The Weigh In #60

Part One of Two                                                                             Part Two of Two

First off, I want to apologize to all of you who noticed that I did not make my regularly scheduled article last week. For those of you that didn’t notice I was just kidding about that last part and it was probably the best article I have written thus far and I hear my Pulitzer is in the mail. Sadly, my computer deleted the file and a nasty virus deleted any trace of it off of the internet. But have no fear because I am sure lightening will strike twice. So be sure to keep reading each week.

The world of Superman:

On June 28th Superman Returns hits theaters all over the country and we will finally all get a chance to see the biggest hype monster to hit the big screen since Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Legions of comic book nerds (and more than a few Warner Brothers Execs) are crossing their fingers and hoping that it won’t leave the same taste in our mouths. Regardless, it is a pretty safe bet that even mainstream movie goers will be drawn to the movie. While that is always a good thing for comic book movies, it does pose a problem. What exactly do your average moviegoers have in common with grown men willing to stand in line at midnight on a weekday to see a film, then play hookie from work the next day and stand in line 3 or 4 times to see the same film over again? What will they talk about? Will lines across the country be filled with eye-rolling and awkward eye contact as your average jo-blo listens to a 30 year old man try to explain to anyone that will listen why Richard Lester should be strung up by his feet? Will these two groups ever be able to carry on a conversation? Well folks, I am here to do what I can to help. This week, in preparation for the release of the movie, I have put together a “Superman Primer”, a timeline of major Superman events, filmology, and other important information about the “Man of Steel”. Hopefully, this will help ease tensions around the world and we can all come together and unite under a single understanding. Or this could just turn into a neat little informative article.

The Man of Steel:
While Superman’s origin has been re-imagined, rewritten and fleshed out in many different ways over his 68 year history, here is the generally accepted origin of Superman:
Kal-El was born on a dying planet and in an effort to save him, his parents, Jor-El and Lara, sent him on a rocket ship to Earth. The Earth’s yellow sun and low gravity would give Kal-El the ability to fly and an imperviousness to almost anything. Kryponite is his only weakness, a mineral originally found only on his now destroyed home planet. His rocket ship landed in a field outside Smallville, Kansas, and he was taken in and raised by a farmer in his wife, Jonathan and Martha Kent. Superman hid his identity behind Clark Kent and moved to Metropolis where he became a mild mannered reporter for the Daily Planet. He later met and married Lois Lane.

The beginning:
Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. While trying to sell their idea of a super hero inspired by Nietzche’s “Ubermensch” and the Bible’s Moses and Sampson to national newspapers as a daily strip, they were approached by a small comic book publisher, National Periodical Publications, (later known as Detective Comics, then just D.C.) to helm a new comic series called “Action Comics”. The first issue appeared on shelves in June, 1938.
Trivia: Siegel and Shuster sold the rights to Superman to Detective Comics for $130 and and agree to supply new material as needed. After the release of the 1978 film Superman the Movie, Warner Brothers agreed to give both creators a $35,000 yearly pension.

The timeline:
06/1938-The first issue of “Action Comics" starring Superman is sold.
Trivia: The original Superman could not fly and could only run very fast. He was not impervious to bullets.

02/12/1940-The original radio show aired starring Clayton “Bud” Collyer as Superman
Trivia: The radio show first introduced the Daily Planet (originally called the Daily Star in the comics), Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, and his Kryptonite weakness. These were all worked into the comics later.

1941-Max Fleischer produces 17 short Superman cartoons starring Clayton “Bud” Collyer as Superman.
Trivia:  The famous phrase “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound” and “Look, up in the Sky. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Superman”, were first used.

1950- The 15 issue serial entitled, Atom Man vs. Superman, starring Kirk Alyn is released.
Trivia: Kirk Alyn was the first live action Superman. Lyle Talbot’s likeness (Lex Luthor) was used in the comics to create the image of Lex Luthor until the mid sixties.

