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Well, because of the alarming absence of recent news and rumors surrounding Singer’s upcoming Superman Returns film, I thought what better way to introduce myself, my column, and my intentions on this site than to do a concise recap of what’s been happening the last few weeks regarding just which young Hollywood starlet will get second billing behind Brandon Routh’s Superman as one of comic’s most identifiable female

characters, Lois Lane.

It’s important to note that each and every report will have a special “Crap Meter” attached to each rumor, because as we all know, the internet is both the information super-highway, and the greatest single source of pure, unadulterated, fictitious crap in the

history of humankind. Next to Dr. Phil of course.

LOIS LANE

According to our friends over at Superman-V.com, Singer is actively searching to find the woman who will play the second most critical role in the new series, that of course being Lois Lane. I assume since you’re even bothering to read this column, you are (a) fully aware of just how important Lois is to Clark/Superman, and thus the entire Superman mythos itself, and (b) will not be having sex with a real life woman tonight. In Lois, Clark sees the entire genus of man he has sworn to protect. Singer clearly realizes that the audience needs to be able accept, understand and empathize with just why Superman would fall in love with this specific woman. Because of this, not just any ordinary, average actress will do. Unless of course your first name is Mc, and your last name is G, in which case any pop diva without acting

credentials but a spectacular rack will do.

Apparently, as sources have informed Superman-V.com, the current list of hopefuls includes Lost’s Evangeline Lilly (Singer’s favorite, but unable to accept the role due to her current television commitments, or so the story goes), Blue Crush’s Kate Bosworth, the woman I wish the hot blonde Terminator in T3 caught, Claire Danes, and the stunningly

gorgeous Canadian Elisha Cuthbert.

Admittedly, I’ve only seen Lost a couple of times, but from what I have seen, along with her most recent round of TV interviews, I can think of few women more suited for the role than Ms. Lilly. She is beautiful, has a discernible intelligence in those sparkling eyes, and seems more than able to carry the role as a competent – again, as I’ve seen so far – actress. However, if we are to believe the rumors, it is all but certain she is locked into her contract with ABC, and thus, will not be playing a feisty young reporter

from the Daily Planet.

As for the others, to say I’m disappointed is an understatement. Do I like seeing Kate Bosworth soaking wet in a bikini on a surfboard? Yes, as much as is humanly possible. Would I like to see Lois Lane look 14 years old? Not particularly. Despite the fact that Kate is well into her twenties, and has played more “grown-up” roles since, she still looks way too young in my opinion to play an adult Lois, especially considering the first Singer film is supposedly set to take place a full six years after Superman 2, the first Reeve sequel. While still better than Beyonce (no, I can’t ever forget and forgive McG for this),

the hunt for Lois should definitely not stop here.

Claire Danes? You mean that chick from T3 and Broken Down Palace? Are we thinking of the same woman here?

We are? Damn. Moving on…..

Aside from Lilly, I think Elisha Cuthbert is the one I would have to lean towards (and lean I would if given the chance in person. And by “lean” I mean “lunge and profess my undying love at until her 4 three hundred pound bodyguards kicked the living bejeezus out of me”. Semantics.) Out of this sad and amiss list of actors, Cuthbert arguably brings the most to the role. She is developing quite a name for herself with starring roles in movies like The Girl Next Door, and definitely has the charisma Lois necessitates. However, there’s just something about her that doesn’t scream Lois like Teri Hatcher did in the early days of Lois and Clark. Maybe it’s because many of us believe she is utterly perfect for the role of Supergirl, and having Elisha play any other character in the Superman

universe is an utter travesty.

So, you might be asking, who do I think should ultimately end up playing this central role? Besides the Megasite’s own Shane McNichols, I can think of a few actresses that could bring the proper depth and eminence to Lois. Using what is reportedly Singer’s own criteria of a known, but not superstar, actor for this part, I can offer to my audience a brief list of young women that I encourage everyone to consider and offer feedback in relation to. But, that is going to have to be a different column, as we are desperately short on news, and I need to drag this topic out a little further. Remember, this column is all about

honesty….

