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Unknown
Welcome back to the caption live. Yesterday, June 12 was Superman Day. So to celebrate that in this episode, we're going to review

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Unknown
of the comic series Superman Birthright. And I am doing the review with former co-host Kevin Sellecca. And today's highlight is going to be Phenix Comics and Games. They are looking at Seattle,

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Washington,

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and they are Capitol Hill's premier comic shop.

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They have manga graphic novels, board games, collectible card games and roleplaying games.

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Let's get started.

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Unknown
Hi and welcome to the Capsule episode for the most casual and dedicated fans of comics in a member of the comic Watch family, I'm your host. Sean joined me and discovers what the world of comics and graphic novels have to offer from one on one interviews with industry professionals, roundtable discussions with passionate fans, and reviews on the latest comics, TV shows and movies.

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Unknown
Let's dive right on in.

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Unknown
Hello, everyone, and thank you for tuning in to the show. Yesterday was June 12th, which was Superman Day. So to celebrate this comic hero we're doing, a comics would be a commentary of the series Superman Birthright from DC Comics. It's a 12 issue series that ran from September of 23 and ended September 24, was written by Mark Waid, penciled by Neil Francis Yu, which I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.

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Unknown
I apologize if I didn't. Inks by Gary Allan Gülen. Again, apologize if I mispronounce that colors by Dave Mccaig and lettered by comic craft. As you may know, I the comics for about to read by taking the recommendation from our guest host a Please welcome back to the show our co-founder and former co-host Kevin Stalker. Kevin, as many of you know, is a time comic book superhero fan and is a public educator.

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Unknown
He is constantly finding new ways to weave his

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Unknown
love of pop culture into the classroom. Kevin, thank you for coming back on the show tonight, man. Hey, glad to be back, man. This is this is my home away from home. So I'm glad I'm glad to get to guest on another episode. And I'm telling you, I'm hoping you know, that our fans will realign, that you can come back on the show regularly and be a co-host again instead of a guest co-host at some point in the future.

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Unknown
So how's how's everything going outside of, you know, the world of comics and everything like that? How's everything else going for you? Oh, I just just finished year 16. As a as a public educator here in Texas. Mm hmm. So I'm about at the halfway point, I guess, of my of my career. You know, May is is a hard month to get through when you're a teacher, but, you know, I'm made it to the summertime.

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Unknown
I've already got to go on a little bit of a family vacation. Got another one to look forward to next month. And other than getting my wisdom teeth removed this week, it should be a pretty slow summer. So, yeah, I hopefully while I'm recuperating, I'll get a chance to read some comics and stuff. So there you go. Now, I was just remembering last year, I think it was last year we went to Dallas Fan Expo together and that's actually just this past weekend.

00:03:08:11 - 00:03:36:17
Unknown
Did you? Yeah, it was good year. We we really thought about leaving our when we left our family vacation on Friday about going up there but we just we've got too many other commitments and this summer so we decided we decided against it we did have we have seen on Facebook and social media a lot of our friends that had gone and my wife is several times looked at stuff and said, yeah, we we might we probably could have gone, but we would have ended up spending way too much money on stuff we didn't need.

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Unknown
And and I was in agreement there, so I really would have loved to go out and meet some of the comic creators. I was trying to win her over by by suggesting we could go and meet Ralph Macchio and Billy Zabka because she's a big we're all big Cobra Kai fans here in this house. But yeah, we didn't get a chance to go to it.

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Unknown
20, 23 may be the year that I don't get to go to a Comic-Con. Really. It's just the stars haven't aligned yet for it. I'm just yet. And I'll be honest with you. Like, I was busy during Houston's comic palooza, which is Memorial Day weekend, and we had plans that interfered with us going to Dallas, Phenix, Bo. There's a couple other ones that like I might be able to go to, but I am not a big fan of Comic-Con in the summer here in Texas.

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Unknown
Yeah, maybe because it's so hot, it's very hard to like cosplay and so looking for one in October. Might, might be my last hope, but. But we shall see. Yeah. Yeah. I will be honest to say that some of the things I've seen on social media, I don't know if it's just, you know, I happen to notice these things or what, but some of the people are reporting, you know, some of the experiences that they had that were like subpar for Dallas Fan Expo.

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Unknown
And I felt like and you and I have been honest with each other about this. I went last year, Saturday, last year for Dallas Fan Expo was a terrible experience for me because I felt like you couldn't move around an exhibition hall. And so I remember being done at like 2 p.m. because I felt like I was bumping into people.

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Unknown
I couldn't get through anything. And I remember being done and it sound like from some of the other people that I've been reading on social media that I follow, that they've had a similar experience, whether it was very congested or I guess, you know, some of the photographs and autographs have been kind of a nightmare in terms of waiting in line to try to get that, especially what was really odd.

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Unknown
It was I think some people had like VIP and then they were told to wait at the back line, things like that. So I know it's just, you know, and not every not every convention is going to be stellar or anything like that. So I'm just hoping that it's something that is more of a fluke and like something weird just happened this year.

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Unknown
Kind of like, you know, when we went to popcorn together for the first time, that was the first time they did popcorn. You know, after the COVID pandemic happened and everything. And so a lot of it was them trying to balance all the things with putting on a convention after so long with this new pandemic. And we remember we had like it wasn't a terrible time, but it wasn't a great time either.

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Unknown
And I feel like every popcorn since then, it actually improved and gotten better. So who knows? Like every every convention has a year where, you know, maybe there's just it wasn't a great year for whatever reason. And hopefully it'll be better next year for people. Yeah, I can say having gone pre-pandemic and post-pandemic, that I think part of the problem with Fan Expo in Dallas is that they're using the same plan over and over again.

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Unknown
And it's grown so much like, I mean, it's a huge Comic-Con and they have tons of celebrities, tons of artists. It's it's by far one of my favorite to go to because of the access you have to the to the guests that are there. However, on Saturday when you have 50,000 people there, yeah, it's so crowded and they need to they need to book up more of the convention center and utilize the space to spread everything out a little bit.

00:07:12:02 - 00:07:31:20
Unknown
Agree? Yeah because that was the thing is they packed in so much with that. That's why I was just really congested is that it wasn't. It was a small space by any means. I remember thinking how big it was, but they just needed more space to accommodate the all the vendors they had all the guests, they had all the art, you know, the artist gallery that they had and all the people that are going there.

00:07:31:20 - 00:08:03:21
Unknown
And I remember that was just, you know, part of the problem was they just didn't have enough space for all that. I think when it comes to all comic cons, you have to like balance the amount of space you have with the like affordability for like the vendors and whatnot. But I would I would argue that if you cut like if you if you cut 10 to 20% of like the list of vendors down or maybe you charged more for the vendors table so that you had fewer some something in order to be able to spread them out better.

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Unknown
Yeah, probably you'd probably as a vendor would come out even still ahead because how much are you not selling Because people can't see what you're selling because the aisles are so crowded. Yeah, well, yeah, in Phenix, but last year, the most congested part of the whole convention was Artist Gallery because they did not have enough room in between those rows for people to go by.

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Unknown
I remember, you know, if you had somebody on either side talking to the artists, like you couldn't even get by because it was that closed. So I. I agree with you. They come up with some sort of way to either reduce the number in some sort of capacity, just to be able to spread things out a little bit.

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Unknown
You know, I think they could definitely do that because it was really weird not to, you know, get off too much on this. But it was really weird that one part of the convention hall was very, very compact. And then the other part was actually more spread open, which you needed to because that was where all the like food vendors were and some the causeway stuff and things like that that were happening.

00:09:05:02 - 00:09:23:19
Unknown
But it was just I remember like the right half was just packed with people and then the left half was a little bit more spread out. But that's because you needed that in order to accommodate all the things that were going on in that section. And so it feels like they have to do something to address that. So but we could do a whole episode on Dallas Fan Expo, some other time.

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Unknown
I mean, and conventions in general. Not a knock on fan Expo because I'm guessing, right. I'm guessing that most places are trying most conventions are trying to squeeze the most out of the space they have. And that's part of the problem. Yeah, I know. And I know, you know, planning and and reserving convention halls, stuff like that is a logistical challenge for a lot of people.

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Unknown
Like I know Indiana Comic-Con, they they reserved it this week and this year on a weekend where it was free comic book day. So that kind of put book bookstores in a pickle. And it was also the same weekend as the biggest marathon for the state. I don't think just a city, but the state of Indiana. And it ran like right outside the convention hall as well, too.

