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| In many ways, different, but in many ways the same as he ever was. Superman at 75 © 1938, 1963, 1988 & 2013 D.C. Entertainment |
This year was the year of the anniversary. Not only did I turn thirty, but it also marked the 75th anniversary of the world's greatest superhero, and the world's greatest superhero team which includes the world's greatest superheroine and, arguably, the world's greatest supervillain. In fact, it was the 50th anniversary of a lot of things. Some good, like Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. Some bad like the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But since this is an entertainment blog, let's not get too involved in world events like that.
It was also the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first #1 single and their first two albums. So for your listening pleasure, he's a clip of them performing in 1963, a year before they became truly famous in America, but at a time when they were the talk of Great Britain.
But to me, personally, no anniversary was more important than that of the Man of Tomorrow himself, so let's get down to it.
Superman's 75th Anniversary
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| My entry in the San Diego Comic-Con Souvenir Book Superman ™ & © D.C. Entertainment |
As you may have guessed from most of my other entries, Superman is my favorite superhero and this has been a hell of a 75th anniversary, even though some people don't seem to agree.
For one thing, the comics have been solid, despite some people still being unhappy with the overall reboot of the D.C. Universe called the New 52, which began in 2011. And if anyone from D.C. Entertainment is listening, I really hope you think about changing the name. The main story I followed was in Superman, Superboy and Supergirl called "H'El On Earth."
It began with Clark quitting the Daily Planet after a lapse of ethics on the paper's part, but the larger story is about a long-lost Kryptonian astronaut emerging on Earth trying to take it over, and getting Supergirl to join his side, while doing some serious damage to Superboy, such that he has to wear Superman's armored costume to stay alive. It also takes a look at Superman's new romantic relationship with Wonder Woman.
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| When I get married, this is what we're gonna wear. © 2013 D.C. Entertainment |
I'm not saying I want them to run back into the arms of their regular lovers, but… I don't know, I'm just kind-of bored with them as a couple. They also got a new series together, but D.C. also gave Supes a title where he gets second billing with a certain hero who celebrates his 75th anniversary next year, the first saga of which was kind-of interesting, as it took place early-on in their careers and saw them journey to Earth-2 where they teamed up with the more experienced Superman and Batman of that universe.We'll get to more about Superman and Batman in a bit, and don't worry, I'll be posting a lot of Batman-related posts in 2014 in commemoration of his 75th anniversary.
As well, D.C. continued to put out its Justice League comic, but I didn't really read it much. Maybe it was the steep cover price or the the fact that there wasn't much information about the stories floating around for such a high-profile book.
Finally, D.C. began putting out a series called The Adventures of Superman which seemed to be aimed at the casual reader. He wears his classic costume in it, and I'm not sure the stories follow any particular continuity. There was a massive controversy over Orson Scott Card writing an issue because of his opposition to same-sex marriage, but I really don't want to talk about that here.
D.C. Comics continued to publish Superman comics outside the normal continuity. I'm not sure if the kid-oriented series was still being published, but if not, I don't miss it. It was cute, but I don't think you need to draw like a kid to sell books to kids. Anyway, D.C. also put out a series that took place in the Smallville universe, taking off where the show left off (cool costume, but I rarely read it) and one that tied in with the game Injustice: Gods Among Us which I rarely read, and what I did read of it was vile.
Onto the game Injustice: Gods Among Us. When I heard that the plot was going to be about Superman going bad after the Joker killed Lois and starting his own regime. But then I learned that it was an alternate universe Superman that did that the real Superman was the one who saves the day, much like in the Justice Lords arc of animated Justice League series.
Here's a nice, typical battle, and no, this isn't me playing.
Injustice was a fun game, and had a fairly compelling story. Yes, it's ridiculous and yes it's dark, but it's still a lot of fun, and there's a lot of things you can unlock and items you can purchase, like alternate costumes, more playable characters and a series of mini-games under the S.T.A.R. Labs banner.
That might have been the big news, except for… well… this.
Yup. I'm not really in the mood to talk about how this film wasn't the dark morass of joyless hell that some people make it out to be, how it didn't "sell his soul," or the double-standard by which the people bitching about all the destruction in downtown Metropolis would squeal like a pig for it if it were in ANY OTHER MOVIE, so instead I'm just gonna say this: WE WON, YOU LOST!!!
Please see the very first entry in this blog for more information.
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| Here, the American Way is more than just "all that stuff." © 2013 Warner Bros. |
And those of you who said he was can get on your knees and kiss my ass.
If Man of Steel isn't quite your cup of tea, however, Warner Bros. did release a direct-to-DVD animated feature called Superman Unbound, which was based on a saga from the comics a few years ago called Brainiac featuring, as the main villain, well, Brainiac.
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| Superman and Supergirl: a partnership I'd have liked to see more of in the '90s animated series, and which is used to good effect in this film. © Warner Première |
As with most of Warners' direct-to-DVD films based on the D.C. Comics characters, this film isn't set in an existing continuity and goes out of its way to be incompatible with any. That doesn't mean it's not entertaining, but I think overall, it would work better as the pilot for a new animated series. Something Warners doesn't seem to interested in for whatever reason.
