My Adventures With Superman

[Paladin]

 

[Zamuel]

Someone picked it up? I mean, yeah Adult Swim is still WB but this is better than cancellation like was previously reported.

Like I said on the previous Allspark, Superman kinda needed this kind of story that played up the Clark Kent side of things. Wound up hitting the major beats needed for a Superman story and did so in a short time period since it isn't a theatrical movie. The biggest surprise--that was also probably most needed--was not bringing up the Kryptonian heritage in the first episode. Would have crowded things out and took emphasis away from Clark as a good person.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I like what they got going on here. It’s fun, its got some strong hooks for long term stories, and the animation really pops.

I couldn’t help but chuckle when Ma Kent decided his basic Kryptonian suit (very new 52/Snyder-esque ) was bland and “needed something extra”.

 

[ZacWilliam1]

Really great first episode. I would have bunged the show if possible.

-ZacWilliam, best thing I've seen DC do in forever.

 

[Cybersnark]

Yeah, this is already the best Superman cartoon I've ever seen (sorry Timmverse). Strongly Post-Crisis, but still doing it's own thing (and different enough from my dream Superman script that I don't have to feel jealous).

 

[Dvandom]

The role of the Kryptonian language is played by Esperanto.

---Dave

 

[KingSwoop]

I watched the first two episodes last night on MAX and... I have thoughts.

First, why is this on Adult Swim? This seems like a perfectly average "young adult" cartoon; maybe skewing a bit older than Superman The Animated Series, but not by much.

Second, given the title I was expecting more of a focus on Lois or Jimmy.

Third, I don't think I like the blue highlights interpretation of Superman's powers. They'd be neat for the Flash, but they really feel artificial.

Fourth, while the main trio (Clark, Lois, and Jimmy) are all cool and likeable... they also... (forgive my french) SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. In this telling, they're interns and Perry White pulls a Godzilla 1998 and steals their story. Before that, he rejects their story because JImmy's pictures suck. But it's 2023 and Jimmy really shouldn't suck at taking pictures in 2023. But there's also physical evidence, like 5 giant robots on the field. Did Perry just ignore the giant robots? I would think that sells papers.

On top of that, Jimmy and Lois act oblivious and/or stupid. Clark needs to save Jimmy from being run over by a truck (which was coincidentally driven by our villain, who now by association looks stupid because if she hit Jimmy in broad daylight, she would risk her op.) Lois does the stereotypical Lois thing of putting herself in danger, but then DOUBLES DOWN and puts herself in danger because she (mistakenly) thinks Superman is connected to the villain... despite fighting the villain to save them.

I kind of like the "young romance" between Lois and Clark, but it's also underwhelming. They meet outside of a donut shop and think each other is cute; it's only a coincidence they work together. Clark is presented as helpful and kind, but also embarrasses himself so "leaves forever." (Is this supposed to put him in a negative light?). They meet up at work, where Lois lies to them (Clark and Jimmy who live together with bunkbeds) and almost gets them fired. Not only does Lois do nothing good, except maybe be nice to them (as she lies to them)... and I suppose risk her life fighting robots (heroic, but it makes no sense and really serves to undercut Superman).

The animation is also good. The anime-esque style is a bit distracting, but no complaints.

I get the impression that maybe this would have been better as a Gotham High-style reinterpretation of Superman, with Clark et al. attending a high school or college in Metropolis and maybe Lois is on the school newspaper while everyone is always joking that print media is dead. Like in this interpretation, she wouldn't be respected or taken seriously (which is, I think, generally a big problem for your Lois Lane character), but if she's in high school it's like a prequel... she's not respected... yet.

Finally, I suppose I should mention the race swapping. Amanda Waller cameos in the end, and her race isn't swapped, but Perry White is Black, Jimmy is Black, and Lois might be Asian. I like representation, but I've always felt race swapping is faux representation. Many people find inspiration or solace in their cultural heritage but you have to work hard to make it so Black Jimmy Olsen isn't White Jimmy Olsen in Blackface.

