Superman Day is here! On April 18, 1938, Superman made his debut in the pages of Action Comics #1!
Happy anniversary to DC's legendary Man of Steel! He certainly looks better than most of us would at 87, so let's wish him a happy life, filled to the brim with wonderful adventures!
On August 24, 1993, Superman was returned to life in the pages of Superman #82.
Happy resurrection day to everyone's favorite Man of Steel! As the old saying goes, "you only live twice"!
On April 18, 1938, Superman made his debut in the pages of Action Comics #1!
Happy anniversary to the DC's legendary Man of Steel! He certainly looks better than most of us would at 86, so let's wish him a happy life, filled to the brim with wonderful adventures!
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I'm LeaderVladimir1993 and with Superman: Legacy hitting theaters in 2025, I'm wondering whether that movie, or any Superman material for that matter, can be embraced by general audiences.
Now, before you rush to your keyboards and say "of course it can! How can you ask that? Superman is a cultural icon!", please hear me out. I know some of you will deliver a positive answer because, let's face it, we're fans of DC, but I felt inspired to write this post after watchiing videos discussing the difficulties of adapting Mickey Mouse and Star Trek into film. Much like Superman, Mickey and Star Trek are also considered icons of American culture and the owners of those IPs have faced difficulties in making movies based on those IPs.
I also felt inspired into writing this post by the smashing (see what I did there?) success of The Super Mario Bros Movie, recognized for adapting a character more popular than Mickey into the big screen. The Super Mario Bros Movie was successful with men, women, children and adults. It was a summer blockbuster in the style of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Transformers, with enormous mainstream appeal.
If Mario, a character that rivals Superman in cultural relevance, enjoys mainstream success, can Superman do the same? It's true that Superman: The Movie shot the franchise into the stratosphere, but let's face it, the tastes and interests of audiences have changed since 1978. I'm legimitely wondering what kind of chance does Superman have in hitting the mainstream.
I'm not gonna pull any punches about this: Superman is not as popular as he used to be. Yes, he is still popular, but Batman and Spider-Man sell more merchandise than Superman does. If Superman is to regain his mainstream popularity, a movie is easily the best way to do it.
Don't get me wrong. I love Superman and Lois and My Adventures with Superman, but those two shows are made for very distinct audiences. The former is a family drama and the latter is an action series with elements of romantic comedy and shonen anime. Those audiences are incompatible.
We also have to look at Superman's previous cinematic outings. Despite its positive critical reception, Superman Returns did not hit $500M worldwid. Alan F. Horn was quoted saying that the movie would have made a much higher profit if it tried to appeal to the younger male crowd, i.e. pre-teen boys, and writer Michael Dougherty wanted to add more action in the sequel.
While Superman Returns delivered a humanized, downright conservative portrayal of the titular superhero, Man of Steel went for a more action-packed direction. Superman became an action hero in the style of Captain America, Optimus Prime and even Batman. Despite the mixed reception from fans and critics, Man of Steel would go on to make $668M worldwide.
I'm not here to talk about the benefits or disadvantages of turning Superman into a generic action hero. I'm just trying to discuss what Superman needs to do so he can be embraced by general audiences again. What can you do with Superman? Superman does not have the same problem Mickey does. Unlike Disney, DC is not afraid to make a movie that runs the risk of tarnishing their beloved icon and his reputation, which is a really stupid reason to not make a movie, if you ask me.
Superman is a highly versatile character that can be adapted into any kind of story, as we have seen in countless movies and TV shows, but considering the reluctance of people to see Superman as anything more than a generic Boy Scout, it would seem that he doesn't take to reinvention as well as Batman does. Since Superman is expected to behave in a certain way, it seems difficult to make a movie that could develop him as a character and give him a meaningful conflict to overcome.
