Episode 5: Superman and the Justice League
For this extremely late episode I am doing a bit of coattail riding in terms of Superman appearing in a major motion picture. Justice League came out last month and whether you love it or hate it and whether you think it sank at the box office or did okay, the film centers around a certain Man of Steel. This seemed like a good time to talk about Superman’s place in the Justice League and if I’m going to talk about the JLA then an obvious co-host is the co-founder of The Fire and Water Podcast Network (and proprietor of JLASatellite.com) Rob Kelly! Rob and I discuss Superman’s history with various iterations of the team, why it’s important for him to be a member and some of the highlights of Superman’s tenure with the League. We also discuss a couple of two-part stories that, ironically, are both JLA/JSA crossovers. First up is the team-up from Justice League of America issues 73 and 74, which not only features the set-up for a longtime League member to join the team but the first meeting between the Earth-1 and Earth-2 Supermans! Then we travel to the eighties to discuss the last classic JLA/JSA team-up in Justice League of America issues 231 and 232. The story is enjoyable but these books mainly serve as a chance to talk about how much Rob and I like Supergirl!
After the break I come back with my thoughts on the Justice League movie. I participated in a round table discussion with Bob Fisher, Jon Wilson and J David Weter (but we got to call him Dave) over on Episode 113 of the Superman Forever Radio podcast and Steve Younis and I talked about the film on the November 14, 2017 and November 21, 2017 episodes of the Radio KAL Live show over at the Superman Homepage. Scotty V, host of the Great Scott segment over at the Homepage, joined us for the second one and all three of those shows were great to be a part of. Originally I thought I was going to spend about five to ten minutes talking about the various thoughts that occurred to me after recording those episodes but apparently I had a lot more to say as my original random thoughts became something else.
Finally I go through the feedback I received for the previous episode and do the usual rounds of Facebook comments and likes, Twitter comments, like and shares and iTunes reviews!
Keep those cards and letters and reviews coming, folks! I enjoy them immensely and I think they add something important to the show!
Here are the covers and selected pages from the comics discussed in this episode!
Big thanks to Rob Kelly for appearing on this episode. Rob has a bunch of shows you need to be listening to over on The Fire and Water Podcast Network including The Fire and Water Podcast, Who’s Who: The Definitive Podcast of the DC Universe, The Film and Water Podcast, Superman Movie Minute, The TreasuryCast, The DigestCast, Pod Dylan and The Power Records Podcast.
Next Time: If all goes to plan the next regular episode with feature Trentus Magnus and I discussing the never realized Superman 2000 pitch from the late nineties.
Hi Michael, love the show.
I was wondering with this Superman specific show do you think you might do something on Superman the Animated Series sometime? Like maybe a commentary on the Last Son of Krypton or a series overview like you did for the Flash and Smallville?
Cheers
I’m so late to the game here, iTunes seems to be hiding your shows from me. But they shall not keep us apart! Anyway, terrific show, it’s always great when Rob lets his Justice League side out. Some splendid issues, there.
I agree, Kara should have been with the JLA, it was bonkers she had no 20th century team to call her own (I’m glad she wasn’t with the Teen Titans, mind – the Titans always seem weird with a Super around). I’m not a fan of that costume, well, it’s more tolerable without the headband, even though I love that Kara chose to adopt it to assert her status as a citizen of a dead planet. It just looked terrible with the sudden curls. Of the ones she wore regularly, it’s my least favourite, next to the one she adopted in the Zond story… that was so unflattering.
Good spot on the sidelining of Superman in early JLA stories, coincidentally, the ever excellent Brian Cronin did something on that at CBR last week – great minds!
https://www.cbr.com/justice-league-superman-explain-away/
I really must get that Superboy series watched, I did buy a couple of series but I’ve not gotten to them yet (12 years later…).
Michael, I am shocked you’ve not dipped into Silver Age Jimmy, I love those stories!
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Great show Michael, glad to know I’m not the only who enjoyed the Justice League movie.