buriedalienfma

[buriedalienfma]

Also drew a quick Clark last night.

[buriedalienfma]

Made this post a while back, and it's gotten a fair bit of traction, probably from people who didn't know about this cancelled cartoon, but looking back on it now - man, I wish I left out all the judgemental comments at the end toward the state of certain characters in the comics and my grievances with the Superman and Lois show. Feels out of step with the rest of the post which is mostly informative. Also just feels like I was being overly negative for the sake of being negative.

Also I totally got the name of the animation director wrong. It was "Vinton Heuck" not "Victor Heuck". That is just plain embarrassing. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

The release of the first few episodes of ‘My Adventures with Superman’ has got me thinking a lot about Superman, and in particular, I wanted to talk about the Superman cartoon that never was - The Superman Family Animated Series.

For those who don’t know what this is all about, here’s the gist of it :

In around 2019, animation director Victor Heuck pitched an idea for a new Superman cartoon that was loosely titled “Superman Family”. The basic idea behind the cartoon was to essentially adapt the DC Rebirth Superman comics as well as the Super-Sons comics. The Rebirth Superman comics primarily focused on Superman raising his son, Jon Kent (who inherited his father’s powers) with his wife Lois Lane, while Super-Sons focused on Jon Kent’s escapades as the new Superboy as he teams up with Damian Wayne, the son of Batman.

Victor Heuck wanted to take the ideas behind the above mentioned comics and adapt them into a new Superman cartoon. The cartoon was also going to be very light-hearted in tone and Heuck has stated that the older Silver Age Superman comics was also going to be a strong influence on the cartoon. Just as an example, Heuck mentioned that he wanted to explore the idea of Jon and his mother dealing with Superman being turned into a Merman for a potential episode of the cartoon. That should give you a good idea of what kind of cartoon this was going to be.

Victor Heuck worked alongside Sean “Cheeks” Galloway to put together the pitch. You might have heard of Sean Galloway, he was the character designer behind the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, and he drew up a couple of the character designs for the ‘Superman Family’ cartoon.

As the title of the cartoon would suggest, there was going to be a strong focus on the Superman family. Characters like Kenan Kong and Natasha Irons were going to be featured as recurring characters. In the comics, Kenan Kong is the Superman of China, while Natasha Irons is the niece of John Henry Irons, a character who built a high-tech suit of armor in order to become a superhero inspired by Superman himself. Natasha Irons followed in her uncle’s footsteps with her own suit of armor. The ‘Superman Family’ cartoon was going to portray Natasha as the big sister to Jon Kent. As you can see from the character sheets above, the classic Superman villain Mxyzptlk was also going to be a recurring character, which is fitting since I consider him to be THE silver age Superman villain.

While the pitch was received warmly by the people working at Warner Brothers, they ultimately chose to pass on the cartoon and as a result, it was never made.

So what are my thoughts on this pitch ? Well, this pitch was made in around 2019, and I can tell you right now, that wasn’t the best time for Superman fans. There was no plans for a new Superman movie or series at the time and the character seemed to be fading from  the public eye. At that time, I gladly would have welcomed this cartoon. It would have had a pretty big impact on the Superman franchise. For one, I think that Jon Kent would have been propelled into the spotlight.

When this character was first created, he seemed to be guaranteed to be a very popular kid-appeal character. He was the son of Superman who had to live up to his father, one of the world’s greatest heroes. His design is anime-inspired and in-universe, he was even an anime fan. He had a pretty charming personality as the kid who meant well, but tended to screw up for one reason or another. He was created in the same mold as the likes of Gohan from Dragon Ball or Midorya from My Hero Academia. By all accounts, he should have been a bigger deal.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. In general, I think the comics that starred the character were not easily accessible to the general public. The Superman Rebirth comics are still loved by Superman fans, but they’re full of continuity baggage that only long time fans would have been able to understand. They also weren’t very kid friendly and featured a surprising amount of gruesome scenes. The Super-Sons comic was a little more accessible, but it was ultimately short lived and didn’t make that much of a splash. Recently DC has experimented with aging Jon Kent up and having him become the new Superman…which hasn’t been well received by fans and to be fair his comic series is kinda mediocre. Over time, I’ve realized that while I liked the basic ideas behind Jon Kent, I don’t really care for the character as he is outside of a couple of very specific comics. And one of those comics is a fanfic, so that should tell you how bad the character has it in the past few years.

The ‘Superman Family’ cartoon would have been the break that Jon Kent deserved as the cartoon would undoubtedly be more accessible to the general public. I think the character would have been in a very different place if the cartoon went through and became successful.

As for Superman himself, I feel like the cartoon would have actually delivered on the promises of the Rebirth Superman comics. When I first read those comics, I was excited because I wanted to see Superman deal with the complications of being a parent, and especially a parent to a super-powered son, and I was rather disappointed when the stories side-stepped that idea entirely and just had Superman as a perfect father figure. Perhaps the cartoon may have fixed that ? Who knows.

Now with the benefit of hindsight and after seeing the release of two new Superman series in ‘Superman and Lois’, and ‘My Adventures with Superman’, do I still think that the cartoon should have been made ? Probably.

I have to be honest, I much prefer ‘My Adventures with Superman’ and how it took a more classic, back-to-basics approach to the Superman mythos. I think that is much more refreshing compared to the twists that other Superman stories have tried to put on the formula. One the other hand, the ‘Superman Family’ cartoon probably would have been much better than ‘Superman and Lois’, which has a similar premise and started off very strong but slowly became worse as the show was overtaken by soap opera drama that was bad even for CW standards. I’d take a more light-hearted Super-family cartoon over that any day.

But Ultimately, the cartoon only exists as a “What if ?”, and I think it’s a shame that the pitch was passed up by the higher ups. It could have been a fun little cartoon that could have placed the spotlight of a bunch of underrated Superman characters.

[buriedalienfma]

Just the other day I was thinking about the 2004 Batman cartoon, specifically the one episode from its third season, titled "Gotham's Ultimate Criminal Mastermind".

The episode concerns DAVE, who was a villain that was created exclusively for the show.

DAVE (Digitally Advanced Villain Emulator) was an Artificial Intelligence program created by the recurring villain Hugo Strange, who encoded the psychological profiles of some of Batman's most dangerous foes (Joker, Riddler, Clayface,etc) into said program. The program was essentially designed to mimic the thought patterns of such criminals ostensibly so that it could be used as a tool by the Gotham Police to predict the future crimes that those criminals could commit.

Naturally, since this is a comic book cartoon, the AI gains sentience and goes rogue, creating a body for itself, becoming a supervillain and going on a crime spree, all while declaring itself the "Ultimate Criminal Mastermind". DAVE's stint as a criminal is quite successful as well, as he breaks into Gotham's banks, stealing millions from the residents of the city and causing causing blackouts all over the city by hacking into the city's databases.

DAVE even manages to figure out Batman's secret identity by using simple, logical deduction and in the climax of the episode, he captures Batman's companion, Alfred and rigs an elaborate "Trolley Problem" scenario wherein Batman has to choose between saving Alfred's life or risk having his identity exposed to the Gotham Public.

DAVE carries all these actions out as a means to defeat Batman once and for all so that he can secure his status as the "Ultimate Supervillain". However, at the end of the episode, Batman manages to outsmart him. He states that a great supervillain is only as good as their origin story. He then asks DAVE what his supervillain origin story is.

Since DAVE's "brain" consists of the profiles of other criminals, he is unable to state his origin story, and is only able to parrot the backstories of the villains that were encoded into his database. It is also made clear throughout the episode that DAVE merely mimics the past crimes of other supervillains, just on a grander scale. At one point Batman even quips that for all his ambitions of becoming the "Ultimate Criminal Mastermind", DAVE is just following the "Supervillain textbook", doing what others have already done before him. The episode ends with DAVE malfunctioning and being defeated by Batman using his own death trap no less.

So to summarize - the episode is about a rogue AI program that achieves success by copying the ideas of other people and mimicking their talents and skills only to meets its end due to its inability to come up with an actual original creative idea.

This episode came out in 2006.

[buriedalienfma]

This week I got caught up with the first three episodes of the second season of 'My Adventures with Superman', and I wanted to share some of my thoughts. Last year, I reacted to each episode as it came out, but it felt like too much of a chore to do the same for the second season this time around. The show has become less episodic and more serialized in structure, so it makes less sense to view them one at a time, so I've decided to simply wait for more episodes at a time, and then talk about it.

Obviously, there will be spoilers here, so keep that in mind when reading this.

So, my first impressions of these episodes are pretty positive. This continues to be a solid and entertaining show, and though I have some nitpicks, they're not enough to dampen my enjoyment of the show. Here's some of my brief thoughts on these episodes :

"More things in Heaven and Earth"

I like that Clark still has some anxiety over being an alien. Would've been easy for the show to side-step that after the events of the first season, but that isn't just something you can just 'get over', so I like that it continues to serve as a source of angst as a character.

Clark trying to come up with a grand romantic gesture for Lois during Valentine's day is cute. I like the brief shout-out to the Donner Superman movie with Clark's little poem. The show finds a pretty clever way to resolve that conflict, with Clark showing Lois the Northern Lights at the end of the episode. 