11/23/1951-The first full length Superman feature Superman vs. The Mole Men was released starring George Reeves.
Trivia:  Initially released in theaters, it was also used as a two part finale to the first season of the Adventures of Superman series in 1952.

9/19/1952- The first live action television series, Adventures of Superman, first aired, lasting 6 seasons (102 episodes), and starring George Reeves.
Trivia:  The initial actress playing Lois Lane, Phyllis Coates, was replaced in the second season by Noel Neill, the Lois Lane from the Kirk Alyn serials. The series was actually gearing up for a 7th season when George Reeves committed suicide 2 days before filming started.

1960-1978-After the 6th season of Adventures of Superman, Superman rarely made an appearance outside of the comic books, with a few notable exceptions.

1973-Superfriends: a Hanna Barbara cartoon revolving around the Justice League of America. Superman was voiced by Danny Clark.
Trivia: The voice of Green Lantern (his first animated appearance) was done by Mort Weisinger, editor of DC comics during the 1950s.

1975-It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman!: A campy musical send-up of Superman meant to capitalize on the Batman television show, complete with “kapow” and “smash” balloons written into the action. Superman was played by David Wilson.

12/10/1978-The first full length Superman film in 27 years, Superman the Movie, was released in theaters, starring Christopher Reeve.
Trivia:  Kirk Alyn from the original live action serial was cast as Lois Lane’s father and Noel Neill, Lois Lane in the same serial, was cast as her mother. Both make a brief appearance with the little girl on the train at the beginning of the film.

12/4/1980-Superman II is released starring Christopher Reeve.
Trivia: Most of this film was made simultaneously with the original. Most of the way through the film, the director was fired from the film, taking John Williams, the composer with him. The resulting film is a mix of Richard Donner’s film and new director, Richard Lester’s campier vision of Superman.

6/17/1983-Christopher Reeve’s third Superman film is released, Superman 3. This film is considered by many to be the beginning of the end of the Superman film franchise.
Trivia:  Margot Kidder was given less that 5 minutes screen time in the third film after complaining about the firing of Richard Donner from the second film.

7/24/1987-Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is released, and put the film franchise into a 20-year hibernation.
Trivia:  Before the release of Superman IV, producers were working on a new Superman film directed by but not starring Christopher Reeve. When the fourth movie flopped, all plans for a new film were cancelled.

9/12/1993-Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Lois and Clark (the first Superman since the death of George Reeves) initially aired lasting 4 seasons (87 episodes) and starring Dean Cain. The series mostly revolved around the relationship between Lois Lane and Clark Kent. His alter ego of Superman was almost secondary.
Trivia: Dean Cain is actually afraid of flying

9/19/1996-Superman: The Animated Series was released, lasting 3 seasons (54 episodes). Superman voiced by Tim Daly.
Trivia:  The characters Ma Kent and Lex Luthor were drawn to have the likenesses of Shirley Jones and Telly Savales respectively.

10/16/2001-A live action series that spotlights a teenage Clark Kent chronicling the issues of a teenager dealing with his budding powers entitled Smallville aired its first episode. Still in production, it just finished its 5th season (110 episodes).
Trivia: The High School Newspaper that Chloe and Clark wrote for is named after the high school paper that creator Joel Siegel worked for, “The Talon”.

11/17/2001-Justice League first aired, just finished its 5th season (91 episodes), featuring the voice of George Newborn as Superman/Clark Kent.
Trivia: another in the line of animated series’ by Bruce Timm, he tried to keep the same voice actors for each series. The only one missing from this series is Tim Daly. After the Superman: The Animated Series ended, he took a job on a now defunct series called: The Fugitive.

From the comics:

Golden Age Superman: 1940s-and 1950s
Mort Weisinger, editor of DC comics in the 1950s, helped to create a large part of the mythology we know today. Golden Age Superman saw the creation of Superboy, Supergirl, and Krypto the Super-Dog. We were also introduced to various types of Kryptonite and their affect on the Man of Steel. Superman first makes an appearance as an honorary JSA member. The Golden Age of Superman mostly focused on the origin of Superman and the science fiction aspect of his powers.