00:10:09:17 - 00:10:26:14
Unknown
And so I remember thinking like that was a bad weekend. But apparently, from what I hear from people when they're booking convention halls, they're already limited to what weekends they can actually pick. So my guess is there is a reason why they picked that one versus the other ones, which I can't remember. I can't fathom why that would be.

00:10:26:14 - 00:10:44:21
Unknown
But, you know, it is what it is. So but yeah, like I said, we could do a whole thing about conventions and things like that, but we're going to be talking about Superman birthday. So before we get into that series, Kevin, why don't you tell us a little bit about your origin story with the character Superman? What got you into that character?

00:10:44:21 - 00:11:18:07
Unknown
Was it comics was a movie TV show. Can't tell us, you know, how you got started with Superman and how your relationship with that character grew from there? Yeah. So my first real exposure to Superman as a kid was probably when I was like seven, almost seven years old. My family went on a builders builders mission trip to Paducah, Kentucky, which is right across the river from Metropolis, Illinois, which is the adopted home of Superman.

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Unknown
And Mike, while we were while we were there, we went and visited Metropolis and they have they have a huge statue of Superman in downtown now. But back and back. And when I went, it was you know, it was probably only about eight feet tall. But that was also right after Superman four, The Quest for Peace had come out.

00:11:36:17 - 00:12:09:00
Unknown
And I had seen that movie like, so many times. Uh, we've talked we've talked about the how like that that in Batman was kind of a12 punch for or for like the, the growth of the fandom in my personal history. But my last name Stalker means steel corner in German and so the man of steel has always been like, had this like this draw to me.

00:12:09:02 - 00:12:33:06
Unknown
And when I was in later elementary school, I got this from a from the local library. I gotten this huge collection of like classic Superman stories from like the comic strip days in the early the early days back when he was like fighting Nazis in World War Two. Right. And and probably the time that I got into comics in the early nineties was was right about the time they decided to kill Superman.

00:12:33:08 - 00:13:02:02
Unknown
And so yeah I remember that issue Yeah yeah. All of these, all these things over time have like built up. But like at any one particular time and any one particular time of the day, I'm often wearing at least three pieces of like Superman memorabilia. I have a Superman wallet and a Superman logo on my watch. I just recently got this Superman.

00:13:02:04 - 00:13:26:08
Unknown
Oh, nice. This ring that my wife got me. And I wear it as my wedding ring from from time to time. Are you serious? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I wear. I wear it on my on my. My regimen. It's just a silicone thing, so it's like. No, it's. But it's funny because my wedding ring, my original wedding ring was actually made out of golden stainless steel, But you can resize it because of stainless steel.

00:13:26:08 - 00:13:44:14
Unknown
And I've lost weight since I got married. And the jewelry store that I got it from said that, you know, if I ever need to get a different ring because there's, you know, sizes change, I can come back and get it. Well it went out of business and so I can't get the new rings. I my wife and I talked about just me getting kind of like a new ring, but kind of cheaper.

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Unknown
But that way I have a wedding ring on because I didn't have one for the longest time and I want to get one fun. And it's also a Superman ring. Oh, nice. So is this It's more it's more proof that we may have been brothers separated at birth. Yes. Yeah. Mine is from Groove Life. I also have the belt, the like Magnetic Superman logo belt.

00:14:07:00 - 00:14:39:00
Unknown
Yeah. So I am a huge I'm a huge Superman fan. Just, you know what? The Man of Steel and the, you know, my last name. I love the character of of Clark Kent and Superman. Probably because I can really identify with the fact that, like, he is so like he's not that I'm powerful, but that Clark is so powerful and he has the ability to do all these amazing things.

00:14:39:02 - 00:15:06:04
Unknown
But he he's torn with try and be everything to everyone all the time and and essentially the Messiah complex. But, but between that and then some of the newer stuff that Peter Tomasi has written about him being a dad and things like that have really resonated with me in recent years. And so like I feel like the character is kind of evolved with me as I've, as I've grown up and whatnot.

00:15:06:04 - 00:15:43:05
Unknown
So yeah, Superman Superman has always had a really special, really special place in my heart. Yeah, I so we grew up around the same time, right? And similar with me as well is I don't think Superman four was my first introduction to Superman, but Christopher Reeve was my introduction to Superman. Right? And so I think for a lot of the characters, the superheroes that we were introduced to, a lot of it was from TV shows and movies, because at a time that was where the booming of those characters was happening at was to film and through TV shows.

00:15:43:05 - 00:16:07:17
Unknown
And so I can't remember which movie I saw first. That was Christopher Reeve. I remember Christopher Reeve being the first Superman to I grew up with. And the first Superman comic that I read was the same was the Death of Superman. Because, again, like I at that point, I was casually reading to comics. I mostly read comics that my uncle had, and I can't remember if he had Superman comics or not.

00:16:07:17 - 00:16:23:22
Unknown
If he did, I don't remember which ones they were, but I remember the ones I bought was The Death of Superman, because that was a huge pivotal moment that you just like as a kid. Like I can't, you know, fathom like Superman dying because he's like, Invincible. So that was the first time that we saw him die in pop culture.

00:16:23:24 - 00:16:43:23
Unknown
And then I remember after that where they had like the four different Superman. I loved the Man of Steel, John Henry Irons, and I thought he was so great in that that I remember loving that character. He was my favorite one of the four that they had come out there. And then, of course, we grew up with the TV show Lois and Clark The New Adventures of Superman.

00:16:44:00 - 00:17:11:06
Unknown
So my yeah, my wife met Dean Cain at a at a Comic-Con a few years ago. So we have we have the other graphed Lois and Clark memorabilia in the house, too. Yeah. Yeah. So, like, all those things were kind of my introduction to Superman, but I remember as a kid, I love Superman. I don't know if you had this experience, but when you were a kid, did you get the Superman costume where you thought that if you put it on with the Cape, that you would magically fly like Superman?

00:17:11:08 - 00:17:27:16
Unknown
I always wished that I could fly like Superman, but I don't know that I ever had the costume or anything is. Oh, okay. Gotcha. I remember getting the costume. I remember thinking like having the costume would enable me to fly like Superman. And I thought I was doing something wrong every time I jumped and it was actually flying.

00:17:27:17 - 00:17:57:08
Unknown
This isn't working. Yeah, So. Well, let's see. I have gone through a number of, like, Superman t shirts. Yeah. Which, like the last one that I had before, the one that I have on, I've probably had since the since the year after I got married, which I've been married for 17 and a half years now, but I was going to throw it out a few years ago and my wife loved it so much because it's like, I guess it's worn out and it's like super soft.

00:17:57:08 - 00:18:20:09
Unknown
And the the Superman logos barely, like, visible anymore because it's just I, you know, wore it out. But like she where she wears it as like a night shirt now because like it's it's just too special to throw away I guess to her so Yeah but yeah no I've had my number of I've had a number of t shirts have not, I've not ever owned the, the Cape.

00:18:20:11 - 00:18:40:10
Unknown
Well I think for your birthday I'm going to have to rectify that. Okay. You send me a cape. I will send you a cape. I'll find a really nice cape. Not just the cape. I'll jump off the I'll jump off the roof and I'll tell. Have Matt be there to catch you. Yeah, I know. Just let Matt and do it first.

00:18:40:13 - 00:19:02:07
Unknown
Yeah, there you go. Hey, Sean says this cape works, so. Oh, yeah, it's very. It's 100% gritty kryptonite, Right? And Kryptonian? Yeah, Kryptonian. Yes. All right, good, Tony. And, yeah, 100% kryptonite would be the wrong. Well, yeah, exactly. Or is it? Well, let's go ahead and dive into Superman Birthright for those.

00:19:02:07 - 00:19:05:09
Unknown
You have not read the series and you don't want it spoiled for you.

00:19:05:11 - 00:19:37:03
Unknown
Now's the time to turn this off and wait until you read it and then come back to this. But let's dive into Kevin, why you decided for Superman Day for this episode. You want to read and review Superman Birthright of all the series of Superman that you could have picked? Yeah, I can't remember. It's been about ten years since I read Superman Birthright the first time, and even like, something over it again in the last couple of weeks before before we started recording this.

00:19:37:05 - 00:20:04:04
Unknown
It's it's just one of my favorite standalone Superman stories. And I don't really buy into the notion of canon in modern comics because the characters have been like Superman himself has as been killed and come back to life like everybody's everybody's story has changed so much that it's hard. It's hard to say like this is canon or that is canon.

