Comics books hit too close to home now?

OK, so for me comic books -- Superman titles in particular -- are an escape, a fantasy and I expect mostly happy, pleasant outcomes.
It is a little unsettling for me the past few months to read real life scenarios in the newspaper world represented in some comics.
Being a newspaper reporter, times are tough. My salary/benefits are down about 15 percent the past two years and more than 10,000 journalists lost their jobs last year in the U.S.
In the Superman "Secret Origin" miniseries, the Daily Planet is portrayed as barely able to operate. It can't even afford to keep the Daily Planet globe on the roof spinning and the fears are now that it may be rusted in place.
There's graffiti at the Planet's front entrance and it is nothing like the slick place it has always been portrayed in the past.
Still, somehow Clark Kent gets hired at the Daily Planet, while Lex Luthor thrives in down economy.
Over in Marvel comic book land, it isn't much better. Peter Parker, newspaper photographer,has been the victim of layoffs.
Realistic yes, but cutting a little close to home for me .... Still, you've got to give DC writers/editors credit for knowing my industry's plight and keeping up with the times.

Who are the best Superman Villains?

Superman has lot of enemies, but which are the best?
Here's my top 10:

1. Darkseid. Clearly dark and powerful, he's the most cunning of Superman's foes.
2. Brainiac. Another alien, but one who has it out for Kryptonians,in particular.
3. Doomsday. The only foe to kill the Man of Steel.
4. Cyborg Superman. Part machine and part Kryptonian, he is formidable.
5. Time Trapper. Clearly the most mysterious of all foes of the Man of Steel and master of time.
6. Mongul. Another alien with great power and evil ambition.
6. Lex Luthor. The most overused Superman villain.
7. Zod. A fellow Kryptonian with military style.
8. Drax. An underused alien villain from Superman's past.
9. The original Gog. Simply awesome.
10. (tie) Parasite, an energy sucker and Metallo, powered by Kryptonite, However, neither are very smart.

Note that Luthor is only sixth. He's so overused in the Silver Screen Superman movies that it is simply pitiful.

Justice League Crisis Crisis

The new "Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths" animated video is certainly a letdown. I give it a B- grade tops.
(In comparison, "Superman Doomsday" was an A- and "Superman Batman Public Enemies" a B+)
Superman was plain mishandled throughout the video and there simply was no majesty or magic to the overall story.
(Single disc suggested retail price is $19.98.)
The "Superman" of either Earth was characterized as a brash thug, who reacts before he thinks.
Even Batman was not up to par, or as slick as he is represented in all other DC animated productions.
There was a lot of mindless kind of fighting throughout, some by villains even I have no idea who they were supposed to be ...
I failed to understand why the nuclear weapon threat from the government was much of a threat in the story to the super-villains either.
I guess the voices were OK, but I don't think there was even one voice that had been used by DC to portray the same character before. I missed the regular Batman and Luthor voices in particular.
The one bright spot was Gina Torres as Superwoman. She was a a perfect fit and style.
It was also NOT true to its title and ended up being a "Crisis on Infinite Earths," not a "Two Earths" saga.
Spoiler: Owlman wanting to destroy all Earths just didn't make sense either.
Spoiler! They way the villains just surrendered at the end to the government was a further insult to a good story.
If DC would have just taken "JLA Earth 2" -- an existing graphic novel -- and just spruced that up, they would have had a much better story, instead of trying to invent a new one that ended up below average.
Listen up DC! You want some great story ideas for future animinated movies? I'll give you three from your own proven graphic novel collection that you'd have to work hard to mess up:
1. How about a spin of "Superman Red Son"?
2. A twist on "Speeding Bullets," with Superman as a Batman?
3. A Tweaking of "Superman: Secret Identity."
(Above images are courtesy of DC Comics.)

Worst Superman stories of the past year?

If you had to get rid of a Superman story of the past year or so from your personal collection (AS IN THE WORST STORY OF ALL), what would it be?
For me, it would hands down be all the Superman and Action comics without the Man of Steel and and featuring all those boring sixth-string characters (and rarely an appearance by Kal-El).
Even the storyline in these mis-titled comics has moved far too slow, only picking up speed in the last month.
I would not miss these comics at all and will probably never re-read them. Sadly, I wasted my money on them ...
A close second would be all those recent Justice League of America comics without the first string of heroes too. Boring, boring, boring.
Do I see a trend here? When will DC wake up and realize these supplemental characters just don't fly on their own? Cramming them in titles where they shouldn't be the stars makes no sense and just makes me mad.
If DC wants to feature these characters, put them as guest co-stars, or give them their own limited series, but quit trying to pawn them off as first stringers.

"Absolute Justice?" No, "Absolute bore!"

I watched the Feb. 5 "Absolute Justice" Smallville episode and while it was better than I expected with my "smallerville" expectations of the overall TV series lately, it was surprising at the lack of action it featured.
Boring, yes. It was a boring 9.5 on a 1-10 boring scale.
How could you make this 2-hour event and have so little action?
Forget the poor Hawkman costume, or the pitiful treatment of "golden age" DC comics characters. Some daytime TV soap operas contain more non-sexual action than this 2-hour Smallville did. This double-length Smallville had less action than most one-hour Smallville episodes do too!
The only bright spots were the Amanda Waller sub plot and that the Martian Manhunter got his powers back.
And, Clark Kent needs his telescopic vision. He also needs to fly and start using his vast array of powers.
The Amanda Waller angle is intriguing, but the Zod and other Kryptonian plot just needs to go away as quickly as possible. It's boring.

Less Superman is better?

DC Comics is truly taxing my patience....
It's been almost a year and Superman is still absent from both Action and Superman comics.
The Justice League is also back to its second or third string of heroes.
Looking at DC Comics' offerings for April, I see little improvement in this.
I also can't believe how FEW of comics I'm buying lately, simply because there are less with Superman in.
I am also NOT a fan of Blackest Night. That is a lame story that should have only lasted a few months at best.
The World of Krypton series is also lackluster and should have been a 4 issue miniseries, not 12.
Wake up DC! You are committing suicide through such actions.

A truly unreal, "Grand" animated comic book tale incident

Now super-heroes are all fiction -- no one can fly like that or have heat vision, super powers, etc. (At least I don't know a real person that does.)
Anyway, I accept that super-power leap to fiction in comic books, for sake of my imagination and entertainment.
However, I watched part of a "Brave and the Bold" Batman animated series recently and saw an untrue portrayal of another sort, that I was very amused by, and what may be an example of many other fictional things in comics, besides super-powers.
Aquaman and his family were shown on a cross country tour and eventually stood on the Grand Canyon "Skybridge," that opened in 2007 on Native American land.
I know for a fact that you CAN'T take a camera or loose item out on the Skybridge. (That's why I've never been there yet. Who wants to pay $30 PERSON and not get a photo!)
Yet, in this animated series, you see Aquaman and others all of a sudden pull out cameras while standing on the Skybridge and snap pictures. Now that's double fiction! (And it was especially timely for me as the day prior to watching this footage, I had just examined whether or not I should go to the Skybridge.)
Makes you wonder how many other fictional things there are in comics that you never notice or know about .....