It’s about two weeks into the new school year, and that’s enough time for relationships to begin forming. Routines are being established. If you’re lucky, a highly effective teacher may have learned as many as 47 percent of their students’ names by now. And in my class, this is the time in which the kids get comfortable enough about my blatant nerdity to begin interrogating me about it.
“Mr. Petit!” one of them asks. “Who’s your favorite superhero?”
I look at the four shelves worth of assorted Superman paraphernalia behind my desk while I try to decide if he’s asking the question ironically.
You’re kidding me with that question right?
“Mr. Petit!” another shouts. “What’s your favorite movie out of those?”
I’ve got a 1980s decorating theme going on in my room this year, which includes posters of some of the classics. I look to where Ghostbusters and Back to the Future are hanging next to each other and I say, “It’s between these two. Ghostbusters always gets bonus points the closer we are to Halloween.”
“Mr. Petit!” a third cries, hoping that if they ask enough questions I’ll forget that they’re supposed to be working on the rough draft of their “Story of an Hour” essay, “Marvel or DC?”
There it is.
This question never fails to turn up these days. It’s funny – when I was a kid I was one of maybe three kids in school who even knew that those two entities were a thing, and now it’s as heated a debate as something like the Yankees or the Dodgers. It goes to show you two things. First of all, the geeks really are taking over the world. Second, that’s not always a positive.
“I hate that question,” I say. “I like them both. I like the characters. I like the stories. They share a lot of the same writers and artists, so–”
“Marvel or DC?” he asks again, and I know that he won’t drop this until I give some sort of an answer.
“More of my favorite characters are DC,” I finally concede.
“So you hate Marvel?”
THIS is why I hate that question.
This kind of tribalism, this insistence that liking one thing means that you have to dislike something else, is the kind of debate that you find on the internet, and is remarkably stupid. (But as I always tell my students, you shouldn’t be redundant.) There isn’t the slightest reason that expressing your fondness for one character, one publisher, or one studio should automatically be construed as a distaste for another. I don’t want to draw lines and choose sides – I want to like DC AND I want to like Marvel AND I want to like Star Trek AND I want to like Star Wars AND I want to like Bluey AND I want to like Peppa – I WANT TO LIKE BLUEY.
Five out of six ain’t bad.
“Batman or the Flash?” one kid asks me, and I sigh. “Are you asking me who I think would win in a fight, or which one I PREFER?” I ask. Because to me, those are different questions, but I find that my kids often conflate the two. Another kid asks me who my favorite Spider-Man actor is, and after confirming that we’re both fans of Tom Holland, he goes on to explain that he’s pretty sure that Holland’s Spider-Man could beat Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in a fight, which is a criteria that couldn’t possibly have less relevance to me.
That’s another method of analysis that I don’t really care about. The answer to who would win in a fight between any two fictional characters is always the same: whoever the writer WANTS to win. It doesn’t matter how lopsided the match-up is, if the writer wants Aunt May to punch out Galactus, the writer will find some way for Aunt May to punch out Galactus. Squirrel Girl’s whole appeal was built on this fact, that the writers thought it was funny for such a patently ridiculous (if adorable) character to keep beating Marvel’s biggest villains over and over again.
Never forget, this is canon.
I like good characters and I like good stories. I don’t care who publishes them or who made the movie. I don’t care which of them has an atomic punch or which one gets “15 hours of prep time.” I just want to enjoy the lore. By way of demonstration: only slightly less known than my love of Superman is my love of Benjamin J. Grimm, the Fantastic Four’s ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing. And when I say that to somebody who evaluates things by “feats,” they roll their eyes and tell me that the Hulk is stronger. As if that fact has somehow escaped me in my four decades of reading comic books.
I don’t care if the Hulk is stronger. I’m not judging an arm-wrestling contest. I am a fan of Ben Grimm’s character. Think about what he’s gone through in his life: his best friend persuades him to commit a crime and steal a rocket ship. (In the earliest versions of the story, that persuasion is helped along by Susan implying a lack of manliness on his part, but I don’t think that’s canon anymore.) He rides into space with three other people and each one of them wins the super-power lottery, gaining incredible abilities that transform them entirely. But the other three can turn their powers OFF and continue having relatively normal human lives, while Ben is trapped in a form made of orange rock, permanently cut off from sensation and true human contact. And for years he carries around an anger that defines the character – even in those moments when he is at the forefront of battle, he holds on to a resentment for what his best friend did to him.
But here’s what makes Ben Grimm a great character: eventually (many years and many writers later) he learns to let go of his resentment. He finds peace with who he is and he becomes not only a hero, but an icon. He takes a place in his community, helping the neighborhood where he grew up to become a better place. He finally stops hating himself long enough to accept the love of a woman who has never once judged him by his appearance. They have a family together now. Whereas in the early days Ben called himself the “idol of millions” ironically, in this day and age, in the Marvel universe, it’s the truth. In ongoing, mainstream comics there’s something called the “illusion of change” – the idea is that any sweeping changes that a writer makes will ultimately be swept back off the table by future writers who reset the character to who they were previously. But that hasn’t happened to Ben. He has grown and evolved and embraced the world, and I think that if you look at his life from Fantastic Four #1 in 1961 all the way to the current Ryan North run on the title, you will see a portrait of a man that any one of us would be a better person to emulate.
But more than anything, it’s the dimple.
And if you read all that and started to say, “Well yeah, but the HULK–” let me stop you right there, because you’ve missed the whole damned point. I never said that the Hulk isn’t a good character. I never said that the Hulk isn’t compelling. I said that my favorite Marvel character is the Thing, and one statement does not in any way dispute the other.
“Mr. Petit! Top five books!”
I don’t like ranking things either. For one thing, it’s just a subset of the tribal mindset that I mentioned before, and many people tend to take offense if your ranking deviates too far from their own. I’m also not good at it, because I find that any rankings I can come up with will shift from day to day, from mood to mood. I mentioned before that whether I prefer Back to the Future to Ghostbusters depends largely on when you ask me. I often watch Back to the Future in the summer, whereas Ghostbusters is more likely to run in the fall or winter (because, lest we forget, Ghostbusters II is a New Year’s movie). The same goes for any other category or ranking you can ask for. Am I CAPABLE of coming up with a top five list? Sure. But if you ask me to come up with the same top five tomorrow, it will almost certainly be different.
“Who’s your favorite writer, Mr. Petit?”
Ugh, stop. I’ve probably read more books by Stephen King than anybody else, but does that make him my FAVORITE? I think Mark Twain is probably the greatest author in American history, but does that preclude me from ENJOYING Isaac Asimov just a little bit more? “Favorite” is a term that, in my experience, inevitably becomes tainted by recency bias. I’ve read It more recently than Foundation, and at the moment I have more thoughts and feelings about It because of that. Does that mean that I PREFER it? I’m not even sure. If it were possible to read two books at the same time (I know a lot of people who have like six books with bookmarks on their nightstand right now, and I don’t know how the hell they do THAT, either) would that give me any sort of definitive, official ranking that I could tell people to satisfy their bizarre thirst for quantifying how much you enjoy things?
Even when it comes to ranking installments within a series, I struggle sometimes. It’s not as hard if the installments have hard separations. For instance, I can say with confidence that Star Trek VI is my favorite of the movies featuring the original crew, whereas Star Trek V is the worst Trek movie of them all, or at least it was until Section 31. But if you ask me to rank where I would place the books in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, I might stare blankly, because in my head it’s all one big story, and harder to differentiate. (After much contemplation, it’s still a tie between The Butcher’s Masquerade and This Inevitable Ruin.)
