Comic Books News

The Best #SuperHeroPrimary Tweets

2:09 pm EST January 6th, 2012 | Comic Books, Humor | Comments Off

On a lark I decided to combine two of my favorite things: Superheroes and politics. That resulted in the #superheroprimary hashtag, which was a top trend for a few seconds. Here are some of the best.

PHOTO: Russell Crowe Is Jor-El

2:24 pm EST October 5th, 2011 | Comic Books, Movies | 1 Comment

He’s certainly a good actor, that’s for sure.

Topic: Superman

Gregg Easterbrook Totally Gets Comic Books Wrong

3:08 pm EST September 7th, 2011 | Comic Books | 10 Comments

I hate when people accuse comic books of doing something they aren’t simply because they didn’t bother to check. Case in point, ESPN’s Gregg Easterbrook in his most recent TMQ comic rails against comic book reboots, arguing that “there’s commercial incentive to reboot.”

He then goes on to make a specious argument, claiming that today’s heroes are “too powerful” and that turns off readers. His examples are simply untrue. Easterbrook claims, “Superman can travel at warp speed, go backward in time, push entire planets.”

Superman can’t do any of those things. He hasn’t been able to since the 1986 reboot of the character in John Byrne’s Man of Steel. That series was all about taking Superman’s powers down a few pegs after writers of the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s had poured on power after power turning Superman into a demigod. If Easterbrook had made this critique in 1986, it might be valid, but it hasn’t been an accurate description for a quarter of a century.

And the upcoming reboot of Superman, from all indications, is going to be even less powered than the current incarnation.

His other assertion is even more dubious. Easterbrook says Batman “can fly using his cape” and can ” lift three times his body weight.” While I am not as much a Batman fan as Superman, Batman has never been able to fly — cape or not. Simply hasn’t happened. He has used it to glide from time to time, but he’s used his cape in that manner since the very first appearance of Batman.

Batman has always been depicted as the upper limit of human ability, trained to perfection. He’s never had powers for any serious amount of time, and especially in the last few decades he’s been rooted in more reality than most superheroes (that has been the theme of all the Christopher Nolan Batman movies).

The comic books Easterbrook complains about in this piece don’t exist anywhere but in his own mind.

Spider-Man Writer Michael Bendis On Pissing Off Glenn Beck

12:18 pm EST August 22nd, 2011 | Comic Books, Conservative | 6 Comments

Michael Bendis is the writer behind Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man, and he enjoyed Glenn Beck’s freakout over the new multiracial Spidey.

The announcement that Miles would be the star of Bendis and Pichelli’s new Spider-Man series received a lot of media attention, far more than Bendis had foreseen. “The media stuff has been crazy surreal. Like I said, Joe [Quesada] saw it coming a year ago, but I don’t see how we control any of that stuff. We hit a slow news day twice with the death of Spider-Man. It was really cool and I’m very grateful, but this one was surreal,” Bendis said. “We pissed off Glenn Beck, and that was amazing. I don’t think Glenn Beck is an idiot because he’s a conservative. I literally think he’s just an idiot. Regardless of his belief system, he’s just a lunatic. So that was hilarious. Not that I’m going out of my way to find ways to piss people like that off, but boy is it so nice when you do it by accident. I told my wife that she doesn’t have to get me anything for my birthday because nothing will make me happier than this made me. I was happy all day.”

(via)

Topic: Glenn Beck

First Photo Of Henry Cavill As Superman

10:40 am EST August 4th, 2011 | Comic Books | 6 Comments

Oh, I don’t know about this. Something is off. The costume looks almost like armor. And where’s the spit curl?

Henry Cavill as Superman

Topic: Superman

Thwip

8:44 am EST August 3rd, 2011 | Comic Books, Movies | 2 Comments

Some new photos of the Spider-Man reboot.

DC Plans To Ruin Superman

2:25 pm EST July 18th, 2011 | Comic Books | 18 Comments

I know “I hate change” is the cry of every nerd, but I don’t like this. DC is planning to kill off both of Superman’s parents (not just Pa Kent), dissolve his marriage to Lois, and worst of all – take away his powers of flight and give him a suit of armor.

