Posts Tagged ‘ Superman ’

It’s only fair that, as I’m picking up all the DCnU books this month that I try to post some quick thoughts on them…

Action Comics #1 – I’ll be honest I have pretty strong feelings about Grant Morrison’s writing and they’re not all positive. While I think as an ideas man and plotter he’s top-notch I have real issues (ho-ho) with his execution a lot of the time. Much of his books seem to have little leaps in narrative that require you to go back and re-read to tell what exactly is going on. While many like that, I don’t – especially not in the middle of the book. Here, Clark’s insistence that Jimmy and Lois not board the train required a few leaps in logic, as do Lex’s apparent engineering of the whole thing to capture Superman at the appointed time. What little we see of Lois and Jimmy isn’t very encouraging either, character-wise. I’ll read it again, but Morrison is up to his old tricks here. On the art side, Rags Morales can’t seem to get a handle on the appearance of young-ish Clark – sometimes he looks like an adult, sometimes he looks like a teen. Overall, a slight disappointment – but I suspect many will love it.

Animal Man #1 – Very good. Yes, a little too much set up before we get to Buddy donning his new (horrible) costume, but all very good stuff. Clearly Buddy’s marriage is in trouble but he’s got blinkers on, but the main conflicts seem to be from the threat to the Red and perhaps his daughter herself. Lots of story to sink your teeth into, and Lemire and Foreman make for a strong team. Suitably creepy and foreboding – should be a fun ride.

Batgirl #1 – The winner of the week for me. Gail Simone and Adrian Syaf fired on all cylinders. We get a younger Barbara, clarification that yes, Killing Joke happened, yes she was Batgirl before, and yes, she was paralyzed for three years before being miraculously healed – but it all fades into the background as she sets about re-establishing herself as a hero. A great start to the series and one I’ll definitely be sticking around for.

Batwing #1 – Surprisingly enjoyable, if let down a little by the fact that the impact of the surprising last page (which was spoiled on the internet a while ago) is watered down by it being a flashback. Still, David Zavimbi is nicely established, even if I still don’t know why he’s chosen to go into business as a superhero, and villain Massacre is suitably irredeemable. Winick and Oliver work well together, and while Winick’s script is workmanlike, Oliver’s art is pretty damn good. A pleasant surprise for me.

Detective Comics #1 – I know people slam Tony Daniel’s writing but I really enjoyed this issue, and the last page is more than a bit of a shocker. His art is strong, his Batman is smart, and his fight choreography clear. Absolutely no complaints here – and I enjoyed this a lot more than Action. Did I mention that last page? Wow.

Green Arrow #1 – Exactly what I thought it would be; lightweight and breezy. Jurgens’ art always evokes strong memories of DC past for me (in a good way) and Krul proves he’s better at solo books than team books. Having Ollie with a back-up network of support staff and engaged in some boardroom stuff on the side is a big departure for the character but it works here. This isn’t going to win any awards but it’s good, fun superheroing. The only downside is that I still miss grouchy sourpuss Ollie.

Hawk And Dove #1 – Okay. This is not a good comic on any level. At all. I get the impression that Sterling Gates is trying to weave a coherent story together from Liefeld’s art and having a damn difficult time of it. Look, I’m a cheerful Liefeld apologist most of the time but this is a painful, painful book to look at. Messy dis-proportioned art, bare-bones backgrounds and difficult;t to follow at times. Adding an additional layer to Dawn’s backstory seems a bit pointless, too, and just there to increase the conflict between the two leads. Just…bad. So I’ll probably pick up the next issue.

Justice League International #1 – A good start for the book, and a decidedly different tone from the main Justice League book and the best known bwah-ha-ha incarnation of this one. Jurgens knows his superheroes, and Aaron Lopresti can deliver solid if uninspired art. There’s a nice mix of characters (and I really hope some of the ones that didn’t make the cut show up soon) and some good conflicts, but Jurgens’ heavy-handed swipe at fans complaining about the DC reboot is, well, heavy-handed. Godiva got to say both ‘mate’ and ‘sod off’, though, so I’m good.

Men Of War #1 – Not really my cup of tea, if I’m honest, but the lead story has enough of a pull for me to come back for the next issue. Having Rock and company being men on the ground in a superhero battle where we don’t see the combatants is a pretty neat narrative trick, but I don’t feel there’s enough characterization of Rock just yet. Wasn’t fond of the back-up, which read like a generic strip from a UK war comic when I was growing up.