In the meantime, please send me your suggestions for Lois, and as always send any news or rumors you hear

floating around cyber space, to

sjets10@yahoo.ca. If your news or suggestions are worthwhile, or you’re a hot chick that has really bad news but a pic of yourself as an attachment, I’ll include you in future

columns.

Insincerely,

Cubs

“Clark Kent Isn’t Real”

    Ask me what my favorite comic book is right now (ask me what it’s been for the past 4 years) and the answer will come back – 100 Bullets. Ask me who my favorite superhero is and I’ll tell you that I’ve been a Superman fan for 14. Who’s the best writer in comics today you say? Well it has to be Brian Azzarello, hands down. Who’s art constantly blows everyone away? Hands down, Jim Lee. So if someone were to take all of my prior statements and try and come up with some sort of equation for it, they’d come up with something like this…

  Brian Azzarello + Superman + Jim Lee = The most anticipated run by a writer and
artist on any title ever.

  So as you can imagine I was over the moon when I read that starting with issue 204 of the current Superman series this would be the creative team. For a year, a whole year. I was ecstatic, I couldn’t contain myself. Now a lot of people gave Azzarello flack for his run on Batman saying that the dialogue was too stylized and reading the comics as single issues proved way too hard to follow. Well I say to them, too bad. Azzarello is one of the best writers in the industry for exactly this reason. Anyone who has read 100 Bullets can attest that the comic reads well in trade form, but the monthly cliffhangers have fans of the series typing away on their computers, discussing with fellow fans on message boards for 30 days a month. Azzarello’s dialogue is spot on and that is something I rate highly with writers. Jim Lee on the other hand was DC’s golden boy at the time that the series was announced. Just coming off a year long run of Batman, the man showed to all the naysayers that he was back to claim the title of best artist in the world. I defy someone to argue with this line; Jim Lee is the best comic book artist ever.

Well we are 9 issues into their planned 12 issue run and the critics have come out. Some have trashed the run saying the only reason that it is selling well and people are buying it is for the art. You know what I used to buy comics for the art…WHEN I WAS 9. But there are others who are praising the current run. Saying it has a vibe that has never been felt in a Superman comic, or if it has it’s been a very long time. This is the side of the fence that I sit on.

I’m sure most of you have seen the now famous (or infamous) speech by Bill (portrayed by David Carradine) at the end of Kill Bill Vol. 2. If you haven’t I’ll sum it up for you (SPOILER ALERT). Bill basically tells the Bride (Uma Thurman’s character) that although she left him to pursue a life without death and evil when she woke up in the morning she was always going to be one of his assassins and the life she led would be a lie, or a disguise if you will. He used the paragon of Superman to show her what he was talking about. And from that I believe that Quentin Tarantino gave the idea (or gave it back, depending on how you look at it) to many comic creators to return Superman to his roots. BTW if DC really wanted to gain some momentum in this whole war with Marvel they should approach Tarantino for a run on Superman, cause the boy can write…and if he turns it down? C’mon DC you guys are owned by Time Warner, bring him the money truck.

 Besides the religious overtones in the book, Azzarello has managed to take the idea of Superman as the character and Clark Kent as the disguise and re-introduce it into the world of Big Blue. The moniker Big Boy Scout no longer applies to Superman. Just to take one example from the run, in issue 209 Superman is faced with task of bringing down the Elementals (a group of 4 forces of nature that consist of the elements: air, water, earth and fire). Playing his trump card Superman threatens them by telling them that they may proceed and kill all human life but he would still be there. And when they were down wiping everybody out he would raze the earth, dry the oceans, and burn away the air. Yes you are reading this properly, Superman threatens them by saying, “kill everyone but I will still be here”. Superman does not say things like this, yet there it was a plain as day. Now this is not your parents Superman, I can tell you that much.