Extremely hilarious that its Jimmy of all people who inadvertently pushes Lex Luthor into his turn into villainy. 

This episode has a lot of exposition about Clark's nature and of Krypton courtesy of the Jor-El hologram from the first season. Still not a fan of the concept of the 'Kryptonian Empire' and how the Kryptonians were shown taking other planets. Makes them fall into the rather generic alien invaders trope when they're usually depicted in a more nuanced way in the comics and other media.

I do, however like that Clark gets to bond with Jor-El in this episode. It's nice that Jor-El gets to have some dad moments here, especially with how he scolds Clark over putting Lois in danger. What's funny is that this is echoed an episode later, with Lois's dad scolding Clark for the exact same reason. And the final goodbye between Clark and his dad is quite touching.

The show is still struggling with its villains. It really says a lot that I can't even remember the name of the dude with the Mech suit in this episode. Thankfully this is mitigated by the fact that the main villians are written well for the most part.

Overall, not a bad way to start the season. It sets up some intriguing new plot points while seamlessly continuing to follow through on the ones that were set up in the first season.

"Adventures with my Girlfriend" 

Lots of cute moments between Clark and Lois here. I especially like that little bit when they're messing around by the elevator shaft at the penitentiary. It's such a tongue in cheek call-back to the ending of the fifth episode in the first season, especially with how much people blew that moment way out of proportion. 

I like the complicated relationship between Clark, Lois and her father in this episode, with each character trying to reconcile their differences with each other. Would've been easy for the show to make the father a one note antagonist, but he has his fair share of sympathetic moments that make him a lot more nuanced. 

On the other hand, the villain of this episode, Atomic Skull, is rather under-developed. I have also noticed that the character designs for some of these villains are unfortunately somewhat uninspired. This is especially true of the characters that have suits of armor, as they all have the same hexagonal-metal-robot aesthetic, and thus none of them really stand out on a visual level. 

I love the little visual gag of showing how much money Jimmy is spending each episode. Also like how Jimmy's little side story flows into the main plot, with Jimmy helping Clark and Lois rescue her father and the other inmates at the end. 

Having Luthor casually knock down Parasite in this episode when he was such threat to the heroes in the previous season is a really good way to establish Luthor as the new top dog this time around. 

"Full Metal Scientist" 

As a Full Metal Alchemist fan, I very much approve of the title of this episode. Also fully recommend the Full Metal Alchemist anime and manga to anyone who hasn't checked it out yet. 

It's so funny that Lois's dad still hasn't figured out that Clark is Superman despite how obvious it is. Really like that the show continues to play with that secret identity trope. We all acknowledge that Clark hiding his identity behind a pair of glasses really stretches the suspension of disbelief, but its still such a fun idea to play with even if its in a tongue in cheek way. 

We get our introduction to John Henry Irons here ! I do wish that his suit of armor had a more unique flair to it, as its a little generic looking, but it's still cool to see this show's take on the character. 

Final fight at the end of the episode is a little underwhelming. The Metallo robots in this episode are nothing more than canon fodder - just a bunch of faceless goons that Superman and Irons can beat up.

So with all that said, this might be one of the more weaker episodes. There's some intriguing new plot points with Superman's new powers manifesting in this episode, and the rivalry between Lois and Vicki culminating with the latter offering the former a new job offer, but the main plot itself is a little under-cooked. 

In spite of my complaints, I will stress that the show continues to be entertaining, and I love how it keeps trying to come up with fresh and unique takes on these characters and concepts. I'm still a fan and am looking forward to the next few episodes. 

[buriedalienfma]

Oh hey, so this just dropped.

Haven't been keeping up with the news for this show recently, so this caught me off guard, but yeah - the best Superman show just got a new trailer for its second season ! The trailer confirms that 'Alex' from the first season is indeed Lex Luthor. I'm interested to see what direction they will take with this version of the character, especially since it seems like a rather unconventional take on him, at least appearance wise. Trailer also has Supergirl showing up, which I am definitely excited about. In most other Superman media, Supergirl usually makes her debut after Superman has already become an experienced superhero, so to have her debut alongside a Superman who is just finding his footing should make for a fun, new dynamic. We also see brief snapshots of the potential new villains for this show, such as the Parademons, and maybe even Solaris ? Hyped about the latter, cautiously optimistic about the former, since it seems a little too early for the show to start getting into the Fourth World characters. But, overall, season 2 is looking good ! As long it's as solidly entertaining as the first season, I'll be a happy fan.

Oh, and this poster for the season is absolutely beautiful :

[buriedalienfma]

Deconstructing Action Comics #775 

2023 has been an exciting year for Superman fans. This was the year saw the release of 'My Adventures with Superman', and while that series received the usual complaints from the die-hard comic purists and DCEU fans, it was otherwise very warmly received by the general public. On the comic side of things we have had excellent writers like Mark Waid, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Gene Luen Yang and Joshua Williamson working on the Superman books and the results have been fairly positive. And on the movie side of things, we received word that James Gunn is working on a brand new Superman movie called "Superman: Legacy", which is slated to come out in 2025. Considering that the last time that we got a standalone Superman movie was in 2013 - more than a decade ago at this point - this is pretty big news. Naturally, Superman fans have been grasping for any new bit of information that might tell us what the movie might look like. So far we know that the actors who are going to be playing the main characters are David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan as Superman and Lois Lane respectively. We know that the movie is going to be about Superman balancing his human upbringing with his alien upbringing. And we also know that the movie is going to involve other superheroes. For a while, there was a rumor that the movie was going to involve Superman going up against the Authority, a team of anti-heroic superheroes that were originally part of the DC Comics Wildstorm imprint. However, those rumors appear to be somewhat untrue, as seen in the recent casting details which confirm that the characters Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Metamorpho and Mr Terrific are going to be part of the movie - all characters who have no real connection to the Authority.  

When I first heard those rumors, I was...not happy. In general I dislike the idea of Superman having to share screentime with other superheroes in his own movie, and I would have preferred it if Superman Legacy was just a standalone movie. However, the thing that concerned me the most was the supposed source of inspiration for this movie. When these original rumors were flying around, there seemed to be a strong indication that Superman Legacy was going to be a loose adaptation of the Action Comics #775 story "What's so funny about Truth, Justice and the American Way", which was later adapted into a DC Animated movie, "Superman vs the Elite".

I do NOT like this story. As a matter of fact, I think that its a terrible Superman story and that the creators behind the movie would have been extremely misguided if they decided to make an adaptation of it. That is a very unpopular opinion, by the way, as Action Comics #775 is highly regarded by many Superman fans. So, I wanted to discuss the original story, and explain why I dislike it so much. 

Firstly, let's get some context out of the way. Action Comics #775 was meant to be a direct response to the comic series "The Authority". The Authority was a popular comic series that was notable for being a much darker and edgier take on superheroes. The protagonists of " The Authority" were fundamentally anti-heroic and had a habit of solving their problems through hyper-violence and other extreme methods. At least, that is the impression I get from second hand sources. I freely admit that I have not read the Authority comic but I don't think that's going to be too much of an issues when it comes to my discussion of Action Comics #775. 

The success of The Authority raised the question : is Superman and his traditional brand of heroics still relevant in the modern age ? Action Comics #775 is meant to address that question by creating a pastiche of The Authority in "The Elite", a fictional group of super-powered anti-heroes led by Manchester Black.

When the story begins, Superman learns of The Elite when he comes across the dead bodies of the supervillains they have killed. Since Superman has a code against killing, he is naturally opposed to their destructive methods. However, the in-universe public disagree with him, with some people championing the Elite while at the same time calling out Superman's no-kill policy for being 'outdated'.

So yeah, this story isn't very subtle when it comes to addressing the real life criticisms that people have of the character. 

Eventually Superman gets into a proper confrontation with the Elite, and it is at this point that The Elite inform Superman about the big Problem at the heart of the story. The Problem is as follows : Superman's methods of dealing with supervillains were proving to be ineffectual. He has a habit of simply carting them off to prison after defeating them. Inevitably, those same supervillains simply break out of prison only to cause more damage and destruction, before being stopped by Superman again.

Essentially, by refusing to kill his enemies, Superman is causing more harm than good by perpetuating a cycle of violence. The Elite claim to be a solution to The Problem. They are more than willing to kill their enemies and using extreme methods such as punishing the families of those enemies to keep them in line. 

Now, we as the readers are not meant to sympathize with the Elite. The story goes out of it's way to depict the Elite as a bunch of pompous, politically incorrect, egotistical assholes. However, one can't help but think that perhaps...the Elite might have a good point ? Now, let's be clear, I do not want to see Superman killing his enemies. I like it when Superman is above such things. I like it when Superman tries to solve problems without resorting to those easy solutions. On the other hand, there are obvious consequences to the no-kill policy as described in the Problem above. 

What is Superman's response to the Problem ? If he doesn't want to kill his enemies, does he have any other solution that would break that cycle of violence that he is unintentionally perpetuating?

Well, apparently the answer is no. The story simply has Superman proclaiming that he is going to continue doing the same thing that he has always done, and hoping that eventually things will work out. Let's not pull any punches, that is a WEAK argument, but the story never really seems to realize that. 