00:20:04:10 - 00:20:29:20
Unknown
The only things that are canon are like, you know, the Batman's parents were killed outside of the theater and that Superman came from another another planet or whatnot. But what what I love about the story is that it was it was a new origin story. It was an updated origin story. Right. For the for the 21st century. The thing is, this is 2023 now.

00:20:29:20 - 00:20:56:09
Unknown
This was written 20 years ago. Yeah. Yeah. And you could open it. You could open it right now. And it's just as is just as like timely and topical in 2023 as it was in 2003. And I don't know, I don't remember. It doesn't rely heavily on, you know, the thing that the thing that gives stories away now is like the communication technology.

00:20:56:11 - 00:21:44:13
Unknown
You can tell when a movie or something was from based on the type of the type of phone that they they use in the story. But I think I think that aside, it really is the 21st is like the epitome of 21st century Superman story. And and it's it's the reason the reason why Mark Waid wanted to write the story in 2003 was he wanted an updated origin story kind of the same way that kind of the same way that Superman the movie did in 1978 and and he like the Superman movie from 1978, is is is a fairly timeless film.

00:21:44:15 - 00:22:12:19
Unknown
And I think that the I think Birthright is also a quite timeless example of how comics can transcend over time. All that being said, here, here we are in 2023. You mentioned that yesterday was Superman Day. Superman is celebrating his 85th birthday. Yeah. And and this summer, Superman, the movie celebrates its 45th birthday. And this comic that we're talking about is 20 is 20 years old.

00:22:12:21 - 00:22:40:04
Unknown
And so there's a there's a lot of I think there's a lot of gravitas that comes along with if like these these stories and the ones that can really, really stand up to the test of time. Right. Yeah. And in this series, when I read it, unless you were you, I could tell it was a 23 book because first of all, you know, that's when we were, you know, in high school and college.

00:22:40:04 - 00:23:00:09
Unknown
And there's the events of 911, the war in Iraq that happened. And there some pages. And one of the issues where it was clearly kind of addressing that, that that was really interesting. We'll talk about that a little bit later. But it was definitely a timely piece in terms of what was going on in the United States around that time and didn't really focus on the whole story.

00:23:00:09 - 00:23:23:10
Unknown
But the fact that they were talking about specifically, you know, anti-terrorism strategies or stuff like that, that was definitely something that probably honed in a lot more during that time than if it was written, you know, five years ago or five years prior to that. Right. Right. But was interesting when you said, you know, talking about canon and things like that.

00:23:23:10 - 00:23:46:05
Unknown
I don't know if you knew this, but I was doing a little bit of research about the series after I read it. And apparently this series was supposed to be canon, but I guess DC Comics decided that they wanted to make it came and said to replace John Burns Man of Steel series, right with this one, which I thought was really interesting that I'd never heard of a story being canon.

00:23:46:05 - 00:24:32:09
Unknown
It then kind of got knocked out and replaced by a different series as canon in this way, which to me to me is silly because because it has since been removed as Canon Black. Has it really? Yes. Like the infinite crisis. The infinite crisis crossover from like just a few years after thousand eight or 2009 infinite crisis changed, I guess de canonized birthright and then like several years later, there was a, it was, uh, he writes everything for DC.

00:24:32:11 - 00:25:04:22
Unknown
They came out with the new Superman Secret Files and Origins, Geoff Johns and Jeff and Gary Trent Yeah, they did. And that has officially replaced that as quote unquote canon. Mm hmm. But it's it's all in all the stories are the same like Superman comes from, you know, comes from Krypton and the the devil's in the details, especially with this one in terms of some of the some of the background story between Clark and Lex Luthor, right?

00:25:05:02 - 00:25:27:05
Unknown
Yeah. Well, I want to share a couple of listeners thoughts about the series because I asked four people, you know, if they've read the series before. Yeah, they thought about it, and I got a couple people to respond. So Derrick Hoskins, Paperweight Entertainment said Superman. Birthright was the first Superman story he read. It was also the first time that he started to understand the appeal, the character.

00:25:27:05 - 00:25:46:12
Unknown
It's also some of his favorite Superman artwork of all time. MM And Anthony Berger, many from Comic Watch, said it sounds like Mark Waid will be touching on elements from this and his upcoming DC Black label book Superman The Last Days of Lex Luthor, which is actually coming out later this summer in July. So. Okay. Yeah. So they'll know about that when I pick that up.

00:25:46:17 - 00:26:05:23
Unknown
Yeah. You know, honestly, I think that I've heard about that book coming out, but I didn't realize it was it was a connection to Superman Birthright, which apparently, I guess Mark Wade a while back kind of confirmed that it was going to be a continuation of that story, essentially. So I didn't I heard of it, but I didn't realize the connection with it.

00:26:05:23 - 00:26:29:09
Unknown
So it's going to come out in July. And I think from the looks of it, I looked at it really quickly. It might just be a single book. I don't know. I didn't see multiple issues or anything like that. But it just may have been that they don't have that Urban League atomic age yet. So so let's kind of do a recap of the series for everybody who either hasn't listened to it yet I'm sorry, or haven't read it yet, or people who may have read it and just kind of forgot the details.

00:26:29:09 - 00:27:01:10
Unknown
So generally speaking, just like what we talked about, this is the origin story of Superman. The first issue kind of focuses in on that last days of Krypton and Jor-El, Laurel sending Kal-El to Earth. And so they have like this whole, I think like eight pages kind of buildup of talking about, you know, how Krypton pretty much, you know, didn't take Joel's warnings, you know, to ha now, you know, the planet is going to explode and and Kal-El is going to be, you know, the last surviving son of Krypton, like any other origin story that we've had.

00:27:01:16 - 00:27:28:03
Unknown
Exactly. And then later on, I think they said, you know, 25 years later, we see Clark is out in West Africa trying to be a journalist. And he was documenting, you know, some of the things that's going on with the conflict in West Africa with the reigning, you know, government people and the rebellion that's happening. And he's also trying to figure out like how to use his powers for good without scaring people.

00:27:28:05 - 00:27:49:20
Unknown
Um, so after that whole thing and actually the leader of the rebellion group gets killed, Clark decides to come home, and he decides that he needs to become something for the people, which he gets the idea to wear a costume from the blanket that he got from when he leaned on Earth, which has the, you know, Superman House of Bells insignia there.

00:27:49:22 - 00:28:12:22
Unknown
So his mom helps him figure out, you know, how to make that costume work. But, you know, having like dual identities. So you said that she pretty much he needs to make Clark not stand out, basically. Right. So she's the one that came up with the glasses because his eyes appearances are way too blue that people are going to notice that teaches him, you know, he has to slouch.

00:28:12:23 - 00:28:30:20
Unknown
He has to act like, you know, you know, very clumsy and dorky and things like that. And so it's really cool to kind of see how that origin kind of started. Wasn't, you know, Clark always like that. But it was out of a need to kind of hide his identity from being Superman as well. Yeah. And then he goes to Metropolis.

00:28:30:20 - 00:28:58:19
Unknown
So yeah, good. And I think I think that aspect of it really gives really gives meaning to the way that Christopher Reeve portrays Clark in the in the original Superman film. Right. Because he does like really, really ham up the the clumsiness and and there's a the there's a scene and I think there's a scene in every single Superman movie there is contemplating telling Lois.

00:28:58:24 - 00:29:20:18
Unknown
Yeah that he's Superman and so he he's he takes the glasses off and he stands up, stands more upright and there's a huge shift in in his appearance. And to be honest with you, like, I think I think I've figured out as a as an adult, like most most of us only see what we want to see anyway.

00:29:20:20 - 00:29:45:13
Unknown
So I don't think it would be too far fetched for him to hide out like that. Yeah, well, and what's interesting is, one, you're absolutely right. I think that was brilliant acting from Christopher Reeve to show how Clark Kent and Superman can appear like two different people like that was brilliant acting. It's a clip that goes on ticktock all around, just to show how that's possible from an acting point of view.

00:29:45:13 - 00:30:04:07
Unknown
And and he nails it really well. And just like he said, every movie has something like that. But what's also interesting is I hear about this tidbit all the time is that I guess Christopher Reeve has said before that when he was on set as Superman, all the women would notice him a like would be watching him, stuff like that.

00:30:04:07 - 00:30:24:13
Unknown
But then when he is walking, I don't know if it was like as Clark Kent or just himself, he would get like no attention at all whatsoever from from the women on set. And so, like, clearly there's something a little bit truth behind how somebody could still be, you know, unrecognizable if they, you know, act different or just have the glasses on, things like that.

