Recently in Superman Category

For the past two years at Comic-Con, Sony has teased us with news & videos on the upcoming DC Universe Online, which will finally get released this November 2010.  Some of the reports on game play are mixed, saying the action was too repetitive and not a lot of fun.  It is definitely a big challenge to pull off a super-hero game, but this trailer is superb.

This little 6 minute movie will delight any hardcore DC fanatic.  You’ve got the Justice League up against a squad of super-villains for an apocalyptic showdown.  Superman and the other characters are rendered with some bits of Jim Lee’s style; the best touch comes from Superman’s eyes blazing red with his heat vision.  Batman wears an armor that looks like a Lee design as well.  There’s a Terminator vs Wonder Woman skirmish that makes you want to see a longer version, and a Black Adam vs (Kyle Rayner) Green Lantern.

No idea what this means to the actual game, but I think the trailer proves something.  A computer animated super-hero film or TV show, played straight in the DC Universe has the potential to be very exciting and true to the source material.

Did anyone else but me see a nod to All Star Superman here—when Clark emerges from the sun?  Nuff Said!

I love the high concept covers of old DC Comics.  These covers (by Neal Adams) were probably conceived before the actual story.  These two have Superman having identity problems.

Superman's Greatest Role: The President of Steel!  I predict his foreign policy would have been smashing.

Superman as Public Enemy #1!  Obviously suffering from multiple personality disorder.  Nuff said.

Superman 686 was a landmark issue for me.  Why?  Because that was the issue when I stopped reading Superman and Action Comics.

I hate to sound like Superboy Prime, but I just can't restrain myself.  Taking Superman out of his own comic and Action Comics was one of the dumbest things DC Comics has ever done.  I like Mon-El, but his place in the DC Universe takes places centuries down the line in Legion.  Guardian?  Only interesting to me when Jack Kirby was in charge of him.  Nightwing and Flamebird?  If it's not Bruce and Clark in Kandor, forget it.

Newsarama just posted a new interview with Dan Didio about the Superman titles for the rest of 2009.  Apparently Didio still thinks having Superman AWOL is a great idea, it's going to continue for the rest of the year.

Sheesh, this is worse than Blue Superman.  The whole thing makes me so sick, I can't even read the New Krypton series.  Nuff said.

On July 4th, I posted a Steranko page from Superman #400.  There were a number of great artists that editor Julie Schwartz snagged for drawing pin-ups in this landmark 1984 issue.  Here are just a few of them...

Howard Chaykin painted a wonderful cover with all the classic elements of Superman's origin.

Here's probably my favorite and most off-beat pinup, by Berni Wrightson.  I always wanted to see Wrightson tackle Superman.  I think he did a wonderful job by focusing on Kal-El's face here.

Jack Kirby provided a nice Superman illustration--inked by Terry Austin.

Brian Bolland's pinup freeze frame's another famous Superman motif--taking off his business man uniform to reveal the S emblem.

John Byrne, a Marvel creator, was even allowed to draw this pinup of his favorite character.  This was a portent of things to come--Byrne would take over Superman just two years later in 1986 with the Man of Steel limited series!

You can see a few more pinups on my Flickr Superman set.  You can also read the story behind Superman 400, plus a number of full story pages, at superman.nu.  I am amazed at how many websites/blogs actually repost full scans of every single page of comics.  Nuff said.

On July 4th, I posted a Steranko page from Superman #400.  There were a number of great artists that editor Julie Schwartz snagged for drawing pin-ups in this landmark 1984 issue.  Here are just a few of them...

Howard Chaykin painted a wonderful cover with all the classic elements of Superman's origin.

Here's probably my favorite and most off-beat pinup, by Berni Wrightson.  I always wanted to see Wrightson tackle Superman.  I think he did a wonderful job by focusing on Kal-El's face here.

Jack Kirby provided a nice Superman illustration--inked by Terry Austin.

Brian Bolland's pinup freeze frame's another famous Superman motif--taking off his business man uniform to reveal the S emblem.

John Byrne, a Marvel creator, was even allowed to draw this pinup of his favorite character.  This was a portent of things to come--Byrne would take over Superman just two years later in 1986 with the Man of Steel limited series!

You can see a few more pinups on my Flickr Superman set.  You can also read the story behind Superman 400, plus a number of full story pages, at superman.nu.  I am amazed at how many websites/blogs actually repost full scans of every single page of comics.  Nuff said.

On July 4th, most people celebrate with barbecues and fireworks.  Sometimes I go do those things too...but usually my mind is trying to pull out images of super-heroes with the American flag.

This image of Superman holding the flag is taken from Superman #400, a giant-sized anniversary issue featuring the biggest names in comics at that time.  DC Comics managed to get Jim Steranko (an artist more associated with Marvel than DC) to write and draw a short Superman story, The Exile at the Edge of Eternity.  The story was about Superman's legacy as mankind expanded throughout the universe.

Sorry for the poor scan, but it's one of the most patriotic illustrations of Superman I've ever seen.  Nuff said.

Who is Lois Lane?  Another question posed by DC Comics' marketing department in 1969, the same vein as the Jimmy Olsen Giant.

She's a reporter!  She's Superman's girl friend!  But she's also a Slave Girl, Madame Jekyll, a Widow in Black and a SuperWoman.  Or if she gets too smart and her brain expands, Lois is a Super-Freak--a decade before Rick James!

My favorite one is Lois Lane...HAG!  The silver age Lois Lane dated Superman, kissed Superman, but it seemed like she would never reach her goal of marrying him.  Lois' greatest fear was to end up old and alone with her knitting needles.  Gloria Steinem would hate this cover.  Nuff said.

Who Are the Gorgeous Girls in the Life of Jimmy Olsen? That question was posed to readers in 1969 in this advertisement in DC Comics...

Lucy, Ilona, Holga, and Lucinda!  Plus plenty of other chicks...birds, femmes and dolls in Jimmy Olsen #122 on sale June 19th.

Sheesh, you would have thought Austin Powers wrote that copy!

Of course, with an promo like that, I had to buy this 80 page DC Giant.  The cover looks like it was drawn by Neal Adams--at least the figures of Superman and Jimmy Olsen on the left.

Jimmy didn't have much luck with girls, but he did have a black book.  My expectation upon reaching some form of manhood assumed that I would also have a black book full of chicks and birds!  Never happened.  Nuff said.