Clark Kent: Superman Appreciation 2018

[Adekis]

I'm enjoying Rebirth Superman , but I agree they should have fixed Nuperman. They could have even brought back the Marriage and most of the best bits of the post Crisis history via the " missing 5 years" thing . I think the way they arrived at the guy we have now was unnecessarily messy and convoluted. Ah well... What's done is done.

Yeah. I just recently described the path from 2011 to now to someone on reddit, and it took me five paragraphs to explain the co-existence of the pre and post Flashpoint Supermen, how they combined, and why Lex is Superman. I didn't even get into how poorly I think they combined...

Like I said in that comment: "there's good comics involved at every single stage of this operation, but when you look at the whole thing as a single arc, it kind of looks like DC has no idea what they're doing."

I love this show. It's a shame that it only got two seasons; it was just as good as The Batman or Teen Titans, which each got five, but so few people seem to have fond memories of Legion of Super-Heroes. Still, nothing can take away my own affection for this awesome show!

[daBronzeBomma]

I love this show. It's a shame that it only got two seasons; it was just as good as The Batman or Teen Titans, which each got five, but so few people seem to have fond memories of Legion of Super-Heroes. Still, nothing can take away my own affection for this awesome show!

I caught a few episodes back in the day. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a LOSH show featuring Kal-El (who weirdly was clearly Superboy in S1, but full-on Superman in S2) or a Superman show featuring the LOSH.

Was Supes the main character? Or in every episode?

[Adekis]

I caught a few episodes back in the day. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a LOSH show featuring Kal-El (who weirdly was clearly Superboy in S1, but full-on Superman in S2) or a Superman show featuring the LOSH.

Was Supes the main character? Or in every episode?

Superman was in every episode, but he wasn't always the lead. Still, I'd say that he had the greatest number of episodes as the lead character.

Actually, he might not have been in every episode of season 2, but if he wasn't in a given episode, then Superman X definitely was. Besides Kal and Kel, Brainiac Five was probably the character most likely to be the lead in any given story, but any character could be the lead. Lightning Lad had a good few, Bouncing Boy had at least one, Phantom Girl, etc. Some Legionnaires were weirdly underrepresented, like Cosmic Boy (who was only in a couple episodes if I recall correctly) and especially Ultra Boy, who was there, but not given the kind of primacy that teenage super-powered Han Solo deserves.

Still, if I had to say who the main character was overall, insomuch as there was one, it was Superman.

[daBronzeBomma]

Ah, good to know that about the LOSH cartoon. Never understood why they created Kel-El / Superman X instead of just using Lar Gand / Mon-El.


Now, how 'bout some cool statues/figures?



The Jim Lee Post-COIE Superman



The New 52 Superman (aka Nuperman)



The Rebirth/pre-Reborn Superman (aka Superdad)


Sorry, can't find a solo statue/ figure of the most current / merged / Reborn Superman anywhere yet.

[Kuwagaton]

Those are beautiful. I think aside from the Vs Ali set, those would be the only figures I'd own, in order.

On this day in 1992, Charles and Eddie were on the charts over in the UK. I was dreaming of the Ninja Turtle birthday cake to come shortly and... Superman died against Doomsday!

[BBally]

Look Up In The Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman is a fantastic documentary, which is a must watch for any Superman fan or comic fan or anyone interested in popular culture.

[daBronzeBomma]

Those are beautiful. I think aside from the Vs Ali set, those would be the only figures I'd own, in order.

On this day in 1992, Charles and Eddie were on the charts over in the UK. I was dreaming of the Ninja Turtle birthday cake to come shortly and... Superman died against Doomsday!

Had no idea they made a Classic Doomsday vs Battle-Damaged Superman 2-pack action figure set:

[Soubhagya]

Ah, good to know that about the LOSH cartoon. Never understood why they created Kel-El / Superman X instead of just using Lar Gand / Mon-El.


Now, how 'bout some cool statues/figures?



The Jim Lee Post-COIE Superman



The New 52 Superman (aka Nuperman)



The Rebirth/pre-Reborn Superman (aka Superdad)


Sorry, can't find a solo statue/ figure of the most current / merged / Reborn Superman anywhere yet.

These are pretty cool.

[Soubhagya]

Had no idea they made a Classic Doomsday vs Battle-Damaged Superman 2-pack action figure set:

How do you market this? Doomsday is ugly.

Look Up In The Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman is a fantastic documentary, which is a must watch for any Superman fan or comic fan or anyone interested in popular culture.

I think this came out before Superman Returns. Its a whole documentary? Sounds neat.

[Soubhagya]

So i am watching the Fleischer cartoons. I have finished Episode 7. 'The Electric Earthquake'. I must admit the cartoons are great. At first i was a bit bored. I care a lot for character work. But seeing that these are but shorts its really impressive.

Animation is fantastic. Action sequences rock. And i would want more then 17 episodes. Why isn't DC making some shorts like this? Surely they would cost a lot less then a film or a series.

[Kuwagaton]

This was the Doomsday figure I had growing up.