And the thing that confuses me the most when people come around asking these questions is, why do you care? What difference does it make to you if I like the Flash more than Batman, or if I think Revenge of the Sith is a better movie than Attack of the Clones? Most of the time, the person asking the question is doing so to spark debate. And to be fair, sometimes their intention is a good-natured debate, a debate in good faith, and I don’t begrudge them that. But I’m not looking for a debate. I don’t want to argue over what’s better than something else. I just want to talk about the things that I love.
So if a student asks me what I think about a specific movie, book, character, or performance, I have no problem telling them. I will cheerfully tell them that I thought Spider-Man: Brand New Day was fantastic. I will let them know that Jaws is one of the few movies that I think is better than the book it was based on. And when they ask me why I haven’t seen any of the Avatar sequels, I will even inform them politely that I saw the first one, and that was enough for me.
But playing “can Robert Pattinson’s Batman beat Michael Keaton’s Batman in a fight?” It’s a fool’s game, and I don’t have time enough in my life to waste it playing fool’s games.
Especially not when I have all these Kate Chopin essays to grade.
Once again, we’re returning to the Superman Shelves for a peek at just a few of the many, many items filling my collection. One of my favorite subcategories of collectibles is fast food toys. There have been so many different fast food collections over the years, and some of them are far more random than you get in a typical action figure line. You don’t just see action figures, but other sorts of oddities as well. It makes for really weird, different things. (The same thing goes for cereal box toys, it should be noted, but I don’t currently have any Superman-related cereal toys. I’m not even sure if there have been any. If you know of any, let me know.)
I should point out here that none of the Fast Food Friends I’m about to share with you are things that I got firsthand, pulling them out of a Happy Meal Box, although the last one is an eBay replacement for one that I pulled as a child. Most of these came through eBay, from a secondary seller like at a convention, or as a gift. But the fact that they got their start in a cardboard box nestled between a cheeseburger and a sleeve of french fries makes them a little special to me. I’m going to go in reverse order of the most recent toy to be released to the oldest.
“What does God…need…with a starship?” –William Shatner, upon seeing these toys
We’re starting with these two, Superman and Supergirl from Wendy’s “DC Rides” line from earlier this year. (You’ve seen the Supergirl before when I shared “Supergirl Stuff” right before the movie came out, but this is the proper category, so let’s look at her again.) The DC Rides were a cool little line, with figures for five heroes and a “mirror” villain, each with some sort of vehicle or power suit. The line included Green Lantern/Sinestro, Batman/Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, Flash and Reverse Flash, and Superman and Supergirl with their respective Bizarro counterparts. At some point I’d like to add the Bizarros to my collection as well, but one thing at a time.
This next set also came from Wendy’s, this time last year. They’ve twice done these lines of DC Comics miniature figures, which come in packs of three. The three-packs include related characters (usually two heroes and a villain) and mini trading cards as well, and the different figures are also available in multiple colors, which means that collecting the entire set gets particularly difficult if you’re trying to get all the variants. I was satisfied with just the “red” set of Superman, Supergirl, and Lex Luthor. I really like this series, though – the size of the figures and the solid color blocks remind me of the M.U.S.C.L.E. Things toys of my youth, which was a series I had seemingly hundreds of.
The last of the “recent” toys in my collection are this Superman and Supergirl from a Burger King series of DC Heroes that came out two or three years ago. I didn’t know that these even existed until my family stopped at Burger King on a vacation and my son pulled out a Superman figure from his kids’ meal bag. (My son, I should note, is a godsend when it comes to learning about these things. He’s got a very diverse palette – he will eat the chicken nuggets and french fries from virtually any restaurant you can name.) I want to note that I did NOT abscond with Eddie’s Superman figure and put it on my shelf. I am not the kind of father who would ever do such a thing. No, I got these two figures the same way I got the Wendy’s figures I’ve already showed you: eBay.
Moving WAY back in time, we’re going all the way to my college years and this hanger based (I THINK) on Superman from the Justice League cartoon. I know it originally came from Subway, because a friend of mine who had a much smaller appetite than I did and always got the kids’ meals with the small, round sandwiches pulled this toy and gave it to me, aware of my appreciation of Superman. The original hanger dangled from the rearview mirror in my car for many, many years until the colors were completely warped and the S-shield sticker was bleached to the point of almost being blank. Years later at a convention, I happened to come across a seller with a whole bin full of the things that he was selling for just a few dollars, so I bought a pristine replacement. This guy now stays inside, out of the sun.
From Superman: The Animated Series, this Daily Planet figure is probably the Fast Food item that’s been in my collection the longest. It’s two pieces: the building, and the flying Superman figure, which balances on the top of the building via a precarious pin-shape in his chin. You can spin him around and when it wiggles, it creates a sort of “hovering” illusion. I like this one.
Finally, many years ago McDonald’s did a series of Looney Tunes figures with snap-on superhero costumes. The set included Daffy Duck as Batman, the Tasmanian Devil as the Flash, Petunia Pig as Wonder Woman (I assume because she was the most prominent female Looney Tunes character at the time except perhaps for Granny, and nobody wants to see her in a Wonder Woman bathing suit – were this series to be remade today Petunia would absolutely be replaced by Lola Bunny), and of course, Bugs Bunny as Superman. I had some of these toys as a kid, and a couple of years ago in a fit of nostalgia I got a set of the four of them pretty cheap on…say it with me now…eBay.
Of all the categories of my Superman collections, this is the one I most frequently feel the need to expand upon. Supergirl had a series of KFC figures that coincided with the movie, and I haven’t gotten my hands on any of those yet. And that Daily Planet figure was part of an entire line of Superman: TAS toys, of which I don’t have any of the others. I feel periodically that I should try to amend that, and see what else is out there. There are more, I am 100 percent certain of that, that I could hunt down if the urge took me. Fortunately, we live in a time period where doing such things are easier than they used to be…even if the expense sometimes shuts us out of getting all of the things we’d want.
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
This week, the internet broke YET AGAIN – seriously, you would think they would have found a way to stabilize the darn thing by now – when Marvel Comics announced the upcoming crossover event Star Wars/Marvel: Hope Assembles. This five-issue miniseries, beginning in January, will not only be the first crossover between two of the biggest franchises in the world, but one of less than a handful of Star Wars crossovers EVER.
That’s not your back cracking, it’s Duck Duck Go.
Marvel, of course, is no stranger to the crossover game. Over the years their characters have met the superheroes of the DC, Image, and Valiant universes, battled Godzilla, boarded the starship Enterprise, crossed swords with Conan and Red Sonja, turned Phineas and Ferb’s pal Baljeet into a Hulk, absorbed the Ultraverse, encountered Archie Andrews, fought the Predator and the Alien Xenomorphs, teamed up with the Autobots, time-traveled to the Planet of the Apes, partnered with Disney’s Gargoyles, attacked on Titan, recently encountered Kevin Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob, and next month are scheduled to raise the curtain with the Muppets. And that’s just off the top of my head. Star Wars, on the other hand, has always been far, far more selective in terms of who they were going to meet up with. In the entire history of the franchise, I am only aware of a handful crossovers of any kind. One was a short story in the non-canonical Star Wars Tales comic anthology in which the Millennium Falcon crashes on a primitive Earth, with the wreckage found a century later by a very familiar “Professor Jones.” The second is the Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars special from 2014, which was as delightful as everything else Phineas and Ferb but also went out of its way to remind the viewers with a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer that the story wasn’t canon to either franchise, so they should really just relax. In the 70s, an episode of The Muppet Show was hosted by Mark Hamill and featured his “cousin” Luke Skywalker. Finally, there was a line of Star Wars Transformers that allowed vehicles like the Falcon and Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter to turn into robot versions of the characters, but there was never a movie, cartoon, or comic book attached to the toy line.