00:30:24:13 - 00:30:51:12
Unknown
There's been like a lot of theories about how Clark has done things or, you know, Kal-El has done things so people wouldn't recognize them either. Yeah, I don't even think I don't even think we need to acknowledge that he would have some sort of like mind control powers to make you see him differently. I think that a lot of it, a lot of his Clark secret identity is built on like, like stereotypes that are like, still exist today.

00:30:51:14 - 00:31:15:11
Unknown
You know, they evolved through the fifties and sixties. We're talking about like the Poindexter and the glasses and everything. And that was probably at its peak between 1978 Superman and like 1984 is Revenge of the Nerds. Right? And so like, like, you know, historically, people that looked like that were kind of, you know, background characters. They were in pieces.

00:31:15:11 - 00:31:43:10
Unknown
And I think that's what that's what that's what Clark is banking on in terms of in terms of his secret identity. The other thing from the the other thing from like that part of the book that I thought is interesting is how how heavily Zack Snyder like pulled from from Birthright in terms of the the the hope, the meaning of hope and the insignia and everything for Man of Steel in 2013.

00:31:43:16 - 00:32:19:01
Unknown
I think that every Superman story kind of influences the next ones. And you can see like, Oh yeah, you can see how like the characterization of Clark as clumsy in birth, right? Is inspired by the previous portrayals of him in the films. But then also this element of his background story is incorporated into future films. And so it's like, I think this is why I don't believe that any, any one story can truly be canon, because it's everything is like a hodgepodge of all of, you know, borrowing from one and the other.

00:32:19:06 - 00:32:38:13
Unknown
Well, especially when you have that long history like this character has as well, too, is a can definitely. I mean, there are some things that might be completely conflicting, but all in all, these little details can definitely hold up to being canon. Yeah, one other thing I remember Franklin Roosevelt was the president when Superman was and was invented, right?

00:32:38:15 - 00:33:00:05
Unknown
Yeah. So? So one of the other things that I remember from this part that I thought was really cool is like a small little tidbit. Again, that can make a world of difference in terms of people recognizing you is that his mom said he needs to wear baggy clothes so that way people don't notice his physique because when he's flying around the Superman, of course there was God knows his physique.

00:33:00:05 - 00:33:27:15
Unknown
But if he wears tight shirts as Clark Kent, then people also are going to notice that they're going to pay more attention to that. So the idea of wearing baggy your clothes that way, it's not skin tight or anything I thought was just again, a really, you know, small detail that makes that work. So, yeah. So after that, Clark moves to Metropolis because he said that, you know, as Superman, he needs to kind of have a ear for, you know, immediate news.

00:33:27:15 - 00:33:53:02
Unknown
Basically, he needs to know like what's happening now. And the Daily Planet has that reputation, so he's going to go and get a job. There is Clark Kent, and that's what we get introduced to Metropolis being under this anti-terrorism robots, kind of monitoring everyone and kind of looking out for, you know, potential terrorist attacks, which again, 2003, we just had this experience in New York two years prior with the attacks on September 11th.

00:33:53:02 - 00:34:10:23
Unknown
And so this kind of really hit home for a lot of people in the U.S. in terms of this is an actual thing that, you know, could happen if, you know, we had that sort of technology that they're talking about, then we find out that Lex Luther is the person that's in charge of these devices, and then one of them goes haywire.

00:34:10:23 - 00:34:32:07
Unknown
And then that's when Metropolis gets introduced and the world gets introduced to Superman because he stops that machine from, you know, killing innocent people. And then Clark Kent and Lois Lane figures out that Lex was responsible for it. And then later on, we see that there's a flashback that Lex and Clark were actually friends in high school. I guess Lex moved to Metropolis and they were really good friends.

00:34:32:07 - 00:34:52:10
Unknown
Lex was kind of like a social outcast. Smallville The legacy, I say, Yeah, sorry. Yeah. So I'm sorry my mind was still in Metropolis, But yeah, he, you know, they were friends in high school in Smallville, so Lex had moved there and he was kind of a social outcast, but he was a genius, you know, even when he was a kid, really, into astrobiology.

00:34:52:15 - 00:35:18:16
Unknown
And then he was trying to open a wormhole with kryptonite. The piece that he found, which he didn't know was kryptonite or didn't know anything about it, to prove that there was alien life. And then because of that experiment and there's explosion that demolished his house, killed his father left him scarred, and then he basically flees Smallville. And so what's interesting is that when Clark Kent meets Lex Luthor in Metropolis, he tries to say, hey, there's, you know, it's been quite some time.

00:35:18:22 - 00:35:51:11
Unknown
And Lex, you know, just pretends that he never met him, you know, So. So obviously there's some weird, like, history behind that. And so when they come back to present day, Lex realizes Superman doesn't know where he's from. So he tells them about Krypton and how, you know, it no longer exists. And he's alone. So Lex uses the wormhole he made with the kryptonite to create these images from Krypton to make it look like Superman was actually a war scout for Krypton and projected these images in Metropolis to make it look like Earth was being invaded and to turn everybody against Superman.

00:35:51:11 - 00:36:14:10
Unknown
So that way Lex Luthor can come in and save the day. But, you know, long story short, Superman and Lois Lane stops him, exposes what he was actually doing. Superman saves the Day. What was really interesting is in the final issue, issue number 12, the wormhole that Lex created, actually, you know, wormholes are kind of these windows, not just between space, but also between time.

00:36:14:12 - 00:36:35:16
Unknown
So the window that he made allows Superman to tell his biological parents, you know, right before they send him off to Earth that he made it. And so his parents got the reassurance before they died that their son made it alive to earth. And so it was kind of like a nice little wrap up to that story. So that's kind of the long that's kind of sort of long a bit basically, of this story.

00:36:35:16 - 00:37:04:23
Unknown
So that was that's one of my favorite like plot devices that, you know, in a lot of in a lot of visual storytelling, storytelling, there's always there's a there's a gimmick involved. Right. And you don't like the Superman origin story. You've seen the origin of Superman a thousand times. We really do. We really need to see, you know, Krypton explode again at the beginning of the book.

00:37:05:00 - 00:37:25:23
Unknown
But but like, it makes so much more sense when you put it there. And we tell that story when you are when you allow there to be some some closure at the end. And I think that I think, you know, maybe it's because I because I like closure that it's that it's it's so poignant to me in the story.

00:37:25:23 - 00:37:47:00
Unknown
But, you know, I'm a I'm a big fan of the way that that worked out. Yeah. Well and what was really cool about that is that there was really no hint that they were going to come back and circle around to that until the very last issue, because everything that happened with Krypton and and Kal-El being shipped off to Earth was all in the first issue.

00:37:47:00 - 00:38:06:05
Unknown
They never really touch on that ever again, really until this last issue. So it's really cool to kind of have that, Oh, wow. You know, they kind of, you know, full circle wasn't expecting that. And that was like a really nice touch, like really sentimental, because it does come out of a little bit out of left field. But yeah, but it makes sense.

00:38:06:05 - 00:38:22:07
Unknown
Yeah, it does. It does. It's great. Now, I wish that Kal-El knew that his message got across to his parents because he didn't, you know, know that, you know, he was like trying. He was saying, like, I made I made it. But he didn't get to see his parents reaction because the windows shut before he could see the reaction.

00:38:22:07 - 00:38:42:00
Unknown
But the panel kind of went off and showed their reaction. And so like how happy they were that they didn't make it because because Jor-El wasn't even thinking about doing that, because he said the chains are so slim, He was like, let's not even do that at all. But, you know, his wife said, Laura, l said, you know, the weather choice did they have like if they kept him there, they would definitely die.

00:38:42:00 - 00:38:59:03
Unknown
So. So it was a nice little I tell kids I tell kids that all the time when they're taking the test. Yeah, you don't if you don't guess you definitely get it wrong you if you guess, you at least have, you know, a one in four chance of getting it right unless it's S.A.T. because then if you guess and get it wrong, it does kind of gets you.

00:38:59:03 - 00:39:14:20
Unknown
Whereas if you skip the question, it's a little going against you. I teach seventh and eighth graders in book about this interview. So. So let's talk about the writing of the story. What did you think about the writing? Because we're going to talk about the writing, we're going to talk about artwork, we're going to talk about the cover art.

00:39:14:22 - 00:39:47:14
Unknown
So let's focus on the writing here first. So I like Mark Waid. I'll say I like Mark Waid. I don't I don't love Mark Waid. He's not he's not my favorite writer. There are some things like like Birthright that I absolutely love. I really love his daredevil run. Yes. Which I know you love to. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Some of the other things some of the other things that he's written that are really held in high regard, like like Kingdom Come and things like that, I'm kind of take it or leave it on.

