In fact, it’s so close to what I would’ve done it’s almost a bit weird!
We don’t have a release date, or a trailer. But a new Superman cartoon, My Adventures with Superman, has indeed been announced, and we do have a teaser screenshot and a bit of information.
I’ve thought for a while that if I was to write a Superman cartoon, it would focus a lot on the friendship between the trio of Clark, Lois and Jimmy, because this is a part of the franchise I love which has a ton of potential. A big part of why I love the Adventures of Superman so much is that it pays a lot of attention to this relationship and portrays it well. Amazingly, that’s exactly what this cartoon is going to focus on. I wonder if the title was an intentional reference?
At any rate, I think this is the perfect direction for Superman to go in: focusing on Clark’s development as a person and his relationship with his co-workers. Because paradoxically enough, I think Superman’s greatest asset is his humanity. The very fact that Superman is actually an alien with godlike powers makes it all the more intriguing that he’s one of us and grows through the normal struggles and changes of life that we all go through, in addition to also having to deal with his superhero life.
Obviously, not everyone agrees with this analysis of Superman. Some people might care more about flashy powers and exciting battles. And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with that. Superman has something for everyone. He’s a character who can be taken in a lot of different directions and still work. But I think this is a direction that will work really well in a superhero-saturated media environment. In a world full of superheroes, people no longer look to Superman just for his powers and adventures because there are so many other options out there. A focus on character development and emotional resonance is necessary to make sure this new cartoon isn’t just “another superhero thing”.
Plus, there’s nothing to say that this show won’t be exciting. It probably will. But it sounds like they’ll also be focusing on the journalistic endeavors of the trio rather than superhero adventures alone, which I think is absolutely fantastic. There are few ways for a piece of Superman media to get to my heart faster than Lois’ and Clark’s (and Jimmy’s where applicable) journalism contributing to saving the day.
Before I go, I’ll touch very briefly on something that people seem to have been talking about a lot online…diversity and changing a character’s race. Frankly, I don’t think it’s that big a deal and I wish people would stop focusing on it so much. I’ll complain if they end up drastically changing character’s personalities in addition to their race, like Supergirl did with Jimmy, but I have no reason to think that will happen. So for now, I see no reason to complain. I can understand the general complaint about not wanting character designs to change too much, but I think it’s possible to change a race without making the character design feel too different, and I actually think these designs do that rather well. So really, that’s all I have to say about it. I’m not trying to say that changing a character’s race is never ever a bad idea, but I see absolutely no reason why it should be a problem here.
So, with that said, suffice it to say I’m definitely looking forward to this. We don’t have a lot to go on, but what we have seems good. And it’s our first true Superman cartoon show since Superman: The Animated Series, which is honestly kind of insane. Hopefully, the next gap between Superman cartoons isn’t nearly as long.