Whaddaya MEAN “This isn’t canon?”
So this is a big deal, is what I’m saying. Of course, there are skeptics asking why they’re publishing this comic, the answer to which should be obvious: because it will make several dump trucks full of money. The REAL question, in my mind, is why they’re only getting around to it NOW. Marvel and Star Wars have been corporate siblings ever since Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012. At the time, Dark Horse Comics had the rights to publish Star Wars, but as soon as that contract expired in 2015, Disney yoinked it away and gave it to Marvel. (Dark Horse, oddly, has recently regained the rights to publish certain Star Wars comics, but the bulk of the line remains with Marvel.)
The point I’m getting at is that, honestly, I’m surprised we didn’t get a Marvel/Star Wars crossover a decade ago. They’ve had lots of fun playing with other Disney properties: there have been lots of variant covers with Marvel heroes in Tron or Pirates of the Carribean-inspired designs, for example. Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox didn’t happen until 2019, but we’ve been inundated since then with comics like Alien Vs. Captain America, Predator Vs. Wolverine, and Planet of the Apes Vs. Fantastic Four. And although the classic Disney characters have never interacted with the Marvel Universe directly, they’ve appeared on countless variant covers for different Marvel comics and starred in a series of What If? specials in which the Disney characters BECOME the Marvel heroes (Donald Duck as Wolverine, Goofy as Spider-Man, Minnie Mouse as Captain Marvel, etc.)
So why are we just getting around to Star Wars/Marvel NOW?
Seriously, how the crap did THIS happen before Marvel/StarWars?
The skeptic in me wants to say it’s because both franchises need a little bit of polish. Recent movie and television projects for both Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios – justified or not – have largely fallen flat with audiences (with the obvious exception of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which in the two weeks since its release has made roughly enough money to buy the moon if only they could figure out who to make the check out to). Finally mashing the two universes together is going to draw some much-needed attention to both of them. There’s no doubt that people who haven’t read comics in years – and perhaps never read them at all – will line up to see what happens when Darth Vader teams up with Dr. Doom or Chewbacca pals around with the Thing.
But again, that’s the skeptical way to look at it. Perhaps it’s just taken them that long to find the right idea. The series is written by the aforementioned Kevin Smith, which is an interesting choice to say the least. I’m going to assume that Marvel has already got all five scripts for the series in hand to avoid Smith’s infamous tardiness, because anything else would be insanity. If that’s the case, then you have to wonder why Kevin Smith. Sure, he’s written lots of Marvel characters over the years, but to the best of my knowledge the closest he’s ever gotten to dabbling in the Star Wars universe is the scene in Clerks when Dante and Randall have a debate about the culpability of the independent contractors who got killed when Lando Calrissian blew up the second Death Star.
I think people give Kevin Smith a bad rap these days. They assume all he’s capable of is blue humor and nerd references, and that’s simply not fair. Even his early movies – which, to be fair, contain an abundance of blue humor and nerd references – have a lot of heart to them, with strong character moments and plenty of memorable dialogue. He would later go on to give us truly phenomenal runs on comics like Daredevil and Green Arrow, mainstream comics to which he brought some wildly inventive new stories that helped redefine the characters. Now all of those examples are relatively old, I know, but allow me to point you towards his 2024 film The 4:30 Movie, which is as heartfelt a devotion to the moviegoing experience and the tightrope walking act involved in young love as anybody has ever done. What I’m saying is that, yes, he DOES do sex jokes and geek comedy, but he doesn’t JUST do sex jokes and geek comedy. If you’d asked me to write a top ten list of writers who should handle this crossover I don’t know if he would have made the cut, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense.
I know you haven’t seen this. Honestly, you SHOULD.
That said, it almost doesn’t matter WHO’S going to write this comic book. The golden goose that is a Star Wars/Marvel mashup is such a guaranteed moneymaker that they could have recruited the worst writer on FanFiction.biz and still sold enough copies to fill the hole left in my heart ever since they discontinued the Coca-Cola with coffee I used to drink every morning. Literally anybody could get a bestseller with this premise. I’m glad it’s going to be someone who has a genuine love for both properties, but Marvel is looking for dollar signs here.
When the news was released, the comic book group I’m in started to debate various aspects of it – for example, how many variant covers are there going to be? The general consensus is that, in addition to the main cover, Marvel should release 65 variants, thereby allowing the completists to go to their local comic shop and declare, “Order 66!” Yes, it’s a terrible joke, and that’s why I love it.
But I think 66 is kind of lowballing it, to be honest. I’m not the biggest fan of variant covers, in general, but I also recognize the fact that the number of variants on an average comic seems to be INCREASING, not DECREASING. Most comics from Marvel have at least four or five covers. First issues and “key” appearances can reach the double-digits. And sometimes it’s TRULY absurd – there were almost 150 covers for Absolute Batman #20, the first appearance of that universe’s iteration of Robin. No, my finger didn’t slip when I was typing that – there are ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX covers currently listed at the League of Comic Geeks database.
And let’s face it, Star Wars/Marvel is not gonna be an average comic by any available metric. With a January release I’m not comfortable declaring that it’s going to be the best-selling comic of 2027, because there’s no way of predicting what might come later (I’m holding out hope for Absolute Captain Carrot shattering all records), but if it ain’t in the top five I’ll eat my lightsaber. There’s no way Marvel is going to let a book like that come out without milking it for all it’s worth. There will be a dozen different “standard” covers, at bare minimum. Many of those will probably have “virgin” covers (no logo or trade dress, just the artwork), “sketch” covers (black-and-white artwork before the coloring is added), hologram or foil covers, virgin sketch hologram foil covers, and so on. I also fully anticipate a slew of “homage” covers, featuring the Star Wars characters re-creating classic Marvel covers like Fantastic Four #1, Avengers #4, or Amazing Spider-Man #300, and possibly covers with the Marvel characters re-creating the Star Wars movie posters. Skottie Young will do a “baby” variant. J. Scott Campbell will do a cheesecake variant. There will be at least three different blank versions (of different colors) for artists to draw their own covers. Then there’s the “Punisher Kills Jar-Jar” variant. I could do this all day.
And let’s not forget the action figure variants! When Marvel got the license for Star Wars back in 2015, they started a specific genre of variant cover: covers that imitate an action figure blister pack. The trend expanded beyond Star Wars to the Marvel universe covers, to some of the Disney comics Marvel published, and on to other publishers doing their own “action figure” covers for toys both real and imagined. (My favorites of these have been DC’s “Super Powers” variants, by the way.) I fully expect each issue of this miniseries to have at LEAST one action figure cover each with a two-pack of characters from the respective universes: Dr. Doom and Darth Vader, Han Solo and Wolverine, Baby Yoda and the Kingpin – you know, the obvious pairings.
Imagine that you see this, you think it’s a rad toy, then you realize somebody wants you to read a BOOK.
And lest we forget, this is going to be a FIVE ISSUE series. They’re not just going to blow the wad with a one-shot. They’re going to have a monthly grab at that brass ring from January until May.