00:39:47:16 - 00:40:12:15
Unknown
But, but this one is probably amongst my favorite of his stories. I know he's a very prolific, you know, comics writer, Hall of Famer, if there is such a thing. But this one, this one, I'll tell you the interesting thing that I find about it and you you kind of touched on some of these things in your synopsis.

00:40:12:17 - 00:40:34:10
Unknown
The whole thing is like there's there's not really any originality to any of these stories at this point. I feel like that everybody's borrowing something from somewhere. And whether or not it was he that came up with it first or vice versa, like just just in the things that you rattled off, like the the drones that were protecting you.

00:40:34:10 - 00:41:08:00
Unknown
Metropolis A lot like what? Like Tony Stark envisioned Ultron to be, you know, a safety net for the world. The fact that he causes the problem so that he can then save the day syndrome from The Incredibles and then the notion that he's a bad guy and that he's like an advance scout for this race of people that are coming to conquer the earth, that's like the exact plot of Invincible because like Omni-man and Invincible is is that version of Superman.

00:41:08:02 - 00:41:35:20
Unknown
Right? And so it's interesting to see how, like, you could almost throw together a if you put all of these, like, ideas into like an air generator, you could almost like churn out a story because so much of this so much of this stuff is like is like, hey, maybe it's maybe not a rip off, but maybe an homage to like, Hey, do you remember this detail of the story from 20 years ago?

00:41:35:20 - 00:41:57:13
Unknown
We're going to flip that on its head now. We're going to do it now. We're going to do it this way. And there's this. Like, you know, there's always the link between the versions of Superman. You know, or like, you know, I we earlier talked about how we both seen across the spider-verse and there's a lot of there's a lot of not to spoil that movie for everybody.

00:41:57:13 - 00:42:28:23
Unknown
There's a lot of talk about canon in that film too. And so the fact that they're that it can be an original, like to me it was a very original Superman story and probably one of the best Superman origin stories that exists, but it's not 100% original. There's a lot of ideas that it borrows from other places and then a lot of ideas from it have been borrowed to other stories, right?

00:42:29:00 - 00:43:04:07
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. For me, I really enjoyed the writing here. There's a few things I thought was interesting they'll get to in a second. But one of the things I really like about the writing here is that it really focuses in on how lonely the character of Kal-El Clark Kent is, because there is a lot of moments where you see that he is struggling between trying to balance Clark Kent duties and Superman duties, but also the social aspect, because he started to be, you know, kind of shunned from the workers at Daily Planet.

00:43:04:07 - 00:43:25:03
Unknown
And you really saw that in a lot of these panels here. So I thought was really interesting to kind of see some of those struggles that we don't necessarily see from the character of Superman we definitely see as Clark Kent. But you kind of see as like two separate things that Superman there really struggled with this. But in here we actually see that there's some real struggles in both of those things.

00:43:25:05 - 00:43:55:01
Unknown
And I really enjoy Mark Wade's take on adoption and parenting as well, because you know, Kal-el's father, I'm sorry, Clark Kent, Father John Kent talked about, you know, how he's a dad, too, but also talks about father and son bonding as being a real thing that kind of transcends by biology here. And so I really like how he kind of blends those things, but also touches on what it means to be an adoptive parent.

00:43:55:01 - 00:44:18:08
Unknown
And kind of the idea of if, you know, the biological parents show up in his life and everything, like what that would mean to them, they know would mean the world to him because every child who's adopted is always curious about their biological family if they don't know the family. But they also, you know, are very honest about would that mean that, you know their son when one to be with them anymore or something like that.

00:44:18:08 - 00:44:35:16
Unknown
So I really like that he touched about those things I thought was really interesting about the commentary he made. He didn't he didn't harp on this a whole lot, but just about war on terrorism, because you had Clark sit in a taxi and the taxi driver talks about, you know, the anti terrorism devices and the drones and everything.

00:44:35:18 - 00:44:54:17
Unknown
And again, this was at the height where, you know, the US just got into a war with Iraq. And some of the conversation I have having that I think at the time was probably something that he probably pushed the boundaries on for a lot of people because we were still in a very as a country, very defensive kind of mode with everything that was happening.

00:44:54:17 - 00:45:25:14
Unknown
I'm from the social consciousness, so I think this was kind of something that was interesting because even though we really touched on it for one page, I think it was something that was probably, you know, was a little bit controversial at the time. I don't I didn't check the history on this, but I assume it was and I mean, it definitely takes it definitely like it's run from 2003 to 2004 is really the the the jumping off point for the the the second war in Iraq.

00:45:25:16 - 00:45:56:08
Unknown
Yeah. And, you know, the war in Iraq wasn't resolved for for another couple of years. I mean, like I remember being in my first year of teaching when. No, I take that back. No, you're still in college when that happened, Hunter Turner, I remember when the because technically late 2003, it was because because technically the mission was accomplished like six months later.

00:45:56:08 - 00:46:38:11
Unknown
But we're still in Iraq for like another four or five years, right? Yeah. I want to say late 2003 was when Saddam Hussein captured. Yes. In in December of December of 2003. So like nearly right in the middle of the run of this book, like is when is is like the peak of the war in Iraq. So yeah, like but a lot of those lot of the a lot of our fear associated with domestic terrorism and stuff like that had has lingered in this country for the past 20 years.

00:46:38:11 - 00:47:03:03
Unknown
And I think I think that, like I said earlier, it's one of the reasons why it's still such such a timely read. Because because it's you. Because I guess if you're an adult now, you kind of remember experiencing that. So you have like you have personal experience to draw on. Right. And in this series, this is a first time for me.

00:47:03:03 - 00:47:33:20
Unknown
I don't know if it's the first time ever in the history of Superman, but in this series we see a couple of teenage kids go to a school and and, you know, it was a school shooting, right? Superman stopped that from you know, getting any worse. I think a couple of people may have been injured, but he stopped that from getting worse, found out that they got the guns from an arms dealer, you know, like a legit gun store owner who sold it to the kids illegally.

00:47:33:20 - 00:47:52:22
Unknown
And so Superman showed up at his store, accused him of doing all this. And then he grabbed the gun, fired it at the guy to scare the living crap out of him, and then stopped the bullet before his face. But the guy was like, you know, scared shitless from what happened because Superman said this is a nine year old who just experienced this.

00:47:52:22 - 00:48:14:20
Unknown
They will never be able to get that out of their head for the rest of their lives, basically. But that was the first time I think I've ever seen Superman actually held a gun and fired it. As somebody, you know. So I thought that was interesting. Yeah. And it it speaks volumes like to like that that particular issue that we continue to have in our country 20 years later.

00:48:14:22 - 00:48:35:09
Unknown
Right. So Lex Luthor, living is small, but I'll be honest, I thought this was just something that happened in TV series, right? Well, that's another thing that feels like they borrowed from Smallville, too. So this is the first time we've seen Lex actually have any connection to Smallville in the comics. You think I do believe? Yeah. Okay. Gotcha.

00:48:35:09 - 00:48:53:04
Unknown
Okay. Yes, I was. I was curious about that because when I saw that, I was just like, I didn't think there's any association before. So just like what you said when, when they introduced this, I was like, I wonder if they took this from the TV series. It sounds like that might case. No, I like I said, like I said, it's a patchwork of all the stories that have come before it.

00:48:53:10 - 00:49:21:00
Unknown
But it's it's like to me, the definitive. The definitive origin. Yeah. One thing I will say that's always weird and I don't know if this gets resolved like in a different series or something like that is an issue one or two. They made a mention about, you know, a lot of Lang being missing. I think Clark's parents said something about that.

00:49:21:02 - 00:49:41:08
Unknown
You know, I think he asked about it was like, any word on where Lana's at? And so I said like, yeah, no one's seen her yet. And then that was it. Like it was never brought up again in the entire series. So I have no idea what that was about. I don't know if like, she disappeared, like that prior to the series or what, but I thought it was the weirdest thing to bring her up and then to never resolve it.

00:49:41:08 - 00:50:00:18
Unknown
And the rest of the series, something something that would have touched on on the the unproduced sequel, maybe. Yeah. And maybe they'll do that in this upcoming, you know, the last days of Lex Luthor. So so let's talk about the artwork. So this includes the pencils, ink, colors, lettering. What did you think about the artwork in this series?

