Tagged: Superman

Superman’s birthmom to Who

News
May 4, 2007

Susannah York, the honored British actress who played Lara in Superman The Movie and Superman II (not to mention such classy movies as They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and The Killing of Sister George), is a featured player in Big Finish’s 96th regular monthly Doctor Who full-cast drama.

Named "Valhalla", the two-hour original full-cast audio drama is another high-energy science-fiction thriller about a planet that is, well, anything but Valhalla. York joins Sylvester McCoy, who of course is playing the seventh Doctor – the last from the original series.

For more information about this and the approximately 150 original Doctor Who audio adventures, check out Big Finish Productions.

Spidey and Supes’ YouTube chat

News
May 4, 2007

Via Val D’Orazio, here’s a delightful parody of the Mac vs. PC commercials as action figures of Spider-Man and Superman discuss Marvel vs. DC movies.

Just one more thing to get you psyched for Spidey 3, in case you weren’t already.

Dark Horse Ark Movie

News
May 3, 2007

Columbia Pictures plans to produce a film based on Mark Verheiden’s story, The Ark. The producers are Neal Moritz and Mike Richardson. Verheiden will adapt his story.

Moritz is already working on The Green Hornet and Evan Almighty.

Verheiden and Richardson, you’ll recall, did Timecop as a comic, a movie and a TV show. They also worked on The Mask. Mark’s the current writer on Superman/Batman, is an executive producer on Battlestar Galactica, finishing work on the new Bruce Campbell biopic, and a long-time comics fan.

MIKE GOLD: Would Superman trust the president?

News
April 30, 2007

Would you trust the President of the United States with your most precious secret?

If the polls are even remotely accurate, today a substantial majority of Americans would not. Perhaps any reasonable person would not trust any politically motivated opportunist with such knowledge. But there was an unfortunate time when Superman did.

In Action Comics #309, cover dated February 1964, The Big Red S needed someone to cover him at an event where it was necessary for both Superman and Clark Kent to be in attendance. I won’t trouble you with the details – Batman was similarly engaged – but Supes asked the President to stand in. Evidently having nothing better to do, John Kennedy said “sure, you bet, champ” and did the Iron Mask bit. Superman closed the story with “If I can’t trust the President of the United States, who can I trust?”

Sigh. Young-uns, now you know why we Baby Boomers long for the good old days.

Of course, the good old days weren’t always so good. Sharp-eyed reader that you are, I’m sure you noticed how this particular issue was cover-dated “February 1964.” History-aware that you also are, you knew President Kennedy was murdered in November, 1963. You probably did the math, remembered that cover dates were well in advance of newsstand release dates, and figured they (sorry about this) dodged the bullet.

No such luck. Action Comics #309 appeared in distributors warehouses about two weeks after the assassination. Editor Mort Weisinger, who by that time was well on his way towards finishing Action #313, didn’t remember the JFK story had yet to see print. Few others at the company knew of the issue’s contents. The book was not recalled at the distributors level. Comics got the lowest priority on the shipping chain: imagine Fed-Ex offering “Overnight,” “Two-day,” and “Eventually” and you’ll begin to grasp the problem.

Not that it stayed on the racks very long. Enough people saw it to express outrage, not knowing the molasses-like nature of the newsstand distribution process in those days. So word got out and many (certainly not all) retailers removed the issue. In those days, many distributors split their top-selling comics, distributing a part of the print run once again several weeks later. Those who were paying attention pulled Action #309 from this second round.

But there was Superman, answering the question: Who do you trust?

What would The Man of Steel do today? I wonder.

Mike Gold is editor-in-chief of ComicMix.com.

Religion in comics, the current version

News
April 29, 2007

Believe it or not, there’s other ways to use comics to reach the faithful than those little Jack Chick pamplets prostelytizers hand to you.

In the more traditional way, we have The Guardian Line, a line of comics put out by traditional comics pros like Michael Davis, Mike Baron, and Lovern Kindzierski. They have three titles so far with a fourth on the way, all intended for a young urban audience who are more comfortable with traditional action/adventure stories.