In fact, the potential leads me to my next little bit of mindless speculation: what if it’s not just the miniseries that we know about? Marvel has a tendency to accompany any “event” with spinoffs. Kevin Smith is writing the five issues of Hope Assembles, but I honestly would not be surprised if, a month from now, Marvel announces an additional line of one-shot comics by different writers and artists focusing on a single pair from each of the two worlds. Boba Fett gets hired to collect the bounty on Venom. C-3PO and R2-D2 compare notes with H.E.R.B.I.E. the Robot. Deadpool meets – actually, I don’t even care who Deadpool meets as long as he’s allowed to cut loose and break down every fourth wall in the entire Star Wars universe at the hands of a skilled comedic writer. I nominate Gail Simone.
Anyway, the point is, if you’re the kind of collector who needs every cover of any respective comic book to feel like they’ve made themselves whole, I feel very, very bad for you.
But don’t feel bad for Marvel. This is the closest thing to a license to print money they’ve had in quite some time. This book will sell very, very well.
This weekend was the annual Nola Comic-Con, a small, local show that I enjoy going to whenever I can. It doesn’t always land at the right time in the schedule, but this year my wife happened to have the day off, so we headed out together. And naturally, I grabbed a few Superman family books from the bargain bins. Coincidentally, these two are both from 1971. It’s like it was fate or something.
Superboy #173 Title: The Super-Clark of Smallville Writer: Leo Dorfman Art: Bob Brown & Dick Giordano Cover: Neal Adams
The story begins with Clark helping Lana Lang and her archaeologist father open up an ancient jar that is rumored to constrain a small amount of ambrosia, the food of the gods of ancient Greece. Professor Lang’s experiments somehow cause an explosion, knocking him out. Clark leaps to save him, but in his haste, neglects to switch to his Superboy costume. When Lana sees him using his powers with her own eyes, she immediately realizes she’s been right all this time – Clark IS Superboy!
Then, even FASTER, she jumps to a totally DIFFERENT conclusion: that Clark ate some of the ambrosia, and it gave him the powers of the gods!
Lana, I love you, but come on.
Clark plays along with Lana’s absurd assumption in order to protect his secret, so she whips up the ugliest costume in superhero history and starts parading him around Smallville. Within seconds, the citizenry have embraced Clark as their new hero, having him do any menial task they can find for him and trash-talking Superboy. When an actual emergency happens, Clark relishes the chance to slip away and do some REAL Superboy stuff, but as he’s out of town, Lex Luthor comes striding back in. Lex shows up just in time to see the Smallvillians tear down their statue of Superboy and replace it with one of Super-Clark (this is the most fickle town in the history of history), and Lex vows to vanquish Clark as well…but Superboy first.
As Superboy returns to town he confronts Luthor, who hits him with a ray that steals his powers! It’s all over, right? Nah, because as luck would have it, Superboy happens to stumble upon a bit of REAL Greek ambrosia! He eats it and uses his new godlike powers to beat Lex. Then, once his magic powers are gone and his Kryptonian might restored, Clark tells the townspeople the ambrosia wore off and Lana goes right back to telling him how lame he is.
There are a lot of screwy Superman stories from this time period, but I gotta tell ya, this one is next-level. That the people of Smallville with toss Superboy out so quickly feels utterly ridiculous and frankly makes the entire town look bad. Lana comes across even worse. She plants a big kiss on Super-Clark, leads the whole “Who needs Superboy?” movement, but she’s STILL the first to say “Thank Heavens we still have Superboy” when “Clark’s powers” go away. What did she expect, he could just keep magic ambrosia powers through sheer force of manliness?
The only person in this story who’s even remotely effective is Lex Luthor, who does in fact invent a device that takes Superboy’s powers, but doesn’t even realize it – in fact, when Superboy starts doing things like throwing around the lightning of Zeus, Lex thinks he somehow gave Superboy EXTRA powers.
Everybody in this story is the stupidest person in Smallville, is my point.
Superboy comes across looking a lot better in this issue’s back-up story, “Trust Me Or Kill Me” by Cary Bates, with art by George Tuska. In this Legion of Super-Heroes story, most of the Legion is on their way to a medico-asteroid (that’s a thing, kids) to get vaccinated against a virus that’s contaminating Earth. Cosmic Boy, having had the disease as a child, is the only immune Legionnaire and is left holding down the fort alone, until a mirror duplicate of himself pops out and starts a fight. Cos summons Superboy from the past, hoping that he can determine which of the two is the real Cosmic Boy, and they learn the whole thing is a scheme from the Legion’s old foe, the sorcerer Mordru. Superboy has only until the rest of the Legion returns to determine which of the two is the real Cosmic Boy, or the fake will destroy the Legion.
That Mordru is pretty confident, isn’t he? In fact, he’s SO confident that he promises to leave (for now) is Superboy can figure out which one is the bona fide Legionnaire. Fortunately for the people of the 30th Century, Cary Bates writes Superboy as much more intelligent than Leo Dorfman: after a few tests fail to prove which of them is the genuine article, Superboy comes up with a quick test, hurling iron boulders at them to see who has the magnetic powers to repel them. When one of them fails, Superboy declares HIM the true Cosmic Boy, as the “iron” boulders are really plastic, unaffected by the real hero, but repelled by the fake’s magic powers.
If only Superboy was always the smart one, huh?
Adventure Comics #408 Title: The Face at the Window Writer, Pencils, and Cover: Mike Sekowsky Inks: Henry Scarpelli
In the 70s, Linda Danvers bounced from city and city and job to job pretty frequently, as the writers didn’t seem to really know what to do with her. This issue is set during a brief time when she was working as a journalist. As she and her team film some old homes for a documentary, they wind up being run off a spooky old property by an old man with a shotgun. Before they flee, though, Linda spies a little girl in the window of the house. That night Supergirl returns – as does her rival reporter Nasthalthia Luthor. That’s right, Lex’s niece, who they actually called “Nasty.” The little girl appears to Supergirl, telling her that her parents are inside the house as well.
If you’ve ever told stories around a campfire you can probably figure out where this is going. Supergirl uncovers the old man’s dark secret and the literal skeletons in his closet, and in the end, finds that the girl who summoned her in the first place isn’t with us anymore either.
It’s spoooooky.
Supergirl gets a second story in this issue, “Invasion of the Mer-Men.” Linda and her co-worker, Johnny, are enjoying a day at the beach when they’re suddenly attacked by aliens wearing bubble helmets full of water. Linda dashes off to change into Supergirl (she couldn’t very well wear her costume under her bikini), but when she returns she finds that Johnny has been taken by the aliens. What’s worse, for a few issues now her powers had been cutting out at inopportune times, and when she tries to make chase, they die on her again. As her co-workers begin diving in a search for Johnny (feels like this should be a job for the Coast Guard, but whatever), Supergirl goes to Kandor to get some implants to allow her to breathe underwater. The aliens, meanwhile, show up at a conclave of scientists and announce that they’re stealing Earth’s water, because they need it more than we do. And with that announcement from what I assume are primitive AI bros, the story ends on a cliffhanger.
It was a glorious time, the 70s.