Yeah, this is already the best Superman cartoon I've ever seen (sorry Timmverse). Strongly Post-Crisis, but still doing it's own thing (and different enough from my dream Superman script that I don't have to feel jealous).

I'd argue in favor of STAS. Making Braniac a Kryptonian computer to serve as a foil for Jor-El, and to serve as a "dark parallel" and twin son of Krypton for Superman *works.*

I think MAWS looks more fluid and dynamic, like a very high budget anime (rather than a kids cartoon), but as much as I like and/or tolerate the main 3 cast members, I hate their circumstances. They're interns their boss literally takes advantage of. Now, either they're fools and turned in crap that Perry couldn't print, or Perry's a literal villain. Now JJJ has tried to kill Spiderman, or hired hitmen to do so, on several occasions... but he's NEVER stolen Parker's pictures and had them published under someone else's name! If Perry White is a villain in your Superman story, maybe you shouldn't be interns at The Dying Media Planet and should instead go work for local news. Or the cops.

While we're at it, I think this does a really, really poor job of setting up Clark's motivation. He's a glorified coffee boy and, frankly, probably an unpaid intern. If he hasn't distinguished himself enough to be hired by now, maybe he should work in construction. Or - gasp - in the police department. In the best Superman stories, Clark sets out to be a news reporter because he wants to do good and because he wants to be able to take advantage of his profession and its contacts to help people as Superman. (To be fair, his journalistic ethics have always been questionable in the comics, as he often not only reports on himself but takes advantage of company resources to help his vigilante/criminal lifestyle. Oh, and he's an illegal alien in case you were wondering where DC stands on immigration. To be clear, I'm not saying breaking the law is immoral, but I am saying that it may be unprofessional.)

But what does MAWS Clark want to do? What has he done? This is a new series and we don't know what this Superman can do, but Clark Kent, despite being disguised as average, tries to be exceptional and help people. I'm reminded of the BTAS episode where Clark Kent is "killed" by a rogue police officer trying to cover up a crime, and he narrates that his situation was partially his own; he could have had Superman fly the information to the police, but he wanted to do it as Clark Kent... he wanted the credit, not Superman. And, to his credit, he was willing to give it all up and come clean that he is Superman to save the person's life. He doesn't have to, of course, because Lois is a reporter and discovers that the eye witness was "practically blind." Lois saves Superman's civilian life because she cares about Clark Kent and is good at her job. (I didn't mean this to be a slight at MAWS Lois, but I still think she acts like an inexperienced teenager, but the show wants us to believe she's a college graduate maybe?)

 

[ZakuConvoy]

I saw it. I liked it. I don't think this beats the Timm-verse, yet, but it certainly COULD in time. It's got a very "Avatar/Korra" vibe to the animation (Which makes sense, since I guess this animation is from a South Korean Studio, Studio Mir, who worked on Korra and Voltron.) Really good animation in this one.

Everyone in this is JUST SO CUTE! I don't know how to feel about most of these characters being really cute. Lois is so "fun sized" compared to Clark. I don't know, it's less distracting in the second episode, since we get more action, but it does feel odd in a Superman cartoon. Lois being so love struck is something we haven't really ever seen before...and I think I dig it!

I was NOT expecting the Newskid Legion. But...good on them for a relatively deep cut! I doubt that they're clones of children from the 40s, but this is still nice.

Clark gets his "escape" abilities from Pa Kent...I like it!

Everyone being newbies is different. But, I appreciate that even Lois is a newbie and doesn't really understand how everything works and how to play everything. She's overconfident, but she also knows she needs other people to help her out. I think I just really like this version of Lois.

Jimmy's use of "Flamebird" makes me wonder if there's a chance we'll get to see Clark as the original Nightwing. Maybe Jimmy has followers in the Bottle City of Kandor?

The change they seem to be making to Krypton's destruction is...interesting, I guess. They seemed to be in a middle of a war, instead of Krypton exploding due to a natural disaster. Jor-El sporting a eyepatch like a war hero is a new look. I guess there's more story possibilities to that, but I don't know if I necessarily like the change.