And THAT is the fundamental problem with this story. We're meant to see the Elite as being in the wrong for their extreme methods and they are, but at the same time, Superman himself doesn't exactly have the best argument in favor of his own methods. As a matter of fact, the story simply doubles down on that weak argument as seen in the ending of the story. 

This speech is often championed by Superman fans as the one scene that summarizes everything great about Superman. I say that it is the best encapsulation of the problem with this story. In recent times, more and more people are making thinkpieces that criticize MCU superheroes or just superheroes in general for perpetuating the status quo within their various stories. And yet, those very people will praise this story which ends with Superman directly and proudly stating his intentions to continue to be a protector of the status quo. It's the ultimate cop-out ending, and the big Problem that is raised in the story is ultimately unaddressed. 

The story has a bunch of other problems, namely in how the Elite are essentially just a bunch of strawmen (something that seems rather childish for a story that is trying to be complex and mature), or how seemingly and fundamentally insecure the story is about Superman as a character, especially with how it incorporates real life arguments that people have had about him. I could point out that the best way to show that Superman is still relevant in the modern age is by simply telling good Superman stories, rather than doing the story equivalent of jumping up and down and screaming "He's still relevant ! He's still relevant !". But ultimately, the failure of the story to address the Problem is my biggest gripe. 

Now, you may be wondering what I thought of the animated adaptation of this story. Does it fix any of the problems I described ?

Unfortunately the answer is no. The movie does a good job expanding the original story and fleshing out the backstories of the antagonists. But since it's still using the original story as a base, it ends up having the same problems. The way I see it, it is a very good adaptation of a very flawed Superman story. 

And that's why I balked at the idea of James Gunn taking inspiration from this story for his big Superman movie. Simply put, it wouldn't have made for a good Superman movie unless Gunn significantly reworked the story. 

Off Course, there are plenty of other better Superman stories that tackles similar themes. 'Superman : Peace On Earth', 'Superman: Camelot Falls', 'Superman and the Authority' and 'Superman Adventures: The War Within' are all good stories that put Superman's values and morals under question and do so in a much more graceful and tactful manner. None of those stories are perfect, but they're at least better than Action Comics #775. For all the reasons I laid out above, that story just doesn't work for me.

[buriedalienfma]

So the producer behind "My Adventures with Superman" essentially confirmed that the show will not be featuring Batman (or any of the other DC heroes) in any of the future seasons, since they want to keep focusing on Superman. And you know what ? I couldn't be happier about that. More often than not, Superman/Batman stories have been used to prop up Batman, by having him fight Superman and beat him up, or just by undermining him in some way, and I'm tired of that. Frankly at this point I would rather see MAWS' takes on actual Superman characters like John Henry Irons, also known as 'Steel' in the comics (especially if they can come up with a cool new design for Steel's suit of armor) or even Kenan Kong. Superman's world is rich and fascinating enough on it's own without having to involve the other DC superheroes, and I'm glad that the show is going keep the show centered on that.

[buriedalienfma]

This week saw the release of the season finale of 'My Adventures with Superman', and instead of talking about just the one episode, I'm going to talk about the entire season, and what I felt about the series as a whole. Obviously there will be spoilers here for the entire season, so take that into consideration.

Let's get this out of the way : Is this show perfect ? No. It has glaring flaws in the writing, the pacing and how it handles some of its characters. I consider this show to be a spiritual successor to the some of the more experimental superhero cartoons of the early 2000s such as the 2004 Batman cartoon or the MTV Spider-Man series, both of which took some extreme liberties with the source material and had some obvious flaws in how they were written. And yet I love those cartoons dearly, since they were, and still are, such fresh and unique takes on the two superheroes with the MTV Spider-Man being a gloriously edgy 2000s Spider-Man cartoon and The Batman being an anime inspired action show.

I remember those cartoons being criticized when they came out for how non-traditional they were compared to the comics and previous adaptations, but now they're considered cult classics, and I think the same is going to happen to 'My Adventures with Superman'. For the most part, I think the show is still quite good despite some of its flaws.

In any case, lets get those flaws out of the way, so that I can talk about what the show does right. The biggest point of contention is the pacing which is quite rushed in certain areas. I think the romance between Lois and Clark is extremely rushed since they fall in love and start dating a little too quickly for my tastes. The early episodes very much made it seem like the characters were just beginning to get to know each other, only for them to start dating in the next two of three episodes. I suspect that's why people complained about the dramatic cliffhanger in episode 5, since it feels like the characters aren't quite as close as they should be for them to have a falling out that works with how the characters have been written. Still, I think one can overlook that because the two characters are cute together and have excellent chemistry. The show transitions from the episodic narrative of the first few episodes to a more serialized structure in the second half, and I don't think it's as seamless as it should be, particularly since the show is still throwing a lot of new concepts at the audience in the second half and it doesn't land the way it should.

Some characters seem to be introduced and then quickly forgotten when the show has no need for them. In Episode three, the trio of Cat Grant, Steve Lombard and Ronnie Troupe are introduced only to be forgotten within the episode itself and the rest of the show. At least Steve Lombard gets one spotlight episode, but even that feels weird since he fades away into the background in subsequent episodes. Wouldn't it make more sense for Cat Grant to be the one who goes around interviewing the people of Metropolis in Episode eight instead of introducing a whole new character in Vicki Vale ? That would have given the show a stronger sense of continuity. 

And as a lot of people have already pointed out, the villains are underwhelming. There are some standouts like the General, Amanda Waller, Mxyzptlk and to a certain extent, Parasite. But the rest of the villains are pretty bland. I'm not going to complain about how the villains are different compared to the source material. As I've stated before, the cartoon is allowed to change things for the sake of the story. And yet, I still feel like the villains are the weakest part of the show since they mostly serve as obstacles for Superman. 

Some episodes are weaker than others. I was not fan of Episode 6 since I feel like the characters and concepts in that episode belong in a different show. And I also have some gripes about how the show handles the multiverse aspect in episode 7. 

Despite it's flaws, the show does have a lot of positive aspects, and one of them is how it handles the main character itself. I've said this before and I'll say it again. This show totally gets Superman. It's not just that he's a kind and compassionate man who wants to help everyone, including his enemies. This show understands that Superman is an alienated character. He has some deep seated anxieties about not being a 'normal' person, something that's set up in the very first episode. He's given a character arc where he has to slowly come to terms with the fact that he isn't normal and that doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Clark is also not a perfect person, as he does hide his true identity from his friends, which does drive a wedge between them, but stuff like that only makes him more relatable. I absolutely love that Clark has no real idea of where he comes from, and is even led to believe that he is part of an alien species that will invade Earth. Not only does that fuel his anxieties even more, as we see in the series finale, but it's just another part of his ongoing character arc, where he has to face his worst fears about himself and eventually conquer them. One thing that I liked about this show is that Superman seems to be subconsciously holding his powers back, which unfortunately gets him beaten up a lot in the fight scenes. I know a lot of Superman fans like to see a more powerful Superman, but the various fight scenes feel so much more visceral and tense when it feels like Superman is at risk of actually dying. Jack Quaid, the voice actor for Superman, absolutely nails the performance especially in the more emotional scenes.

The other characters are also great. I like that Jimmy is given more of a spotlight in this show, and gets his fair share of moments where he gets to save the day. I also like that he helps to ground both Clark and Lois as the voice of reason. Certainly hope that he gets a lot more spotlight and that the show adapts the Matt Fraction Jimmy Olsen comics, especially with how the season ends with Jimmy apparently becoming rich which is one of the major plot points in the Fraction comics. Lois is also quite excellent. She's a little different from traditional portrayals of the character, as she seems to lack the cynical and snarky edge that some versions of Lois have. This version of Lois is much more perky and emotional, but it works for what the show is going for. Both Lois and Jimmy have excellent voice actors in Alice Lee and Ishmel Sahid. If the show were to go on for longer, they, along with Jack Quaid, could very well become the definitive voice actors for these characters.

The romance between Lois and Clark is extremely well done, even if it is a little rushed. You totally buy the two as a couple since there's plenty of heartwarming and wholesome moments between the two. 

Speaking of that, I was a little worried that the show might just be nothing but a toothless wholesome and fluffy Superman show. I know a lot of people certainly expected the show to go in that direction, but we were definitely wrong about that. This show has its fair share of dramatic and even dark moments, and that's not a bad thing. Tension and conflict are at the heart of the best stories, and this show has plenty of that. I love the action scenes in this show. They get significantly more ambitious and exciting starting with the fight in episode five and it only gets better from there. 

So that's the first season of 'My Adventures with Superman'. It is by no means a perfect show, but its positive aspects outweigh the negative. If I may speculate on the upcoming plot points for the next season, I hope that the show subverts the idea that the Kryptonians are evil. I've said it before, but that would miss the point of Superman's story. That idea works for characters like Goku, but not for Superman. It does seem like the show is leaning in that direction considering how it ends with the Jor-El hologram saving Clark. On the whole I love this show and would recommend it to anyone who's still on the fence. It's quite different from traditional Superman shows and movies, but that only makes it feel more fresh and exciting. 