O.M.A.C. #1 – Okay. I’m very, very surprised how much I liked this. It’s almost entirely down to Keith Giffen’s art, which has adapted into a near-Kirby style that suits the book down to the ground, and the colors here really, really pop. I also like starting off with our hero off-screen for most of the book (all Hulk, no Banner) and just jumping in as shit goes down. I’m in.

Static Shock #1 – Scott McDaniel’s work here is as solid as ever, and John Rozum’s story is pretty straightforward. There’s nothing revolutionary going on, but this is very much a fun book. Having Static working at S.T.A.R. Labs for Hardware provides a nice basis for superheroing, and having Virgil at college seems like it’s going to be fun as we see more of it. Good, strong start.

Stormwatch #1 – I’m torn on this. It felt like a very quick read with not much going on, if I’m honest, but in retrospect quite a lot actually happened. Part of the team tries to recruit Apollo, shit happens. Another team member heads to the moon, we get filled in on a bit of history (apparently tying Stormwatch to Cornell’s other book, Demon Knights, not to mention old Milestone property Shadow Cabinet), and shit happens. Another part of the team investigate a big horn that Superman may or may not be blowing in a few weeks time, and shit happens. Oh, and the moon appears to be growing a claw or something. So yes, lots of shit happening and a lot of characters being introduced including an immortal named Adam, Jenny Quantum, J’onn J’onnz – who is a former JL’er – and more. Huh. I liked this quite a bit more than I thought I did the more I think about it.

Swamp Thing #1 – A very good read. Swamp Thing is very much centered in the midst of the DCnU here, with writer Snyder providing us a first proper look at the modern-day Superman providing Alec Holland with a pep-talk, and cameos from Batman and Aquaman. We also get a nice backstory and entry point into the character for new readers, which is important, and an extremely nasty threat (people having their heads twisted around and shambling on works much better in comics than, say, Torchwood). Great work from Snyder, and Paquette’s art supports the more horrific elements of the story. I’ll be back.

So there you have it; only one real stinker (Hawk and Dove), some real winners (Animal Man, Batgirl, Detective and Swamp Thing), a lot of ones that show promise (Batwing, Stormwatch, Static Shock, O.M.A.C., JLI, Green Arrow), one that’s okay but not my thing (Men of War) and Action which everyone but me probably loved.

All in all, the new DC looks pretty promising so far. I’m not saying it’ll stay this way but I’m generally impressed, being one week in.

Surfacing on the web, the first official image from the upcoming Man of Steel movie with Henry Cavill as Superman.

No spitcurl, and funky looking texturing on the outfit, but aside from that not a bad promo piece. It certainly shows the power of the last Kryptonian.

What do you think?

As expected, in the DCnU Clark Kent and Lois Lane are no longer married. In fact, they were never married.

And, as big a fan as I am of the marriage (and I’m a huge fan of it), I’m okay with that.

Why?

Because unlike the dissolution of the Peter Parker/Mary Jane marriage, this isn’t the result of a story point that makes no sense and is only shoe-horned in to get rid of the marriage itself, this is as a result of a line-wide rejigging of titles which is effecting change on multiple levels.

One of those changes is the nullification of the Lois and Clark marriage and the introduction of a new, admittedly douchey on first impressions, boyfriend for Lois.

And that’s okay. It’s okay to refresh the Lois and Clark relationship every now and then because it offers new creative teams (and okay, George Perez was also a Superman writer early on in the post-Man of Steel years) the opportunity to tell stories with a single Lois and Clark, and also because you know they’ll get together in the end.

The Lois/Clark relationship is, at this point, virtually pre-destined. Everyone who’s seen an adaptation of Superman in the past sixty years, or read a Superman comic, or has even a passing familiarity with the characters, knows that Lois and Clark will, at some point, end up together. It’s so strong that it will last until the 853rd century.

But, while the characters are single, I’m okay with them dating other people. Wonder Woman, Jose Delgado, Cat Grant, Lori Lemaris, Jonathan Carroll, whoever. I don’t much care, because the relationships that characters have move stories forward and eventually – spoilers – Lois and Clark end up together. Because they always do, and they always will.

Even when he has a mullet.

