married. Whatever the reason, Lois was really out of character for that era.

What a story.

The Forgotten Superman Cartoon From the 80’s

Posted on by popcorncatcus

Superman has a long storied history of being animated on either the silver screen or the television. We know the famous Fleischer Studios cartoons from the 1940’s. Then there was the Filmation’s own The New Adventures of Superman, and Superboy during the 60’s. Those two are followed up by Super Friends that lasted throughout the 70’s and into the mid 80’s. However, during the late 80’s there was a Superman cartoon that had a short run. That cartoon was Superman. It was a TV series based on Superman (pretty self-explanatory) that appeared on TV in 1988.

The show was created by Ruby-Spears, the two honchos who spun off their own company from Hanna Barbara. They were the two that were instrumental in Scooby-Doo and other cartoons. The show was also animated by Toei Animation in Japan which is kind of cool. The show is basically about the adventures of Superman without much of an overarching plot. The show had a lot of comic influences in its creation. The character models were done by legendary artist Gil Kane and the stories were done by legendary writer Marv Wolfman. A lot of the characterization took its inspiration from the recent reboot of Superman which kept his adopted parents alive, got rid of Kal-El’s Superboy history, and his adventures with the Legion of Super-Heroes were removed. Lex Luthor himself had gone from a mad scientist to a businessman like in the comics.

The show also took heavy inspiration from the Superman movies. Superman has a similar feel to the Christopher Reeve portrayal. The remixed John Williams score was used for the intro with the narration that was from the radio show The Adventures of Superman. Lex Luthor had a similar personality to the Gene Hackman’s portrayal, and Lex even had a girlfriend who was like Eve Tessmacher called Jessica Morganberry.

The show however was stuck in this weird phase. It wasn’t exactly modern in how it told Superman, but it wasn’t like the old cartoons. It was exactly what a Saturday morning cartoon was like for the times. There was no connectivity, no deeper storytelling, not much personality to the main characters, a lack of violence and romance, and a happy ending in every episode. It was just the nature of cartoons in the 70’s and 80’s until the 90’s came, and animation took more risks. Superman did feel like a boy scout and that’s not a bad thing, but the problem is that if that is to work, everyone around him needs a personality that can engage with it. Lois was a strong character, but she was very similar to some of those main characters of the 80’s. Brave but also ended up as a romantic foil or a damsel in distress. There wasn’t much nuance there.

The stories felt exactly of its time and took some influence of the Silver Age. You had Superman fighting robots, aliens, magical ancient figures, cyborgs, monsters, Captain Nemo type characters, and other various villains. To the show’s credit, they did use villains that featured in Superman history like Lex Luthor, General Zod, Ursa, Faora, Prankster, and Shadow Thief (who is more a Hawkman villain). The show was the first to use Wonder Woman after a long period of Diana not being used in any TV show. She featured on an episode where she and Superman fight against a sorceress who is inspired by Circe. Wonder Woman has the same origin as the rebooted George Perez run post-Crisis, so it lent on her mythological ties. It was probably the best episode of the show, since it felt like it came out of a comic, and it was nice to see Wonder Woman doing things unlike the Super Friends period where she basically did nothing.

The show also portrayed Clark Kent’s life from a baby all the way to moving to Metropolis. These were little snippets in 13 episodes called ‘Superman Family Album’ which was supposedly created to attract younger kids to watch. They showed him being a baby, toddler, entering school, meeting Lana Lang, dating Lana Lang, and then graduating and becoming Superman in Metropolis. He also encountered other problems like not being able to sleep, dealing with not being able to play sports in school because of his true powers, and even learning how to drive.

The show lasted 13 episodes (26 segments) before it was cancelled. Not much information was given to why it was cancelled but a lot of shows of that time were cancelled with short runs too. The show was okay but, it suffered from the problems that Saturday morning cartoons had at that time. However, it acknowledged and used a lot of Superman history, giving the character and the history and the respect it deserves. Without this show, it would be difficult to see DC cartoons of the 90’s and 00’s happening. They walked because this show crawled and a lot of people who would work on those cartoons, worked on this one. It might be a little forgotten but it has an important place in DC history.

Clark Kent v. a Myanh

Posted on by popcorncatcus

Superman Family was a comic book showcasing stories of many members of the Superman Family. They included Lois Lane investigating stories, Jimmy Olsen getting into some wacky hijinks, Superboy back at Smallville, Supergirl navigating being a hero, a college student, and a soap opera star, Superman living his best life, and a glimpse of life with Earth-2 Lois Lane and Superman living life as a married couple. The Earth-2 stories actually including a daughter named Laura who starts to develop powers similar to her dad at a much older age (16). Superman has basically retired while Supergirl has promoted herself to Superwoman and is currently seeing Dick Grayson (very heavily hinted).

