SUPERMAN IN WHO’S WHO: 90’S EDITION PART 4

Superman in Who’s Who: 90’s Edition continues today with the other people Clark Kent works with at the Daily Planet.  I was a little disappointed that Cat Grant didn’t get an entry because despite working at WGBS at the time she was still what I consider an important supporting character.

Next time: The single GREATEST supporting character from the Post-Crisis era.

More to follow…

FCTC EPISODE 152: LOIS AND CLARK TALK INSTALLMENT 2

Episode 152: Lois and Clark Talk Installment 2

Welcome to the one hundred and fifty second episode of From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast!  This podcast has a simple premise; examine just about every Superman comic published between Man of Steel #1 in 1986 to Adventures of Superman #649 in 2006 in an informative and hopefully entertaining format.

Part index.  Part commentary.  Part history lesson.  All podcast.

Welcome to Installment 2 of LOIS AND CLARK TALK, a new, irregular feature here on FROM CRISIS TO CRISIS where Mike and Jeff delve into the live action television series LOIS AND CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN.  Last time the boys spent a good hour and a half discussing the series in general.  This time out they dive right into the pilot and then go over the first regular episode STRANGE VISITOR.  What did the boys like?  What didn’t they like?  Why is Mike so high strung through most of the episode?  Listen and find out!

You can subscribe to the show in two ways. First there is the RSS Feed and there is also the iTunes link.

If you want to comment on the show or contact the hosts you can always private message Mike and Jeff, at the Superman Homepage, leave comments here or at the Homepage or here or email them by clicking this link.  All questions, concerns, fears, trepidations and cheap shots are welcome.

Next time: Normal programming resumes with SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #28 and SUPERMAN #84.

SUPERMAN IN WHO’S WHO: 90’S EDITION PART 1

It occurred to me this morning that there are a lot of people reading this blog and listening to From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast that are getting to know the nineties era Superman for the first time.  I think because I am so familiar with this iteration of the Man of Steel that I take it for granted that other people are too.  So over the next handful of days (which is code for, “I have no idea how long this is going to go on.”) I thought it would be informative and entertaining (thus making it infotainment) to post the Superman related entries that appeared in the 1990 edition of Who’s Who in the DC Universe and its follow up Who’s Who in the DC Universe Update ’93.  Not only are these entries are a great snap shot of what the world of Superman was like just before the Death and Return of Superman went down  but you also get to see some pretty amazing art as well.  Some characters will have a day all to themselves, others will get lumped into a group of characters.  It really depends on how important they are to the world of Superman.  The commentary will be fairly light as well as I want the focus to be on the entries.

We’ll start, naturally, with the Man of Steel himself.

Next time:  The Fortress’ look at the Superman supporting cast begins with a certain reporter with the initials L.L.

More to follow…

DEATH AND RETURN OF SUPERMAN ON THE SNES – LEVEL 1

Today I present the first level of The Death and Return of Superman video game for the Super Nintendo.  I recently snagged a copy of this and have been trying to find the time to seriously play it as my wife and I actually have a working SNES in the house.  So far I have gotten through two levels and while it is far from the best Superman game out there it is a lot of fun.  At least to me.  I freely admit that that opinion could simply be nostalgia talking but at the same time I didn’t own this game when it first came out so I don’t know if I can be nostalgic about something I didn’t have in my misspent youth.

Anyway, here’s a video I found on YouTube of the first level.  This is as close of an adaptation of Superman: The Man of Steel #18 as we may ever get.  Enjoy.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZpXNVVW80s

More to follow…

FCTC EPISODE 125: FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND PART 2

Episode 125: Funeral For a Friend Part 2

Welcome to the one hundred and twenty-fifth episode of From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast!  This podcast has a simple premise; examine just about every Superman comic published between Man of Steel #1 in 1986 to Adventures of Superman #649 in 2006 in an informative and hopefully entertaining format.

Part index.  Part commentary.  Part history lesson.  All podcast.

This week Mike (who is getting over a cold, which is why he sounds funky) and Jeff continue their coverage of the Death and Return of Superman with the third and fourth chapters of Funeral For a Friend.  In Superman: The Man of Steel #20 the supporting cast, the heroes of the DC Universe and even Bill Clinton gather in Metropolis for Superman’s funeral as the Kents have their own private service in Smallville.  Then in Superman #76 a group of heroes gather to continue Superman’s tradition of answering his mail on Christmas Eve.  Plus Mitchell Anderson visits Metropolis and Lois, Jonathan, Martha and Lana Lang get together to have a very important discussion.  Mixed in is the usual coverage of the two novelizations and the BBC audio drama.  Plus, Mike complains some more about the Death and Return of Superman omnibus.  Finally Jeffrey tells you what was going on in the real world during the Meanwhile, At The Daily Planet segment.