I mean, if she can get past that hair, you think a little continuity is going to stop her?

He may have enormous willpower, a square jaw, and the ability to bed two of the DCU’s most independent women at the same time – but, boy, is Hal Jordan a douche. You need proof? Alright – the top 10 reasons that Hal is a douche.

1. He fakes injury to get attention from a pretty woman – that he’s supposed to love.

2. He chops the hands off friends when they won’t give him what he wants (sure, sure, yellow fear monster, blah, blah – no, he’s just a douche).

3. He doesn’t like women – even Zatanna – fighting for him, but he’s more than willing to hide behind her while he gets his ring to work. Wait a minute. Power rings can be fiddled with? What, do they have a dial or something?

4. Rather than ask somebody, Hal would rather violate someone’s mind…to find out where to get a stamp. Or he could just head to a post office.

5. Sinestro hates Hal for a reason. Because he’s a douche.

6. Late to the party, Wonder Woman? Then cut the cake. Because that’s woman’s work, and I’m hungry dammit. I don’t care if you’re Wonder Woman – WOMAN’S. WORK.

7. Protect the Guardians of the Universe? No way! Hal doesn’t just hide behind them, he uses them as a shield. No wonder they hate him.

8. Hal has no respect for other people’s property. The douche.

9. Hal steals his (not actually) dead colleague’s girl – and he starts to move in pretty damn quick. “I know Guy Gardner’s only been dead for a few hours, but of course I’ll hold you, pretty broken-English gyspsy lady”…

…because she makes him feel good. Just like Guy did. I mean, okay, so this scene is a few weeks later, but still – what a douchebag. This is why Guy Gardner hates Hal – and who can blame him?

10. Sometimes, you don’t need to explain why Hal’s a douche. He does it for you.

And a special bonus reason that Hal’s a douche: because even when he knows he should pity his old lover, Carol Ferris, he doesn’t. He handles her ‘the old fashioned way’.

Hal Jordan: douche.

(Front page header image by Jim Oakley)

(When I was looking for images for this post, I came across a similar tumblr post from a couple of weeks ago and used most of the images from there; credit where credit’s due!)

Everyone else posted it yesterday, so why not?

The image below was released by Toon Tumblers to promote their SDCC exclusive, and appears to feature the newly rebooted Justice League membership in it’s entirety.

For those keeping a checklist, in addition to the big seven of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and MartiaCyborg, it looks like Deadman, Atom, Element Woman (a new Flashpoint character who looks a lot like Metamorpho, so I assume she found the Orb of Ra before Rex Mason), Green Arrow, Hawkman, Mera, and, er…Power Girl?

Well, no, that’s not Power Girl. And according to Geoff Johns, she isn’t blonde – her hair is definitely light though, so maybe…white?

Zealot would certainly make sense – the Wildstorm characters are integrating fully with the DCU, and Lee has an affinity with her since he created her originally. So yes, let’s say Zealot until we hear further.

It’s a largely traditional line-up with a few curve balls thrown in – and all those curves belong to women.

Wait that came out wrong.

Anyway, there you are – and I have to say, now that I’ve got a good look at the full segmented redesigns of Superman, Green Lantern, Batman and Flash costumes, man they look dumb.

On Wednesday I had a big post ready to go all about DC’s resetting the clock (kind of) which was much more timely than this one, and then wordpress ate it.

Thanks a bunch.

As it is, everyone in the comicsphere has already blogged about it so I don’t really see the point. The bottom line for me is that I’m looking forward to it, and I’m more interested in the DCU than I have been in a long time. Honestly, I’m much more interested in it than I am in Marvel at the moment, which seems to be stuck in a real rut (although obviously I’m still reading Spider-Man, Avengers Academy and against my better judgment, FF).

So, yes, looking forward to it, and I’m really getting into Flashpoint too.

I am wondering about Flashpoint, though: I originally thought that Flashpoint’s divergence from the main DCU was going to be as a result of Professor Zoom’s playing around with the past and changing one or two key things – but that seems unlikely to be the case now.

If you look at what we know so far, there are several things that have changed:

1) Barry Allen’s mother wasn’t murdered, and Barry never became the Flash.

2) Thomas Wayne attacked the robber, resulting in Bruce dying instead of him.