My best guesses on who Krypton were at war with? Mongul and his Warworld. Or Darkseid and Apokalips. Or Brainiac. Maybe Rogol Zaar? Whoever it was, I think they might have used a Sun-Eater to turn their sun red.

I guess working on Korra and Voltron gave this animation team a love for blue glowy eyes. I'm not SURE if they're teasing Electric Blue Superman, but if they ARE...that'd be something. It's strange...but different than what we've seen before. I'm willing to see where it goes.

Also the teases for the rest of the season are interesting: Nemesis Omega. Zero Day. And Task Force X. Task Force X is easy, as they're the Suicide Squad. The other two aren't as clear. Zero Day makes me think of the comic event Zero Hour...so maybe time travel? Nemesis Omega COULD be referencing Darkseid, I guess. There is a more obscure Omega from the Legion of Super-Heroes, though. And if the show DOES do time travel, that's a maybe.

So, yeah. I'm enjoying it. I'll be continuing with it.



Here's a neat little article pointing out some references that I missed (spoiler warning). Let's just say...pay closer attention to Jimmy's conspiracy theories...:

19 My Adventures With Superman Episodes 1 & 2 DC Easter Eggs & References

Every Superman and DC Comics Easter egg explained!

screenrant.com

They're interns their boss literally takes advantage of. Now, either they're fools and turned in crap that Perry couldn't print, or Perry's a literal villain. Now JJJ has tried to kill Spiderman, or hired hitmen to do so, on several occasions... but he's NEVER stolen Parker's pictures and had them published under someone else's name! If Perry White is a villain in your Superman story, maybe you shouldn't be interns at The Dying Media Planet and should instead go work for local news.

I'd say "wait and see" on that. I feel like it's VERY possible that Perry already put Lombard, Grant, and Troupe on this very story and they were actually doing their own investigation on who these guys were. Because, really...Lois didn't have much other than "these guys we don't know have giant robots". This other team might have been trying to find out who these guys were before Lois got involved and everything blew up the way it did. Maybe they were even undercover. We'll see.

And we never see Lois actually WRITE anything, so she might not have written the story the Daily Planet published. In a lot of Superman stories, Lois is...a very good "investigator" but not the best at actually putting words on paper...or spelling.

I also feel it's possible that Perry's trying to protect Lois from herself. I think there might be more to their relationship than we know right now. Maybe he's a old friend of her family's? He might be a little overprotective for a reason.

First, why is this on Adult Swim? This seems like a perfectly average "young adult" cartoon; maybe skewing a bit older than Superman The Animated Series, but not by much.

My guess is that Adult Swim is the section of the company that actually wants to DO animation and funded the show. The rest of Warner might not care as much about animation. This is the same company that shelved that Scooby Doo/Krypto crossover movie that was already complete. The Corporation just wants the write offs, but Adult Swim might have a few people around who want animation at the company to survive.

Adult Swim HAS been trying to get a few new action cartoons going, like with Primal and Unicorn Warriors Eternal. We don't really have a UWE thread on the board, and it's not Genndy's best work, but it's still a interesting watch. Check out Unicorn Warriors Eternal.

 

[Shadewing]

My guess is that Adult Swim is the section of the company that actually wants to DO animation and funded the show. The rest of Warner might not care as much about animation. This is the same company that shelved that Scooby Doo/Krypto crossover movie that was already complete. The Corporation just wants the write offs, but Adult Swim might have a few people around who want animation at the company to survive.

Adult Swim HAS been trying to get a few new action cartoons going, like with Primal and Unicorn Warriors Eternal. We don't really have a UWE thread on the board, and it's not Genndy's best work, but it's still a interesting watch. Check out Unicorn Warriors Eternal.

Part of it is Adult Swim trying to appeal to a new/younger audience, its also part of why they start at 7 now. A lot of their regular really adult stuff doesn't air til after midnight. This and UWE (Which is a very slow boil series, I was unsure at the start but by the end I was fairly invested) are newer actions shows that are different form both their usual stuff and the typical action shows. Like this is a completely different take on Superman while still being true to the character. And Unicorn feels like a modern version of really old classic animes with its art style. Like 60's and 70's inspired heavily by Disney Anime.

