8.5 Percent Superman!

I had high hopes for Superman in 2011, but not so.
Checking DC Comics' January 2011 releases, there are 76 total comics for the month and only 9 are Superman related. That's just 2 new titles starring Superman; three re-published Man of Steel stories and three issues with characters in the "Superman Family."
That's awful DC -- just 8.5 percent of your stuff in the first month of the year features Superman.
This is the worst month I can ever remember and I'm only planning on buying four $2.99 comics in January -- my lowest level ever since the early 1980s.
Why is Superman not back in the JLA?
Why has Lex Luthor taken over Action comics?
I also just read the latest Superman-Batman comic and it starred Supergirl and Robin. DC's world's finest heroes seem to be taking a lot of vacations lately.
What's all this "Brightest" junk you're producing too?
DC what are you thinking?
There were MORE superman comic appearances around back in the early 1990s after Doomsday had killed him than there is now.
DC, your movie plan for your super-heroes sucks and now your lineup of your comics is likewise well below par.
I guess you have nowhere to go in February except up.
And, besides wanting Superman back in the JLA and Action, when the "Smallville" TV series ends next spring, I'd like to see a miniseries that continues the Smallville storyline further as Clark Kent becomes a full-blown Superman.
Is that too much to ask?
(The above photograph is the cover of JLA No. 50, that had Supergirl, but no Superman, at least not the real one!)

DC to drop comic book prices!

Here's an unexpected move and one that goes against most businesses today ---
DC announced this week that it will drop the current price of its $3.99 comic books to $2.99 starting in January 2011.
Now DC mentions those comics will decrease from 22 pages to 20 pages in length, but that's great truth in advertising when most companies secretly shrink sizes, hoping you won't notice.

"Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" review

This latest DC animated movie is all to predictable in the early going.
"Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" simply follows the plot of the comic book it is based on.
It is only the last 10 minutes where it comes alive, when DC departs from the comic and goes all-out with some super, unexpected action of "wow" and "Awe" proportions.
Sadly, previews of the upcoming "All Star Superman" also appear based too much on the comic story of the same name.
I'm sure DC will throw in some twists at the end, but is that what their new formula is?
Take old comic material to make animated movies out of?
I'd like to see some new material sometimes.
Or, at least go back in time and use the saga of where Superman first met Mongul, or some of the Elseworld tales as the fodder for future animated movies.

Has DC run out of ideas for Superman?

Lately, Action Comics is back to NOT having Superman star in each issue.
Presently, Lex Luthor is the star of the comic.
Action is where the Man of Steel started it all ...
Does DC Comic not have any new ideas for Superman or what?
To not have Superman in action is nothing less than lame and coming at a time when there's that big lawsuit the family of the Superman creators have against DC, it seems more than odd.
Luthor as a side story in Action would not fine, but DC is pushing its luck without the star of Action.

Superman's history

I've read some Superman histories over the years, but thanks to that late, free comic book Web site that existed earlier this spring, I was able to read or scan most Superman comics from the late 1930s to the early 1960s -- effectively "completing" my Superman history course.
It was amazing to see that some "Adventures of Superman" show stories, that I always thought to be original, weren't — they came from the comics! Yet, there were a few comics plots that spun off the TV show's story too.
From seeing Superman evolve, to his involvement in World War II, were priceless vantage points I found, while reading early comics on the Web.
There were also so many early 1940s comic covers where Superman stopped a U-boat or a Japanese Zero plane, where the story inside had nothing to do with the war.
I know I read some sci-fi type stories in those old Superman comics that were ahead of their time and I wish I'd made notes about them.
But, overall the comic stories of the 1940s and 1950s weren't all that good. Neither was most of the artwork. It was only from the 1960s on that the Man of Steel really took off.

Superman movie locations

I spent a week in Canada last week and was surprised to find that portions of the Superman I, II and III movies were filmed there.
The Columbia icefield was a big part of Superman II.
Calgary was also in movies.
I'll have to rewatch the movies now and see if I can see anything familiar.

Smallville — Fly or Die!

"Smallville" has been good in its 9 seasons, but it could be better and as I always say, less "soap opera-ish" would be a great improvement.
And, after watching the season finale for the 9th season, I say, "Fly or Die!"
Spoiler wise, Clark Kent is falling off a skyscraper with blue kryptonite and no powers.
Either he better finally get his powers back quickly and fly to get out of this or die in the season 10 opening show.
Clark now apparently has the costume and that's the long overdue next level — that he go from the "Blur" to the skies.
He did have a Legion flight ring and it is dumb that he doesn't use that.