Back on Earth-1 and the other Superman, the one we are more associated with, was actually living his only life. He was going to the disco with the Clark Kent fan club (and actually dancing), working with Oliver Queen, finding an old baseball player who’s about to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and helping others. It was a more private look at Clark Kent compared to him as Superman. One of the stories was when he had to deal with a bird that kept on squawking. This story took place in Superman Family, issue number 197.

Clark actually had many people crushing on him during the late 70’s, early 80’s. There was Terri Cross, Lana Lang, Lois was thing with Superman not Clark oddly enough, and then there was May Marigold, a twin. May and her sister April left behind a mynah named Samantha. The bird has been taught to talk and does so a lot. This means Clark can’t get any sleep at all. He wants to shove the bird in the closet but May told him in the letter than the bird is too high strung to sleep alone. Thankfully for Clark, he is able to block it out with his powers, allowing him to sleep. He wakes up in the morning and everything is going well until he hears Samantha say, “Clark Kent is Superman.”

Immediately, Clark goes into action by asking the bird how she came up with that silly saying. That is until he realizes that he’s trying to have an intelligent conversation with the bird. He wonders if he said it while dreaming. First thing he tries is use a voice recorder saying, “Clark is a Super Newsman” and plays it over and over. It doesn’t work after hours upon hours. Clark tells the bird to shut up.

At the same time, someone tries to assassinate Clark for a story that got his brother sent to jail. He takes the shot and Samantha was startled. Thankfully Clark caught the bullet with his mouth and before the sniper could try to shoot him again, he sends the bullet back into the gun, blowing it up.

Superman decides to take the bird into the Fortress of Solitude. He scares the bird by dressing up as a larger bird, squawking every time Samantha says, “Clark Kent is Superman.” This freaks Samantha out who is already high-strung. May calls Clark up telling him that they’ll be back this evening. She also tells him that April and she taught the “Clark Kent is Superman” routine to Samantha. Immediately Clark tries to get a freaked out Samantha to say, “Clark Kent is Superman” to save his bacon, offering a whole box of crackers.

Fun story.

When Superman lost his powers

Posted on by popcorncatcus

Superman had a lot of imaginary stories throughout his publication history. Many of them were funny like what if Superman decided to marry some random alien or what would happen if Perry White was Superman. Sometimes they would be odd like what if Lois Lane and Lex Luthor got together. Some would be interesting and one of those stories was called Born to be Superman. It was a story that took place in Superman vol. 1, during the 80’s.

It tells the story of Clark longing to be Super again after somehow losing his powers when he was 16. The story begins with Superman going on patrol in space. It seems like there’s nothing untoward or unusual until the alarm rings. It was all a dream. He wakes up next to Lana Lang (his current girlfriend in the comics at that time). In this story they are a happily married couple. Lana notes that this is Clark’s fifth super powered dream in the space of a month. Lana explains to us the readers that Clark lost his powers when he was 16 which was 13 years ago (making him 29 years old). For those 13 years, 10 of them were in a coma. So, it was likely after the coma, he married Lana.

The couple are romantic with each other. That aside, we do learn that his adopted parents are alive. Before Crisis of Infinite Earths, Superman’s Earth parents Martha and Jonathan Kent died before he went to Metropolis. In this story however, they are alive. Martha is taking care of the kid while Jonathan is still working. Also, this time Clark isn’t a journalist in this story. Instead, he works in business for Kent Enterprises (think of it as a large supermarket franchise) and they are doing a new store opening in Los Angeles. His kid runs to him who is supposed to be 2 years old but seems a little older than that and oddly he has red hair like Lana instead of black hair which genetically should be similar but whatever.

After opening the new store, he and Pete Ross talk about Clark’s old powers and how there is a special on what happened to Superboy on GBS (A play obviously on CBS which used to run a lot of ads in the old comics). The TV Special is done by Jimmy Olson. He talks about how Superboy’s last battle was at Smallville High against Lex Luthor. Then he just seemed to disappear after Luthor got caught. Lex is gleefully watching the TV special in jail, and he talks to himself about how he thinks he killed Superboy and how he wishes he can do it again.

Lana, Clark and their kid are walking down the street in Smallville. Clark stops not because Lana recommended ice cream, but he saw a poster for book about Superboy written by Lois Lane. Lana is worried about the whole situation and whether it would affect their family. We get a flashback from her as a teenager when she saw Superboy take on Lex Luthor.

3 weeks later, Lex Luthor attacks Metropolis after getting paroled. He runs rampant until Superboy arrives (well actually Superman but they don’t call him that there). They fight and despite Clark not having powers, he seems to have the upper hand. How did this happen? Well, he used reverse radiation from various colors of Kryptonite to create a powered-up belt which basically uses his powers.

