The Most Boring Way to Put a Hero on the “Bad Side” (Inspired by a YouTube Video)

A painting of Lex Luthor with a "Vote Lex 2000" pin standing in front of the American flag, with the text "civil bore?"

Please note: The creator of this video made a follow-up video (DC’s Civil War: Teams & Sides) in which he ends up changing his mind with regards to my main disagreement with his video, as well as tweaking his ideas in other ways. Apparently, other people in the YouTube comments made similar points to the […]

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The Problem with Young Justice Superman: A Brief Follow-Up

Superman (Clark Kent) putting his hand on Superboy's (Conner Kent) shoulder, from the Young Justice cartoon

A few years ago, I wrote a blog post called The Problem with Young Justice Superman talking about my dissatisfaction with Clark Kent’s portrayal in the named cartoon (particularly in Season 1, because there’s just not a much to say about him in the other seasons due to his minimal appearances – which I suppose […]

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Over-Explanation: A Special Temptation to Comics? (Inspired by Detective Comics #950)

The superhero Orphan in a dynamic pose with some other characters (Batman, Batwoman and Azrael) in the background

The medium of a story certainly does not determine either its content or its quality, but an individual medium offers opportunities and limitations that others don’t. This can create “temptations” to do things that might not be ideal for the story, because it’s easy to do in your chosen medium, or alternatives to doing it […]

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Superman Ideas That “Stuck” (and Should They Be Unstuck?), Part 1: Powerless on Krypton

Jor-El, from Superman: The Animated Series, on his knees and bleeding a bit from his mouth

A lot of things about Superman and his world change over the years and across media, but some things rarely if ever change, even if they weren’t that way from the beginning. That’s to be expected, especially with things from very early on, such as Superman’s powers. While it’s nice to have a certain amount […]

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The Missed Potential of Clark Kent in Superman: The Animated Series

Clark Kent confused, from Superman: The Animated Series

Clark Kent is my favorite part of Superman. On a basic level, it’s not hard to explain why: I enjoy the contrast between him and Superman, how he can add depth to Superman’s character, and the fact that Superman can be more easily challenged in this identity. But to go into detail is more complicated, […]

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Superman: An Outsider Among the Justice League? (Inspired by Superman vs. Meshi)

Manga Superman looking sad on a black background, thinking "But...to be honest, I'm not sure I fit in here."

Superman vs. Meshi is an official Superman manga that I greatly enjoy – not just because it’s cute, funny and well-drawn, but also because its depiction of Superman is actually really interesting. Like most of my favored depictions of him, he’s very humanized and very personable. It makes sense to focus on this side of […]

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My Adventures with Superman is great! But…

Promotional artwork for My Adventures with Superman, showing Superman holding Lois Lane while flying

About a month ago, it finally happened. My Adventures with Superman came out. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time; I wrote a blog post when it was first announced over 2 years ago. Based on what little was known about the show back then, it seemed like exactly what I wanted: […]

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What does “superhero” mean?

Group shot of the Justice League founding members in the DCAU (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl)

Most dictionary definitions of superhero include having superhuman powers as one of the criteria, which annoys me to no end considering Batman, obviously one of the most popular and famous superheroes of all time, doesn’t meet this criterion. The truth is, I don’t think a good definition of a superhero can really be summed up […]

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The Problem with Young Justice Superman

Superman in Young Justice

If you’re at all familiar with the Young Justice cartoon, you might think this article sounds a bit boring. And I don’t blame you; the problem with this cartoon’s incarnation of the Man of Steel seems glaringly obvious: in Season 1, he refuses to engage with Superboy, despite Superboy desperately wanting his guidance. (This version […]

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Awwww yeah! Exactly the Superman cartoon I’ve been hoping for!

My Adventures of Superman screenshot depicting Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen

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 […]

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