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
It’s taken almost nine years, but my son is finally getting into high culture, and by that I mean he’s started to watch MeTV Toons. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check your local listings to see if this glorious over-the-air broadcast network is available in your area. MeTV Toons is a 24-hour channel that shows nothing but cartoons, mostly from the 30s to the 80s. If you’re looking for the greats of Hanna-Barbera, like the Flintstones, Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, or even more obscure shows like the Hair Bear Bunch or Peter Potamus, you’ll find them there. Miss the Saturday mornings from when you were growing up? They’ve got Smurfs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Real Ghostbusters, and The Super Mario Brothers Super Show. In the wee hours of the morning you can find things like Silverhawks or Speed Racer, and on Sunday nights they have the obscure 70s animated sitcom Wait ‘Till Your Father Gets Home (starring Tom Bosley) and what I believe to be the most recent cartoon on the docket, the 90s cult classic Freakazoid.
It’s basically the home of everything good in the universe.
But by far, my favorite things on the network are the blocks of classic theatrical shorts. On any given weekday, you can turn on the network starting at 7 p.m. Eastern and get treated to a full five hours of the likes of Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Mr. Magoo, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Betty Boop, Woody Woodpecker, and of course, the greatest cartoons in the history of animation, the Looney Tunes. A few weeks ago, out of the blue, Eddie decided he wanted to watch these cartoons instead of (or at least in addition to) his standard marathons of modern shows like Blaze and the Monster Machines or Peppa Pig, and I couldn’t be happier about this transition.
How I look at the screen when MeTV Toons is on.
I’ve seen the vast majority of these cartoons before, of course, but watching them again never gets old. I have been reminded frequently over the last few weeks that Bugs Bunny is the greatest comedian of his generation, that Porky Pig kind of got screwed over when Daffy Duck took over as the star of Warner Bros studios, and that Chuck Jones was a creative genius on the level of Rembrandt and Shakespeare. If you want to argue with me about that, you better come armed with something that won’t make me think Duck Amuck is a work of human achievement equal to, or perhaps surpassing, the moon landing and the chocolate chip cookie. Spoiler: you can’t do it.
Let’s see that DaVinci poser do something like THIS.
All that said, the greatness of these cartoons of the past has been filling me with a degree of sadness as I remember that Warner Bros today doesn’t have the slightest idea what to do with these toons. There are certainly creative people making an effort. Cartoon Network’s The Looney Tunes Show from 2011 was a great modernization of the characters, casting Bugs and Daffy as the stars of an Odd Couple-style sitcom. HBO Max’s Looney Tunes Cartoons similarly brought back some of the classic chaos of the golden age. But both of these efforts ended prematurely, and fans of these greatest of all cartoons are left dangling, thirsting for more.
Twice in this decade alone, Warner Bros has chosen to make and then SHELVE feature-length projects starring the characters: Daffy and Porky’s science fiction film The Day the Earth Blew Up, and the animation/live action hybrid Coyote Vs. Acme starring Wile E. Coyote, John Cena, and Will Forte. Fortunately for all of us, the two movies were saved from the scrap heap by Ketchup Entertainment, which released The Day the Earth Blew Up last year and will be gracing us with Coyote Vs. Acme in just a few weeks.
Based on the novel by John Grisham.
In their heyday, the Looney Tunes’ biggest rivals were the stars of the Disney animated shorts, and although Bugs and Mickey can duke it out for the title of most recognizable cartoon star on the planet, these days I don’t think that analogy works anymore. Whether you like all of their products or not, Disney has never allowed the likes of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy to languish the way Warner Bros has Bugs, Daffy, and Porky. No, these days I think the better comparison for the Looney Tunes is another Disney property, the Muppets.
Both of these pantheons of characters are classic entertainers with old-school sensibilities and a healthy dose of chaos. And in both cases, despite the fact that there is an audience thirsty for new content, the studio can’t seem to get their act together and make it happen. And it’s not for lack of trying – if you recall a few months ago there was a new Muppet Show special starring Sabrina Carpenter. It was a blatant cry for the studio to greenlight a new ongoing series in the vein of the classic show. The special was a huge success, loved by both critics and audiences, and although the streaming numbers are never made public, all indicators suggest that it did gangbusters for Disney+. Yet for some asinine reason, six months later, they’ve made nary a peep about bringing it back as a series. If they don’t say SOMETHING about it at next weekend’s D23 Expo, we all just may throw up our hands and weep.
If Sabrina Carpenter can’t bring them back then nobody ca–wait, has anybody called Zendaya?
The Looney Tunes are in a similar situation. They’ve been around forever. Everybody knows them. Everybody loves them. But the suits can’t seem to figure out what to DO with them. And the solution is actually the same. What the Muppet Show special proved is that the Muppets are at their finest when they’re doing a musical comedy variety show with human celebrity guests. In other words, the best thing to do with the Muppets is to do the thing that made them beloved in the first place. The same is true for the Looney Tunes. And the Looney Tunes are at their best – as those shows I mentioned before proved – in short-form comedy cartoons. I like the feature films. The Day the Earth Blew Up was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see Coyote Vs. Acme. But there’s a reason that Chuck Jones never tried to blow up the “Hunting Trilogy” of cartoons where Bugs and Daffy try to outwit Elmer Fudd into a 90-minute movie. They work best in short installments.
Part of the problem, of course, is that there isn’t as much of a demand for animated shorts anymore. At the height of their popularity, the Looney Tunes (and all those other shorts you can see on MeTV Toons) were put in movie theaters as a precursor to the main attraction. You rarely see that these days – even Pixar hasn’t done one in nearly a decade. And without putting them in front of a new movie, what do you do with a cartoon short? It’s not like creating a bingeable TV series, the formula doesn’t work with short films.
Again, this is one of those solutions that seems pretty damn obvious if only you can get anybody with the power to do it to pay attention. Put them back in theaters. Warner Bros has a goal of 12 to 15 theatrical releases a year. That’s at least a dozen chances to put a cartoon in front of an audience. And sure, it might not have necessarily been appropriate in front of Oscar bait like One Battle After Another, but would anybody have been upset to see a Bugs Bunny cartoon before Supergirl or A Minecraft Movie? Hell, I would even love to see OLD cartoons before a new movie – they could have preceded Superman with the classic Daffy short Stupor Duck. And while it’s true that people are increasingly frustrated with the pre-show content in movie theaters, that ire is focused on the plethora of advertising and a bloated number of trailers followed by Nicole Kidman talking about how awesome theaters are to an audience that’s already in a theater. I’ve never heard anyone walk out of a movie and say “That would have been great if they hadn’t put that friggin’ cartoon before it.” (Well, except for that one time Disney screened an entire 22-minute Frozen TV special before Coco, but that’s a different story.) I think that if you advertise the short with the feature, if people know what to expect, most people will be happy to have it.
He was THIS CLOSE to beating David Corenswet out for the part.
There is some hope on this front, by the way. In June, Warner Bros screened Daffy Season, a new Looney Tunes short directed by Todd Wilderman and Hamish Grieve, at the Annecy International Animation Festival. The short was apparently made to debut during FIFA World Cup madness – it’s about Daffy losing his mind as everybody around him gets so obsessed with soccer that they turn into brain-dead zombies. As a short, the premise is hilarious. And after the short was screened at the festival, it was announced that it will accompany the theatrical release of Warner Bros’ new version of The Cat in the Hat this November. I have to admit, my interest in going out to a movie theater to watch The Cat in the Hat was pretty low, but now that I know that a new Daffy cartoon is going to be with it, it’s going to become a top priority.
This may be a one-off thing, of course. Warner Bros made the short specifically as part of a World Cup event, and throwing it into theaters is kind of a bonus that we didn’t expect. But if it does well, if it is received well, is there a possibility for more such shorts in the future? God, I hope so. Because being immersed in MeTV Toons over the past few weeks has reminded me of just how excellent so many of those shorts were, and in a world where everything feels like it’s falling apart all the time, having the delightful mayhem of Bugs and Daffy, the Road Runner and the Coyote, or Sylvester and Tweety back on the big screen where they belong…I think that could do us all a world of good.
