Happy Birthday, Superman

Today is Superman's 70th birthday according to E. Nelson Bridwell. I will answer a few questions posted by Brian Cronin in honor of Superman’s birthday:

1. What is your first memory involving Superman?

A Superman comic book was one of the first comic books that I ever received for the first time when I got my tonsils out.

2. What was the first Superman comic book you read?

I really don't remember but it had to be in the early 1970s. Sadly, I don't have the majority of comic books that I had when I was a kid. At the time, I didn't keep a list of my comic collection.

3. What is your FAVORITE Superman story, whether it be comic, movie, TV series or cartoon?

My favorite Superman story was "Superman 2001" featured in Superman. I actually had to give up my original copy but I remembered the story vividly. I did manage to find another copy in a comic book store several years later.

4. When you think of Superman, which artist’s take on him do you normally see in your head? Shuster? Boring? Plastino? Swan? Adams? Byrne? Jurgens?

I always think of Curt Swan's Superman from the 1970s since that is when I was getting comics almost every week.

5. Which of the actors who have played Superman did you like the best as Superman?

I would have to say Christopher Reeve is my favorite Superman actor for he really did make me believe that a man can fly.

Justice League: The New Frontier Review

I received a complimentary copy of the Justice League: The New Frontier DVD in yesterday’s mail. I watched the animated movie earlier this afternoon and I was greatly impressed. I have been a fan of the Justice League since the mid-1970s when I first starting reading the Justice League of America comic book. I used to watch the Super Friends cartoon series with a bowl of cereal on early Saturday morning. I caught most of the Justice League animated series and the follow up series, Justice League Unlimited.

Justice League: The New Frontier is set in the 1950s when America was dealing with the Korean War, the McCarthy hearings and rise of the Civil Rights Movement. Wonder Woman speaks of the horrors of war to Superman in 1952 in a village in Indo-China where only the women survived. Hal Jordan is shown as a jet pilot on July 27, 1953, which is the day that the Korean War ended. One of the headlines at the beginning of the animated movie states that Washington declared war on the mystery men. Later, there is a report on the mob beating of a black man named John Wilson. The title itself is from John F. Kennedy’s acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention in 1960.

While Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman appear throughout Justice League: The New Frontier, the animated movie is more about the Hal Jordan, Martian Manhunter and the Flash. After the Korean War, Hal becomes a test pilot for Carol Ferris. The Martian Manhunter arrives on earth and becomes a plainclothes policeman. Barry Allen dons his Flash uniform and runs from Central City to Las Vegas after hearing the attack of Captain Cold while talking to Iris West on the telephone. Other characters in the DC Universe that appear are Ace Morgan from Challengers of the Unknown (the graphic novel by Darwyn Cooke has more with them), King Faraday, Rick Flag, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Robin, Green Arrow, the Blackhawks, Adam Strange, Aquaman and Ray Palmer before he becomes the Atom.

I won’t bore you with a scene by scene description of Justice League: The New Frontier because I want you to enjoy some of the same surprises that I did. Those who have read the six-issue mini-series, DC: The New Frontier will know the basics anyway. The animated movie has tons of surprises that a DC Comics fan like me will enjoy. One of my favorite surprises is Batman’s costume change and the explanation for it. The basic plot is about an alien threat and the mystery men team up to combat. Part of the movie’s fun is when the Martian Manhunter and Batman finds that a mysterious force is growing stronger.

Justice League: The New Frontier had fluid animation and coloration. The voice actors were great especially David Boreanaz as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Miquel Ferrer as J’onn J’onz/Martian Manhunter, Neal Patrick Harris as Barry Allen/The Flash and Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman. The animated movie is rated PG13 for some violent scenes and adult situations.