Then we have The Manga Bible, brought to us by British religious publisher Hodder & Stoughton. This is a manga adaptation of the TNIV Bible, itself an updated and current language version of the Bible. The Manga Bible only adapts the New Testament, but the Old Testament should be done by the end of the year.

Although I really do wonder where all the cherry blossoms come from when Jesus is dying…

And finally, we go from traditional comics to manga to webcomics. Called Today is an online web presence from the National Office for Vocation which uses webcomics to help illustrate the myriad ways that people can follow a religious calling today.

Of course, we all know that Superman’s just one great big Christ metaphor, right?

Hat tip to Wired for the Manga Bible info.

Pocketful of Kryptonite

News
April 25, 2007

Via Slashdot, "A mineralogist at London’s Natural History Museum was contracted to help identify an unknown mineral found in a Serbian mine. While he initially thought the miners had discovered a unique compound, after its crystal structure was analyzed and identified the researcher was shocked to find the material already referenced in literature. Fictional literature."

"Towards the end of my research, says Dr. Chris Stanley, "I searched the web using the mineral’s chemical formula — sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide — and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns.

"The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite."

Now we know what museum Superboy is referencing in the panel at right.

Infinite Crisis goes audio

News
April 23, 2007

Doctor Who fans have been getting all-new full-cast audio adventures for years. Recently, Dark Shadows has been invited into the club. And now, GraphicAudio has signed DC Comics up for the ride.

Purveyors of full cast audio adaptations of such well-known action paperback series as Stony Man, The Destroyer and The Executioner, the Graphic Audio corporation will be releasing DC’s Infinite Crisis miniseries in two box sets, each containing six hours of programming. The first will be released in May, the second in June. They describe the plot thusly:

"Superman, the Man of Steel. Wonder Woman, Amazon Princess. Batman, the Dark Knight. Together, they are the greatest super heroes of all. But they have turned away from each other in Earth”s hour of greatest need. As space is ripped apart, super-villains unite, and four mysterious strangers threaten reality itself. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman must put aside their differences to save the world, but even the combined might of all Earth”s heroes might not be enough to stop the coming crisis…"

Actually, the CD sets are an adaptation of Greg Cox’s novelization of Infinite Crisis, buy why quibble. I’m a fan of such original audio shows, and I’m looking forward to reviewing the series. GraphicAudio CDs are widely available at truck stops and Interstate rest areas, and through the manufacturer.

Neal Adams does the ComicMix Big Weekend Broadcast

Podcasts
April 21, 2007

The weekend is here – and the ComicMix Pop Culture Buffet is wide open with healthy servings of sold out Marvels, stuffed bookshelves from DC, a sprinkling of Michael Ian Black, Neal Adams laying claim to Batman, farewell to Rourke & Tatoo and a bit of hard love from the guy we loved as Lamont Cranston, "clutching forks and knives, to eat the bacon…"

Lots of Wonder Woman from the 40s and the black-and-white 50s, revisit one of Superman’s various deaths, and we put some uncomfortable music to the Dark Knight. All this and all that, by pressing this button:

ELAYNE RIGGS: Part of the solution

News
April 18, 2007

As I write this, the nation is still reeling from the deadliest shooting massacre in its history – if you don’t count wartime battles, and they never seem to. Once again, a disturbed young man decided that the best response to his problems lay in premeditated violence against total strangers. Once again, trusted and trained authorities appeared slow to act in protecting human life. Once again, we found ourselves yearning for a hero to make it all go away.

Comic book heroism is a double-edged sword, probably a fitting metaphor, given superhero comics’ fascination with weaponry. On the one hand you have a reflection of whatever the current national mood of the era happens to be. I was watching a history-of-Superman program on the Biography channel earlier this evening, wherein Mark Waid talked about how the character shifted from a rabble-rousing champion of the people at his inception to the "ultimate blue Boy Scout" symbol of authority after World War II. Superman, like other successful icons, was able to change with the times, allowing succeeding generations to project their desires onto him. And for some time, ever-escalating fictional violence as the appropriate (and often only) answer to frustrations has fueled the entertainment desires of Americans.