It’s time once again for a healthy helpin’ of reviews. Here are most (if not all) of the Superman-related comics that hit the stands in July, beginning with an anniversary special.
Action Comics #1100 Title: Mission Failure/Superman Meets Superboy (A Reign of the Superboys tie-in) Writers: Mark Waid & Joshua Williamson Art: Skylar Patridge, Ryan Sook, & Daniel Sampere Main Cover: Ryan Sook
Action Comics turns the big 1-1-0-0, and it doesn’t look a day over 872. But the Reign of the Superboys continues here with Clark “Superboy” Kent facing the time-travelling villain Epoch, powerless, with his time-tossed allies from the Justice League missing. Even without powers, though, he proves his mettle, and he’s soon reunited with the Leaguers to finish the mission that started all this – finding the Superman who’s been missing since the end of DC KO. I guess this is technically two stories, but the creators put them together so seamlessly that you don’t even realize it until you get to the credits on the last page. It’s a great little tribute to the character, though, showing Superboy glimpses of his future and culminating in a grand reunion. It does, however, raise a few questions, including a glimpse of a Legion of Super-Heroes that doesn’t quite seem to gel with the reboot that Joshua Williamson is writing in a few months. Curiouser and curiouser.
The other creative teams of the current Superman comics are also in on the fun, contributing a few more back-up stories.
Title: Game Night Writer: Sophie Campbell Art: Dan Mora
The regular Supergirl writer and Superman team up for this story, in which we check in on Lois Lane and the rest of the family during Superman’s absence. The first thing I noticed about this story is that I probably should have read the other Reign of the Superboys finales before this one, because it seems to spoil certain things. Ah well. The important thing here is that we finally get a confrontation between Conner Kent and Superboy-Prime, whom you may remember KILLING Conner back in Infinite Crisis, way before his current redemption arc. It’s a confrontation I’ve been waiting for, honestly, and although it was a little abrupt, I was very amused that Campbell managed to sneak in a little self-deprecating humor via Prime’s fourth wall awareness. I do like jokes like that.
Title: End of Reign Writer: Dan Slott Art: Lucas Meyer
The final story in this issue is a neat little adjunct to the El Caldero story that’s happening over in Superman Unlimited. We get a little history of the country that’s building on the riches of its Kryptonite deposits, as well as a couple of chilling revelations.
Overall, the issue works fairly well in advancing and tying together the storylines that have been happening in all of the assorted Superman titles, and the upcoming Kingdom of Zod crossover looming between the four titles (a real one this time, not a thematic one like Reign of the Superboys), it feels perfectly timed.
Superman #40 Title: Prime Time: The End (A Reign of the Superboys tie-in) Writer: Joshua Williamson Art: Dan Mora Main Cover: Dan Mora
Superboy-Prime vs. Manchester Black is not what I expected to be the faceoff of the year, but this arc has been fantastic. With Prime trying his hardest to redeem himself, Manchester Black is hoping to use Prime’s unique status and awareness of his existence in comic books to give himself an upgrade and make the whole DC Universe as nasty and edgy as him.
This. Issue. Rocked.
It’s not just the fight, as good as it was. It’s the heart of the story behind it. Those of us who remember Prime’s first appearances back in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths have probably always felt a pang of regret that a character who seemed to have such potential would fall as far as he did. Williamson has done the impossible – he’s done the hard work to take a character who seemed indelibly tarnished and bring him back from the brink, making him sympathetic, even likable again. The Superboy-Prime in this issue may not truly be worthy of the S-shield that he wears, but he’s trying again. He wants to be. And that’s important.
What’s more, the battle between the two of them hinges on a meta-commentary about the state of comic books and comic book fandom as it exists today. It has something to say, and even the page where Prime gives us a speech doesn’t feel preachy or unearned. It’s a magnificent thing.
We also get a catchup with the rest of what Prime is now calling his own supporting cast, including Witchfire, and I can’t believe how much I hope we get to see these two together again. Prime even hints that it’s coming, but not before Supergirl swings by to pick him up for the upcoming crossover. Ah, a Kryptonian’s work is never done.
If you had told me a year ago that the Superboy-Prime redemption arc would be one of the best things to happen to comics in 2026, I would have thought you were crazy. But even without Superman appearing in this arc, Williamson has made it about Superman and who he is and what he means, and I love that so, so much.
Supergirl #15 Title: Hero of Kandor Finale (A Reign of the Superboys tie-in) Writer, Art, & Main Cover: Sophie Campbell
It’s the final battle for the fate of Kandor. Supergirl and Luminary face off against the Black Flame and – although I don’t want to spoil anything – I WILL say that, once again, Conner Kent’s presence here was completely superfluous. More than ever, I’m convinced that Campbell was asked to shoehorn him into a story that he didn’t belong in so that they could market this book as part of the “Reign of the Superboys.”
That said, once you get over that little hiccup, it’s a great finale. The ending comes naturally, playing off the character work that Campbell has been putting into this series since issue one. And while Luminary does something here that feels hopelessly naive, I can’t argue that it doesn’t feel appropriate to the character and the path that she’s been taking, so I have to respect that.
This issue also seems to set up a new status quo for the character and the title, although whether it’s going to be a long-term arrangement or something that’s done away with after an arc or two remains to be seen. I hope it sticks around at least for a little while, because there’s an interesting dynamic that I would like to see played with here. Although I worry that the whole thing might be derailed right off the bat since next issue is going to kick off the whole Kingdom of Zod crossover with the other books, so just how much Campbell is allowed to explore this new dynamic remains to be seen.
Superman Unlimited #15 Title: Save Yourself (A Reign of the Superboys tie-in) Writer: Dan Slott Art: Lucas Meyer Main Cover: Taurin Clarke
At the end of last issue, the truth about the time-tossed “Superboy” was revealed – he’s actually Ultraboy, son of Ultraman of the Crime Syndicate, who was trapped in the same volcano as Jon and tortured the same way. This issue, as Kryptonite threatens to overrun Smallville, the rest of Team Superman (namely Steel, Superwoman, Krypto, and Lois) try to save the day, while Batman and Robin join Tomorrow Man to face an Ultraboy who’s going out of control.
Lots to like here. Again, without giving away how the story ends, Slott pulls a very Superman-like play here, demonstrating that Jon – like his father – has the ability to see the inherent good in anybody, and will fight to bring that good out whenever possible. The confrontation between Damian and Ultraboy works well too. True, the Bat-family in no way suffers from a lack of exposure, but having Damian as part of this story actually makes sense. It doesn’t feel shoehorned in like some Bat-appearances. Jon is his best friend, and he’s taking this whole thing very personally.
One spoiler I WILL let through – I’m surprised but happy that Jon seems to be holding on to the Tomorrow Man name, at least for the time being. I never liked it when they took to calling him “Superman,” not because of the character himself, but because I really hate the modern practice of having multiple people running around using the same code name. I can accept it for the Green Lanterns, as that’s really more of a job description than an actual code name. And I’ll let it slide for the Flash, because how to do you tell any of those guys that they need to step down? Everybody else? Get yer own name, sparky. Anyway, “Tomorrow Man” works just fine.