[buriedalienfma]

This week, I finally caught up on the latest episodes of 'My Adventures with Superman'. As I stated before, I ended up skipping the episode last week since I wanted to watch the two-parter in its entirety, and boy I sure am glad I did that because the cliffhanger for episode 8 would have kept me awake all week. When I first started watching this show, I was of the opinion that it was good, but had some obvious flaws in storytelling. Regardless, I continued to have faith in the show, and still thought that it had a lot of potential. Well, with the release of the recent episodes, I'm happy to say that the show is finally starting to live up to that potential. These last two episodes are easily the best episodes the show has had so far. The writing has improved drastically, the character development has been near flawlessly executed and the action scenes have become much more suspenseful and ambitious. It's safe to say that the show has reached a new peak. 

So with the obligatory spoiler warning, let's talk about episode 8 and episode 9 of My Adventures with Superman' : 

- Episode 8 starts off with Superman unlocking his super-hearing in his sleep, and he encounters a moral dilemma that has always been present with comic book Superman - mainly that Superman can hear EVERYTHING all the time, and has to actively choose which disasters to avert because he can't be everywhere at once.

In most iterations, Clark has had an entire childhood to get used to these powers, but the MAWS version has only recently unlocked them, and naturally they drive him a little crazy with him trying to help everyone as much as possible and even neglecting his sleep to do so. Here's one example of how good the writing has gotten in this episode : Superman suffering from sensory overload is played for laughs at first, but as the episode goes on, it becomes less funny as Clark slowly starts to unravel both physically and emotionally which leads him to be slightly less effective at being a superhero when he inadvertently causes a lot of collateral damage trying to save someone. This turns some of the people of Metropolis against him which perfectly ties into Jimmy and Lois' subplot where they have to deal with Vicki Vale, a new reporter who seems to be dead set on trying to turn people against Superman. On top of that, Superman becoming more exhausted as the episode goes on actually leads to him losing the big fight at the end of the episode. There's a lot going on here, and the show balances it all out really well.

- Speaking of Jimmy and Lois' subplot, I find it interesting that when they're interviewing the people of Metropolis, the characters who spout the "Superman is too good to be true" rhetoric are all characters who have selfish and ulterior motives. Almost like their assessment of Superman has less to do with what they really think of him and more to do with their own cynical perspectives. At one point, Alex (one of the characters from the previous episodes) even notes that Superman could be 'one bad day' away from completely breaking and turning against humanity, which is something that long-time comic fans will recognize as one of Joker's philosophies. It's even the premise of the Injustice games and comics. Like I said before, I will be so happy if/when this show completely tears apart the 'Evil Superman' trope.

- The fight scene at the end of episode 8 is so well done. I love how it starts off in the sky with all the characters essentially in free-fall. It just feels so dynamic and exciting. Some people like to make think-pieces about how Superman is a difficult character to write because of how powerful he is which robs any fight scenes of tension and suspense, but this episode proves that it can be done and it can be done creatively. There's a logical reason for why Superman is on the losing side in this fight between his lack of experience, the fact that the villains are all ganging up on him and the fact that he is already exhausted when the fight begins. And this episode makes it look easy. I'm going to go ahead and make the bold statement that the people who complain about Superman being difficult to write for simply lack creativity. Watch this show and take notes, people. This is how it's done.

- These episodes basically confirm that the General from the previous episodes is indeed Lois' father. He's called Sam, which is Lois' father's name in the comics, and there's a flashback in the second part where he is seen talking to someone on the phone - perhaps it could be a younger Lois or Lois' mom ? I like that the show is being subtle about this. The audience is given enough clues to put together that the General is Lois' father, but the characters themselves don't know it yet. It's a nice bit of dramatic irony. 

- The second part of this two-parter reveals why the General and his team were after Superman - in the past, Earth was invaded by a group of aliens led by a figure that heavily resembled Superman. They were stopped before they could cause too much destruction, but ever since that day, the General and his team have been on the lookout for any potential aliens. Now both Clark and the audience are led to believe that the invaders are from the planet that Clark came from, but I noticed that the alien robots sported the three dotted lines on their chests - the symbol of the villain Brainiac from the comics. I certainly hope that the show is going for that plot twist instead of making the Kryptonians a bunch of evil alien invaders because that would miss the point of Superman's story. 

- On the other hand, Superman goes through quite a bit of angst as he begins to wonder if he was sent to Earth to conquer it. I've stated previously that I liked that Clark doesn't know much about his alien origins, and these episodes are a good example of how you can use that setup to give Superman some character development. In fact, this episode confirms one of my headcanons about the character. I've always thought that when Superman was younger and was just discovering his powers, he would probably come to the conclusion that he was sent to Earth to conquer the planet based on how destructive some of his powers are. It doesn't help that a lot of real life science fiction stories revolve around alien invasions - what if a young Clark Kent read and/or watched those types of stories ? He would probably think that he was just like the alien 'freaks' and 'monsters' in those stories and that would give him a bit of existential angst growing up. Lo and behold, this episode confirms that headcanon in the scene where Clark is telling Lois and Jimmy about what he learned while in captivity. 

- I still think that the villains aren't as well written as they could be, but they do give Superman quite a challenge when it comes to physical threats. Parasite is obviously the star here as he evolves into a monstrous mech-Kaiju at the end of episode 9. It's a fun design, and his sheer size and power makes the final fight of the episode feel appropriately massive in scale as he threatens to destroy the entire city. 

- Lois and Jimmy rallying the people of Metropolis into supporting Superman is such a cheesy moment and I love it very much. It's similar to the crane scene from the first "Amazing Spider-Man" movie and I liked that scene, so I can't complain too much about MAWS having a similar scene. Scenes like that are what superhero stories should be all about. 

- It's very appropriate that Superman's character arc in these episodes involves him refuting the idea that he is nothing more than a weapon meant to hurt people - that's basically just the story of The Iron Giant, aka the best Superman movie since the 70s.

- This is something I realized while I was thinking about how these episodes fit in with the previous episodes in this show : this show is essentially a prolonged origin story for the character. I thought that Clark becoming Superman was a bit rushed in the pilot episodes, but then I realized that I felt that way because I considered that pilot to be an origin story when it's not, at least not entirely. Throughout the previous episodes, Clark has been going through the essential elements of his origin story - he's discovering his powers and the moral dilemmas and responsibilities that he has to face as a result of having those powers, he's learning more about his alien origins, he's developing the ability to inspire people, etc. You have moments like the ending of Episode 6, where Superman makes it his goal to help the people of Metropolis accept people who are different like him. Most typical Superman origin stories would shove all that stuff in the first third of the story so that when Clark actually becomes Superman, he's essentially fully formed into the superhero icon that everyone knows and loves. But this show is making the basic journey of his origin story into an actual character arc, while still having him do Superman things (instead of something like the Smallville TV show, which is also a prolonged origin story, but tries oh so very hard to not be an actual Superman show). It's a genius way to write the character and I very much appreciate it. 

And that's episode 8 and 9 of 'My Adventures with Superman'. I think I still have so much more to say about these episodes, but I've rambled enough. I really enjoyed these episodes. I've always had faith in this show and I think it's finally starting to live up to that. These episodes do leave a few dangling plot threads, but they all sound incredibly fascinating, and I cannot wait to see what the show does next. 

[buriedalienfma]

This week saw the release of yet another episode of "My Adventures with Superman", and as always I wanted to share my thoughts on it. These past two episodes have really been getting weirder and adapting some of the more 'out there' elements of superhero comics. Feels strange since the first few episodes seem to promise a more grounded tone and yet in this episode Mr Mxyzptlk, the mischievous fifth dimensional imp, is introduced to this universe, we find out that this universe is part of (sigh) a multiverse, and that there are other versions of Superman and Lois running around in those universes. It's a wild direction for the show to take, however I do think the episode itself is a bit stronger than the previous one, though I do have some quibbles.

So with that let's jump into episode 7 of "My Adventures with Superman" (spoilers to follow) :

- Superman takes Lois and Jimmy to his spaceship and fortress (?) in Smallville to let them learn a little bit more about him. I find it interesting that so far, Superman still doesn't seem too curious about where he came from and what he is. Heck, Jimmy and Lois are more interested in that than Clark himself. Maybe I'm reading too deep into that, but this does remind me of "Superman Smashes the Klan" - in that comic, Superman is reluctant to really engage with his alien origins because they're a strong reminder of how different and unique he is from ordinary people, and his character arc revolves around him eventually accepting his unique alien nature.

MAWS's version of the character is also self conscious about his alien nature, and this episode reminds us of that. Could this show be building up to a similar character arc for Superman ? I certainly hope so, because I loved that character arc in that comic.

- It was hilarious to see both Clark and Lois fret over the date that they were supposed to have in this episode. So far, this show is tearing apart the notion that Superman is "unrelatable" with its dorky and endearing take on the character. I also appreciate that Lois is trying to find out more about Superman's origins because she wants to help him. It's just a sweet moment.

- So this episode introduces Mxyzptlk, and the idea of the multiverse, AND the idea that there are other versions of Lois Lanes patrolling the multiverse. This episode runs at a break neck speed, and I have to wonder if non-comic fans were able to keep up with it considering how "out there" these elements are. Although I guess even casual fans are familiar with the concept of the multiverse thanks to movies like 'Into the Spider-Verse', 'Dr Strange : the Multiverse of Madness' and 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'.