  Superman is a strange visitor to this land. He is not of the earth, and while he might have adopted its ways and traditions he is still an alien. Someone once asked me what I thought if Brian Bendis took over Superman and at first I thought that it was a killer idea, flush out the human side of Superman. But then I realized Bendis would never succeed in the eyes of many fans because he’d be writing Peter Parker with Superman’s powers. Superman isn’t human.

Tom.

After discovering the mysterious girl who claims to Kara Zor-El, a survivor of the long dead planet Krypton and Kal-El’s biological cousin, Superman and Batman must decide how to handle this situation. Kara tries to adapt as best she can to a life on Earth while still trying to remember the missing pieces of her past. Meanwhile, there are others who are also interested in this strange visitor from another planet…

Plot Summary:
We open up to Superman and Batman examining Kara’s ship in the Fortress of Solitude, and arguing over the translation of a message on it. We hear each hero’s respective thoughts, showing their different impressions of this girl. While Superman is understandably excited about the possibility of a Kryptonian survivor (and a member of his family, at that!), Batman is suspicious of the whole situation. Batman brings up the interesting possibility of Kara’s ship (embedded in the asteroid) bringing the large Kryptonite asteroid to Earth—specifically to Kal-El, thus proving Luthor right. While investigating Kara’s ship, Superman turns something on, feeling the craft with sunlight similar to that of a yellow star (thus explaining how Kara’s powers developed so fast). Again, Batman shows his lack of trust in this girl by saying, “How…convenient.”

As Superman and Batman continue to debate the issue, Kara suddenly rips open a steel door, apparently being chased by something. Kara is dressed in clothes that an “average” teenage girl would wear, bought by Lois, of course. We are told that Kara has learned English (and several additional languages) in less than a month. Following Kara is Krypto, not very trusting of an unfamiliar face in his master’s Fortress. Superman reprimands Krypto, and Batman sends Kara away. Batman comments on Krypto being suspicious of Kara, like he is, which results in Superman responding, “The dog hates everyone.”

Kara walks back to her quarters, dejected by the fact that her past is being disputed when even she isn’t sure of exactly what happened. On her way, we see Kara past through the Weapons Museum and the Intergalactic Zoo. Kara hears Batman’s heartbeat and tells him she knows he’s following her. Kara explains to Batman that she’ll never know what it is like to be her, and Batman responds, “Then try and explain it to me.” The two enter the Hall of Krypton and talk. Kara gazes on at a hologram of Jor-El and Lara, Superman’s biological parents, holding up a globe of the planet Krypton, and thinks back on losing her parents right in front of her eyes. Batman, a good judge of when individuals are lying, can’t decide whether Kara is telling the truth or has been trained by someone who knows his past. Kara knows that the holograms are of her aunt and uncle, and seeing this chamber stirs some of her memories.

Kara re-tells the story of how she came to this planet (the first time for the readers). Her father was a scientist on Krypton named Zor-El, brother of Jor-El. When Jor-El told the council of Krypton’s fate, no one believed him—except his brother. Zor-El built a ship for Kara, one that was locked on to Kal-El’s smaller ship. Unfortunately, Kara’s ship never left the planet under its own power. The ship was trapped within a chunk of rock, while Kara was kept alive in a state of suspended animation. The navigational system in this ship still worked, however, and slowly carried the asteroid across space and to the Earth. Although Kara remembers the name of her father, her mother’s name is still unknown to her. Superman breaks up the confrontation and says that Kara is “ready,” something that Batman disagrees with. Kara is in the dark on this as well.

We come to Apokolips, where Granny Goodness is in the process of testing a potential new member to the Furies—a female warrior named “Precious.” It is all for nothing, though, as the Furies make short work of Precious, quickly killing her. Darkseid expresses his disappointment with Granny and orders her to bring the girl who fell to Earth to him.