3) Abin Sur didn’t crash during his mission to transport Atrocitus (and, naturally, there’s some kind of Flashpoint prophecy that Atrocitus knows about) and continued as GL of sector 2814.

4) Superman’s rocket crashed into Metropolis, destroying (or at least heavily damaging) the city – twenty years ago.

5) Jay Garrick wasn’t the Flash when the Justice Society operated and they ‘fell’ as a result.

It’s this fourth one that interests me the most; this is a good what, five or ten years later than the previous timeline for Superman crashing into the Earth (and presumably therefore explains why Earth’s rotation was different enough that it hit Metropolis instead of Kansas). Assuming this sticks, it also explains why he’s younger in the newer DCU come September.

Assuming that Krypton was destroyed at the same time as in the regular DCU, the only explanation is that the rocket took longer to get to Earth – but this, along with points (2) and (3) above would appear to be things outside of Professor Zoom’s sphere of influence.

So I’ve been thinking about paradoxes, and the Speed Force. And the fact that so far, Barry Allen is the only person who remembers the world as it was. And that Jay Garrick didn’t become the Flash. And that Thomas Wayne maybe moved faster against the thief. And that Superman’s rocket maybe moved slower. And that Abin Sur maybe…well, maybe he did something that had some kind of speed connection.

And that Barry Allen, in Flashpoint #2 tried – rather unsuccessfully from the look of it, but I suspect positive results will show up early next issue – to forcibly attract the Speed Force to him.

And I wonder: can Barry’s tampering with the Speed Force inadvertently have caused all these changes in history? Is Barry himself responsible for the state of the world of Flashpoint? Or, given the appearance of Zoom’s costume in Barry’s ring (nyuk nyuk), is Barry even Barry?

Not to reference a seminal Mark Waid story or anything…

Things to mull over, anyway.

Also worth mulling over, this page from Justice League of America #0 a few years ago (as noted over at Bob Mitchell in the 21st Century).

I don’t think this Jim Lee – pencilled-page was ever followed up on. I find it hard to believe that seeds for this could have been planted in Brad Meltzer’s run almost 5 years ago, but apparently Dan Didio had planned something similar to the current revamp after Final Crisis, and it is apparently definitely not a straight reboot so maybe there was something planned that this page referred to.

In any case, fun, fun, fun.

Now, what are the odds on my favorite fictional couple still being married come September?

Probably slim – but at least they won’t have made a deal with the devil…

There’s a rumor (and as it’s a rumor started by Rich Johnston over at Bleeding Cool, I’d say there may be a grain of truth in it) that, come September after Flashpoint ends in August, DC will relaunch and renumber all of it’s line.

All of it.

While I think that seems highly unlikely (if only because of (a) fan backlash, and (b) Grant Morrison’s busy with Batman, Inc for another year or so) it’s pretty obvious that something is happening in September. This got me thinking about Zero Hour – not that I ever really need an excuse to think about that – and Zero Month that followed, where each book in the regular DCU had a #0 issue which set up the status quo and served as a handy jumping on point for each series, tweaking origins and setting up new storylines.

I’d imagine something similar is in the works for September; a line wide renumbering – relaunching some books (probably including Flash and Green Lantern, absent from two months of solicits by that point), launching some new books (probably hold overs from the Flashpoint world), and redefining and refocusing others – before resuming regular numbering in October.

A few months ago I’d have bet that Flashpoint would be followed by a Point One event, but Marvel beat them to the punch with that (and the more I think about it the more that seems to be Marvel once again going nyah-nyah-nyah to DC), so I don’t know – maybe a simple #1 again for everyone?

That feels right – then something else occurred to me.

DC is still embroiled in a lawsuit with the heirs of Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel over ownership of the flagship character – and even without that there are some public domain issues coming up. So imagine a situation where the current Superman was lost to DC somehow in the next few years…luckily there may be a replacement lined up ready.

This Superman, from all appearances, crashed into Metropolis, not Smallville, and was raised very differently. Thanks to the differences between the Flashpoint world and the regular DCU, Krypton may not even be mentioned as a part of this origin.

This is all speculation of course, but it would be handy to have another character running around capable of inheriting the Superman name that didn’t have an origin directly derived from the regular Superman should things go south with the lawsuit – if only as a threat that DC could use to say ‘look, we don’t need Superman anyway’…

On Fringe

In spite of my worries, the Fringe finale actually kind of rocked.