- I was super hyped about this episode because I heard that it was going to introduce Mxyzptlk who is one of my favorite Superman antagonists.

For those of you that don't know, Mxyzptlk is a Fifth-dimensional magical being who has the power to alter reality itself and often uses those abilities to wreak havoc whenever he comes across Superman. You can think of him as a more powerful version of Loki from the Marvel Universe. His powers are seemingly limitless and there is absolutely nothing that Superman can do to physically harm him. The only way to defeat him is by getting him to say his own name backwards, which will banish him back to his own dimension for an extended period of time.

Luckily, while Mxyzptlk is all-powerful, he is also super gullible, which makes it easy for Superman to trick him and defeat him over and over again. He's just one of those comic book characters that so charming and fun, and I'm happy to say that this show has an excellent take on him. He's fun, he's funny, he can come across as a dangerous threat in one scene, only to turn into a total goofball in the next scene. He's great and I especially love the idea that Mxyzptlk has come across different versions of Superman and Lois. This means that Mxyzptlk can run circles around the characters because he seems to know more about them than they do about themselves. It almost feels like Mxyzptlk is a twisted self-insert for the audience, especially for those who have seen different Superman adaptations and are excited to compare and contrast those versions with this cartoon.

- While I loved the show's take on Mxyzptlk, I have to say, I'm not thrilled about the multiverse aspect of this episode. I think a lot of people are getting tired of multiverse stories in general, and I definitely fall in that camp. Why do so many stories feel the need to establish a multiverse in the first place ? What ever happened to stories that could be self-contained and stand on its own merits ? Why does everything need to be connected to everything ? It doesn't help that multiverse stories often end up pandering to the audience with cheap nostalgia and fanservice. Spider-Man: No Way Home is the perfect example of this where the entire plot of the movie is just an excuse to drop in as many references and call backs to previous Spider-Man movies as possible. Thankfully, this episode of 'MAWS' keeps the nostalgia pandering to a minimum, though I still rolled my eyes at the references to the Fleischer and DCAU Superman. Those stories just feel less special when they're all connected in a grand multiverse. I also have to criticize the entire 'council of Lois Lanes' plot since it seems a little derivative of the main plot of 'Across the Spider-Verse'. Overall, I would have preferred it if they just cut that entire plot element out entirely and just had Mxyzptlk as the sole antagonist. You can still play with the idea of him being a dimension hopper, but the multiverse trope can be downplayed and limited only to his character.

- While I may have some gripes about this episode, it's still pretty good in how it handles the characters. I love how active Lois is in this episode, she's constantly moving the plot along, standing up for Superman when she needs to and working with him and Jimmy to take down Mxyzptlk while also evading the other Lois Lanes. This episode ends up sealing the deal when it comes to the Clark and Lois romance as the two finally share a kiss, and its a cute moment.

- This episode ends on a cliffhanger with Lois finding out that there are other versions of Superman in other universes, and unfortunately a lot of those Supermen appear to be evil. I griped about the multiverse aspect of this episode, but it seems like this show is using it to tackle the "evil Superman" trope that has become so popular in the past few years, and honestly - if this show ends up giving a giant middle finger to that tired old trope, I will take back all of my complaints.

So that's the seventh episode of 'My Adventures with Superman'. Despite my complaints, I still liked it and am excited to see more of it. I think I am going to skip the episode next week since I've heard that it's a two-parter and I would rather watch it in its entirety in the following week instead of watching it one episode at the time. It seems like the next few episodes will pay off all the plot threads that the show has set up, and I cannot wait to see how that turns out. 

[buriedalienfma]

Today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite underrated Superman comics that shaped much of my understanding of Superman as a character and how he should be written - "The Life Story of Superman" in Action Comics #500.

This comic came out in 1979 and was written by Martin Pasko with art by Curt Swan. It is an anniversary issue, meant to celebrate the 500th issue of the Action Comics.

As you can probably tell based on how old this comic is, it is a Pre-Crisis Superman story. Pre-Crisis Superman is a very different character compared to modern Superman when it comes to both his character and his life story, and I find that Superman fans tend to gloss over Pre-Crisis Superman when it comes to comic recommendations. Sure, you will have fans who will suggest reading the Alan Moore Superman stories that are set during the Pre-Crisis continuity, or reading some of the "first appearances" for characters like Supergirl or Brainiac, but there are a lot of great stories set in that era that are simply overlooked, and Action Comics #500 is one of them.

The premise of the story is simple. Superman is attending the grand opening of a Superman Museum in Metropolis. The Museum is a celebration of Superman's exploits as a superhero, and as Superman gives a tour of the museum to the people, he begins to reminisce about his past, which leads to a retelling of his origin story and, as the title of the story would suggest, his life story.

Yes, this is an origin story and I know that there's quite a lot of people who are sick of that. To be fair to Action Comics #500, it came out at a time when superhero origin stories weren't done to death, so we can give it a pass on this one. In any case, Action Comics #500 has a rather unique story structure in that it feels less like a traditional three act origin story and more of a recollection of the events and moments that put Clark Kent on the journey to becoming Superman.

There's a lot of elements in this story that will be familiar to you if you know anything about Superman. For example, the comic spends quite a lot of time on the doomed planet Krypton, as we see the exact events that led to the destruction of the planet.

Action Comics #500 has somewhat of a unique spin on these moments, and manages to find a way to make the inevitable destruction of the planet feel like more of a personal and viscerally emotional moment for Superman.

I find the most interesting part of this comic is how it depicts Superman's childhood in Smallville after he was adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent. In the Pre-Crisis continuity, Clark Kent was Superboy, the teenage superhero of Smallville, and Action Comics #500 reflects that. As a matter of fact, Action Comics #500 does a good job of showing why this version of the character would consider 'Superman' to be the real identity and the 'Clark Kent' persona to be the mask, as was the status quo at the time.

We see in this comic that Clark Kent was 'Super' even as a kid - he developed his powers at a very young age and spent much of his childhood learning to control those powers. He was always pretending to be an ordinary human from day one.

The comic even shows Superboy developing the "Clark Kent disguise" with his parents.

There's an interesting bit in the story where Superman notes that while he had a happy childhood for the most part, he also had to deal with feelings of alienation and loneliness that he couldn't quite explain to his friends and loved ones. Due to his powers and enhanced senses, Clark always felt like a bit of an oddball and as we see later in this story, those feelings have a significant impact on his relationships with others.

Action Comics #500 marks the end of Clark's childhood with the death of his adopted parents. This moment is so well done that it convinced me that that the death of the Kents needs to be a defining part of Superman's life story. I know that a lot of Superman fans will disagree with me on this one, since modern stories have often depicted the Kents living on even after Clark becomes Superman.

Honestly I just love how poignant and emotional the above scene is. There's so many layers going on here, between Clark feeling helpless to stop the Kents from dying even with all his fantastical powers, or his promise that he makes to his dying father, or how Superman feels like he is destined to lose the people that he loves. I also like the idea that Smallville served as a symbol of Superman's childhood, and it's something that he has to leave behind when he grows into a man.

I find that to be a much more refreshing take compared to the dozens of Superman stories that like to overly fixate on Smallville (Superman: For all Seasons, Smallville the TV show, Superman and Lois, etc).

The rest of the story serves as an effective recap of previous Superman stories as well as Superman's relationships with his friends and loved ones. I especially find this panel to be extremely fascinating.

Pre-Crisis Superman had a tendency to keep Lois at arm's length, never revealing his secret identity to her and never getting into a proper relationship with her. In real life, the characters were written this way to maintain the will-they-won't-they status quo between Superman and Lois at the time, but Action Comics #500 comes up with a reasonably in-universe explanation - Superman is afraid of losing Lois. As we saw earlier in the story, Superman feels that he seems to doom the people he loves just by loving them, and that is probably the biggest reason why he refuses to get too close to Lois.

It's little touches like that, that shows that the writer, Martin Pasko, had a great in-depth understanding of the character. I think that he is one of the more underrated Superman writers - it's a shame that he never got to do more with the character, but Action Comics #500 is a great showcase of his talents as a Superman writer.

If you're looking to read some underrated Superman comics, I cannot recommend Action Comics #500 enough, as it is an excellent character piece for Superman and gives a lot of depth to his journey and life story.

[buriedalienfma]

In this week, Episode 6 of 'My Adventures with Superman' was released, and.....this was a weird one. Out of all the episodes we have of this show so far, this episode has got to have the weirdest premise, and whether that's a good kind of weird or a bad kind of weird, I'll leave up to you, because I can't decide for myself.

So here's my thoughts on Episode 6 (Spoilers incoming) :

So first off, I guess I'll have to address the ''controversy" from the previous episode. Apparently a bunch of people got mad about Lois's actions in the previous episode, saying that she was unreasonable for getting mad at Clark for hiding his identity from her, and also calling her "toxic" or whatever for jumping of the building to prove that Clark is Superman. If it sounds like I'm being flippant about this, it's because I am. Normally, I try to accept that different people have different opinions, but this is the exception - those people are wrong, and their opinion is wrong. I might have seriously over-estimated just how much people know about Superman through pop-cultural osmosis, because Lois discovering Superman's secret identity and getting mad about Clark keeping secrets from her is such a well-established Superman plot. It's been done in several Superman stories, and it's part of what makes the dynamic of Lois and Clark so interesting.