In Metropolis, Clark Kent and Kara walk the streets after going shopping (with Bruce following them). Kara makes the mistake of calling her cousin “Kal” while he’s in his Clark Kent guise, a mistake which Clark warns her must not happen again. Kara questions her cousin about Earth’s customs, prompting Clark to tell her that adapting to ANY new culture is different (and he should know, having traveled both this world and others as well). Kara is most perplexed by why her cousin pretends to be a normal human, to which Clark responds that people with abilities like his sometimes have “secret identities.” Kara is surprised that no one recognizes her cousin just because of a pair of glasses, causing Clark to become maybe a little self-conscious.

Kara and Clark soon come to a statue of Superman in the park, allowing Kara to see just how those on Earth view her cousin. Kara exclaims that they see him as bigger than life, as a champion. Furthermore, she adds that the glasses work because no one would look for him dressed as them. Clark reminds Kara that there isn’t any “them,” only us. The conversation is broken when both Clark and Bruce detect another presence in the area. A beam of light attacks Clark, while a very familiar lasso ropes Kara’s leg, and she’s pulled out of the sky. Clark quickly changes to Superman and flies after his cousin, but is once again stopped by the beam of light. Superman is confronted by a group of women (the same women, in actuality) and utters the name, “Harbinger.”

Meanwhile, Batman deflects an arrow shot by an archer with a well-placed batarang and also destroys her bow with it. Many of Harbinger’s selves envelop Superman, telling him that Kara must be protected at all costs. Superman will have none of it, though, and he sends the Harbingers away by spinning and creating a strong gust of air. Batman encounters the archer who shot at him, the Amazon known as Artemis, and engages her in hand-to-hand combat. Artemis manages to get the upper hand and almost stabs Batman, if not for a well-placed dart shot into her neck by the Dark Knight.

Kara is pulled closer to the owner of the golden lasso, and she tries to fights back with heat vision, easily deflected by bracelets worn by her pursuer. Superman and Batman re-join together and come face to face with Kara’s pursuer—Wonder Woman!

As Wonder Woman holds Kara in front of her, she tells the World’s Finest Team that the girl is coming with her.

Review:
This is the second issue of “The Supergirl From Krypton” arc and already we have Kara being associated with not just Superman, but also Batman and Wonder Woman. Kara Zor-El’s post-Crisis debut has become much more of an event than her pre-Crisis counterpart’s, which is a great change. Kara Zor-El/Supergirl shouldn’t just be a member of the Superman Family; she’s a character that fans have always loved, which made her death during the Crisis so much more tragic. Since the character’s death and her “deletion” from history (something I personally didn’t care for—the deletion, not the death). But it’s often been said that you don’t know what you have until you’ve lost it, something that’s certainly true for comic book characters. In a way, Kara’s death really made us able to realize just how much she meant to all of us. Let’s just hope that no one takes her for granted again.

This story is big on several levels. The first, of course, is Kara Zor-El existing at all. One of DC’s rules regarding Superman ever since the MOS mini-series was that Kal-El is the ONLY survivor of Krypton. This was done to make Superman much more special and not have Kryptonians showing up everywhere. While I can see and respect the reasoning behind that, I don’t feel it was all that needed. The only thing that was needed was a little restraint by the writers. The second big thing in this issue (and this entire series) is the fleshing out of Superman’s revamped history (due to “Birthright”). Loeb and Turner give us very detailed holograms of Jor-El and Lara, and certainly don’t portray Kara as one of the Kryptonians that Byrne designed. Instead of being repelled by Earth, this Kryptonian girl is almost enamored with it (and she has no problem showing a little skin). Despite coming from a civilization thousands of years beyond Earth’s in terms of technology and thought, Kara does not look down on humans; nor does she consider them to be inferior to her.