Silver Age Superman: 1960’s, 70s and through the mid 80s
With the Silver Age, DC comics created a 2nd Earth and relegated the Golden Age Superman to this planet, officially called Earth 2. In the Silver Age version, Kal-El actually left Krypton as a toddler, the Kents sold the farm and moved to Smallville to run a general store. The Kents were killed off when Clark was a teenager and he moved to Metropolis. The Silver Age Superman dealt more with Clark Kent as Superman and his relationships with the people of Earth. In 1985, during Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC combined both planets and simplified Superman’s history by getting rid of Kal-L (as he was known throughout most of the Golden Age comics), bringing back the Kents and consolidating his history into what we are familiar with today.

Modern Day Superman: Mid 80’s to current
In 1986, DC hired John Byrne to revamp Superman’s history and the major changes involved doing away with the early exploits of Superman as Superboy. He gains his powers gradually and did not introduce himself to the world until he moved to Metropolis and started working for the Daily Planet. John Byrne also introduced the rationale that Superman kept his alter ego of Clark Kent to protect his family and friends in Metropolis, another part of the current history we are familiar with. In 1993, Superman died while fighting Doomsday, creating four alternate Supermen, all claiming to be the original. Kal-El eventually came back to life with the help of the Eradicator engine. In the mid 1990’s Clark Kent married his long time love Lois Lane.

Other tidbits:

Aliases for Superman:
The Man of Steel
Kal-El
The Big Blue Boy Scout
The Man of Tomorrow
The Last Son of Krypton

Notable villains:
Lex Luthor
Brainiac
Darkseid
Mr. Mxyztplk
Bizarro
General Zod
The Prankster
Metallo
The Toyman

I put this together as kind of a quick primer to the Superman Universe. It has been somewhat simplified and condensed to give more of a quick look at this icon’s history,

Stay tuned for the second and last part of this article which will officially wrap up my countdown to the release of Superman Returns with my review of the film.

Special thanks to the The Internet Movie Database, Wikipedia, and the film Look, Up in the Sky- A History of Superman for the invaluable research material.


This weekend at your local multiplex (6/28/2006 and 6/30/2006)

Superman Returns: Action/Comics
Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Frank Langella, Parker Posey, James Marsden
Plot: After a 5 year absence, Superman returns to his adopted planet only to find they have learned to live without him. More importantly, the people in his life have moved on. Superman must come to grips with his new role on Earth.
Buzz: Only the most anticipated movie of the year and the most anticipated comic movie in years. The internet has been abuzz with every scrap of info it could find since the release of the picture was announced. The early reviews of this film all point to a winner.

The Devil Wears Prada: Comedy
Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker, Adrien Greener
Plot: A woman gets a job working for a big New York magazine editor and gets more than she bargained for.
Buzz: Buzzworthy, most notably because it is the movie going up against Superman Returns and because the magazine editor is supposedly lampooning a real women’s magazine editor that was not very pleased with the original book. An alternative to the other film coming out this weekend I suppose.

This week on DVD:

Failure to Launch
Madea’s Family Reunion
Ultraviolet
Annapolis
Find Me Guilty
Cache
Imagine Me and You
Fear Factor (season 1)
Leroy and Stitch
Strangers with Candy (series)
Masters of Horror: John Landis (Deer Woman)
Masters of Horror: Lucky McKie (Sick Girl)
Candy Stripers
Project Runway (season 2)
Monk (season 4)
Columbo (season 5)
Family Affair (season 1)
Roseanne (season 4)
Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection
Why We Fight
Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road
Acapulco Heat (season 1)
Commander in Chief (part 1)
Little Shop of Horrors
Plan 9 from Outer Space


As always, please send your hate mail or undying admiration to DPlace76@yahoo.com. You can also check out my random musings at www.livejournal.com/bigdpimpin. Come by and learn about the newest adventures of the Stumblebum crew on our myspace account at: www.myspace.com/stumblebumstudios.