And as for Lois jumping off a building to prove that Clark was Superman, well that's just another thing that has its roots in other Superman stories. Lois pulling insane stunts to get an interview from Superman or to try and find out his secret identity is practically one of her defining character traits at this point. Hell, even the comics lampshaded it at one point. Here's Clark Kent pulling that exact same stunt in a story where he was powerless and had to get an interview from a new superhero that was running around in Metropolis :

Within the context of the show on it's own, Lois being angry at Clark makes perfect sense. She obviously has issues with people keeping secrets from her, and previous episodes established that her father lied to her about how severe her mother's illness was. Clark trying to brush off his injuries at the end of that episode must have reminded her of that incident, which explains her strong emotional reactions. Also people seemed to have taken Clark's side in this conflict, but consider Lois's perspective here. She's been trying to get ahead in the Daily Planet for months. She tried to get an interview from Superman, who bailed out on said interview despite initiating it in the first place. That's kind of a jerk move, especially since Clark knows how important that interview was for her. It also feels hypocritical of him to lie to Lois when he made such a big deal about lying being a bad thing in the pilot. On the one hand, he keeps telling her to trust him and open up to him, on the other hand he keeps evading her both as Superman and as Clark. No wonder she's angry at him. I saw some people saying it was 'forced drama', when it obviously isn't. 'My Adventures with Superman' is pretty simple compared to other cartoons and superhero TV shows, I'm actually surprised that everything I discussed above is flying over people's heads. In any case, I should stop rambling about the previous episode and just move on to the next episode.

The episode follows through on the cliffhanger from the previous episode, as Clark and Lois quickly catch on to the fact that Jimmy is missing and they try to retrace his steps to find him. I like that Clark and Lois still care about Jimmy even though they're caught up in their own drama. I also like that Clark is unable to find Jimmy with his own powers, which means that they have to use good old-fashioned detective work to find Jimmy.

It turns out that Jimmy was captured by a talking Gorilla named Mallah and a sentient Robot named Brain who worked for an organization called Project Cadmus before they had to flea for their lives when Cadmus turned against them. The pair now live in an area of the woods that is shielded from the public. Despite my familiarity with the DC Comics, I've don't know much about these guys. Apparently they have connections to Gorilla Grodd, a Flash supervillain, and have served as enemies to the Teen Titans and the Doom Patrol ? I guess it's nice that this show is adapting such obscure characters. So far, this show has had some very grounded antagonists and characters with Superman himself being the fantastical exception, so it feels bizarre to have characters like Mallah and Brain in this episode.

On the other hand, it's nice that Jimmy gets to be validated when it comes to some of his conspiracies. Him managing to talk his way out of a bad situation with Mallah and Brain is also a great moment.

There's a lot going on in this episode between Clark and Lois being menaced by a bunch of scary robots, Clark losing his powers inside the hidden area in the woods, and the trio working out their conflict through all the chaos going on around them, it's a good thing that the writing is solid enough to balance all of these elements.

Boy, this show really wants to capitalize on how attractive Clark is. He spends half of this episode completely shirtless and those moments are all drawn in ways that emphasizes his muscular build. It's not a complaint, just an observation.

So it turns out that Jimmy already knew that Clark was Superman this whole time. On the one hand, I really like this moment. I was worried that Jimmy might just fall into the comedic airhead role, so it's nice to see that he is smart enough to figure out Superman's secret identity. He also shows a great deal of emotional maturity when he confesses that he kept that secret from Clark because he was waiting for Clark to tell him on his own terms. On the other hand, I kinda wish that the previous episodes at least hinted that Jimmy was in on the secret, because it almost seems to come out of nowhere.

The reason that Clark kept his identity a secret from his friends was because he just wanted to be normal, and didn't want his friends to treat him like he was an alien. I really like this. For one, it shows that the writers have a good understanding of Superman's character. There's a deeper layer to the character beyond simply being a decent man. In the comics and other stories, Superman has often struggled with feelings of alienation and loneliness - it's what makes him a fascinating character for me. Fundamentally, Superman stories are about Superman finding acceptance despite being "different", and this show adapts that aspect very well, with Lois and Jimmy letting Clark know that they accept Clark for who he is. This moment also reinforces Clark's optimism and faith in humanity as the episode ends with Clark asserting that he will continue to try to make the world a better place.

We're given a few more hints as to the identities of the antagonists from the previous episodes, though it's not much. For now it seems that the antagonists will challenge Clark's faith in humanity since they seem to have a "needs of the many" mindset that drives their actions.

So that's episode 6. It's a strange episode as the premise is more than a little outlandish, but there's still a lot to like about it, and the character work continues to be solid.

[buriedalienfma]

This week saw the release of episode 5 of 'My Adventures with Superman', and as usual I wanted to share my thoughts on it. I feel like the writing in this episode was a lot stronger than the previous episodes, and a couple of things that I nitpicked in those episodes have been improved this time around. The show is slowly starting to build on the plot threads that its been setting up, and that made this episode very exciting to watch.

And with the obligatory spoiler warning, here's my thoughts on Episode 5:

- It's nice that this episode places a little bit more focus on Jimmy Olsen and how he feels like a bit of a third wheel in the main trio. It makes it seem like the lack of focus on him in the previous episodes was intentional. Jimmy being a conspiracy nut is a funny take on the character, but I have to point out that some of things that Jimmy talks about as part of his conspiracies - the existence of Atlantis, the psychic Starfish, etc - are all things that are well established in the DC Comics. This gives me even more hope that this show will take inspiration from the Silver Age Jimmy Olsen comics or the 2019 Jimmy Olsen series by Matt Fraction.

- The dynamic between Steve and Jimmy was pretty entertaining and I like that Steve actually had some insights on the friendship dynamic between the main trio.

- The show follows up on the cliffhanger from the previous episode with Lois trying to prove that Clark Kent is Superman. That's such a classic Superman plot point and I love it. There's some funny gags here, like Clark constantly rushing off everytime he hears a crime on the radio, only for the radio to report on Superman taking care of the situation.

- I also like that Clark is invested in trying to trace the connection between the villains from the previous episodes and the stolen tech that they were using. That's yet another plot point that's followed up on from previous episodes, and that helps to make the writing of this episode feel stronger.

- Through a convoluted series of events, Superman and Lois eventually discover that the villains that they've been fighting in the previous episodes have been kidnapped by a third group of people. That group consists of Slade Wilson, Amanda Waller and a third unknown man who seems to have a grudge against Superman for unknown reasons. Some people have speculated that this man could be Sam Lane, Lois Lane's father. And honestly, I hope that's true. You can get so much drama and interesting stories out of Lois's father being one of Superman's antagonists.

- Slade Wilson and his gang get into a skirmish with Superman and they go all out in trying to capture him. The fight scene in this episode feels a lot more visceral and exciting compared to the previous episodes. It just feels more fast paced, there's more than one enemy involved and Superman is constantly kept on his toes while still getting beat up. I also like that Superman is on the losing end for much of the fight until civilians are put in harms way, at which point he stops pulling his punches and turns the tables. I've said it before, but this show totally gets Superman and what he's all about. He's not just a guy who only exists to punch supervillains. He genuinely wants to help and protect others.

- During the fight scene, Slade Wilson states that they're the good guys while the third unknown man stops the fight when civilians are put in danger. It's clear to me that these antagonists are a part of Task Force X, a morally grey Government organization from the comics. This show hints that the organization has some connection to Clark's past and that the third man might have some personal history with Superman ? We'll have to see where that plot point goes.

- And finally, the biggest plot point in this episode - Lois finds out that Clark is Superman. To be honest, I was hoping that the show might hold off on Lois finding out the secret until later on, but this works for me too. The relationship between the two can be developed a lot more once you get that out of the way. But now that the secrets out, there's a lot more tension between Clark and Lois and they have a bit of a falling out. In fact that's the main theme of this episode which had two main plot threads. The "A" plot focused on the rising conflict between Clark and Lois and while the "B" plot that focused on Jimmy didn't appear to be connected to the "A" plot, there's still a thematic connection with Jimmy starting to resent Clark and Lois for not being there for him which leads to all three members of the trio having a falling out with each other. I like that there's some tension in this group. You can't just have the relationships be wholesome forever, and the group could feel even stronger when they eventually sort out the tension that they have with each other. This is especially true when it comes to the romance between Lois and Clark. It's at its best when the characters have some drama to work through. Hell, that's the premise of one of my favorite short Superman stories, "Glasses" by Jeff Loveness and Tom Grummett. I'm very excited for how the future episodes will deal with this conflict.

So that's episode 5. It's a great episode and an improvement over the previous episodes. I can only hope that the show will continue to improve even more and I can't wait for more episodes. 

[buriedalienfma]

The release of the first few episodes of ‘My Adventures with Superman’ has got me thinking a lot about Superman, and in particular, I wanted to talk about the Superman cartoon that never was - The Superman Family Animated Series.