00:50:00:20 - 00:50:33:07
Unknown
So. Well, let me tell you, is one of my one of my favorite artists. Okay. The the some of the like he's done some huge, huge stories like he did, uh, Secret Invasion like he's the main Penzler for the Secret invasion crossover a marvel before that he did the ultimate Ultimate Hulk versus Wolverine, which which has an interesting production history.

00:50:33:07 - 00:51:03:20
Unknown
And like if you go back and read it, it's like six issues but it took it three years to three years to finish. And then he did a book with Mark No, sorry. Mark mILLAR called Superior, which I really Yeah, it's about, it's a story about a boy that's stricken with like, what is it, M.S. or like cerebral palsy?

00:51:03:20 - 00:51:30:13
Unknown
Like it doesn't have full function of his motor system that he has, like he becomes a superhero. And there's a lot of there's a lot of correlation between like that story and the modern Shazam stories and especially the movie. I kind of felt like Shazam ripped off Superior a little bit in terms of the in terms of the modern, the modern the movie.

00:51:30:13 - 00:51:56:21
Unknown
But his his artwork is is like when to me when I think about when I think like what comic art should look like. There's a handful of artists that I feel like they hit the nail right on the head. Uh, Neil Adams from a generation previous, you know, Jim Lee, Lynell, you all those, all those guys to me are, are, are exceptional.

00:51:57:00 - 00:52:17:09
Unknown
The thing that blows me away is that he was 25 when he did this book. Mm hmm. Like, he's. He's only he's. He's only, like, five years older than I am. So, like, at 25, he's working on, like, this masterpiece, and I'm like, still, I'm still trying to figure out as to try to figure out what I'm doing in my life.

00:52:17:09 - 00:52:37:13
Unknown
I think I just started teaching at 25. So yeah. So I gotta be honest, I am not a fan of the artwork here. Well, this is this is where we this is where we disagree. Yeah. So, so let me just let me start off by saying that I think the ink and colors and lettering were phenomenal. I think those are, you know, done very well.

00:52:37:13 - 00:52:55:14
Unknown
I love the colors and the shading that they did in this. The lettering was really good. I was a fan of the artwork. So the first thing I need to say is this is more of a pet peeve of mine and I commentary on the art, but I just I really hate the the corny little s trail that they have in the hairline for Superman.

00:52:55:14 - 00:53:15:02
Unknown
I hate it on Superman. They had it on Laura L in their story they put on baby Kal-El. I just don't like it. I think that's, you know, a little bit, you know, hitting the nail too much on the head, I don't think. You know, I get that it's a homage to Christopher Reeve, but I am done with Superman having too little as like he has the S everywhere.

00:53:15:02 - 00:53:35:19
Unknown
He doesn't to have it as a little hair thing on his forehead. And I. I can't stand it either. I'm going to be honest. I think the Superman in this story has, as Clark has a very nice modern haircut. Yeah. And his hair does look very different as Superman. But also with the S thing, it looks kind of stupid.

00:53:35:21 - 00:53:56:11
Unknown
I know. I think I'm just done with it. Yeah, I think that's one of those things that, like, they give you a checklist when you're getting ready to write a Superman book that it's supposed it's supposed to have. And I think it's kind of I think it's kind of ridiculous. Yeah. And this was 20 years ago. Like, if it was today, I would definitely be like, Let's move on from this.

00:53:56:13 - 00:54:14:07
Unknown
20 years ago. This is, you know, barely out of the nineties and that this was still, you know, again, given the context of everything people want familiar so I get why they probably did the as here because this was something that was a prominent trait for Superman. I just I'm not a fan of it. I've never been a fan of that.

00:54:14:09 - 00:54:44:15
Unknown
Yeah I'm looking at the, the cover of like number one and you have he's got this like the first issue. He's got this great like he's as Clark, he's got the tie on everything. He's got his hair parted and whatnot. And the Superman from that same that same issue looks like it could be a completely different person because of the way they've classically styled Superman's hair.

00:54:44:17 - 00:55:14:09
Unknown
Yeah, I will say the one the one thing I don't like about the art in it is a lot of times the like the highlights. Like if you if you look at like a t shirt in like the light and there's like, you know, ripples and shading and whatnot. Right. The, the colorist in this particular story used white to highlight the brightest parts of the face or the brightest parts of the skin or whatever.

00:55:14:11 - 00:55:31:14
Unknown
And because of that, it makes everybody look sweaty. Yeah, I think it depends on the lighting, though, because it wasn't like showing all of them. But like, if it was like a really bright light that was happening, it was white. You're right. Yeah. And it looks and it makes everything look really, really shiny, which can be, can be offputting at times.

00:55:31:20 - 00:56:06:09
Unknown
But that to me, like, you know, I don't like it any less because of those things, but like, there are things like that, you know, when you watch it, you're like, ah, you look at something, you're like, something doesn't something doesn't sit well with you. Those those would definitely be two of the things. Yeah. Another thing I was a fan of is there is a couple of panels where you see bullets being shot at Superman in the way they really show this is that they show the the bullet casing I kind of up close as though that's the bullet being shot at Superman.

00:56:06:09 - 00:56:44:06
Unknown
But if you know anything about how Guns of Bullets work, the shells are not being projected. They're not the projectile. Right. And so that was thing that really bothered me. Again, like, that's a little thing. But I just remember seeing the casing and thinking like, why is the case in being shot at the Superman? And and then I thought that the byproduct of that may be a byproduct of lineal, you being 25 and from the Philippines at the time, like, you know, not enough, not enough life experience or at least American experience, because everybody here knows about guns and and the ED, I guess maybe not catching it.

00:56:44:06 - 00:56:58:23
Unknown
Well, that's all I'm saying is that, you know, these things go through so many people. Maybe there's this maybe they just said, let's leave it there so people can get the idea that it's a boy because like, that's how you can see the back of the bullet, you know, as opposed to like right around hollow point from the back of it.

00:56:58:23 - 00:57:30:16
Unknown
But yeah, so like that part bothered me. But the thing that really bothers me the most about the AR by the artists here is that all the people are just drawn really weird. Um, some of the people's eyes were either completely missing or they're pure white. They didn't have any iris or pupils or anything like that. And that just was really weird, especially when you just watch the show Sandman and they have I forget the guy's name, Corinthian.

00:57:30:16 - 00:57:53:24
Unknown
They had like the weird eyes. Like, that's what it reminded me of when they didn't have any eyes is it made me a Corinthian or the eyes, you know, like I said, were pure white. The mouth and teeth looked really odd. ISSUE one There's a panel where Clark had a really long neck that's just completely disproportionate. I just didn't think how people were drawn was really well-done in this series.

00:57:53:24 - 00:58:16:16
Unknown
So for me, I love the story, I love the writing, the art. I was a fan of. I will say I love the homage they paid to Action Comics. Number one, I think it was issue number two when when Superman was trying to save everybody that was being attacked in the West African village. Is he grab a car from that some of the attackers or any like smash it against a rock?

00:58:16:16 - 00:58:36:00
Unknown
It is a clear homage to that cover of Action Comics, number one, the first appearance of Superman. So I did really like that. But the artwork I just wasn't a fan of. So I know Derek, my buddy, said he absolutely loves this artwork. I'm sorry. I do not like it. I, I, I'm glad to be done with looking at it because I just didn't like the art in this.

00:58:36:00 - 00:58:55:20
Unknown
I you know, it's not the worst art I've seen. Like, it's not like everything was terrible. There's some comic book series I've read where the art was just not great at all whatsoever. That wasn't the case here. I probably get it like a four out of ten, maybe five out of ten for the artwork, because there was a some things that were just so distracting that I didn't like about it.

00:58:55:22 - 00:59:18:02
Unknown
Yeah, inconsistency would probably be the the, the word for me. But one like I said, I think it was a product of I think it was a product of a lineal. You being so young at the time. And the other the other thing is I think this happens a lot like Mark Waid was a was a well known writer at this time.

00:59:18:08 - 00:59:39:08
Unknown
And I think a lot of times when when you have when you have a celebrity, quote unquote, writer, one of the big name guys, they have a little bit more editorial sway than than maybe like an up and comer was. And so, like, there may have been there may have been a push for them not to change anything.

00:59:39:10 - 01:00:03:15
Unknown
So. But you're right about next. Can we talk about next for just a second? Because everybody knows how hard hands and feet are to draw. But I think necks get overlooked with like, let me rob light feld nails that, doesn't he? What? Hands and feet? Hands and feet. I don't know. We could go back and look for. That's definitely not the case, but we can go look at his necks if we wanted to.

