Thursday, May 30, 2013

Superman is in Utah ...On mission


I live in Utah and I still get a kick when Superman visits Utah in a comic book story.
There are 50 states and usually Utah is overlooked, or joked about in the entertainment world.
The latest visit by the Man of Steel to Utah is in the Smallville Season Eleven Special, No. 1, comic, dated July 2013.
So, this is the Smallville TV version of Superman who goes to the Beehive State.
On page 16, the Watchtower reports to Batman that Superman is in Utah, "on mission."
Batman responds, "Of course he is."




A map on the Watchtower wall shows the "S" symbol over Utah.
Anyway, Superman "walked" to Ogden, Utah a few years ago in a comic book story.
Superman also visited Utah in a the mid-1970s when he investigated a mystery on the Utah Salt Flats, in one story.
-And, from Utah, I started a new thread on the DC Comics' Superman message board back in 2009, and a few months later, the evil "Superboy Prime" actually  responded to me in a comic story in the Legion of 3 Worlds series, when I wrote: "Can Superboy Prime be redeemed?"
UPDATE: in "Justice League," No. 26 (January 2014), Ultraman, an evil, alternate world counterpart of Superman, is shown to be fighting the U.S. military on the Utah Salt Flats.
So, Utah is firmly in the minds of some DC Comics writers these days.


Thursday, May 9, 2013

"Superman Unchained" -- Great action and animation


The latest Man of Steel animated video, "Superman Unchained" rates an A- grade ... four stars!!!
It was nearly perfect ...
Plenty of action, as well as dialogue, the new voices for Superman, Lois Lane, Supergirl and Brainiac were excellent.
Without giving away much, the story does differ quite a bit from the past comic book story it is based on, but that just makes it fresher.
For the $7.99 I paid (on an Amazon pre-order months ago) that was less than half the Wal-Mart in-store price, counting tax.
I received the video just two days after its official release date too.
For 75 minutes, this animated production was simply excellent -- and now hopefully the "Man of Steel" live action movie will measure up that well next month.
DC does seem to know how to make BETTER animated movies than Marvel, so will they ever learn how to make better live action movies? One can only hope.

NOTE: If you watch "Superman Unchained," you also need to keep watching for a minute AFTER the credits begin. DC has learned from Marvel in this regard.