I understand the comics need to appeal to a wider base of readers, but the phrase “don’t tug on Superman’s cape” exists for a reason. Iconic figures are iconic for a reason. Superman is Superman.

Ugh.

Topic: Superman

Superman, The Reporter, For Real

3:59 pm EST July 1st, 2011 | Comic Books, Media | 3 Comments

CJR has a pretty superficial look at how journalism is portrayed in Superman: The Movie. The writer spends a lot of time writing about David Carradine’s monologue about how Clark Kent is just a front for Superman (a theory I think is a lot of bunk, especially in regards to post-Crisis Superman, where Clark is the main character and Superman is the outlet).

But even beyond that, the writer seems to have missed the role that the Daily Planet has in the world of Superman. First, Superman is at the planet because where better to be (in theory at least) than a major newspaper (the Planet is basically the New York Times of the DC Universe) to be at the nerve center of the world? If you’re Superman and you work at the Daily Planet, the world’s biggest most Superman-level stories come to you.

In Superman The Movie we see the major role of journalism in defining the world from the instance in which Lois Lane spends a night flying with Superman. As she lands and he flies away, she notes to herself about the stranger who has been nameless up until that point: “what a super man.” The next morning the lead story in the Daily Planet is “My Night With Superman” and that becomes his name. Furthermore, Superman chooses to speak only to the Planet because he knows they have respect and authority and will get the story right. In addition to his attraction to Lois, she is their best reporter. And while she begins falling in love with him, there she is with her notebook getting the answer to who he is (a visitor from a planet far, far away), why he’s there (to help), and what his vulnerabilities are (he can’t see through lead).

I concede that the movie does not have a lot of shoe leather reporting in it, but let’s not kid ourselves, Superman was a summertime action-adventure film, not a deep treatise on a reporter in the city.

That said, in the Superman comics, there have been instances where Superman has learned that he can best effect changes not as Superman, but as reporter Clark Kent. I remember an issue where he was able to expose the corruption behind a developer who wanted to tear down a home, not by using his fists as Superman but by digging into the company as reporter Clark Kent.

The comics have also dealt with the various outside influences on newspapers that we see in the real world. For a time in the late ’70s, Clark Kent wasn’t a print reporter but was a tv reporter for WGBS. A couple times, corporate conglomerates have purchased the Daily Planet in order to subvert its influence. Lex Luthor once bought the paper which eventually prompted Editor In Chief Perry White to quit in protest.

These outside forces want to subvert the Daily Planet because to the average every day citizen in the DC Universe, it is the news source they trust to give them the story in a fair, detailed manner. It’s a pretty good standard for news organizations in the real world.

Topic: Superman

Justice League Reboot: New Superman Costume? Sigh.

2:54 pm EST June 26th, 2011 | Comic Books | 6 Comments

An image has come out of the new, soon to be rebooted Justice League. Superman is of course front and center.

I don’t like his costume. It looks more like Iron Man style armor than the classic Superman gear. While I don’t expect for the costume to stay static, there is a classicness to the look that shouldn’t be messed with.

The Original: Golden Age Superman by Joe Shuster

The Iconic: Curt Swan’s Superman of the ’60s and ’70s were used in the movies

Reboot: John Byrne’s Superman was part of the 1980s restart of the Superman mythos with Man Of Steel. This is probably my favorite.

Ed McGuiness’ Superman of the 2000s was another, more manga inspired look that I still liked.

And special honors go to

Gary Frank

Frank Quitely

Who, while not “regular” artists on Superman have made work that is seriously “art” in all the ways you can describe it.

Other Superman looks I didn’t really like much: Jerry Ordway (ugh), Dan Jurgens (death of Superman era)

Topic: Superman

Russell Crowe In Talks To Play Jor-El

3:12 pm EST June 15th, 2011 | Comic Books, Movies | 2 Comments

The Hollywood Reporter says that Russell Crowe is in talks to play Jor-El, Superman’s birth father, in the upcoming movie. That’s an interesting casting choice. Crowe is one of my favorite actors.

Topic: Superman