01:00:03:17 - 01:00:38:00
Unknown
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But here's the thing. So my wife was commenting about about this, watching into the spider-verse, about how the way they draw kingpin is like a hunchback. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I. I couldn't stand looking back, but his back is up here with his head, like, is like in the middle of his chest. Yeah. He looks like he's constantly like that dancer that does that weird, like, you know, moving the neck around, but the shoulder stays like, that's what it look like constantly for me for Kingpin he makes like, well that movie by did not like kingpin he looks like one of the one of the goombas from the original Super Mario

01:00:38:00 - 01:01:19:03
Unknown
movie But also I think a lot of times like necks get like overexaggerated. Yeah. Too. And we could do a whole episode on could call it the retro next of the the evolution of necks in comics next or the next. The next the next retrospective had a way to combine those two things. Yeah. Yeah. It's just it's something that I something I think that when you're looking, when you're really into a story and you're looking at the words and the pictures as a whole and you're completely engrossed in it, you have a tendency to look past the parts that may be imperfect.

01:01:19:05 - 01:01:40:16
Unknown
But the other thing is, is like a lot of if you watch, there's a lot of great YouTube channels where artists will draw things and they'll talk about how you don't necessarily draw this line or you don't draw that line. You color it this way in it. Your brain interprets it as being a as being a fully rendered like picture.

01:01:40:21 - 01:02:05:11
Unknown
So the things that they decide to put in and leave out, you know, I think every eye interprets that a little bit differently. I can remember watching and I couldn't tell you who the video was, but I could remember watching somebody like draw in color a picture of a wolverine. And it was a beautiful picture of Wolverine. And they start to use coping markers to like to like, color the chin, like underneath the mask and whatnot.

01:02:05:13 - 01:02:32:06
Unknown
And he goes over it with like a layer of like the the light flesh tone. And then he makes like a little L-shape with, like the darker one. And it like, is like, holy crap, that went from one dimensional to two dimensional with like a few brushstrokes. And so there's a lot of that stuff that, like, we don't really understand because we are not we are not artists, but like those details I think often get overlooked when you're when you're looking at like, Oh my gosh, this is beautiful.

01:02:32:06 - 01:02:59:04
Unknown
Wait a second. What is going on with his neck right. So let's talk about the cover art for the series here. Do you remember the cover art for each of the issues? For the most part, yes. I mean, I, I have the I have the trade which features bright, shiny Superman, which I think is the cover for number 12.

01:02:59:06 - 01:03:25:03
Unknown
Yeah. I can't remember. I think it might be definitely the most, like, prominent one. That's right. Well used. Yeah. And inside here, inside the trade that I have, you know, at the beginning of everything there, every new issue, there is a copy of the cover. I think it's interesting some of the covers, some of the covers look, they're all kind of like, what's the word?

01:03:25:03 - 01:03:51:03
Unknown
I'm looking for a lot collages. There's like multiple things going on. Yeah, there's in them. Yeah, it's like a multi action. Yeah, Yeah, I do. I do like the cover for number three where features like Clark in like just pants and a Superman shirt. Mm hmm. Um, but I don't know. What are your thoughts on the cover art?

01:03:51:05 - 01:04:15:00
Unknown
It was hit Miss. I will say this. First and foremost, they're very unmemorable, I think, word or not, but like, I couldn't really tell you what were some of the covers? Just like from reading it. And I just read it yesterday in this morning, basically. Okay. So it so the cover art, it felt like didn't really stand out for me a whole lot.

01:04:15:00 - 01:04:39:12
Unknown
There's a couple that did stand out, but not necessarily in a good way. Go issue number four, the cover art is Lois falling out the building. She doesn't seem scared or anything. I think, like maybe her eyes are closed, but her facial expression does not seem like she is worried about falling. I think in this issue she doesn't really create a relationship with Superman where she expects him to save her every single time.

01:04:39:12 - 01:04:57:20
Unknown
So I thought that was kind of odd. I mean, it's not a bad thing necessarily. I'm sure they're trying to show her being, you know, kind of calm in the face of danger. But I really remember from this art is that it was really revealing of her legs. Like at that way, like any higher, you would probably see what was underneath that, you know?

01:04:57:20 - 01:05:16:02
Unknown
Yeah, it's like really odd. And then issue number seven was kind of a weird thing as well too, because it was a scene that I don't think showed up in issue number seven. But the cover art was Superman stopping what looks like a mugging. So he's looking at a guy, I think he had a gun or club or something like that, and he was stopping that person.

01:05:16:02 - 01:05:37:17
Unknown
And clearly he was robbing or doing something to this woman who's like in the bottom right corner who looks like she is in danger. She's, you know, fearful of her life. But it looks like her blouse is open and it was exposed. Yeah. So I was expecting like, oh, this is like maybe some sort of essay, you know, issue that's happened.

01:05:37:17 - 01:05:59:00
Unknown
But I don't think that shows up at all. Right. So and this is like cover a of the issue. This is not a variant cover or anything like that right. It was just really weird. So it's either unmemorable that you can't really remember what the cover was or it was an issue or two for me where that I won't forget because not that it was a good thing, but it was just kind of risque.

01:05:59:00 - 01:06:30:07
Unknown
A little bit what they depicted there. So yeah, so I just, I thought the cover art was just kind of strange for this series. I definitely looking back on it because like I said, I read the trade and I probably read the trade 5 to 10 years. The for the first time, 5 to 10 years after, after the book was released, I could definitely tell you that looking at the cover art, I don't think most people would be like thrilled, like to go and pick the book up based on the clothes on the go.

01:06:30:08 - 01:06:54:17
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. Like they really had to go and get the issue because they know the issue and that they were perusing one day and they said, Oh, this cover looks interesting, you know, because there's definitely issues out there that's like that where people pick it up based on the cover. And this series I feel like didn't really have them except for issue number four and seven for the wrong reasons, right?

01:06:54:19 - 01:07:28:16
Unknown
So right, like just by just by comparison, like some of the other stories that have been told, like one of the things that one of the ones that comes to mind, all star Superman, the the cover art, the all star Superman trade, the cover art they use from from issue number one as the cover for the whole trade as where as opposed to the other one which uses the food cover from 12 for the whole I thought that was riot.

01:07:28:18 - 01:08:02:03
Unknown
But the covers in All-Star Superman do a really fantastic job of conveying the story that's going on in the in the in the book as opposed to Birthright. Yeah, yeah. If you're if you wanted to compare apples to apples, like it's it's, it's pretty. It is pretty it's pretty lopsided on that front. Yeah. So that's Superman Birthright overall.

01:08:02:03 - 01:08:36:00
Unknown
Kevin out of ten stars, would you give the series This is not objectively not objective just because because I'm such a fan of and listen I I'm interested see James Gunn's new Superman movie that he's got like in the works or whatever. Yeah. Because legacy Superman Birthright to me reads like the storyboards for the perfect Superman like, like, you know, trilogy kick off movie like this.

01:08:36:00 - 01:09:02:13
Unknown
This is this is what you build your universe around. And so I would say it's a solid eight out of eight out of ten for me, like I'm I do have like, I do have like perfect Superman like perfect Superman stories in mind. But it's up there amongst the best in my opinion. And I've read an awful, awful lot of them.

01:09:02:15 - 01:09:29:08
Unknown
I wouldn't be surprised if James Gunn uses this series and Superman Earth One as a basis for his film because that one is another origin story collection that I thought was really well done. That kind of has a similar narrative in terms of like how they're telling the origins of and how he becomes Superman in that same sort of ideas.

01:09:29:08 - 01:09:52:13
Unknown
I wouldn't be surprised if he combines those two, but this series for me, I would give it a six out of ten. The story was really well done. I enjoyed the story. I just the art was something that I was just not really was not in in appealed for me. So because of the are you know unfortunately for me it's going to be a six out of ten so so that is Yeah.

01:09:52:15 - 01:10:18:18
Unknown
So that is Superman's birthright as we do with every episode. We're going to end it with talking about the comics we're reading. Just a reminder for people before we jump into that comic Watch is the caption Life is part of the comic watch family. And so the comic Watch is always looking for people to join our team to be reviewers for comics, TV, film, anime, gaming, anything of that sort.

01:10:18:23 - 01:10:38:03
Unknown
If you're interested in becoming a reviewer, if you've never written a review, don't let that hold you back. Because this is a organization that's grassroots, is completely volunteer, and this is where a lot of people get their starting point at. So if you're interested there will be a link in the show notes below for where you can actually apply to become a reviewer for Comic Watch.

