Superman General

Hm...

JOHN: Dad?

CLARK: Yes, son?

JOHN: Well, see, I've got a friend—

CLARK: This isn't one of those stories where you're saying you only have a friend expect you're just talking about yourself , right?

JOHN: Uh, well, no actually. See, I've got a friend and, well, my friend keeps on getting picked on, really picked on and beat up, day in and day out. Part of me wants to just go in and beat up the bullies but, well, I might end up sending them to the hospital ward, you know? What would you do, dad?

CLARK: Well, son, I've got a simple answer for you: See, that kid's just got to fend for himself.

JOHN: Come again?

CLARK: You see, John, your friend is over there. You, here, can take care of himself, but your friend over there can't say the same. So over there has to stand for itself, has to speak for itself, because it's only when over there becomes here that we can stop this once and for all.

JOHN: ...Mom, Dad's been drinking the liquid K' again!

Huh. How's that for a pagetopper?

edited 3rd Feb '18 11:16:40 AM by kkhohoho

Grounded was literally the worst Superman comic of all time. Bendis isn't great, but he's not that bad.

Just a little memo, the Man Of Steele turns 80 years old this year. It may be good to talk about what Dc is going to do for his 80th anniversary.

SUPERMAN GROUNDED 2: ELECTRIC BUGA— {is shot}

Please don't post such obscenities on this forum.

You know funny enough a lot Superman mythos actually came from the radio series.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/CanonImmigrant/ComicBooks

Kryptonite, Jimmy Olson, the Daily Planet, and Perry White all come from the radio series before they actually appeared in the comics. Also Superman's ability to fly originally came from the 40's superman cartoons, because originally he could only leap and not fly.

Adapations are fun like that. See Bt AS and Harley, Mr. Freeze's motivations, etc.

The Superman Ratio Show used to be sponsored by Pep, a long discontinued cereal. I wonder what the cereal tasted like, since it hasn't around for decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pep_(cereal)

Actually, Kryptonite was first conceived in an early Jerry Siegel Superman story that never saw print. He was going to call it "Element K" and the story would have had Lois discovering Superman's dual identity, and then essentially becoming the Margo Lane to his Shadow. DC put the kibosh on it because they didn't want to mess with the Superman formula, which was making obscene amounts of money for them. It's quite true, though, that it first actually appeared on the radio show, so that they could give Bud Collyer (the voice of Superman) a few days off (the moans and groans of the incapacitated Superman were provided by another actor). On the radio show, Kryptonite would burn anyone who touched it, and would not kill Superman by itself, but rob him of his strength and render him unconscious after prolonged exposure (in such a state, Superman once speculated, he might potentially starve to death).

A number of elements first appeared in the Superman comic strip as well, before showing up in the comics. The Phantom Zone first appeared in the strip in the late '40's, and would show up in the comics until years later.

Funny enough, as I discovered in a report I did for US Women's history, Kryptonite was invented by a woman.

That's interesting. Who was it?

Dorothy Woolfolk. She was also the first-ever female editor for DC comics.

Okay, I read her Wikipedia page, and while it indicates that she "helped to create Kryptonite," Kryptonite first appeared on the Superman radio show in 1943, when she was an editor for All-American Comics (rather than National Allied Publications—where Superman was published— with which it later merged to become DC). To say she "helped to create Kryptonite" is a little misleading; she's apparently responsible for commissioning, and approving, the story that introduced Kryptonite to the comics in 1949, but she didn't create it, or even help with creating it. Jerry Siegel did that, in "The K-Metal From Krypton," which he wrote in 1940 but was unpublished, and then the idea was used in "The Meteor From Krypton" seriel on The Adventures of Superman radio show in 1943, likely written by B.P. Freeman and Jack Johnstone.

edited 4th Feb '18 1:41:30 PM by Robbery

A new Superman graphic novel is coming from Gene Yang

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/04/business/dc-comics-joins-forces-with-young-adult-authors.html?referer=http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?106957-New-Gene-Yang-Superman-Graphic-Novel-Announced

Golden Age Superman omnibus volume 5 was just published, and it contains, according to the intro, most of the final creative efforts by Siegel and Shuster before they were forced off the series due to legal conflicts with DC, so it's the end of an era. Most of the material in the book is newly reprinted, since the Archives ended at about the point the omnibus starts.

An interesting thing about this era is that Lois Lane had her own feature in Superman's book, though at only four pages it's hard to fit a decent plot in the limited page count. She does manage to get out of trouble without Superman's help in all of these that I've read so far, and she's not obsessed with marrying Superman like Silver Age Lois is, so we actually get to see Lois Lane being a reporter and having her own adventures. It's better in theory than execution, but I still like seeing the character elevated to lead status.

edited 5th Feb '18 8:53:01 AM by andersonh1

As someone who wants to jump on the Superman Rebirth wagon, where do y'all recommend I start? I'm thinking of checking out the Tomas-Gleason run on Superman and Super Sons.

Also, when exactly will Bendis' run start? This summer? Fall?

Yes, start with Superman Rebirth vol. 1

It's a perfect jumping on point for the new status quo and eases you in masterfully.

Bendis' run starts with the Man of Steel mini-series, which comes out in May, then his runs on Action Comics and Superman will begin after that series concludes

How long will the series be? Is it monthly? Also thanks for putting up with a newbie and my newbie questions.

Probably six issues, and it's monthly, yeah.

I could have sworn it was a weekly series.

But yeah, AC and Superman will go on a three month hiatus before coming back with Bendis. Tomasi and Jurgens will wrap up their runs with 38-page specials in between

I am gonna fucking cry when it ends.

i'm probably going to jump off when they do end. Not that I don't like Bendis (though when he's off...pe-ew), but I just think it's gonna get pretty soapy, and I was used to everything being cosy and with minimal angst.

Yeah, I'm ditching too. I don't trust Bendis to maintain what made Superdad so good.

Eh I can deal with the book getting a little angst.