Also, Lois REALLY reminds me of Luz from Owl House in both looks and Personality... any one else getting that?

 

[Destron D-69]

well she is a small tan-skinned brunette modern woman who's going to end up crushing on the lovable dom, who's also a cute squishy soft tomato underneath the strong projected exterior personification. ... so yeah I see it too

 

[Dvandom]

IIRC, MAWS wasn't originally intended for AS, but it got rescued from complete cancellation by AS.

---Dave

 

[Destron D-69]

Part of it is Adult Swim trying to appeal to a new/younger audience, its also part of why they start at 7 now. A lot of their regular really adult stuff doesn't air til after midnight. This and UWE (Which is a very slow boil series, I was unsure at the start but by the end I was fairly invested) are newer actions shows that are different form both their usual stuff and the typical action shows. Like this is a completely different take on Superman while still being true to the character. And Unicorn feels like a modern version of really old classic animes with its art style. Like 60's and 70's inspired heavily by Disney Anime.

Also, Lois REALLY reminds me of Luz from Owl House in both looks and Personality... any one else getting that?

apparently we're onto something Shadewing lol... even twitter's nsfw community are doing tiny sfw jokes about it, I had to crop out the naughty parts lol

 

[Cybersnark]

I like representation, but I've always felt race swapping is faux representation. Many people find inspiration or solace in their cultural heritage but you have to work hard to make it so Black Jimmy Olsen isn't White Jimmy Olsen in Blackface.

I kinda feel the same, but note that DC has a lot of characters that use the Magical Negro/Native/Foreigner trope (where a white man encounters a person of colour who teaches them their ways/mystically empowers them/hands them a priceless cultural artifact, which the white man then uses to become a superhero). Modern adaptations prefer to "fix" this racism by omitting the person of colour entirely, but a better solution is to simply racebend the characters so that they actually reflect their origins.

(Famous examples include Roy Harper [Speedy/Red Arrow/Arsenal], who was raised on a Navajo reservation after his [white] father died, Alan Scott [Green Lantern], who "found" what he thought was an ancient ring on a trip to China and just pocketed it, Garfield Logan [Beast Boy], whose American family went to Africa because Africans can't study virology, and Max Mercury, who was a white settler child who befriended the local Blackfoot tribe, and was given super-speed [and a made-up "Indian name" in a language that does not appear to be Siksika] by the dying medicine-man after the tribe is murdered.)

(Notably, racebending Max Mercury actually improves his story; using his speed, he hop-scotches through time, getting a front-row seat to the atrocities committed against his people, justifying his checkered past [he's been an outlaw, a hero, a villain, an anti-hero, and finally a cynical old man who just wants to be left alone]. He eventually ends up living in Central City, when he senses Barry Allen getting struck by the Lightning.)

As for the Superman family specifically, Jimmy and Perry have been black before (in the Beeboverse and Snyderverse, respectively), and it kinda works for Jimmy. The Olsen family seem to be Irish (judging by the name and the red hair), and while it's all but forgotten now, anti-Irish discrimination was still around in the 1930/40s when Jimmy was forming (he started out as a nameless extra, then got named and redesigned over the years). It was never as bad as what African-Americans faced, but there are still a lot of clearly-delineated Irish-Catholic areas in big cities (they started out as ghettos for the immigrants).

There's also precedence for Lois to be latina (like Luz); let me explain some backstory:

Back in the 40s and 50s, before "modern" superhero comics took off, Westerns were the big thing (everyone remembers Jonah Hex, but he was just one of a whole posse). Even into the 70s (when superhero comics were entering their Bronze Age), DC was still publishing an anthology comic called "Weird Western Tales." WWT introduced a character called Lazarus Lane, who (with the help of yet another Native medicine-man ) became a masked vigilante called El Diablo. In DC's Bronze-Age Earth-One stories, Lazarus was identified as an ancestor of Lois.

Lazarus' ethinicity was never specifically identified (he was drawn white, but in America in the 70s, that doesn't mean much), but note that "El Diablo" isn't necessarily a name a white man would pick.