Fans of the Justice League animated series may be disappointed by Justice League: The New Frontier and the “retro” look. However, fans that still remember Hal Jordan and Barry Allen in their early days will greatly enjoy this animated movie. I watched the widescreen version that lasted for seventy-five minutes. The bonus features included Super Heroes United: The Complete Justice League History, an exclusive sneak peak at DC Universe’s Batman Gotham Knight, an audio commentary featuring the filmmakers of the animated movie (Bruce Timm among others) and an audio commentary featuring Darwyn Cooke. I greatly enjoyed watching Justice League: The New Frontier and the feature is now one of my favorite animated movies.

A special thank you for the person that sent me the DVD to review.

Superman Returns Valentine Card 2008

Since my birthday is the day before Valentine's Day, I received a Superman Returns Valentine card made by Hallmark from my mother this year. She knows how much I like Superman so she thought I would like this card. I enjoy the Superman Returns Valentine card mostly because of the real cloth cape.

I took pictures of the front and back. The message on the front reads "Here she comes! If she doesn't notice me in briefs, tights, and a cape, I give up!", the inside message reads "Have a Valentine's Day that's anything but mild-mannered!" and the back message reads "Chicks dig the cape!"

Another neat feature is that the Superman Returns Valentine card can stand up by itself.



Front of Superman Returns Valentine Card 2008:


Back of Superman Returns Valentine Card 2008:

Countdown To Justice League: The New Frontier

I can't wait until February 26, 2008 for that is the day when Justice League: The New Frontier will be released on DVD. The animated movie is inspired by the Darwyn Cooke's best-selling six-issue mini-series, DC: The New Frontier. Bruce Timm, the award-winning legend, is the producer. Voices include David Boreanaz, Brooke Shields, Lucy Lawless, Neil Patrick Harris, Miguel Ferrer, Kyra Sedgwick, Jeremy Sisto and Kyle MacLachlan

Justice League: The New Frontier tells the founding story of the super-hero team that includes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and the Flash. Other characters from the DC Universe that will also appear include Aquaman, the Blackhawks, Green Arrow, Adam Strange and the Challenger of the Unknown. They face a menace that even Superman can't stop alone.

You can view the trailer for the Justice League: The New Frontier at the official website. The site also has synopsis, videos, gallery and downloads. You can also enter in a sweepstake to be featured in a future animated DC Universe movie.

Goodnight, Steve Gerber

Steve Gerber, who created Howard the Duck for Marvel Comics, passed away on Sunday, February 10, 2007 at the age of 60 according to Newsarama. Recently, he created Hard Time and wrote a self-contained Dr. Fate story in the Countdown To Mystery mini-series for DC Comics.

This Is No Joke So Goodnight, Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger, who protrays the Joker in this summer's The Dark Knight, died this afternoon at the age of 28. You can read about his death at CNN.com and I'm still in shock about his tragic death. My thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family.

Justice League Movie Shelved

According to Blog@Newsarama, the live-action Justice League movie have been shelved thanks mostly to the writer's strike. Already cast were Armie Hammer Jr. as Batman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman and Adam Brody as The Flash. While I would have loved a live-action Justice League movie, I would rather have the solo films of the superheroes from DC Comics.

Holy Dark Knight, Batman

Check out the new trailer for The Dark Knight coming summer of 2008. Heath Ledger as the Joker looks very interesting.

Goodnight, Paul Norris

Mark Evanier posted the news about the passing of Paul Norris on his blog, News From Me. The co-creator of Aquaman in 1941 passed away at the age of 93 on November 5th, 2007. He also worked on Sandman for Adventure Comics among others. He also produced the Brick Bradford newspaper strip for a little over 35 years.

Zuda Comics

DC Comics has launched Zuda Comics that will feature web comics. Some of the titles include High Moon, Battlefield Babysitter, The Dead Seas, Leprenomicon and The Enders. The artwork is pretty cool but the site employs a Flash viewer that may cause problems for some.

Supergirl On Smallville

"Kara" is the second episode of the seventh season of CW's Smallville, following the season-opening "Bizarro." Although the network hasn't announced an air date for the episode, it is expected to air on Thursday, October 4, 2007. Kara will be Kal's cousin and have all his abilities plus the ability to fly.