That said, I’m still a little confused with Peter never having existed. Why did Walter cross worlds and start the whole mess if not to save him? How did Olivia end up getting Walter out of the mental institution to help her way back when? Did Fauxlivia still have a baby? Who was it’s father? If Peter didn’t exist, how could the machine be turned on in the first place? And exactly who are the WatchersObservers that they apparently exist outside of regular time?

And, wait, if Walter created the machine in the future and sent it back into the past, why did he create it in the first place? How did it end up with parts in both worlds? And if he only created it so he could send it back so it could be used in a different manner than it was used the first time, didn’t he just create a massive paradox?

Oh, and good on Seth Gabel for getting promoted to series regular next year. No return for Kirk Acevedo to the regular cast, though – mainly because of the hat.

I’m not saying that the show’s perfect, and it has more dangling plotlines than Claremont’s X-Men, but still – pretty good.

On Smallville

Ten years? Damn.

I haven’t watched a full season of Smallville as it airs since…what, season four? Whichever one Jensen Ackles was crap in. I do, however, have a bunch of seasons on DVD that I’m very slowly watching (veeeery slowly), and I tried to watch this season but somehow dropped away. It’s an enjoyable show a lot of the time, but it’s not always – or even often – a very good show.

In any case, I’ll watch the finale tonight. And I’ll probably enjoy it.

Ten years. Wow.

(Oh, and if you haven’t been keeping up with Chris Sims’ and David Uzumeri’s Smallville Recaps over at Comics Alliance, you really should go and read them. It’s more fun than watching the show half the time.)

On Human Target

Damnation.

While not surprised at the cancellation of Human Target, I am saddened. The show was one of the few that I made a point of watching every week, and the chemistry between the three leads – Mark Valley, Chi McBride and Jackie Earl Haley – was great fun to watch. The addition of two female cast members – Indira Varma and Janet Montgomery – felt forced in the second season, I actually grew to like them both more than I thought I would (especially Montgomery’s Ames, who sparked off Haley’s Guerrero).

Ah well. If there’s any justice in the world, Valley will get another good action show, because that guy is good.

On Wonder Woman

Well, bugger.

I know a lot (a lot) of people derided the costume, but I wasn’t one of them. Well, I don’t think I was. It’s been a while.

Anyway, while I don’t think David E Kelley is anyone’s idea of a good showrunner for a superhero show, I was looking forward to Adrienne Palicki as Diana. Hopefully the pilot will get leakedreleased at some point so we can all see what might have been.

And laughed at the costume.

On Flashpoint

And finally, on a comic that actually came out this week that I actually read – not bad, although for a story that’s now 20% completed (not counting spin-offs, obviously) it certainly felt like 15% set-up and 85% exposition. I’m not sure anything actually happened in the issue.

Even so, I think I liked it more than when it was called House of M.

In no particular order, because I know you’re just dying to know what I thought even if I haven’t been round these parts lately…

I’m almost positive that Luthor’s discovered Superman’s secret identity before in the past few years. I want to say it happened during the Ending Battle storyline, but I’m not too sure; in any case, having Luthor discover that Clark is Superman is pretty much telegraphing that he’s going to lose his memory in a few pages’ time. And lo and behold he does.

Superman giving up his US citizenship may be a bit stupid, but it won’t stick. You want to know what’s really stupid? US Army snipers with Kryptonite bullets. You know why? Because it doesn’t matter what the bullets are made of, Superman is still faster than them, even when they’re speeding.

I like almost all of Paul Cornell’s Marvel work, but I think he’s lucky people aren’t talking about the lead story in this case – because it is, quite frankly, awful. Bad enough that we have supergodLex in a conclusion to a meandering story arc that feels like it’s been going on several issues too long, but the shoehorning of the Doomsday storyline into the issue is forced, badly paced and disruptive. Just a terrible mishmash of two uninspired stories and an absolute mess of a lead story in an anniversary issue.

Superdickery isn’t dead. Even when he knows that pushing Lex’s buttons will result in the entire universe losing their bliss, Superman just can’t help himself. I’m not surprised Lex gets pissy; Superman is a condescending dick. On the other hand, maybe he’s trying to be because this whole bliss thing is creepy, and a lot like V. On the other other hand, I don’t care.