For those who don’t know what this is all about, here’s the gist of it :

In around 2019, animation director Victor Heuck pitched an idea for a new Superman cartoon that was loosely titled “Superman Family”. The basic idea behind the cartoon was to essentially adapt the DC Rebirth Superman comics as well as the Super-Sons comics. The Rebirth Superman comics primarily focused on Superman raising his son, Jon Kent (who inherited his father’s powers) with his wife Lois Lane, while Super-Sons focused on Jon Kent’s escapades as the new Superboy as he teams up with Damian Wayne, the son of Batman.

Victor Heuck wanted to take the ideas behind the above mentioned comics and adapt them into a new Superman cartoon. The cartoon was also going to be very light-hearted in tone and Heuck has stated that the older Silver Age Superman comics was also going to be a strong influence on the cartoon. Just as an example, Heuck mentioned that he wanted to explore the idea of Jon and his mother dealing with Superman being turned into a Merman for a potential episode of the cartoon. That should give you a good idea of what kind of cartoon this was going to be.

Victor Heuck worked alongside Sean “Cheeks” Galloway to put together the pitch. You might have heard of Sean Galloway, he was the character designer behind the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, and he drew up a couple of the character designs for the ‘Superman Family’ cartoon.

As the title of the cartoon would suggest, there was going to be a strong focus on the Superman family. Characters like Kenan Kong and Natasha Irons were going to be featured as recurring characters. In the comics, Kenan Kong is the Superman of China, while Natasha Irons is the niece of John Henry Irons, a character who built a high-tech suit of armor in order to become a superhero inspired by Superman himself. Natasha Irons followed in her uncle’s footsteps with her own suit of armor. The ‘Superman Family’ cartoon was going to portray Natasha as the big sister to Jon Kent. As you can see from the character sheets above, the classic Superman villain Mxyzptlk was also going to be a recurring character, which is fitting since I consider him to be THE silver age Superman villain.

While the pitch was received warmly by the people working at Warner Brothers, they ultimately chose to pass on the cartoon and as a result, it was never made.

So what are my thoughts on this pitch ? Well, this pitch was made in around 2019, and I can tell you right now, that wasn’t the best time for Superman fans. There was no plans for a new Superman movie or series at the time and the character seemed to be fading from  the public eye. At that time, I gladly would have welcomed this cartoon. It would have had a pretty big impact on the Superman franchise. For one, I think that Jon Kent would have been propelled into the spotlight.

When this character was first created, he seemed to be guaranteed to be a very popular kid-appeal character. He was the son of Superman who had to live up to his father, one of the world’s greatest heroes. His design is anime-inspired and in-universe, he was even an anime fan. He had a pretty charming personality as the kid who meant well, but tended to screw up for one reason or another. He was created in the same mold as the likes of Gohan from Dragon Ball or Midorya from My Hero Academia. By all accounts, he should have been a bigger deal.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. In general, I think the comics that starred the character were not easily accessible to the general public. The Superman Rebirth comics are still loved by Superman fans, but they’re full of continuity baggage that only long time fans would have been able to understand. They also weren’t very kid friendly and featured a surprising amount of gruesome scenes. The Super-Sons comic was a little more accessible, but it was ultimately short lived and didn’t make that much of a splash. Recently DC has experimented with aging Jon Kent up and having him become the new Superman...which hasn’t been well received by fans and to be fair his comic series is kinda mediocre. Over time, I’ve realized that while I liked the basic ideas behind Jon Kent, I don’t really care for the character as he is outside of a couple of very specific comics. And one of those comics is a fanfic, so that should tell you how bad the character has it in the past few years.

The ‘Superman Family’ cartoon would have been the break that Jon Kent deserved as the cartoon would undoubtedly be more accessible to the general public. I think the character would have been in a very different place if the cartoon went through and became successful.

As for Superman himself, I feel like the cartoon would have actually delivered on the promises of the Rebirth Superman comics. When I first read those comics, I was excited because I wanted to see Superman deal with the complications of being a parent, and especially a parent to a super-powered son, and I was rather disappointed when the stories side-stepped that idea entirely and just had Superman as a perfect father figure. Perhaps the cartoon may have fixed that ? Who knows.

Now with the benefit of hindsight and after seeing the release of two new Superman series in ‘Superman and Lois’, and ‘My Adventures with Superman’, do I still think that the cartoon should have been made ? Probably.

I have to be honest, I much prefer ‘My Adventures with Superman’ and how it took a more classic, back-to-basics approach to the Superman mythos. I think that is much more refreshing compared to the twists that other Superman stories have tried to put on the formula. One the other hand, the ‘Superman Family’ cartoon probably would have been much better than ‘Superman and Lois’, which has a similar premise and started off very strong but slowly became worse as the show was overtaken by soap opera drama that was bad even for CW standards. I’d take a more light-hearted Super-family cartoon over that any day.

But Ultimately, the cartoon only exists as a “What if ?”, and I think it’s a shame that the pitch was passed up by the higher ups. It could have been a fun little cartoon that could have placed the spotlight of a bunch of underrated Superman characters.

[buriedalienfma]

Another week, another episode of ‘My Adventures with Superman’. Honestly, I am getting a little restless having to wait for an entire week for a new episode, but that’s just because I really like the show and want more of it. This week saw the release of episode 4, and I wanted to talk about it. This episode follows a similar pattern to the previous episodes in that the relationships and the dynamics between the main characters are very well written, but the actual superhero stuff is comparatively weaker.

Here’s my thoughts on episode 4 (obligatory spoiler warning for those who haven’t seen the episode yet) :

- I was surprised that there was no follow up to Superman unlocking his heat vision in the last episode. You would think that it would be a pretty big deal to Clark since he’s been shown to struggle with controlling his powers in previous episodes.

- I do like that Lois was frustrated with how her interview with Superman went in the previous episode. She’s absolutely right in being angry that Superman didn’t really answer any of her questions, especially since he initiated the interview in the first place. I like it when Lois isn’t completely and entirely enamored with Superman and is willing to call him out when she needs to. It just makes their dynamic more interesting and shows that the characters are on equal footing.

- On the other hand, I like that Clark is protective of his secret identity, and even takes measures to hide any evidence that might point to him being Superman. I’ve always considered Superman to be a very introverted character. He tends to keep people at an arms length and and has some loner tendencies that sometimes strain his relationships with others. It’s a nice little contradiction in his character. Superman’s public image in-universe and out is that of a cool and confident hero, but he’s far more reserved than you would expect and that’s one of the more interesting facets of his character.

- I like that there’s a focus on the reporters of the Daily Planet trying to expose the corruption and other unethical activities of the rich and elite of Metropolis. It makes the series feel a little more relevant and topical.

- In this episode the trio is tasked with covering a Gala held by Anthony Ivo, a CEO of the fictional Amazotech. In this episode, Ivo seems to be reminiscent of Tony Stark, especially with how grandstanding and egotistical he is.

- A small moment, but I like that Clark is a little passive with how he interviews Ivo - until the latter insults Lois, at which point Clark becomes way more confrontational. It’s a very cute bit of characterization.

- This episode further develops the relationship between Lois and Clark. The scene where the two are talking to and opening up to each other right after Clark is kicked out of the AmazoTech building is definitely the highlight of the episode. It’s revealed that Lois has a strained relationship with her father and that she has been an intern for over a year, which explains why the character has been so obsessed with chasing a good story in both this episode and previous episodes. It goes to show that Lois isn’t one note and there’s layers to the character. And Clark comforting Lois when she’s opening up to him is such a sweet moment.

- And another thing about that scene - this show very clearly knows just how attractive the main characters are. I remember that one of the people working on the show even confirmed that they deliberately tried to make Superman look cute and/or attractive in every scene that he’s in. I very much approve of that. It’s about time that Superman breaks away from his “America’s stern father figure” image. And as for Lois, well - there’s a good reason why a lot of people are falling head over heels in love with her tomboy design in this show.

- The villain of the episode is Ivo, who is using a mech suit that can absorb and imitate Superman’s powers. In the comics and other media, Ivo is the creator of Amazo, an android that copies other superheroes’ powers, but this episode combines that idea with the character of Parasite, a classic Superman villain that has the power to drain the life energy from his victims. Now I know that some comic fans are upset that many of the metahuman and fantastical characters from the comics are being changed in this adaptation so that they are more tech-based. I’m on the fence on this one. On the one hand, I think that fans should just accept that this adaptation is trying something new instead of being slavish to the comics. It’s an adaptation and it’s allowed to change things. On the other hand, I think that the writers could have gone a lot further with how they adapted Parasite, by playing into the body horror and bio-weapon aspects. They could have been a lot more creative, but they play it a little too safe, since Ivo’s ‘Parasite’ Mech suit is a little generic.

- I do like that once again, Jimmy and Lois are able to help Superman defeat the villain. I also like that Superman ultimately uses his brains to gain an advantage over his enemy rather than simply spamming his superpowers. It shows that Superman isn’t just a meathead.

- Ivo not being able to understand that Superman is simply helping people out of the goodness of his own heart is a neat bit of characterization. I like that this aspect of the Superman is played sincerely. The show isn’t trying to imitate the MCU style of humor that likes to lampshade and poke fun at the premises and tropes of superhero stories. Superman helps people, because he’s a good person. That’s played 100 % straight and I really appreciate that.

