Joe Kelly, writer. Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo, pencillers.
DC Comics, 2001.
“Masks are for hiding. Capes are for play. ‘Villains’ don’t share their plans before they smoke you — ‘cept in campaign speeches. Or the pulpit or in front of the classroom. Reality is a mite bloodier than sitcoms or comics. The greys stretch out farther… Evil scientists. Bogey-men. Gimps in tights who want to ‘rule the world.’ From now on they’re yours — and the rest are ours to do with as we see fit.”
— Manchester Black (leader of The Elite) speaking to Superman
Despite some things you might have heard me say, or what you might have read in my diary that I keep under my pillow, I don’t really care about Superman in the greater context of things. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the Clark / Superman dichotomy, or what principles Superman embodies. If anything, I agree with Gary Groth’s 1988 essay that really Superman is a symbol of commercialism, exploitation, and the gangster morality of the comics industry. I love the first Christopher Reeve movie. And I like the character to the extent that he opens the door to stories in which, say, Jimmy Olsen uses a “Helmet of Hate” to turn Superman into a red devil with horns and then the horns crack open and tiny Supermen fly out, all drawn in an almost inappropriately naturalistic way by Curt Swan.
If you’ve paid two seconds of attention to American comics recently, you probably know that DC “soft rebooted” its entire line, shipping fifty-two #1 issues last September. Since hyping the latest DC/Marvel news is not really our thing, we’ve been leaving that to other podcasts. But since Marvel zombie Tim, of his own free will, decided to pick up Grant Morrison’s Action Comics, and Kumar is a sometime Superman reader, we decided to present here our take on the first four issues.
Tom Rasch is working on a comic, animated cartoon, and toy line for his property 
FLASHBACK! Brandon has nothing but praise for Mark Millar’s Superman: Red Son; Tim’s feelings about the Dark Horse graphic novel The Truth are somewhat less adulatory…(Originally published October 9, 2006)
FLASHBACK: THE PULSE-POUNDING ORIGIN! We revisit the very first time, more than five years ago, that Tim, Mulele, and Brandon recorded their comics discussion and put it up on the Net. The episode was originally published Dec. 5, 2005. Topics include the trailer for Superman Returns, Revelations by Paul Jenkins & Humberto Ramos, and Mike Mignola passing off art duties on Hellboy. Oh, and, of course, Star Wars.
Superman is one of the most iconic characters in American comics. Even people who don’t read comics (and perhaps haven’t seen the movies either) have some familiarity with him. While Tim is not a DC reader, Kumar is somewhat of a fan, especially of Silver Age Superman stories. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All Star Superman mines those Silver Age stories for wackiness, but then infuses them with thoughtfulness and heart. Kumar, finally back from vacation, joins Tim to review.
The trailer for the upcoming “Thor” movie, though, does not impress. What were we expecting? Is Marvel starting to make their movies as inaccessible to the layman as their comics? What could have made this movie look more appealing to us?