Dark Knights of Steel II #1 Writer: Tom Taylor Art: Otto Schmidt Main Cover: Yasmine Putri
The original Dark Knights of Steel is one of the series that convinced DC it was time to bring back the Elseworlds imprint in the first place, so it’s nice to see that this sequel brings that universe into Elseworlds proper. This isn’t purely a Superman story, mind you, but the main thrust of this universe hinges on the Superman family: Jor-El and a pregnant Lara came to a medieval Earth together. Then…stuff happened. Look, just read the book, okay? There’s a nice little recap page here that tells you the high points of the original series and lets us jump to the main story: the three kingdoms of the League (Metropolis, Amazonia, and the Kingdom of Storms) are planning to defend themselves from an imminent threat by the shape-shifting creatures from Mars. A day of happiness for the three kingdoms turns to tragedy when a treacherous attack from beneath the seas reveals yet another kingdom – and leads them all potentially to war.
Tom Taylor does a great job of bringing new readers up to speed here. I’ve mentioned before that I wish DC Comics would include “previously” pages the way Marvel typically does, but it was really helpful here (I haven’t read the original series since it concluded in 2023 and, frankly, I needed the refresher). There’s a bit of expansion of the world here, but mostly what we get is a reminder of where the major players were at the end of the previous series (specifically Kal-El, Diana, Bruce, and Arthur), with their stories being reestablished and pushed forward incrementally, until the scene at the end changes everything. It’s a great way to begin a sequel, and while I would still recommend anybody interested in this series read the original first, if for some reason you can’t, this book will give you everything you need to know to jump in.
Absolute Superman #21 Title: Moon Fall (Reign of the Superman Finale) Writer: Jason Aaron Art & Main Cover: Rafa Sandoval
The epic battle between Superman and King Shazam comes to a conclusion this issue. With Superman and Hawkman facing the former Teth-Adam on the surface of the moon, their allies back on Earth are taking care of other business, particularly seeking retribution against Talia Al Ghul.
With a serialized story like this one – like most modern superhero comics, really – the end of an arc needs to accomplish two things. It needs to tie up the story that was told over the course of the previous however many issues in the arc, and it needs to lay the seeds for future storylines. Aaron really handles them both well here. The battles against King Shazam and Talia both come to very satisfying conclusions here, and while conclusions are indeed had, they’re the kind of the conclusions that open more doors than they close. A new threat looms on the last page, and Jimmy and Lois both experience shifts in their personal status that lays the framework for more stories in the future.
Superman himself, meanwhile, ends this issue in something of a darker place. Although Kal-El continues to be the bright spot in this Absolute world, as this issue reminds us quite adroitly, most of the people he’s surrounded with are darker than the versions we’re used to seeing in the main DC Universe. By the end of it, it feels as though that’s taken its toll on Superman, and that’s a logical place to bring this arc to a close.
Adventures of Superman: Book of El #10 Title: So Say the Dead Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson Art & Main Cover: Scott Godliewski
The members of the House of El face off against Kryl-Ux. Tamarind lies in the balance, and I can’t lie, I couldn’t care less. Ten issues now, we’ve been drifting through a future that has failed to engage me. It’s the same ol’ problem – the reset button is looming, and the idea that this will ultimately be a story of consequence will not take hold.
In an Elseworlds story, you think about the fate of the alternate reality that you’re dealing with. Here we’re dealing with a world that feels like it’s going to vanish as soon as Superman returns to his proper time. If that DOESN’T happen, then this whole thing will be invariably relegated to an alternate timeline, in which case it STILL will have no consequence. It would be different if I was interested in these characters, if I cared about them, if I felt like they mattered but…I just don’t.
I honestly feel bad being so negative about this book. I know other people are enjoying it, and I would never want to take that away from them, but I simply can’t see it. I don’t get what – if anything – I’m supposed to care about here. Maybe once it’s over, maybe once the final issue hits and the story can be viewed as a whole, I’ll feel differently. I sincerely hope so. But for the time being, all I can really bring myself to do is wait for the end.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #53 Title: Warlords Conclusion Writer: Mark Waid Art: Adrian Gutierrez Main Cover: Dan Mora
Our heroes’ epic journey to Skartaris comes to a conclusion this month. Tyrant Rex has not only ensorcelled Batman and Superman’s minds, but he has stolen Superman’s powers and distributed them among his minions, leaving Robin and Warlord to take them on. This whole story really has been sort of a Robin spotlight. He’s the one who has worked hardest to forge bonds with the people of Skartaris, he’s the one who has to step up with his mentors stolen and pulled to the other side of the chessboard. The story is a nice look at the young man who will eventually be the Nightwing we know today. There isn’t much action going on with either Superman or Batman here, but I don’t mind that. Seeing him get the spotlight is a nice change of pace that still fits well into the framework of this series.
Superman: Father of Tomorrow #3 Title: Machinations Writer: Kenny Porter Art & Main Cover: Danny Earls
Having spent years sharing Kryptonian technology to improve life on Earth, Jor-El is beginning to feel pushback from people who feel like he’s going too far. Lex Luthor, as usual, being the most fervent adversary to the House of El, decides to seek magical help from the Tower of Fate. And General Sam Lane is putting together his own team to deal with the problem.
Such as it is.
I feel like the wheels are starting to come off this story a bit. The basic premise is fine – Jor-El is the one who comes to Earth rather than Kal-El. Traumatized from watching one world die, he decides to make his adopted home better by sharing the technology of his planet of birth. The idea that doing so somehow stifles humanity is the core of the conflict. The problem is that nothing in the story actually sells the idea that Jor-El’s shared technology is doing any damage. As presented, the world seems to be a demonstrably better place. Maybe I’m missing something, but the worst thing I can find anyone saying about this altered world is that despite the fact that Jor-El has improved medical technology, hospitals still aren’t free. And as much as it may enrage some people to hear this, that ain’t enough for me to accept that a fascist regime is taking over.
At one point, Martha Kent suggests that Jor-El is behaving like a parent who is doing everything FOR a child rather than teaching the child HOW to do it. Is that actually true? The Kryptonian technology is everywhere, and presumably SOMEBODY out there is manufacturing and maintaining it. Even Superman Jor-El can’t possibly be doing it all HIMSELF, so logically we have to assume that humans HAVE learned how to do it. The message of this book is collapsing rapidly, and barring some sinister secret that Jor-El is keeping that will be revealed in a later issue, I’m not sure how to reconcile the point the author is trying to make with the world that he’s presented us with.
Supergirl: Survive #2 Writers: Ethan S. Parker & Griffin Sheridan Art & Main Cover: Rod Reis
After the destruction of their homeworld, Kara and Kal-El are found by a new Corps made of Lanterns of every color. Their safety is short-lived, though, as Lobo and a squad of Czarnians are out for the baby, thirsty for the bounty of a survivor of Krypton.
I mean, with Lobo as the big guest-star in the Supergirl movie, it’s not surprising that they would bring him in here as an antagonist for this series. And the way he’s being used is pretty logical, making sense for what would happen in a world of this nature, where there are two known survivors of their planet’s destruction. What I’m really interested in, though, is what’s up with the Lanterns. The first issue gave us hints that there was more to the death of Krypton in this world than we were being presented with, and this issue’s conversation with the Guardians of the Universe pushes that narrative forward, spooling out a little more of this mystery as we go along and making me all the more curious as to what the real story is here. This story may be labelled as a Supergirl story, but like some of the best of the modern Elseworlds, it feels like there’s an entire universe here worth exploring, and lots of other characters and corners that are going to be worth looking into and playing with.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest 2026 Annual Title: The Hero Trap Writer: Mark Russell Art: Clayton Henry Main Cover: Dan Mora
It’s Father’s Day, and Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne are having lunch with their respective adoptive fathers when a Justice League alert summons them away, leaving Jonathan Kent and Alfred Pennyworth to bond without them.