Lazarus continued to exist (as a footnote) in the Post-Crisis era, but he was not expressly linked to the modern Lanes --though he did have a modern descendant, Rafael Sandoval, a D-list hero who also used the "El Diablo" name (in a 16-issue series from 89-91). Sandoval explicitly has latino ancestry, which is further evidence that Lazarus might have as well.

If there was any need to "justify" racebending Lois, it would be a simple as mentioning her cousin Rafael. (And if you need an excuse why this isn't often mentioned, Lois' father is usually portrayed as a right-wing conservative military man, who might have deliberately downplayed that bit of his heritage.)

(Hell, this'd make a neat bit of parallelism; have Lois discover and investigate her family history at the same time as Clark learns more about his Kryptonian heritage.)

The change they seem to be making to Krypton's destruction is...interesting, I guess. They seemed to be in a middle of a war, instead of Krypton exploding due to a natural disaster. Jor-El sporting a eyepatch like a war hero is a new look. I guess there's more story possibilities to that, but I don't know if I necessarily like the change.

My best guesses on who Krypton were at war with? Mongul and his Warworld. Or Darkseid and Apokalips. Or Brainiac. Maybe Rogol Zaar? Whoever it was, I think they might have used a Sun-Eater to turn their sun red.

Depending on how they play with continuity, Krypton might have been at war with everyone. Historically (in some continuities), Kryptonians were not the good guys; while Pre-Crisis Krypton was portrayed as a shining utopia of crystals and togas (with Jor-El as an example of their intellect and wisdom), Post-Crisis Krypton was a cold imperialist dystopia with a caste system and a repressive culture (with Jor-El as a renegade who wanted his son to be better). Part of General Zod's motivation was to restore/establish a tyrannical Kryptonian Empire, and I'm sure a lot of worlds breathed a sigh of relief when the Kryptonian homeworld ceased to exist.

When word (eventually) gets out about a surviving Kryptonian on Earth, a lot of very dangerous people get very interested in an undefended backwater planet.

And we never see Lois actually WRITE anything, so she might not have written the story the Daily Planet published. In a lot of Superman stories, Lois is...a very good "investigator" but not the best at actually putting words on paper...or spelling.

I also feel it's possible that Perry's trying to protect Lois from herself. I think there might be more to their relationship than we know right now. Maybe he's a old friend of her family's? He might be a little overprotective for a reason.

There might also be (perfectly mundane) legal issues with allowing an intern to claim a front-page story and Lois and Jimmy are wildly over-reacting.

But yeah, Lois' journalistic shortcomings are one reason she's typically paired up with Clark; Lois is a dogged investigator who knows how to ask tough questions and never lets go of a story --but all of her articles read like police reports. Clark, OTOH, is an amazingly compelling writer, with a strong personal "voice" --but he's too timid and non-confrontational ("mild-mannered") to ask the tough questions or dig too deeply into other peoples' secrets (because he has secrets of his own to protect). Together they could win a Pulitzer.

 

[ZakuConvoy]

Lois looks similar to Luz, sure...but...for your consideration....

Are Clark and Lois BOTH based on Gohan and Videl from Dragon Ball Z?

(...I just wanted a excuse to post this cute image.)

 

[Shadewing]

Lois looks similar to Luz, sure...but...for your consideration....

Are Clark and Lois BOTH based on Gohan and Videl from Dragon Ball Z?

(...I just wanted a excuse to post this cute image.)

While Clark is most definitely Gohan (espically Buu Saga Gohan), I'm not so sure I see Videl as Lois

 

[Destron D-69]

"listen to this headline I came up with Clark... "HAIL SATAN!" ...I think it's awesome."

 

[KingSwoop]

Well.... I can't believe I'm saying this, but Hamster and Gretel did a better ice villain than this latest Superman episode.

Both shows feature the villain freezing people, and the hero stopping it "instantly."

H&G's villain notes that the frozen people are quantum entangled with the source, such that Gretel's heat vision won't unfreeze people. Gretel is surprised she can't melt the source ice, but throws it into the sun. In the meanwhile, both her and Hamster are frozen. When the source burns up in the sun, the people are instantly unfrozen.