- Jimmy isn’t given a lot of focus in this episode and the previous episode. I hope that changes in future episodes as I would like him to get more spotlight. Ideally, I would have Jimmy be the first person to find out that Clark is Superman, and then become Superman’s secret keeper, just to reinforce the idea of Jimmy being Superman’s best friend, but I don’t think the show is going in that direction.

- And the thing that really got me interested - the epilogue of this episode. Lois puts the pieces together and starts to realize that Clark Kent might be Superman. From previous scenes, we know that Lois already has an issue with people keeping secrets from her. That means that there’s going to be a little bit more tension and drama in the relationship between her and Clark, and I am very much looking forward to that. So far, the romance has been played as wholesome and sweet, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but there is a part of me that wants to see a little bit of tension and maybe even some angst in the relationship, just because I think that would be pretty engaging.

So that’s episode 4. I am enjoying this show, though I acknowledge that it has some flaws. The people behind this show have worked on shows like Ducktales and She-Ra, which were pretty good from what I’ve heard, so I think I’m justified in having faith that they’ll eventually iron out the flaws of this show

[buriedalienfma]

With the release of the first few episodes of ‘My Adventures with Superman’, there’s going to be a lot of people who are going to compare the new cartoon to the older cartoon, namely the 90s DCAU ‘Superman: The Animated Series’. For now, I don’t think that’s a fair comparison, since STAS is a cartoon that has had 68 episodes, while MAWS has only had three. It’s a little frustrating that some people are immediately dismissing MAWS because they don’t believe it will live up to the original, but I also wanted to talk about Superman: The Animated Series and why I don’t put it on the same pedestal as a lot of Superman fans tend to do.

Now to be fair, STAS has a lot going for it. It is a very competent and streamlined adaptation of the Superman comics. The show is primarily based on the John Byrne reboot of the Superman comics, and while I’ve previously expressed my disdain of those comics, the cartoon itself actually fixes a lot of my problems with Byrne Superman. For one, the STAS portrayal of Krypton is much more idealized compared to the Byrne portrayal of Krypton as a dying dystopia which means that while Byrne’s Superman completely dismissed his connection to Krypton, the STAS Superman has a natural curiosity and fondness for the planet and its people.

But when you put aside the comparisons to the comics, the show still holds up on its own merits. The animation is pretty solid, if a little stiff in some episodes. The character designs are also pretty good - I especially love the design for Lois in this show. It may have been the first Superman adaptation to give her a purple color scheme, and that color just works so well for her.

But the characters are also well written for the most part. Superman as the main character is smart and competent as he should be, but he also has a little bit of a cheeky side, which I really like. Tim Daly was the voice actor for Superman in this show, and he does an excellent job portraying both the Superman persona and the Clark Kent persona. As Superman, he is appropriately cool and confident. As Clark Kent, he’s a little more reserved and laid-back, and that works for this adaptation where there isn’t a huge divide between the two personas. The other voice actors are also perfect for the roles that they’re given. Dana Delany perfectly captures the snarky, yet warm nature of Lois Lane, while Clancy Brown nails the cold, calculating and charismatic nature of Lex Luthor. These voice actors are often considered to be the definitive voices of the characters, and there’s a good reason for that. They’re really, really good.

The show does suffer a bit in the supporting cast, as characters like Perry White, Jimmy Olsen and the Kents are mostly unmemorable outside of a couple of scenes, but it’s not too bad. It does have some fun takes on characters like John Henry Irons and especially Supergirl - I much prefer this take on Supergirl compared to the convoluted mess of the comics Supergirl at the time.

The villains are well done for the most part. The standout is off course, Lex Luthor, the rich, charismatic businessman who manages to keep his sinister deeds hidden from the public eye. He’s the overarching villain of the show and he always manages to keep the heroes on their toes. But on the other hand you also have revamps of characters like Brainiac, Toyman and Metallo which were mostly solid. The show also invents new characters like Livewire and Volcana. I don’t much care for Livewire as I thought she was a bit one note, but I love Volcana.

I think she’s very underrated as the ‘Catwoman’ archetype for this version of Superman, and I wish she would make in more appearances in other Superman stories. Even the comics haven’t done anything with her. Fingers crossed that ‘My Adventures with Superman’ brings the character back.

Superman The Animated Series really cemented Darkseid as a Superman villain. He makes sporadic appearances throughout the show, but his episodes are easily the best in the entire show, as he almost always manages to raise the stakes to a nigh-apocalyptic level. Micheal Ironside is the perfect voice actor for Darkseid, as he perfectly captures the ruthless and cunning nature of the character. I especially love how subtle and nuanced his portrayal of Darkseid is - he’s very quiet and restrained, but that does not in any way take away from his menacing presence.

So with all that said, what are problems with this show, aside from the nitpicks that I mentioned above ? Well, I think that there is three fundamental problems with the show. The first is its strict adherence of the status quo. Superman: The Animated Series is a very status quo driven show and as a result it doesn’t have a lot of rewatch value. A lot of the episodes fall into the simple villain-of-the-week formula, and there’s not a lot about those episodes that make it stand out from other superhero shows. The show never resolves the romantic tension between Lois and Clark - the two characters have a will-they-won’t-they dynamic that never changes until the literal final episode. This is a very big problem, since the romance between Lois and Clark is one of the best things in most Superman stories. You can make some very compelling stories about the progression of the romance between Clark and Lois, and if you need proof of that, just look at Jeff Loveness’ “Glasses”, a short comic that thoroughly explores the nuances of the romance.

But ‘Superman: The Animated Series’ never actually tries to develop the romance, it never has the characters get into a relationship and deal with the complications of being in a relationship. Hell, I don’t even know if this version of Lois Lane ever managed to figure out Superman’s secret identity in this show and its sequels.

The adherence of the status quo also hurts the dynamic between Superman and Lex Luthor. You’ll notice that Superman never manages to earn a definitive victory against Luthor. He gets a few victories here and there, but he never manages to expose Luthor’s misdeeds to the public and put him away in prison. This is because the show wants to maintain the status quo of Luthor as the villain with good publicity, but it also means that this version of Superman comes across as incredibly ineffectual for never managing to actually defeat his greatest rival.

The second problem with this show is its portrayal of Superman. Now, I praised this show for getting a lot right with the character, but the problem is that this version of Superman is a very static character. He never actually changes or undergoes any major character development for the majority of the show. As such, this version of Superman isn’t a particularly engaging character to follow. He’s very plain and dare I say, kinda boring ? I know that a lot of Superman fans might cringe at that, because they’ve had to constantly deal with casual fans calling Superman boring, but it’s unfortunately true for this version of Superman. Now to be fair, this version of the character does get a lot of character development in the Justice League cartoon which is a direct successor to this show, but isn’t it damning that every interesting thing that happens to this character happens in a show where he isn’t even the main character ? And honestly, I’m not a huge fan of his time in the Justice League show either. That show goes too far in how it portrays Superman as a extremely flawed character. To be frank, he just comes across as a stubborn asshole rather than the sympathetic character that the writers wanted him to be.

And finally, the third problem with this show is that, well - it’s unambitious. When you compare it to the other DC shows at the time - Batman the Animated Series, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited - the show is just middle of the road. It’s not a bad show by any means, but it doesn’t do a lot to stand out from other, better superhero shows. There is nothing in ‘Superman: The Animated Series’ that can hold a candle to the ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ episodes such as ‘Heart of Ice’, ‘Mad Love’, or ‘Two-Face’. Those episodes are still pretty groundbreaking for how well they handle serious and mature topics for what was ultimately a kids cartoon. Even the best episodes of ‘Superman: The Animated Series’ don’t come close to that level of quality.

If you want a good idea of just how unambitious ‘Superman: The Animated Series’ is, just take a look at “Battle of the Superheroes”, a Superman centric episode in the ‘Batman: Brave and the Bold’ cartoon.

That single, 20 minute episode captures the charm, the fun and the creativity of the Superman comics and characters way better than all 68 episodes of ‘Superman: The Animated Series’. You can tell that the creators behind “Battle of the Superheroes” truly loved Superman and his world, while the creators behind ‘Superman: The Animated Series’...well, let’s just say that both Paul Dini and especially Bruce Timm are way bigger fanboys of Batman instead of Superman, and it shows in how they’ve written the character over the years.

So that’s my thoughts on Superman: The Animated Series. Needless to say, I don’t think that it holds up quite as much as the fanboys would insist and I say that ‘My Adventures with Superman’ has more than enough potential to surpass it.

Now the tie-in comic though is an underrated gem of a series, and every Superman fan should check it out. In many ways it’s better than the show that it’s based on.

[buriedalienfma]

One of the many things that “My Adventures with Superman” gets right is getting rid of the prevalent animation trope of portraying Superman with those stupid “dots and dashes” eyes.

I’ve never liked that look for Superman and always felt like they limited his facial expressions.

So it’s a good thing that “My Adventures with Superman” finally gives him those big, wide anime style eyes.

Just Look at how much more expressive he is ! It makes him look so much more charming and likeable when he’s got those huge emotive eyes. Clark has so much more personality and charm in just these still images. It’s even better in animation, where Clark is given some excellent, exaggerated facial expressions.

Just one of the many things “My Adventures with Superman” gets right about the character.