Batman’s was portrayed rather well in this story, but I almost get the feeling that he WANTS Kara to be a fake. Why exactly would he want this? Well, we all know how paranoid Batman is, especially towards those with abilities far beyond those of regular men. Just imagine how he feels around a young girl whose power already surpasses even the strongest Earth heroes. There’s also another dimension to this, I feel. Batman has always called Superman “a farm boy” in a somewhat condescending manner. It could be possible that he does this to make Superman look at himself as more human than alien, fearing what an alien (even an altruistic one) with powers as great as Superman’s could do to the planet. Kara will undoubtedly bring Kal/Clark closer to his Kryptonian roots, thus fueling Batman’s fears.

This story gives us our first glimpses into Kara Zor-El’s past, but leaves out some of the answers intentionally, so that the reader will continue to follow the arc. We are not shown much of Krypton and we only see the silhouettes of Kara’s parents. I thought that Kara’s interaction with everyone (Superman, Batman, Krypto, ect) and her dialogue was great. Kara moves freely between outsider and fully assimilated, but I don’t chalk that up to an inconsistency. Keep in mind that Kara comes from a planet that is a virtual utopia; living on Earth to her would be similar to one of us living in the past. Kara is certainly lonely and misses her home, but at the same time she’s glad that she came to a planet like Earth, and she’s also glad that she’s with family.

I am a little surprised that Kara has not yet met the Kents (to our knowledge), though. Why have a girl as young and vibrant as Kara holed up in the somewhat antiseptic Fortress when she could be in the open air, on a farm, with people who are very tolerant about aliens. The quarantine makes sense, but I really would’ve liked to see Kara interact with Kal’s adopted family. That’s only a small complaint, and in the long run it doesn’t really matter.

Overall:
Story: 9/10 – The story hooks you in with this issue and leaves you wanting more. Things can only go up from here.
Art: 8/10 – Michael Turner is truly a great artist, even if his women are sometimes a little thin.
Cover: 10/10 – An awesome visual that captures the emotions of these characters perfectly.

   

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Most of Superman’s enemies scare the hell out of me. Doomsday, Brainiac, Darkseid and Lex Luthor fit the bill. Then we have others that actually make me giggle like a little schoolgirl. Birzaro and the Gene Hackman version of Lex Luthor are just two of them. But probably the one that makes me laugh the loudest is our good friend Mxyzptlk. This mischievous little Imp will do almost anything to get Superman’s attention. And issue number 638 is no exception.

The issue starts out normal enough. Clark and Lois are having a conversation that almost every married couple has had at least once. It’s about Lois’s desire to have children. As we all know, Clark is hesitant about this issue. What normal male isn’t a little cautious about having a child? All we have to worry about is making sure it has roof over its head, food in its belly and warm place to sleep every night. Poor Clark has all of that to worry about plus the concern of his enemies finding out about his child and trying to use his offspring against him. Not to mention the anxiety of even being able to have children. In steps our friend Mr. Mxyzptlk to put his two cents in the conversation. He gives Lois a baby girl. Mxy then goes to show Clark and Lois just what they could expect from their little girl. He shows them the highs and lows of parenting a super teenager. Mxy addresses Clark’s concerns about her safety and teaches him a lesson in the process. The lesson is the future is what you make of it. He shows Clark that he has to look beyond the present and to look to the future.

Overall the issue has a nice little story to it. It teaches all of us a little lesson about taking chances. If you really want something bad enough you should go for it. Just be prepared to work to for it because not everything is easy. I enjoyed the book. It is obviously a filler book and has done its job. The art team did a good job. I really liked the villain that they came up with at the end of the issue. And I really enjoyed the tribute to Calvin and Hobbes. The world seems so darn empty without those two gracing our Sunday papers. Overall I would give it a B+ for the message and art.

D. Scott Hill

From CBR, comes a report on the Wizard World Con that was held over the weekend, below is a few excerpts and pics.