He defeats Lex but without using his belt which means that his powers have come back. Unfortunately, this is where the story ends and it is a shame, we don’t get closure with Lana and what will their life become. However, it does show that Clark or Kal-el was always supposed to be Superman and he wants to be powerful to help people in a good way.

When Supergirl played Matchmaker for Superman

Posted on by popcorncatcus

Supergirl and Superman have had some weird stories in the 60’s. There was a time that Supergirl’s horse fell in love with her and turned human, so he could kiss her. There was another time Superman pretended to be dead, so Lois couldn’t marry him. One of the other crazy stories joining the weird and wacky Superman stories of the 60’s, was the time that Supergirl tried to set Superman up with a wife. This happened in Action Comics vol. 1, issue no. 282 back in 1962.

Linda Lee aka Supergirl is watching an old romantic drama flick. She gets sad that the guy lost the girl. Supergirl saves the day after spotting an emergency. She immediately goes back home and cries about the film. She thinks to herself that she needs to find someone for her cousin before he gets old and lonely. She doesn’t think that Lois or Lana would be suitable for him which damn. She writes a note for Superman and goes back in time to Ancient Greece to try and get Helen of Troy to seduce Superman or vice versa. Superman joins her in that time.

It doesn’t go to plan since Helen of Troy doesn’t fall for Superman but instead gets miffed that Supergirl has stolen all the attention off her. The two Kryptonians leave to their own time. She immediately after cleaning up his Fortress, goes to the future to meet the Adult Legion of Super-Heroes because Saturn Girl as an adult would be the perfect wife for him according to her.

Superman kisses Saturn Woman under the mistletoe and they kiss again. Lightning Man or whatever is upset because Imra is his wife, and he doesn’t like Superman kissing her twice. Supergirl is annoyed that her plan didn’t work but instead goes with a sick burn, noting that Phantom Girl would have been single instead. Supergirl tells Superman her plan and yeah, Superman goes into some weird, messed up territory. Basically, saying that he wants to marry someone like her, but they can’t marry because they are cousins which is illegal with Krypton laws. Okay, so why does he know this? This is kind of really, really, really messed up.

Oh, it doesn’t get any better as Supergirl send Superman to a planet called Staryl to find an older duplicate of her. It works for them as Superman and Superwoman make out. They can’t get married because the sun on his Earth makes her weak, so they say their goodbyes and yeah, that’s it.

Superman tells Supergirl that maybe she shouldn’t fix him up. Supergirl agrees and tells her adopted parents who basically said, “Told you so.” And that leads to the end of the story.

It is really messed up but at least it showed that Saturn Girl ends up with Lightning Lad before it was written in any Legion comic. So, that’s a positive. The rest is just messed up on so many levels.

The time Superman met Mighty Maid

Posted on by popcorncatcus

Superman comics in the 50’s and 60’s are a bit of a trip. The stories are out-there, convoluted, and just straight up crazy. One story that matches all those characteristics and more, was the time that Superman met Mighty Maid back in Action Comics vol. 1 in 1960, issue 260.

The story begins with Perry telling Clark that Lois is at Tornado-Belt where there are a lot of tornados. Clark uses this time to take his vacation to Europe and by that he means go turn into Superman to save Lois who is stuck in a tornado Before he could save her, she is saved by a brunette woman with superpowers. Her name is Mighty Maid, and she comes from a different dimension.

She flirts with Superman much to the annoyance of Lois Lane. They both flirt with each other while Superman takes her to see the sights of the world. She lifts up the Sphinx, and now Superman is turned on, so he kisses her. Lois goes back to The Daily Planet hating that Superman is dating someone. Perry tells her to write a story about Superman’s proposal to Mighty Maid. Lois says no because she thinks Superman wants privacy. Superman comes in and tells her that she wants to whole thing to be covered by her. Kind of a jerk, dude.

Lois watches it and covers the proposal. Mighty Maid says yes and now they are married. Lois is obviously upset but Superman says she is just being sentimental because she is a woman. Yeah, he’s huge jerk. Superman makes a bombshell announcement that he is going to leave Earth forever now that he is a married man. Lois tries to prove that Mighty Maid is one of his robots but she’s wrong. Superman and Mighty Maid leave for the next dimension.

Yeah…turns out Mighty Maid is his teenage cousin…He kissed his cousin…many times…why is this even a thing? Why? Were the 60’s like this? Anyway incest aside, the whole reason for this was for Superman to lure a bunch of aliens from another planet who want to destroy the Earth because he was there. So, if he wasn’t there…they wouldn’t destroy the planet. I mean the easiest thing is to go to a different planet but whatever. He goes back and tells Lois that he wasn’t married because Mighty Maid in her dimension had different rules.

Yeah…so the story was basically Superman macking on his teenage cousin to repel some aliens looking for revenge…ooohkay…this is messed up.