My love for the Man of Steel, literally

An intimate story.

Growing up, my childhood was dominated by the man himself, Superman. I idolized him in many ways that friends, family, and even the general public thought were unhealthy for a normal 8 year old. It started at an early age when my dad introduced me to Superman, the 1978 movie staring Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, and Margot Kidder.

Superman possesses extraordinary powers, traditionally described as "faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound". Who didn’t like that?

Although, many of my classmates during this time like Spiderman and Batman, I remained super-loyal to Superman. I had his super-cool “J” hair style, his steel-tin lunch box, and occasionally seen sporting a pair of tighty-whities of the “S” shield logo. And yes, I rock’d them quite well. ;)

I remembered an instance where my lunch box was missing and I had good suspicions on who might have taken it. I I don’t recall his name, but for the sake of this story, we’re going to call him Lex. Lex was a bad kid, a villain if you will. He was never nice to anyone. He didn’t share his toys or his comics. During recess, he would always pick fights- spitting spit wads at kids, pushing them around for their lunch money, and talking fertilizer wherever he went. And he’d always had a thing for me. The reasons were unknown. All I could think of was jealously.

The day my lunch box was stolen was probably one of traumatic days of my youth. It was my birthday and my parents had gotten me my first metal lunch box. I wanted to show and share it on our “Share and Tell” Fridays. Mrs. Wingett, my teacher had every student in her class share stories about their birthdays and what they have gotten. I had many Superman gifts from families and friends; one of things I was able to bring was my metal lunch box. I couldn’t bring the Nintendo or else I would. Later that day, when the final bell rang, everyone had gathered their backpacks and lunch boxes to go home, except me. As soon as I got to the door where all the things were kept, I noticed my lunch box was missing. Who would steal my “Man of Steel” lunch box, I thought??? I asked the teacher and she didn’t know.

While waiting for my parents to pick me up from school, I saw my lunch box from a distance. LEX!!!! I screamed as he ran away. My parents knew how much I loved that lunch box, so they called the school’s principle. And justice was done. Lex apologized and said he had found it after school somewhere. The battle against Lex was won, but the war and fueled ran on.

This post was written by:
stan

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if you don't know, now you know- DC's Trinity Anniversary Issues

June has been a month to celebrate for DC's big 3 with each respective book celebrating their 700th (Batman & Superman) and 600th issue (Wonderwoman).  

Sure, in reality each of these titles have had reboots and have not really gone through sequential numbering to hit the feat...thinking on it more only Batman was never reset to #1 (yes, a marketing tactic to get new readers to jump on) but either way you look at it-- what a great way to celebrate these symbols of heroism that have been here with us since the 40s-- and most likely will remain staples of pop culture long after we are gone.

Like most anniversary issues across the industry- each book is an all-star jam session of creators from past to present.  Batman #1 was released in April 1940 and sported the iconic yellow and red Bob Kane cover with Batman & Robin swinging like swingers do.  The art to the left is a sick shot of Superman: Earth One artist (paired with JMS), Shane Davis.


Superman, the image that comes to mind when one thinks superhero, had the first titled comic book ever made and was published on June 1939.  Joe Shuster rocked Superman #1 in what seems to be the popular color in yellow and in his classic "heisman" pose.

I just had to find a way to rock this stupid-fly art by Batman & Robin's cover artist extraordinaire, Frank Quitely.  This is the cover for the upcoming Absolute edition for Allstar Superman (which you have to read if you haven't yet!)



Everyone's fave amazon princess, got her own digs in June 1942 and of the three is the most powerful symbol with Wonder Woman helping to swing equality in gender rights being that prior to her creation, women were only background characters in comics

and not given the appropriate three-dimensional stories that really became a mainstay in the mid 90's -- mostly due to Chuck Dixon and Gail Simone's Birds of Prey.


The beautiful gallery stilll is mightly pencilled by my top 5 artist and current crush- Nicola Scott.  You can see just how much she has grown in her craft by checking out this similar piece she busted 2 years ago.

Thanks to DC's The Source for continually keeping us tuned in and sharing inside stories from the creators on these fab anniversary issues.



Those funny guys at Marvel use the Anniversary issues in ways that some of my friends gravitate towards anything that means they get to party.  Deadpool and Wolverine were each given the 900th ish treatment in  the last two years though both characters received their own regular books only in the 90s.

I just love how much DC and Marvel fight over Ryan Reynolds (playing lead in both Deadpool & Green Lantern in 2011) and David Finch.  Geez, there is enough of them to go around ya'll!  Bwhahahha.

This post was written by:
big O

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if you don't know, now you know- JMS on Wonderwoman & Superman

J. Michael Straczynski has been on a tear as of late with his legendary scribe work on Thor, Ninja Assassin, Brave and the Bold, Superman: Earth One and with today's announcement of taking over for 2/3 of the Trinity- Superman and Wonderwoman books.

DC is promising more details on who will be rounding out the creative team on these re-boots in the coming months...say at Wondercon perhaps?  In my opinion this move is just a smidge less significant as last months declaration of Dan DiDio, Jim Lee and Geoff Johns forming the new DC Entertainment triumvirate.  I felt concerned with Gail Simone ending her wordsmith on WW, but the double-duty on such important books really can be interesting in bringing forth both staple characters from the shadows that they have lived in through Blackest Night.

 JMS will begin this fantastic journey with us in July on Wonder Woman #601 and Superman #701.

This post was written by:
big O

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