I didn't have much, but of all the action figures I had as a kid there was the Superboy and Steel of the same line as well. Pretty sure I stole the Hunter/Prey Superman from someone.

[daBronzeBomma]

I think this came out before Superman Returns. Its a whole documentary? Sounds neat.

It's a 90-minute documentary film called "Look Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman" that was released at the same time as SUPERMAN RETURNS in summer 2006:



It's probably the most comprehensive retrospective on video about Superman to date. They got a lot of interviews (new at the time and also archived) and it's worth a gander.


I don't know if a new retrospective done in 2018 for Superman's 80th anniversary could cover much new ground (although it would undoubtedly cover SR in far less detail) in the 11 or 12 years since the LUITS:TASOS documentary was made ... let's see

1. ALL-STAR SUPERMAN comic book (not covered in LUITS:TASOS)

2. LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES cartoon show (Fall 2006 - Spring 2008)

3. KRYPTO THE SUPER DOG cartoon show (Fall 2006 - Spring 2008)

4. SMALLVILLE tv show finale (Spring 2011)

5. NEW 52 comic book reboot (Summer 2011)

6. MAN OF STEEL movie (Summer 2013)

7. SUPERGIRL tv show (Fall 2015 - present)

8. BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE movie (Spring 2016)

9. REBIRTH comic book reboot (Summer 2016 - present)

10. JUSTICE LEAGUE ACTION cartoon show (Fall 2016 - present)

11. JUSTICE LEAGUE movie (Fall 2017)

12. KRYPTON tv show (2018)

13. ACTION COMICS #1000 comic book (Spring 2018)

Nevermind, there's clearly enough new stuff not covered in LUITS:TASOS that would since warrant its own new retrospective documentary in 2018 as is.

[Adekis]

Ah, good to know that about the LOSH cartoon. Never understood why they created Kel-El / Superman X instead of just using Lar Gand / Mon-El.

I always figured it was partly for branding purposes, partly because a writer said "hey, you know what'd be really cool?" and just made Kel his baby, and partly because Mon-El is just too much like Superman, honestly. Lar Gand is pretty much Superman without the Kryptonite allergy in a lot of ways. Less upbeat, more emotionally open, maybe he's seen more ****, but he's not really that different. Superman X has a personality different enough to contrast with.

Honestly, I liked Kel for all his grimdark, and I'm vaguely disappointed that he hasn't been brought to the comics like Harley Quinn or Live Wire have.

It's a 90-minute documentary film called "Look Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman" that was released at the same time as SUPERMAN RETURNS in summer 2006[.]

It's probably the most comprehensive retrospective on video about Superman to date. They got a lot of interviews (new at the time and also archived) and it's worth a gander.

I don't know if a new retrospective done in 2018 for Superman's 80th anniversary could cover much new ground (although it would undoubtedly cover SR in far less detail) in the 11 or 12 years since the LUITS:TASOS documentary was made ... Nevermind, there's clearly enough new stuff not covered in LUITS:TASOS that would since warrant its own new retrospective documentary in 2018 as is.

That's a great documentary, but it definitely made assumptions about Superman Returns' success and quality that wouldn't be borne out, yeah. I remember at some point, someone says that in contrast to some of the weirder unmade Superman film concepts from the '90s and early '00s, Superman Returns was the one that deserved to exist, because it took a "classic" look at the character. "Really?" I thought, "is that what you think it does?"

Anyway, there's definitely lots more ground to cover since 2006 twelve years ago, not the least of which is the entire New 52, nor the new film franchise. Of course, there's not necessarily a consensus about either of those things even from DC / WB themselves the way there could be about pre-release Superman Returns. You know, before WB realized that oh crap, we tried to reboot Superman with a brooding relationship drama sequel to a movie from twenty-five years ago. Er, but I digress.

My point is that I'm not even sure what an official documentary would say about the Snyderverse. "Sorry we're still trying to figure out how to execute a character that's been beloved for eighty years?" Doesn't quite sound like a triumphant capstone to Superman's history the way TASOS manages to pretend Superman Returns is. "All three movies are honestly really awesome movies and the critics are utterly insane?" I mean that's honestly more or less what I think, but it'd sure be weird for WB to go that route in a documentary. And on a similar note, what about the New 52? "We made a terrible mistake with the reboot, so we undid it?" Nah. "We came up with an exciting new direction but pussied out five years later?" The fact is, whether the reboot or the unboot is a mistake, it's the same people who made the mistake, right? So someone comes away looking bad. We might need to wait until Johns, Lee and Didio aren't in charge of the DCU anymore before we can really get another Superman documentary that's actually honest.

Er, back to the appreciation part of the thread.



Hell to the yes.

[daBronzeBomma]

This was my favorite scene in JUSTICE LEAGUE (really hope the spoiler tags work):

spoilers: end of spoilers

Bad. Ass. Kal. El.

Superman has never looked more strictly bad-ass on-screen than that moment right there.

[daBronzeBomma]

Some momentos from 1968 (Clark's 30th anniversary):