You can subscribe to the show in two ways. First there is the RSS Feed and there is also the iTunes link.

If you want to comment on the show or contact the hosts you can always private message Mike and Jeff, at the Superman Homepage, leave comments here or at the Homepage or here or email them by clicking this link.  All questions, concerns, fears, trepidations and cheap shots are welcome.

Next time: Funeral For a Friend continues with Adventures of Superman #499 and Action Comics #686.

DEATH OF SUPERMAN HOUSE ADS

There were several house ads that DC put together to advertise various aspects of the Death of Superman.  This first one is the earliest seen in the comics.

Simple and effective.  I mentioned when Jeffrey and I talked about this ad on From Crisis to Crisis that I like the fact that they included the triangle numbers in the ad to let people know that the titles went in a certain reading order and so I am mentioning it again here.

While I prefer this image in black and white (as seen on the cover to Adventures of Superman#498) it is cool to see what it would look like in color.  Apparently the people in the subscription department were on the ball with the whole Death of Superman thing because it says here that if you got your order in by October 28 you would get the polybagged edition of Superman #75.  That is pretty neat.

If you are going to advertise the death of Superman you can’t go wrong with a tombstone cover.  What I like most about this image is that the S symbol looks like it was carved instead of drawn.  That is a neat little touch and something I missed back when I first saw the ad.

Finally…

This is a really creepy ad, mainly because it looks like a photo.  It may very well be a photo but still.  Beyond that this ad seems a lot more epic than it deserves to be.  I mean I love the Doomsday: The Death of Superman trading card set.  I really do.  It’s just this seems more like an ad for the comics themselves rather than a piece of the merchandising.

Oh well.  It is still a cool ad.

Next time: No idea.  I am flying by the seat of my pants this week, folks.

More to follow…

FCTC EPISODE 124: FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND PART 1

Episode 124: Funeral For a Friend Part 1

Welcome to the one hundred and twenty-fourth episode of From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast!  This podcast has a simple premise; examine just about every Superman comic published between Man of Steel #1 in 1986 to Adventures of Superman #649 in 2006 in an informative and hopefully entertaining format.

Part index.  Part commentary.  Part history lesson.  All podcast.

The battle is over.  The mourning begins.

This week Mike and Jeff kick off their coverage of Funeral For a Friend, the second part of the Death and Return of Superman trilogy.  They start things off by playing catch-up with the Superman: Doomsday and Beyond young adult novel written by Louise Simonson and with some general Death of Superman talk.  Then they dig into the comics starting with Justice League America #70, which features the League’s reaction to Superman’s death and a few “Blue Beetle is dead,” jokes.  Then they move into the story proper with Adventures of Superman #498 where we see the paramedics, assisted by the Guardian, Professor Hamilton and even Bibbo, try and ultimately fail to revive Superman.  This is followed by Action Comics #685 the world reacts to the death of Superman.  Finally Mike and Jeff play catch-up again, this time with the Meanwhile, At The Daily Planet and Elsewhere in the DCU segments.

You can subscribe to the show in two ways. First there is the RSS Feed and there is also the iTunes link.

If you want to comment on the show or contact the hosts you can always private message Mike and Jeff, at the Superman Homepage, leave comments here or at the Homepage or here or email them by clicking this link.  All questions, concerns, fears, trepidations and cheap shots are welcome.

Next time: Funeral For a Friend continues with Superman: The Man of Steel #20 and Superman #76.

COMICS VALUES MONTHLY SUPERMAN MEMORIAL ISSUE

I have mentioned in the past that while I started collecting comics on a regular basis in the spring of 1987 I didn’t start paying real attention to the culture of my chosen addiction until about 1994.  There were exceptions to be sure.  For a few years I was a faithful reader of Comics Scene Magazine and learned about a wide variety of new and interesting books but looking back I bought it mainly for the articles on the movie and television adaptations that were coming out at the time.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  It is just where my head was at when I was twelve to sixteen years old.