As a writer, Mark Russell is hit or miss with me. Sometimes I feel like he’s indulging in soapbox writing that starts to get tiresome, but on a story like this one, he knocks it out of the park. The story drifts between the heroes trying to solve the supervillain plot du jour and the conversation between the fathers, and it’s obvious to everyone that the second part is the most important. This is an emotional issue, it’s a story about fatherhood and what exactly that means, especially for fathers of particularly extraordinary sons. But while stories like this one often neglect the other half of the narrative, Russell has a clever trap laid for our heroes and some really entertaining moments as they struggle to puzzle a way out of it. Neither the superhero side nor the fatherhood side of the story is neglected or damaged by the other, giving us a story that’s an absolute joy to read.
Title: Date Night Writers: Mark Waid & Tyrone Finch Art: Pat Boutin
Regular World’s Finest writer Mark Waid teams up with Tyrone Finch for this issue’s back-up story, “Date Night.” A spat between Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptylk leads to Bruce Wayne taking Lois Lane on a date to the state fair while a disgruntled Superman is forced to watch from afar. This one is…okay. It’s a silly, lighthearted story with no real stakes, as we all know that Lois will ultimately wind up with Clark Kent and that any flirtation with Bruce by necessity won’t go anywhere. There’s nothing wrong with a strange little story like this one once in a while, but it kind of pales in comparison to the main story in this book.
Superman 2026 Annual: Year One Thousand Title: The Return of Superman & Legion Found Writer: Joshua Williamson Art: Eddy Barrows & Yasmine Putri Main Cover: Eddy Barrows
As we all know by now, Superman went missing after taking on the mantle of King Omega at the end of DC KO. In Action Comics #1100, he was found by his Justice League teammates and his own younger self, because time travel. This annual tells us the story of what happened in-between, which means it’s that rarest of animals in this day an age: an annual that’s actually relevant to the ongoing story.
Shortly after the end of the tournament, Superman discovers that the death of the Time Trapper (whose powers have been added to his own) has left the timestream in turmoil, and something is using that chaos to feed on the destruction being created in its wake. In his attempt to repair the damage to the timeline, Superman finds himself once again encountering Darkseid’s Legion, but a very different Legion than he’s met before.
A few weeks ago, it was announced that the Legion was coming back in their own title, written by Joshua Williamson. As great as he’s been as the Superman writer, I was a bit put off when the description of the book made it seem like the Legion was being rebooted YET AGAIN. (This would be at least Legion Version Six, depending on how you want to count.) But I do have faith in Williamson, and this issue makes me feel like that faith is justified. Without getting into spoilers, it feels as though this newest reboot is part of the story, and that the previous iterations of one of my favorite teams are not being shunted into Comic Book Limbo after all, but may indeed have a part to play. I hope that’s right. I guess we’ll find out when Legion of Super-Heroes #1 hits in a few weeks.
Blake M. Petitis a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure seriesOther People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon.Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in theYear of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!
Four movies in, I think I may be ready to declare the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies the most well-written superhero series of all time. You can make arguments for other, individual movies being better than any of the movies in this series, but in terms not only of consistent quality, but character growth, there’s nothing that compares to what’s been done with Holland’s Peter Parker over the course of four films.
Homecoming was about what it means to be a hero. Far From Home was about being your own kind of hero. No Way Home was about the COST of being a hero. And now, in Brand New Day, we see a story of a young man trying to find a new life after having paid that cost.
The thing about Spider-Man is that, more so than any other superhero (yeah, even Batman), he exists in a self-imposed state of constant sacrifice. It is simultaneously his greatest moral strength and his great tragic flaw. He made a mistake once that cost somebody he loved their life, and because of that he will give of himself – physically, mentally, emotionally – until there’s nothing left to give and then some if that is what it will take to save somebody else, ANYBODY else. No matter what level of the multiverse you find yourself on, that’s who Peter Parker is.
After the events of No Way Home, he is convinced that the only way to protect those he cares about is to live a life of isolation and loneliness. If nobody is allowed to get close to him, after all, then nobody can be hurt BECAUSE they are close to him. And the film does not flinch from showing the toll that this takes, portraying him as a sad, broken character who seems to have no desire in life other than to use Spider-Man to save as many people as possible. (This is actually one of the few qualms I have about the movie – there’s nothing to indicate that Peter Parker has any sort of job or source of income to justify the impressive tech he uses in this movie, let alone something as simple as the rent on a Manhattan apartment.) But we see all of this in the first ten minutes. The story really begins when a new adversary arises, someone who takes Spider-Man’s interference in their plans personally, and he finds his old friends getting caught in his web again.
Yes, of course the pun was intended. Give me some credit here.
Anyway, director Destin Daniel Cretton (who also directed Shang-Chi and some episodes of Marvel’s Wonder Man) paints Holland’s character as someone who is desperate for companionship but afraid to reach out for it, and it’s that sadness that fuels the film and – ultimately – leads to an ending that is more sweet than bitter. After all of the lessons that he’s learned in the previous films, it seems there is at least one lesson left to learn: that he doesn’t have to do it all alone. Hell, even Jon Bernthal’s Punisher takes a turn to be more of an ally than he’s ever been in the comics. (Interesting note: I have to watch the movie again to be sure, but I’m 99 percent certain they never actually call Frank Castle “Punisher” in the course of this movie.)
Let’s talk about Sadie Sink for a minute. As I mentioned in this week’s Geek Punditry, Sink’s character was the big question mark going into this movie – everybody knew she was going to be in it, but nobody knew WHO she was playing. This didn’t stop theories from flying, of course. Without spoiling anything, the reveal as to what character she plays wasn’t as huge a shock as it could have been. The role she was playing in the story, however, was VERY surprising. If you had told me ahead of time that she was playing THAT character in THAT particular way, I would have had a lot of apprehension about what was being done to a classic Marvel character. I think that may be part of the reason for the secrecy. Shrouding her role in mystery helped prevent a knee-jerk reaction from people and allowed them to see the actions of the character in context, which make things far more sympathetic and understandable, and leaves you excited to see where she turns up next.
As for the movie’s place in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, I would say it has minimal reliance on earlier films but maximum potential for future ones. Despite the appearance of other Marvel characters – the Punisher, the Hulk, and so on – the story does not heavily rely on knowledge of any previous Marvel project other than the first three Tom Holland Spider-Man movies. Assuming you’ve seen those and have a general awareness of who the Hulk is, you’ve got everything you need to watch and enjoy this film. On the other hand, there are several seeds planted in this movie that I fully expect to see bear fruit in the future, not only in future Spider-Man movies, but in other Marvel projects as well.
It’s going to be really hard to displace No Way Home as my favorite Spider-Man movie. The sheer thrill of that one, the emotional punch of seeing all three Spider-Men together, the beautiful way they brought closure to the other two while still telling Tom Holland’s story…it was a magic trick that’s going to be difficult to replicate. But Brand New Day doesn’t try to top it, it’s telling its own story in the new world that NWH left Peter Parker with. And it does a fantastic job of it. It’s respectful to the characters, the actors all bring their A-game, and you’re left feeling that Spider-Man’s story is far from finished.
Blake M. Petit 