Comic books are, of course, incidental to this trend, which has encompassed virtually all forms of mass media, even more so as the news divisions — once sacrosanct and considered acceptable loss leaders to responsible corporations which made their money on other programming — morphed into 24/7 cable infotainment, hungry for the next fix of spectacularly gruesome visuals. Their mouths say "tut tut" to the carnage, but their wallets say "More please, sir!" And yet, critics of ultraviolent entertainment (and boy is that a Sisyphusean undertaking!) are always very quick to point fingers at "the comic book mentality" and wave around the latest issue of Punch ‘Em Up Man. Because, you know, it makes a good visual.

On the other hand, comics at their best can inspire and educate and lift us all up to our highest aspirational fantasies. To me, this attitude of being "part of the solution" rather than "part of the problem" has always been the essence of superhero fantasy — not beating up on badguys, but using one’s hidden reserves of power to triumph over adversity and bring hope to others, showing them by your deeds the way they too can become heroes.

Nowhere was this more keenly illustrated than after 11 September 2001, when the comics industry came out with a slew of amazing and poignant comics stories examining and trying to make sense the tragedy, in order to help raise money for victims’ families.

(more…)

INTERVIEW: Harlan Ellison, part 2

News
April 17, 2007

In the first portion of our interview (click here), Harlan told Martha Thomases all about the nature of humanity and probably became the first person to use the names Klimt, Frank Buck, Eddie Condon, and Sanjaya Malakar in a single sentence. We pick up our story right after some stuff about Gary Groth…

Well, that’s that. Anyway. The Dream Corridor. After ten years, the book is out.

CoMx: It’s just gorgeous.

HE: Isn’t it? You know what’s interesting? It’s gotten great reviews in Publishers Weekly, in Newsweek. It’s gotten great reviews in the mainstream. And nowhere in the comic world are they reviewing it.

CoMx: What’s made it in bookstores is not what the comic press writes about.

HE: Yeah, it would seem you’re right, Martha; and it breaks my heart. I love comics so, and want acknowledgement for them, beyond Crumb and Spiegelman and MIller. But the comics press for the most part only plays the flak-agents for DC and Marvel. They write about the superheroes. Here’s this book, this absolute gem, on which dozens and dozens of people broke their ass, Dream Corridor, and it contains the absolute last time that Curt Swan put a pencil to paper. We had the smarts to publish Colan as Colan, and then colored it, too. One would think: here is a book that really matters, what people say comics are supposed to be! And we can’t get a mention amidst all the talk about who’s going to be writing Birds of Prey.

CoMx: But you’re going to be reaching more people than Birds of Prey.

HE: Yes, I suppose.The book is selling out, but it’s cold comfort, kiddo.

CoMx: I don’t know your numbers, but I know that Birds of Prey is selling less than, say, 300 is selling.

HE: Mmmm. But is that really the point? Whatever the distribution may be is sort of commercialspeak. I guess I’m talking art for the people, not just feeding the adolescent fix. Here are critics of the field looking at a genre, an art-form, and they have the choice of doing the current Spider-Man of the 500 Spider-Man books that are put out every month, or one issue of this magazine over here that is striving for something clearly different. And they choose to do the Spider-Man over and over again. When you call them on it, you get no response. It’s as if: why is this person talking to us about that which does not have a cape and a cowl?

CoMx: Because they are confusing the medium with the genre. They think “superheroes” is the same as comics. They think superheroes are the important stuff.

HE: You mean all the good, smart shit that Maggie Thompson or Peter David or Gary Groth has been nagging about all these years, none of it has stuck?

CoMx: Where it’s stuck, those people have not gone on to write for the comics press.

HE: That’s pretty depressing: after all these years and all this serious discussion of what comics should be doing by all of the serious critics in the field … that nobody gets it. And they all still think that Superman is the beginning and the ending of this Great American Original Art-form? Kill me now. There’s something awry in the world of graphics. It’s very distressing to me, especially because the new Dream Corridor is out, and it’s probably the last of that kind of thing I’ll ever do.