"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 .....

The real Batman set to return!

The original Batman is set to return from the "dead" in 2010.
DC Comics will have a six-issue miniseries, "The Return of Bruce Wayne," starting in April.
Wiped out from existence by Darkseid's omega beams at the end of the latest "Crisis" in 2008, Dick Grayson (formerly Robin) has most recently been "Batman."
As the "world's greatest detective," Bruce Wayne is lost in the timestream, with much of his memory lost.
He wanders from caveman times to the old west and more, seeking answers of where he belongs.
Everyone knew the real Batman wouldn't remain "dead" forever. And, it has never been said the omega beams "kill" you -- they wipe you from existence.
Batman is DC's hottest property of late and no one can replace Bruce Wayne for long as the Caped Crusader.
Time travel plots can be a real kick, if handled well and so even non-Batman comic readers might want to consider this mini-series.
Of course, if Superman showed up somewhere in the series too, that would be excellent, since the Man of Steel was there when Batman was wiped out.
--In a related matter, DC has a revamped "World's Finest" series running. It is a weak series and is an insult to the original "World's Finest" team of Superman and Batman.
I don't care for it and if it fades away, that would not be much of a loss.
(Above image is from the "Brave and the Bold" animated series -- a great production, but again one where Superman is strangely absent!)

Another version of Superman; "War of the Supermen"

Superman turns 72 in 2010 and despite the non-milestone age, it will still be a pivotal year for the Man of Steel in the DC Comics world.
Forget that there's no new major motion picture starring Superman on the horizon. DC is looking to pick up that slack and here's three reasons to prove it:
1. Another Superman reboot is planned in "Superman: Earth One." This is a new graphic novel coming out sometime in 2010 that will retell the Man of Tomorrow's roots in an all-new continuity.
Never mind that "Earth One" used to be where the mainstream Superman was supposed to live. This new "Earth One" is apparently going to be different than that.
Graphic novels can be expensive, but if this new alternate Earth storyline is creative, it should be well worth it. Also, hopefully it will explore more of Superman's teenage years, as they were skimmed over in the current "Superman: Secret Origin."
Earth Prime was traditionally our real world; Earth One was where Superman of the main Superman comics lived; and Earth Two was where the older, original Man of Steel lived. Is all that out the window now?
2. "War of the Supermen" is another series that will spotlight the Man of Steel — and many super-powered men. It premieres on May 1 on "Free Comic Book Day" with issue No. 0 (and as the occasion suggests, it really is free for first issue).
This saga appears that it might be Superman and many other fellow Kryptonians in some kind of battle.
Is this the follow up to the "New Krypton" series? It looks like it is.
DC boasts that this series will show that "no cows are sacred."
3. The "New Krypton" series will conclude on Feb. 3 with its final issue No. 12, where a skull-shaped ship is headed for New Krypton. Could that be Brainiac?
This series needs a great villain and this computerized alien is a great one.
(in fact, if a new Superman movie is ever made, Brainiac should be the villain, not the overdone on the silver screen Lex Luthor!)
This Krypton series has dragged on far too long and its conclusion hopefully means that Superman will return to Action and Superman comics, where he has been absent for a year (minus one brief appearance).
With some lackluster super-hero wanabees having taken over those two comics, for the real deal returning would be great news for 2010.
(Image is from DC Comics.)

How "original" is Superman?

OK, so Superman is simply NOT as original as I thought he was and here's why:
DC Comics in launching a shadowy new universe, “First Wave,” in March 2010, where super-powers or aliens do not exist.
It features the return of "Doc Savage," a hero from pulp fiction in the early 1930s.
(“Batman-Doc Savage Special," $4.99, is now out and is the prologue to an eventual six-part miniseries to focus on this new, pulp-inspired universe.)
Anyway, when you examine Doc Savage, there are at least three things that Superman may have borrowed from him.
(Savage started in 1933, Superman in 1938.)
1. Doc Savage often retreats to his “Fortress of Solitude” in the Arctic. That reference pre-dates Superman’s origin.
2. “Man of Steel”? Does that sound reminiscent of “Man of Bronze," who Doc Savage was nicknamed before Superman came along?
3. Savage’s real name is Clark Savage, Jr. Know any other hero named Clark?
So, pulp fiction may be much more an influence on comic books than I earlier thought.
DC Comics is also not being secretive about billing Doc Savage as the 'superman" in this First Wave universe.
Doc Savage — “He’s our superman, but as you notice, in the lowercase sense,” DC Comics states of the revived character.
Doc Savage is also not to be confused with “Doc Sampson,” a gamma-powered Marvel Comics character.
(However, Marvel did feature Doc Savage in an early 1970s comic series. DC ran a Doc Savage series in the late 1980s and Dark Horse Comics did a series with Savage in 1995, so he's a hero who has been around, but has never found a permanent home.)
Besides Batman and Doc Savage, “First Wave” will also feature “The Spirit,” a former cop, as a force for good. There’s also a Black Canary, The Avenger and Rima the Jungle girl in this new, alternate universe. Savage is also backed up by his “Fabulous Five.”
The "First Wave" variation of Batman has the Dark Knight at a youthful and inexperienced age. It also has Batman carrying a .45 pistol.
(Photograph at the top is of the prologue to "First Wave," "Batman-Doc Savage," a November 2009 comic that introduces a new universe. Courtesy from DC Comics.)

Who is better, DC or Marvel?

Who is better, DC Comics or Marvel?
Marvel certainly has the better overall movies these days (with the exception of "Dark Knight Returns").
However, I believe DC has the best super-heroes, ones with piz-azz and flare.
Mike Justice, former employee at Salt Lake's Night Flight Comics, used to tell me simply "DC is better."
Now this is not to conclude that I hate Marvel. I've always been an Iron Man and Hulk fan.
Some argue that Marvel is better because its super-heroes are generally more believable. Well, to that I say: I want my heroes less believable.
In one of the X-Men movies, the heroes fall out of a plane and only one of them can fly. In the DC Comics Universe, that just wouldn't happen and would be a lame movie plot, as many more heroes fly.
If the X-Men and Justice League could battle under independent terms (and not the usual DC-Marvel crossover arrangement), the JLA would win hands-down and quickly.
Even if the JLA fought the Avengers, the JLA would come out on top.
DC may not always handle their characters best, but their properties have the most potential and excitement.