The four page Johns/Frank entry for the anniversary issue was slight and pretty much pointless, but for some reason I loved it. Was it Lois’ ass sticking out from under her desk? Her keeping a Legion flight ring there because her desk is the one place nobody would be able to find it? Her having Clark’s friends from the future over for pizza? Or perhaps just the two page spread of pizza night? Pretty much all of the above.

It’s a shame that the lead story was so bad, that David Goyer’s story was so controversial, and that Paul Dini’s story was so forgettable – because buried in the depths of the issue is a short simple story by Lost’s Damon Lindelof and the incredible Ryan Sook, featuring Jor El asking a man to help him build the life support module that will fit into his son’s rocket during Krypton’s last three days – the catch being that it means the scientist won’t be able to spend time with his wife and daughter in their final days. I’ve read some criticism that this diminishes Jor El, but for me that’s not the point of the story. Maybe it’s because I’m a relatively new father, maybe it’s because this was the only story I felt worth passing to my wife to read in the whole issue, maybe it’s because it was so simple – but this really hit me where it hurts and stayed with me after I read it. Bravo.

At least something in the anniversary issue was worth the price of admission.

Deadline has posted a letter from the late Joanne Siegel to Jeffrey Bewkes, Chairman of Warner Bros, which she composed shortly before her death last month.

The letter in full:

December 10, 2010

Jeffrey L. Bewkes
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Time Warner Inc.

Dear Jeff,

I am Joanne Siegel widow of Jerry Siegel, creator of Superboy and co-creator of Superman with Joe Shuster. It has always been my policy to be in touch with the Chairmen of the Board of your company going back to when Steve Ross formed Warner Communications.

Steve Ross knew how to take care of large vexing problems. He paid the price, whatever it was, then went on, and the company prospered. He was gracious and friendly when my late husband Jerry and I met him at a stockholders meeting after he sent Jerry, Joe, my daughter Laura and me company stock. He also phoned me to say if we needed anything I should just pick up the phone and call him. He said if he could not be reached for some reason, one of the top officers in the company, Deane Johnson, would handle things personally. Laura and I believe if Steve were alive our copyright ownership matter would have been successfully resolved long ago.

Jerry Levin was also reachable and thoughtful. He sent my husband and later me, cases of grapefruit at the holiday season. He remembered Jerry’s birthday with a Superman sculpture. When my Jerry passed away, Jerry Levin told Laura and me that we are part of the Time Warner family, part of its history. Unfortunately he retired before our rights issues were resolved. He had given his attorneys too much power so that negotiations were unsatisfactory and a settlement was impossible. Dick Parsons, on the other hand, was not friendly and, under him, the attorneys hired by the company were arrogant and pro-litigation.

Now you are Chairman and CEO. Because we are in litigation I held off writing to you. I now believe had we had contact early on, things might not have gone so far off track.

My daughter Laura and I, as well as the Shuster estate, have done nothing more than exercise our rights under the Copyright Act. Yet, your company has chosen to sue us and our long-time attorney for protecting our rights.

On December 1st I turned 93. I am old enough to be your mother. I have grown grandchildren. Unfortunately I am not in the best of health. My cardiologist provided a letter to your attorneys informing them that I suffer from a serious heart condition and that forcing me to go through yet another stressful deposition could put me in danger of a heart attack or stroke. I am also on medications that have side effects which force me to stay close to home and restrooms. Nonetheless your attorneys are forcing me to endure a second deposition even though I have already undergone a deposition for a full day in this matter. As clearly they would be covering the same ground, their intention is to harass me.

My dear daughter Laura too has painful medical conditions including multiple sclerosis, arthritis, glaucoma, spine disorders, and fibromyalgia. She has already had her deposition taken twice by your attorneys while in pain. Her doctors have given written statements saying she should not be subjected to a third deposition, yet your attorneys are insisting on re-taking her deposition in an effort to harass her as well.

So I ask you to please consider – do these mean spirited tactics meet with your approval? Do you really think the families of Superman’s creators should be treated this way?

As you know, DC and Warner Bros. have profited enormously from 72 years of exploiting Jerry and Joe’s wonderful creation. Superman is now a billion dollar franchise and has been DC’s flagship property for all this time.

As for this letter, the purpose is three-fold:

To protest harassment of us that will gain you nothing but bad blood and a continued fight.