01:10:38:03 - 01:10:44:13
Unknown
We usually get back with people within seven days. So if you're interested, check out that link in the show Notes

01:10:44:13 - 01:11:03:19
Unknown
Comics that we're reading. We usually start off by sharing what our listeners are reading and then we'll dive into what we're reading. So from Comic Watch, our editor in chief, Matt Meyers, said, currently catching up on the research on the recent issues of Daredevil chips, Darcy and Mark Chatto, which I don't think I pronounce his name correctly.

01:11:03:19 - 01:11:33:19
Unknown
I don't think you pronounce a lot of people's names right. I don't. I really don't. I really need to spend more time like trying to find out how to pronounce it. I just don't think of it until we start recording em like we should. Yeah, I sort of done that. You should see about put anything into Google translate to see how like, Google translate what usually what I do as a, you know, kind of as I know is if I know how to pronounce a name, I type out the phonetic pronunciation and I don't like how their name is actually spelled.

01:11:33:21 - 01:11:47:01
Unknown
That's the A type it out phonetically and that's how a lot of people do that. Yeah, So but I got to actually look it up and do that and I haven't been doing that for a while. So yeah, so I'm probably way off on this. But, but Matt said that they're writing one of his favorite daredevil runs in years.

01:11:47:01 - 01:12:12:18
Unknown
It's a lot of people said that and I confirmed that as well too. It's been of my favorite daredevil runs in our room the Casters Discord channel Kim from the OTP podcast says In all caps, battle chasers Image Comics. The long awaited Number ten finally hits comic shops on June 14th. Fantasy Adventure Action. Let's go. So yeah, you said that all caps.

01:12:12:20 - 01:12:32:04
Unknown
So he's really excited about that. And Joe loves comics currently reading through and enjoying Walking Dead compendium volume number two, among other things. So thank you very much for all those who share what they're reading. Kevin What are you currently reading in comics, if anything? Because I know so before sometimes I have time to read comics and all that way.

01:12:32:06 - 01:12:52:13
Unknown
Yeah, school school just ended, so I haven't had a chance to pick up anything here recently. One of the things I will say, and you mentioned you mentioned it before, I have Superman Earth One on my bookshelf over here and I don't know, I've never read it. I mean, man, I think you'll enjoy it. I'm going to read it.

01:12:52:15 - 01:13:12:01
Unknown
I'm going to read it this week. I know that I have the first two. I definitely have the first two. I loved Batman Earth one. And I feel like I feel like just the way I feel about Superman Birthright. I feel like Batman Earth one would be a great to start. Like, this is your storyboard. Just make this movie.

01:13:12:05 - 01:13:34:18
Unknown
Yeah. And so I'll jump into Superman Earth one and it's I mean, I bought it years ago thinking, Oh, I'll get around to reading this, and I never did that. So, yeah, I owe it. I owe it to myself. As a fan of Superman, I owe to all Superman fans at least to get away to Superman. I do.

01:13:34:20 - 01:13:57:03
Unknown
I'm telling you, I think once you read it, text me? Because I think you'll really love it. I think you'll really enjoy it. It's a really good one for me. So there are a couple books I'm reviewing for Comic, which are coming out this week. Batman Incorporated, number nine, which if you've been following me on social media or been listening to the episodes, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of Batman Incorporated.

01:13:57:05 - 01:14:21:09
Unknown
I had Ed Brisson and John Timms, who are the creators of the current series on the show. Absolutely Great. This one is a really good issue because it pretty much raised the stakes a little bit higher that I wasn't expecting them to raise it too. And so it really is a nail biter for the series. And then the other one I'm reviewing is Battle Chasers number ten, which came from a podcast to talk about how much he loved it because he shared how much he loved it.

01:14:21:09 - 01:14:44:06
Unknown
That's what made me volunteer comic watch to review it. I got to tell you, it's phenomenal, especially if you love the indie and that kind of world. It's a really fun one. It has a little bit of everything. There's humor, there's romance, there's action. It is really well done. Apparently there's a whole anthology that was written issues one through nine, like years ago, and then they just pretty much, yeah.

01:14:44:08 - 01:15:09:22
Unknown
So now I know a little bit about that one. I know that is Joe Madeira. Yeah. And he was he was one of my favorite artists on the X-Men in the early to mid nineties. There's a very distinct style and around the same time that the guys left that formed Image Comics, Joe also left like the main stuff and started doing Battle Chasers.

01:15:09:24 - 01:15:29:20
Unknown
And so I know a little bit about it. I've never read it, but I know that it has a huge following. So I'm glad to see I'm glad to see it back there. I will say this. There's a character name Red moniker I know, which is called Red Monika, because she will make your face turn red. Okay. I mean, look at up now.

01:15:29:22 - 01:15:35:01
Unknown
Yeah. That catches your attention, right? Yeah.

01:15:35:03 - 01:15:56:22
Unknown
So those are the two I'm reviewing. Oh, yeah, I know her. I know her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It gives saying this with the smile on his face now. Yeah, I remember now. Yeah. On my poll list for this week I have amazing Spider-Man number 27 now because I'm reading it, but because I'm getting the variant cover that has Mickey Mouse as Iron Man on it.

01:15:56:24 - 01:16:19:01
Unknown
Like, that's the only reason I'm collecting these issues is where the variant covers for the Disney, you know, the Disney 100, is it a I don't think it's tech. It might be Disney 100. I'll need to check and see it, but it's definitely a like they have these very issues where they take Disney characters and they place them in these iconic, you know Marvel Avengers poses stuff like that.

01:16:19:01 - 01:16:36:16
Unknown
So they had Goofy as the Hulk from the first issue of Hulk where, you know, Bruce Banner is kind of like that small human and then The Hulk is kind of overshadowing him. So they're like recreating some of those with characters from the Disney cartoons. So I said, Yeah, it is a Disney 100. What is it? Is it 100?

01:16:36:16 - 01:17:01:10
Unknown
Yeah, I haven't seen Disney 100 everywhere. I couldn't remember if this was a Disney 100 or if I'm being like the Funko pops and all that. Yeah, yeah, I see Minnie Mouse as Captain Marvel. Yes, that's the next one. Then I want to get some of these. Get some of these posters. Yeah, I'm collecting. I want to put them in like a little case and like they've got Daisy Duck as Daisy Duck as Miss Marvel.

01:17:01:10 - 01:17:22:23
Unknown
I'm going to look up all of them. Mm. You do that? Yeah. You'll find some find some posters to decorate my classroom with. Yeah. I'm also picking up Marvel's Voices Pride number one, which I've been collecting that one for the last few years. I absolutely love reading the pride issues from Marvel role in Gambit number four, which Kevin, you need to read.

01:17:23:00 - 01:17:52:01
Unknown
You got to start reading those me and I'm telling you. Well, as a as a huge fan of Rogue, you really enjoy this especially it's written from Stephanie Phillips and she's really phenomenal writer also picking up Spider Gwen's shadow clones I think is she number four or five? And then the last one I'm picking up as Teenage Ninja Turtles number 140, which I'm excited about because there's a new artist on the series, Gavin Smith, who is from my home state of Indiana, and his cover looks amazing.

01:17:52:01 - 01:17:59:12
Unknown
So awesome. I'm very excited about that. So those are all my comics on my poll list. Thank you, everybody who submitted what they're reading. And

01:17:59:12 - 01:18:09:08
Unknown
thank you, everybody for listening. Kevin, before we wrap up this episode, where can people find you online if you want them to find you online? If you're just like, No, I'm off the grid.

01:18:09:08 - 01:18:29:22
Unknown
I'm off the grid. No, I'm still I'm still online at Hero City. Kevin on Twitter is usually the best place to find me, although I'm not nearly as active there as I once was. Yeah, so. Well, thanks for joining the show. Talking about Superman. If you didn't get a chance to celebrate Superman Day yesterday, you know, there's nothing that says that you can only celebrate on Superman.

01:18:29:23 - 01:18:47:22
Unknown
Go out and you know, you know where, you know, some sort of Superman memorabilia or something like that and celebrate this huge character that Ken and I both love that so many people love and hope that you guys enjoy our review of Superman Birthright. Yep.

01:18:47:22 - 01:18:48:08
Unknown
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01:18:48:08 - 01:18:49:24
Unknown
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01:18:49:24 - 01:18:52:16
Unknown
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01:18:52:16 - 01:18:58:08
Unknown
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