Because of the tunnel vision I had at the time and maybe because I didn’t hit the comic shop on a weekly basis I missed out on some things involving the Death of Superman.  One of them was a magazine called Comics Values Monthly.  I have been able to find precious little about the history of this magazine but from I have seen it started in 1986.  I have managed to get my hands on three issues and from the looks of it CVM was one of the many price guide type magazines that were so popular in the early nineties.  What I would like to know is if CVM started out as a price guide when it began publication in 1986 because if that is the case it beat Wizard: The Guide to Comics to the punch by five years.

CVM definitely had it over Wizard in terms of having a special dedicated to Superman out around the time Superman #75 hit the stands.  Wizard would eventually put out a flashy Superman related special but that was published closer to when Reign of the Supermen was about to start.  While I can’t find an exact date of publication CVM‘s special was solicited in the same edition of Previews as Superman #75 and they even included a really keen ad for it.

The cover is by Tom Grummett and Doug Hazlewood and is a cropped version of their cover to Adventures of Superman #499.

This cover is almost meta when you think about it.  The magazine is a memorial to Superman while the cover depicts people visiting a memorial to Superman.  That’s kind of deep but I am going with the assumption that CVM chose it because it is a striking image.  Either way great cover.

On the inside front cover is the tombstone ad for Superman #75.  After the table of contents we have what is called Dialogue Balloons and Captions, which is essentially the opening message from Neil Hansen, the editor of the magazine.  It is an interesting read as such opening messages go.  Hansen discusses Superman’s place in the world of comics and pop culture as well as his personal connection to putting out a magazine about Superman.  In 1983 Hansen co-created a magazine for Krause Publications called Comics Collector and the first issue was a spotlight on Superman’s 45th anniversary.  That made me smile because I actually have the first issue of Comics Collector thanks to my former comics dealer Chuck Sheffey.

For grins, here is a scan of the cover to that first issue.

It is always weirds me out when one seemingly random piece of my Superman collection is connected to another seemingly random piece of my Superman collection.

After Hansen’s opening comments we get to the articles which include:

  • Golden Age of the Man of Steel by Ron Goulart.  Thi is a two page history of Superman in the Golden Age.  By the way Goulart wrote the foreword to the second volume of the Superman Archives in addition to The Great Comic Book Artists and The Encyclopedia of American Comics.
  • An Interview with Super-Creators Siegel and Shuster by Thomas Andrae.  This is a reprint of an interview from the second issue of Nemo which was published by Fantagraphic Books in 1983.  I have heard about this interview for years but this is the first time I have gotten a chance to read it.
  • Dave Tendlar, Super-Animator by Jay Sumsion.  As the title suggests this is an interview with Dave Tendlar who has the distinction of pulling off an animated Superman hat trick by working for the Fleisher Studios, Filmation and Hanna-Barbera.  That is some resume to have.
  • Superman’s Pal Curt Swan by Neil Hansen, transcribed by Steve Thomas.  This is a pretty thorough interview with Swan and even includes his thoughts on other Superman artists.
  • Super-Discussions With John Byrne and Marv Wolfman by Neil Hansen.  A two part discussion with Byrne and Wolfman with some great insights from both men.
  • Danny Fuchs: Super-Collector by Jim Main.  This man had (and I hope still has) an impressive Superman collection.
  • Superman Collectibles.  A price guide of Superman related books, toys, clothing, models and such.
  • Superman on the Screen.  A comprehensive listing of Superman’s movie and television appearances.  This thing is very thorough when it comes to listing episode names to the various series.  It has everything up to the syndicated Superboy series.
  • He’s Such a Card, That Superman by Jim Main.  A comprehensive listing of the various Superman trading card sets.
  • Superman Trading Cards. A listing and price guide for Superman trading cards.  They even include the cards featuring Superman artists and writers from the Famous Comic Book Creators set put out by Eclipse Enterprises.
  • Superman Chronology.  Major milestones in the life of the Man of Steel.
  • Superman in the Comics. A Superman comic book price guide.
  • Who Really Killed Superman? by Neil Hansen.  This is a fantastic article featuring interviews with Mike Carlin and the rest of the Superman creative team of the time.  It even includes a page from Jurgen’s written plot for Superman #75.

And that is it.  As you can see the people at Comics Values Monthly put out a detailed and exhaustive look at Superman’s history.  I am very happy that I found this in my research on the Death and Return of Superman.  It was fairly cheap too if you want a copy for yourself.  I paid like $2 plus shipping for mine, which was a lot less than I thought I would have to pay.  I cannot recommend this magazine enough if you are a fan of the Man of Steel.

Next time: Death of Superman house ads!

More to follow…