That wasn't the only direct-to-DVD feature with Superman this year. The Flashpoint Paradox, based on the pivotal Flashpoint miniseries. As I said about Flashpoint, however, Superman's role was much as it was in the comics. That is to say that overall it was good, but don't watch it just for Superman's part because it's pitiful. That, by the way, is not a criticism of the story itself, it could very well be they wanted it to be that way for artistic reasons, I'm just saying this to fans hoping to see a lot of him.
Unfortunately, the Man of Tomorrow's 75th anniversary also finds him with a broken fan base. Often, the fandom of older Superman material means a hatedom for new and vice-versa. There are a lot of fans who can enjoy Superman regardless of when the material came out and base their opinions only on the comic/show/film/game itself. But we're becoming a dying breed, while battle-lines are being drawn.
On the one hand, you've got "culture aliens" who are usually younger and just seem to hate everything that came before 1986. They're usually "anarchists" believing that the character must be modernized and updated as much as possible, and references to silver age comics, the Christopher Reeve films, etc. should be kept to a minimum. Sometimes these fans aren't all that young, but they are "chicken littles" who, after the relative failure of Superman Returns, felt that if Man of Steel didn't do well, we could kiss any future Superman films goodbye.
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| A notable comic from my youth. Dark Superman stories are nothing new. © 1993 D.C. Entertainment. |
While those fans can be annoying, many "old timers" have jumped on bandwagons of hatedom toward almost all new material. They too are "culture aliens," upset because the new stuff is supposedly darker (sometimes it is, but not as much as they make it out to be) and more realistic, as if anyone's ever complained about the later. They often drift into "mainstream militants," "unappeasable fans," and usually see themselves as "purists," even though they seem to forget that Siegel & Shuster's original comics were more down-to-Earth in their subject matter, and that the character was more of a tough guy.
Finally, each of these sides seems to have developed their own "hipsters," with the former seeming more interested in "saving" him with an "updated" movie than any actual material that exists; or self-proclaimed "purists" who really only seem to like the character because of the kitschier elements and really don't take him as a serious character at all. Extant fans can complain about the material, even if I think some people's criticisms on both sides are horseshit; but those who kind-of just pretend to care are honestly just embarrassing themselves and pissing me off.
Next year marks the 75th anniversary of Batman, and while the two characters have an incredibly symbiotic history, there are too many rival haters from the Bat-camp. Not to mention it'll be the 75th anniversary of Marvel Entertainment, which has too many rival haters who trash D.C. as a whole (sometimes with Batman and rarely Superman or Green Lantern as exceptions) so it's going to be a strange year. Don't get me wrong, I love Batman as much as the next guy, but part of being a true Batman fan means that even if you're not that familiar with Superman or don't read him regularly, trashing him isn't cool because if it weren't for Superman, Batman wouldn't exist.
And don't give me the "Batman was rebelling against Superman" crap. The people who say that usually act like Batman was the first superhero to have "flaws" when Superman certainly had "flaws" in those days. Heck, an early episode saw Superman destroy an entire ghetto. He was a tough guy first.
I'm tired of the haters. And for what it's worth, I'm also pretty tired of people who think that everything about the character sucked before 1986.
And yet, I'm just as tired of the longtime fans refusing to give the new material a shot or who think they must reject every change and I'm really sick and tired of people who are just marginally fans speaking for us, and in many cases, being just as guilty as the haters of rewriting history.
One of the main goals of this blog is to reinforce and clarify Superman's--and Batman's and everyone else's--history bringing forth different perspectives and questioning a lot of the sacred cows, whipping boys and preconceived notions of fandom.
And for a brief primer on the character's history, check this out from Zack Snyder and Bruce Timm…
A Brief Word on the 50th Anniversaries of the X-Men and the Avengers.
In a recent blog, I talked about the first appearance of the X-Men in 1963 and all-too-breifly touched upon how much they'd changed since then. And yet, the original, unfiltered X-Men of 1963 (comic book time) had come to the present to shake things up.
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| © 2013 Marvel Entertainment |
On top of this great arc, the most popular X-Men had a modest success at the box office with The Wolverine, which marked Hugh Jackman's fifth appearance as the character (sixth if you count a cameo in X-Men: First Class) while Famke Janssen also appeared as Jean Grey. I think of every film superheroine, Janssen as Jean is the greatest, because she had the beauty, poise and grace the role required, with acting chops to back it up; and while they never gave her anything even resembling a familiar costume from the comics, I never felt like it wasn't Jean we were watching.
Marvel's other big-time team obviously also had its share of things to celebrate. While last year was its major year of achievement, with the enormously successful eponymous film, Iron Man 3, was this year's top-grossing picture, and Thor: the Dark World held its own, so-far coming in at just under $200 million, and proving that a superhero movie can open in November (I honestly can't remember any others that did).
I didn't follow Infinity in the comics, but I have caught a few episodes of the new Avengers Assemble animated series, which ties into the excellent Ultimate Spider-Man show and already has a spinoff called Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. The roster of Avengers Assemble is the same as in the film, but with the addition of Falcon who will appear in Captain America: the Winter Soldier.
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| © 2013 Marvel Entertainment |
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| © 2013 Marvel Entertainment |
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