Goodnight Mike Wieringo

Comic book artist, Mike Wieringo, passed away Sunday, August 12, 2007 from heart failure. He was 44 years old and was best known for his work on The Flash for DC Comics and Fantastic Four for Marvel Comics.

Jonah Hex To Be Movie

According to Newsarama, Warner Bros. Pictures have opted to do a movie based on DC Comics bounty hunter, Jonah Hex. Unfortunately, the movie will have supernatural overtones.

Wonder Woman Meeting Olivia Newton John

Here's a great video clip of Wonder Woman meeting Olivia Newton:

Lucky Luke Intro

I found the video intro for the Lucky Luke tv show starring Terence Hill and the theme song performed by Roger Miller. Rumor has it that the comic book series may once again be turned into a movie.

Goodnight, Marshall Rogers

From Newsarama: Marshall Rogers Dies:

Comics have lost another luminary. Details are still sketchy, but word came earlier today that Marshall Rogers died yesterday or Saturday. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed.

Rogers was born on January 22nd, 1950 in Flushing, New York.

From “DC Profiles #26” which appeared in 1978 (courtesy of the Marshall Rogers Fan Site):

Of all DC's rapidly rising new stars, Marshall Rogers' ascent has been swiftest of all. In less than a year, Marshall has gone from back feature artist to first-stringer on Detective Comics and Mr. Miracle.

Marshall almost didn't make it to comics. His studies in art school concentrated on architecture, but after two years of studying designing parking lots and shopping centers, Marshall decided "the world wasn't ready for another Frank Lloyd Wright" and left school seeking fame and fortune in the comic field.

Unfortunately, the comics world was not yet ready for Marshall Rogers. For the next two years, he worked in a hardware store while doing occasional illustrations for mass circulation magazines and sharpening his artistic skills.

Apparently, those two years did the trick. Marshall broke into comics, landing a stint pencilling for Marvel's Britain weeklies.

Not long after, Marshall showed up at DC Comics, portfolio in hand, and was given his first assignment: a two part Tales of the Great Disaster story for Weird War Tales. That was followed by some mystery stories, a Tales of Krypton piece and a four part feature in Detective Comics featuring a new villain named The Calculator. His work on the latter led Editor Julie Schwartz to hand Marshall a real plum for a newcomer: pencilling the book length Batman versus the Calculator story in Detective Comics. What came next surprised even Marshall. The powers that be assigned Marshall to Detective as the regular penciller. And he almost immediately picked up the art chores on the newly-revived Mr. Miracle book as well.

"What I try to do," Marshall told DC Profiles, "is first think of what's been done before and then I discard that and try to approach it from a completely different angle." After looking over Marshall Rogers' work, we'd have to say he's found his different angle.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Rogers’ career covered many different characters, Rogers is best known for his Batman work when collaborating with writer Steve Englehart. The two first worked together on the character in Detective Comics #471-#476 (inked by Terry Austin), and for years, their version of the character was considered to be the definitive one – a dark, brooding hero who stayed to the shadows and flowed with a natural grace.

An architect by training, Rogers' work always stood out for its attention to detail, from the cityscapes of Gotham and articulated (and realistic) muscles of the heroes, to the different techniques he would employ, from bold blacks and zipatone to a wide array of others.

Rogers work was seen in many other comics from the major publishers including brief runs on DC's Mr. Miracle, Marvel’s Silver Surfer, and Dr. Strange as well as a wide variety of independent titles: Detectives, Inc., Coyote (again with Englehart), his own Capt. Quick and the Foozle, and Scorpio Rose.

Rogers left comics for a period in the early ‘90s to work in videogames, but returned later in the decade, where his work was seen in projects such as Green Lantern: Evil’s Might and most recently, Marvel Westerns: Strange Westerns Starring The Black Rider, and Batman: Dark Detective, a continuation of his and Englehart’s story from Detective Comics two and a half decades earlier. The two were reportedly considering a third installment of the larger "Dark Detective" story.