MAWS's version of Team Rocket uses an ice generator from a mysterious benefactor... it's Granny Goodness. Boring old Granny Goodness. They shoot people with it, and Superman asks them nicely to unfreeze people (because... uh... that's how ice machines work? They don't, they break the machine, it freezes lots of people, and he uses heat vision to blow up the machine. It's well animated and all, but then the machine is gone and the ice instantly evaporates. WTF?

Listen, I don't need Superman to use fancy terms like "quantum entanglement," but I darned well expect them to know how ice works. Consider BTAS's opening Mr. Freeze episode, which gets ice right from the start. I mean, it's also ice... so babies should understand how it works. And this is a self-made problem, MAWS didn't need to instant melt the ice; they could have had Superman use his heat vision to gradually melt the ice around the... maybe dozen... people that were trapped. And he could have done it BEFORE fighting the villains.

 

[Cybersnark]

I mean, we saw the ice acting weirdly earlier, when they tested it out; it froze the fish tank, then immediately thawed it, leaving the fish still alive.

Clark, of course, couldn't have known this, but he could logically conclude that the people using the freeze ray ice beam were able to reverse it. When it went haywire, he realized that the first thing he has to do is destroy the floating, spinning thing that's causing it. What he would have done after that (if he'd even planned that far ahead) is irrelevant; once the ice started disappearing, the problem solved itself.

Jimmy and Lois were outside, so they couldn't have known what was happening inside. They just saw the ice-splosion race out of the building and started getting as many people clear as possible. Again, once the ice started disappearing (and the freeze victims were alive and mostly unharmed), it was gone before they could take a careful look at it.

Clark, Lois, and Jimmy are journalists (Clark knowing he's an alien does not automatically make him an omniscient super-genius); all they could tell from a glance was that the ice wasn't acting like normal ice. There will be (people claiming to be) physicists and forensic scientists along later to explain what the hell that was, and we may even see them being interviewed (this would be the perfect time to introduce Clark to Professor Hamilton and/or STARLabs, who can later help him analyze Kryptonian artifacts).

(Also, this seemed to be the first time Clark has used his heat vision. Probably shouldn't test it by aiming it at people.)

 

[KingSwoop]

I mean, we saw the ice acting weirdly earlier, when they tested it out; it froze the fish tank, then immediately thawed it, leaving the fish still alive.

The ice in both stories doesn't behave like normal ice. In Hamster and Gretel it's a plotpoint. In MAWS its not.

In H&G, Gretel think the ice is normal and tries to interact it as a super powered being would interact with normal ice, but it's not normal ice, which frustrates our hero. Furthermore, because it's not normal ice, the heroes are vulnerable to it - as vulnerable as a non-super hero would be - and the short (~10 minutes) has escalating tension, as first one, then the other hero falls to the ice. But our hero succeeds because she listens to the villain and acts in a way the villain doesn't expect... but that does take advantage of her super powers.

But in MAWS there is no narrative reason for the ice not to be normal. Superman doesn't interact with the ice any differently than he otherwise would, and that the ice isn't normal ice doesn't substantively change how the story progresses. If anything, it actually undermines the story by removing tension. Superman doesn't know that (inexplicably) freezing people doesn't cause them harm, but as an audience member we understand this. In fact, the writers understand this so they need to escalate the stakes - the bank robbers are so stupid that they accidentally break the machine, risking an unnatural ice event that might destroy the world. Why? Because NORMAL magic alien ice machine that doesn't hurt people isn't a threat. But if NORMAL magic alien ice machine that doesn't hurt people isn't a threat... why spend an episode on it?

All I'm saying is that it's a strange - arguably sloppy - decision. Occam's Razor works for fiction as well; don't invent space ice unless your story needs space ice. H&G needed space ice to create narrative tension. MAWS used space ice to... cut 10 seconds of Superman melting the ice using his newfound heat vision?

Finally, given the significance of the BTAS Mr. Freeze episode, I'd argue the MAWS writers didn't do their homework.

 

[Dvandom]

Oh dear, an Ojou Laugh. From both Cat Grant and Lois Lane.

---Dave