We, as a society, are partially to blame for DC's reluctance to experiment with Superman beyond comics and, to a lesser extent, TV shows. Thanks the movies, Superman is mostly remembered either as a vanilla goody-two-shoes, an overpowered demigod and, to a lesser extent, a blank slate of an everyman. He just isn't allowed to get darker or more mature like Batman does, and this is coming from someone who actually enjoyed the DC Extended Universe.
Ever since the failure of Justice League 2017, DC has moved away from darker stories with Superman and stayed with the limits of family-friendly, light-hearted stories like Superman and Lois or My Adventures with Superman, and that obviously limits Superman's potential as an effective protagonist in a dramatic story. That's kinda disappointing because we don't allow creators to display their full potential and explore new stories with Superman.
How do you make a Superman movie? Do you focus on Superman and his journey to develop into something we haven't seen before or do you focus the movie on a secondary character, maybe Lois, who is transformed by his/her experience with Superman? Does Superman even need to evolve as a character or does he simply need to trigger another character's evolution? We could discuss these questions all day long and we wouldn't reach a definitive answer.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see till 2025 to see what James Gunn has in store for us. As a fan of Superman, I always look forward to my best to suppoert him in whatever he does, but for now, we still have a lot of content we can enjoy. It's true that Batman and Spidey are more popular than Superman these days, but if Superman didn't have dedicated fans, he wouldn't have two successful TV show or a cult following on his recent movies. Superman means a lot to those who love him, maybe now more than ever. Whether we like it or not, Superman will always be with us.
Well, that's all I have for you this time. Now, it's your turn to tell me what do you think about this. Do you think Superman: Legacy can help the Man of Steel achieve mainstream appeal again? If so, what do you think that movie should do? This is meant to be a friendly discussion, so please be polite and argue your points in a civilized manner. We are all fans of DC and, hopefully, Superman here. We just see things differently.
So leave a comment below, thanks for your time and stay safe out there!
So another omnibus finished. This is one I bought years ago around the same time I bought the Death and Return of Superman Omnibus. At this point Supes is the Trinity member I’ve read the least of. I don’t find him as interesting as Diana or Bruce but he does have a broad supporting cast. Despite this, I got through these stories pretty quick as they are well written in the sense that they continuously keep the reader engaged with well orchestrated subplots over three titles. I love an omnibus for this reason more than any. I’d hate to have to collect the individual comics for this reading order.
This collection picks up right after John Byrne’s departure from being Superman’s core writer when he revamped the character for a modern audience, that divided some Superman fans. As someone who isn’t fanatically connected to Supes or knowledgeable about his pre-Crisis history, a fresh continuity is a bit of a luxury, I’ll admit. Reading Death of Superman cold with no context to the continuity was confusing as hell, but this was more accessible. Byrne left the title on a controversial note that is constantly referred to and the catalyst to the Exile story arc, so I was never constantly questioning what was happening or who people were.
What Exile allowed was Superman to have a huge crisis of confidence, question his morality, and see himself as some humans perceive him; as dangerous. The Exile is a little anticlimactic and not existentially thoughtful as Moore’s iconic Swamp Thing who does essentially the same thing, but much better. In fact, a lot of it revolves around the new history of Krypton and the “eradicator” artefact.
The best thing to come out of The Exile, for me, is the “Hostile Takeover” subplot involving Lex Luthor. Without Superman, Luthor has a small ego crisis himself and finds distraction in a small economic war with STAR Labs. The resolution was a satisfying victory for Luthor in several ways, revealing his true need behind the financial media chaos.
As I mentioned, there are a lot of subplots—a LOT—but they are spread out quite masterfully. Unfortunately, with a series spanning a magnitude as big as Superman, Adventures, and Action Comics, many of these are still ongoing by the end of the omnibus. There is Jose Delgado recovering from his injuries sustained as Gangbuster and his attempted romance with Lois Lane. Morgan Edge juggling his relationship with Cat Grant and Intergang. Luthor trying to harness the power and knowledge of the disturbingly powerful Brainiac. Ma and Pa Kent trying to care for the childlike Matrix. Jimmy Olsen trying to bang Cat Grant before being infected by the eradicator and having teenage-like saltiness towards Supes. There’s even a subplot raised at the end of the omnibus where Perry White’s son has a black girlfriend.