To protest harassment of our attorney by falsely accusing him of improper conduct in an attempt to deprive us of legal counsel.

To make you aware that in reality this is a business matter and that continuing with litigation for many more years will only benefit your attorneys.

This is not just another case. The public and press are interested in Superman and us and are aware of our and your litigations.

The solution to saving time, trouble, and expense is a change of viewpoint. Laura and I are legally owed our share of Superman profits since 1999. By paying the owed bill in full, as you pay other business bills, it would be handled as a business matter, instead of a lawsuit going into its 5th year.

Even though you will no doubt pass this letter on to your attorneys, the final decision is yours. Your image as well as the company’s reputation rests on a respectable and acceptable outcome, and I hope you will get personally involved to insure this matter is handled properly.

The courtesy of a friendly and meaningful reply from you will be most appreciated.

Sincerely,
Joanne Siegel

While I’m in two minds on the issue of who owns what as regards to Superman, Superboy, et al, I agree with Mrs Siegel’s point: if Warner Bros had simply paid to resolve this issue years ago, they would have saved themselves a lot of lawyers fees and – more importantly – have retained the goodwill of the creative community.

With the release of this letter, and the points made regarding Mrs Siegel’s (and her daughter’s) health, and the multiple depositions that she made as Warner Bros’ lawyers’ requests – in spite of letter advising against this from her cardiologist – I think that any remaining public opinion in favor of Warner Bros is rapidly in danger of vanishing.

It’s time to cut your losses, Warner Bros. Pay the estates of Siegel and Shuster enough money to make the lawsuit go away. Yes, it opens the door to other lawsuits, and yes, it will be costly – but how much more costly will continuing to protest be?

In the best case, you win, pay millions, and have proved yourselves a company of jackals. In worst case, you lose, pay millions, and have proved yourselves a company of jackals, and have lost the rights to one of your premiere properties.

Time to put up and shut up, I think.

It sounds like Zack Snyder has found his Lois Lane – and she’s Amy Adams.

I have no problem at all with this casting as Adams is pretty damn cute and, more importantly, can do drama and comedy with equal aplomb. She’s a great choice – and I know that some people will complain that she’s a redhead and so would be better as Lana Lang, but let’s face it: hair color only matters to geeks like us.

Although part of me would like to see Amy Adams as the Insect Queen.

In any case; great choice. My next Superman-related question, though, is how long Zack Snyder is going to be linked with Nolan’s Superman given the critical and financial drubbing that SuckerPunch took over the weekend…

The Chris Nolan-led, Zack Snyder-directed Superman movie reboot has landed it’s Jonathan and Martha Kent – Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.

Kevin Costner I understand in a Field of Dreams, down-home, kind of way (and it’s not like he’s doing much else these days aside from trying to save the world) -but Diane Lane?

Not the Ma Kent from the period I first remember reading (I probably read some pre-Crisis stuff too, but Ma was largely absent)…

..or even the current version of her and Pa.

No, this is a Martha and Jonathan Kent who are a bit younger. A bit less homely. A bit sexier.

Just like the Superman: Birthright Kents – which is apparently one of the sources for the movie…

Interesting casting.

I’m not really into these sites, but Beyondtherack.com – one of those private sale sites – has got some superhero themed merchandise on there at the moment. For example, there’s a bunch of superhero cufflinks (all DC) and – in the case of Wonder Woman, some cuffs – which are all less than $10:

The site also has a bunch of pendants (I think that means necklaces), terry cuffs (for those aerobics sessions?), belts, bracelets and rings, too. While I’m not one for most of those things, I confess that I am tempted by this Flash ring just because…

You need to create an account to see the merch, but that just means dropping your email in – click on over here.

According to the never-wrong, top-line investigative journalists at TMZ, Lindsay Lohan is up for a role in the new Superman film.

I’ll admit I had difficulty wrapping my head around Lindsay in the movie – until, of course I remembered a key point of post-Crisis Superman lore.

In the Byrne-rebooted Superman back in 1986, Clark told highschool sweetheart Lana Lang that he had superpowers on prom night (or thereabouts), and took her flying. He then vanished from Smallville and trekked the world until he landed in Metropolis at the Daily Planet. He went to college and met Lori Lemaris at some point in there, too, but whatever.