Without much fanfare, Berganza asked Greg Rucka to speak about his plans for “Adventures of Superman.” First up, Rucka said, was the unmasking of Ruin, the villain currently making troubles for the Man of Steel. This unmasking would serve to increase complications in Superman’s life, rather than alleviate them. Also mentioned were more big fights, as if anything else could be expected of a Superman title. Lois will finally learn who shot her; the only hint given at this point was that it is a she. That discovery will lead into other plots and plans across the DC Universe. The names of Lex Luthor and the Parasite were also floated, but nothing more than that was said.

Karl Kerschl spoke up at that point, mentioning how glad he was to be returning to the Superman universe. He said he was finally getting his shot at actually drawing Superman in a Superman book for a change, instead of dealing anyone and everyone besides the Man of Tomorrow.

Jeph Loeb chimed in next, talking about “Superman/Batman.” The current plans include the finishing up of the Carlos Pacheco drawn story arc and tying up the “Absolute Power” storyline. In answer to many fans’ questions, this isn’t an imaginary story; “Absolute Power” will create big ripples across the DCU for some time to come. The Ian Churchill one shot, focusing on Supergirl, follows the end of “Absolute Power.” This will set up the launch of the new “Supergirl” book later on this year. Jeph Loeb’s final storyline will feature Superman and Batman coming into conflict with a government sponsored, “Marvel-ous” superteam. Many long-standing questions (like, who was the mysterious Superman in “Superman/Batman” #2, questions about Lex Luthor, and others) will be answered by issue #25, Loeb’s last.

Eddie Berganza introduced Mark Verheiden next as the man who has the pleasure and difficult task of taking over “Superman” when Brian Azzarello and Jim Lee’s run ends. No stranger to Superman because of his work on “Smallville,” Verheiden, along with artist Ed Benes, will explore The Man Of Steel’s powers and his place in the DC Universe. Verheiden hopes to return a sense of wonder and awe to Superman as well as exploring his alienness on planet Earth. On the villain front, a retooled and pumped up Black Rock (an obscure 70s villain who could use television and radio waves to power a handheld black stone which enabled him to perform Green Lantern-esque feats) is coming soon. And fans can look forward to the return of Brainiac as well. Verheiden concluded by praising the art of Ed Benes, saying he draws great looking women, but this book will see him tackling the fellas for a change. Gail Simone chimed in, saying Benes draws hot guys also.

That comment served as a segue for Simone to speak about her run on “Action Comics,” with art from John Byrne. She promised a mix of old and new in terms of villains. Their first issue will feature Dr. Polaris on the run from similarly powered new villainness Repulse. Her other plans include making Lois truly worthy of being with Superman and going back to her reporting roots.

Next up was the mysteriously charming Grant Morrison, speaking on “All Star Superman”, his new book with artist Frank Quitely. According to him, he’s doing an everyman’s Superman, a book that just about anyone can read, so the non fans can get it as well as the long timers. In his story, Clark and Lois aren’t married and Clark was Superboy. The plan is to go back to a Silver Age kind of fun and weirdness Superman used to have. The relationship between Clark and Lois was the classic battle of the sexes blown up to mythic proportions. Early on in “All Star,” Clark will reveal his identity to Lois who will not believe it for a moment and will spend the better part of the issue trying to prove Clark is lying. Grant mentioned Quitely in passing, saying he’s finished three pages so far, but is gearing up to the task (a quiet laughter ran across the room at this comment). In more serious tones, Morrison equated Quitely’s work on “All Star” to Neal Adams. He finally said the fans should treat “All Star” the same way he was, as the folk tales of Superman, the stories told about Superman centuries from now. A final tease was some interplay between Morrison and Berganza concerning “All Star Superman’s” take on the Bizarros. It seems the Bizarros will be more a disease infecting people a la George Romero zombies. The gleaming smile on Grant’s face really said it all at this point.

You can Read the original article, plus more pics at CBR