For the most part, it was a good sample of Superman’s world. There are some classic villains reintroduced, such as Brainiac and Mongul, as well as some new ones, like Maxima. Project Cadmus makes an appearance implying the original Kirby stories with Jimmy and the Newsboy clones never happened, and it’s revealed that every tine Edge was talking to Darkseid it was really DeSaad in disguise orchestrating Intergang on Earth. Kind of a nice touch seeing as unlikely it seemed for Darkseid to handle that kind of thing personally.
In short, The Exile storyline wasn’t that impressive itself, but a necessary progression from how Byrne left the series. It’s the world building provided by the subplots that make it diverse and engaging, helping Metropolis feel like a busy, bustling city, not just another generic location for aliens to break stuff. 7/10.
June 12 is officially considered to be Superman Day!
Happy Superman Day, everyone! Enjoy it while lasts! Days might be temporary but Superman is forever!
On April 18, 1938, Superman made his debut on the pages of Action Comics #1!
Today, the Man of Steel celebrates 85 years of life and history and clearly looks better than most of us would at that age. Happy birthday, Superman! May your legend endure for a long time to come!
Where do I start... The writers! I love Grant Morrison as a write and I don't know too much about the others but a solid 10/10 here. I Believe no other Superman story shows how and why he is the ideal hero as much as this story. It starts off with Superman doing what he usually does, saving lives by any means necessary. He saves an astronaut crew from certain doom on the surface of the sun. Of course this was a trap by Luthor who wanted to see the Man Of Steel perish. In any other comic Clark would've just kept on trucking but he notices that he is way stronger than before. He goes to get tested and it turns out his cells are dying and making him have new superpowers. Clark also gets terrible news he will die soon as well. Which begs the question what would any other person do in a situation like this, spend time with loved ones? Maybe do a bucket list of sorts. Rather than that Clark does nothing but selfless acts of kindness. In fact Clark acts like nothing has really changed. For Lois's Birthday he gives her a tonic that grants her Kryptonian abilities for 24 hours.
Rather than doing the selfish things anyone else would do he stays the same and helps everyone around him. Clark stops a person from taking their life, which is my favorite Superman moment hands done.
This comic just proves what I already know, Superman is the greatest hero, of all time
Disclaimer: This is just my opinion I do not regard this as fact or logic its all based on what you think/believe
For years now I've downplayed the New 52 Superman at every turn, slandering his name and essence entirely. But now I have a renewed interest for him and I think he's Not That Bad. I used to say hos costume sucks because its armor he doesn't really need and I thought the collar was pointless. Now I kinda dig it and I'm starting to warm up to Superhero costume redesigns as a whole. I like the new take and outlook on the character adding new aspects and exploring old ones on a modern landscape. I dunno, Just me.
And you all thought DCEU Superman was out of line snapping Zod’s neck! This so called ‘hero’ has had an issue with spinal columns even if they’re circuitry. So, what’s Clark’s beef with Cliff’s cranium?
June 12th is considered as Superman Day!
Enjoy the day while it lasts! Days are temporary but Superman is forever!
They say Bruce Wayne is the most prepared man on earth but are you?! You'll have to come up with unique and different ways to kill earths' heroes if they ever stopped being on the side of the angels. today you will have to defeat earths' greatest heroes the justice league.
On April 18, 1938, everyone's favorite Man of Steel made his debut on the pages of Action Comics #1!
It's safe to say that Superman looks better than most of us would at 84 years old. Happy birthday to such a legendary hero and may he keep fighting the good fight!
Unlike the Marvel Wiki, the appearances are listed in alphabetical order, where the Marvel Wiki lists them in release order of the issues. I want Earth 2, Earth 1, Prime Earth, and New Earth. If you could I would also like to know the same versions of Batman, The Flash, and Wonder Woman.