Anyway, a few short issues into the reboot (Superman #2 to be exact), Lex Luthor had superscientist Amanda McCoy assigned to find out more about Superman. She analyzes a bunch of video from his appearances and finds the same woman hiding out in the crowd at many of his rescues:

Yep, Lana Lang has been stalking Superman.

It turns out that Lana – under the programming of the Manhunters as part of their insidious Millennium plot to take over the world with crappy crossovers – has been following Clark since he left Smallville to keep tabs on him. Yep, Clark’s highschool sweetheart vanished for ten years and he didn’t do anything to find her.

Because, as we all know, Superman is a dick.

Anyway, Lex promptly has Lana kidnapped and tortured for a couple of days before letting her go, where she goes to see Clark.

And – as I recalled the story – I realized that a homeless, crazy Lana who’s been stalking Superman for years might just be the perfect part for Lindsay Lohan.

See? This could work out after all!

Incidentally, brainy scientist Amanda actually works out that Clark Kent is Superman!

Lex doesn’t buy it because there’s no way that Superman could possibly disguise himself as a mere mortal. He then fires Amanda for being stupid, despite having being coercing her into having sex with him for a couple of days.

Because as big a dick as Superman is, Lex is always worse.

I should really have an opinion the casting of Henry Cavill in the reboot of Superman under Chris Nolan’s eye, but I don’t. I mean, I suppose he looks the part and I’d guess he tested for it extensively, but I haven’t seen him in anything I can recall so I don’t really have that much of an opinion.

The only thing I do find kind of amusing is that this makes the third marquee superhero to be played by a British actor (the other two being Spider-Man and Batman).

I’m more concerned about the rumors floating round that the movie is a take on Clark Kent traveling the world and getting embroiled in African unrest, much like Birthright. I honestly have very little interest in that.

On the brightside, somebody somewhere did a Cavill-as-Superman photoshop a while ago (thank you,. google search), so here you go -

…and Gotham…and New York…

These amazing prints by Justin Van Genderen are available to buy on imagekind.

1) An angry, gladiatorial Zod.

2) Unresolved bromantic tension between Clark and Jimmy

3) Slow motion. Lots and lots of slow motion. Possibly involving people falling and/or Lois doing some kind of dance. Or maybe Martha doing some kind of dance.

4) Voiceovers. Preferably gravelly or oddly-accented.

5) An awesome credits sequence (actually, serious about that).

6) Superman to have rock-hard abs. And to keep them permanently oiled.

7) At least one male character whose sexuality is highly ambiguous.

8 ) A Superman who sets himself apart from mortal men and the people he leads.

9) Slavish following of source comics to the detriment of a movie except for…

10) ..one key aspect changed which actually will make more sense cinematically, although it will be decried by fanboys everywhere.

I’m confused.

In season nine of Smallville, Cat Grant showed up as Clark’s blind date and went on to become the host of Good Morning Metropolis played by Emillie Ullerup.

In this week’s episode, a second Cat Grant is showing up in Metropolis as the Daily Planet’s newest reporter replacing Lois, played by Keri Lynn Pratt.

Why bother have two different characters named the same, even if that name is from the comics? I know they hinted at that with Jimmy Olsen’s younger brother, but really, are there that many Cat Grant fans waiting for her to show up and stick around for a while?

Not playing Cat Grant in Smallville (although the way things are going, she’ll show up as Cat II’s mother or something):

And, just because I still really love this panel:

It seems as though Clark is finally going to take flight in the season premiere of Smallville this Friday:

On the other hand, it does look kind of more like he’s leaping a tall building in a single bound as opposed to flying but hey, either way I think I’ll be watching Smallville this season.

I have to hand it to Smallville - and Superman shows in general – they know how to wink at the past.

In Lois and Clark (a show which gets a bad rep; I enjoyed the earlier seasons immensely), Lois Lane (Teri Hatcher)’s mother was played by Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane in the 1940s and 1950sPhyllis Coates, who played Lois Lane in the 1950s George Reeves Adventures of Superman series before being replaced by Noel Neill, who had played Lois before her in the Kirk Alyn serial (not that that’s convoluted!).

Smallville - which has featured the 1970s/1980s movie Lois and Clark (the late Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder) in prior seasons – will feature current Lois (Erica Durance)’s mother in some video tapes she finds.

Playing her?

Teri Hatcher.

Fricking genius.

Via