Legion Of Super-Heroes Animated Movie Starring Supergirl !!

Every so often a news item will come out of the blue which just tickles me, having me grin like a loon for the day.

Out of nowhere last week, we learned a new DC animated movie about the Legion of Super-Heroes is in the works, And even better, Supergirl is a big part of it.

Here is the official blurb!

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/dcs-legion-of-super-heroes-animated-movie-1235240040/

One shot of the movie has been released. It should have Supergirl and Brainiac 5 fans (like me) smiling. That looks like a fantastic Supergirl. Love the look of determination, the hairdo, the hand on Brainy, and the costume. I stared at this thing all day.

And then the details.

Review: Superman Son Of Kal-El #16

Superman Son of Kal-El #16 came out this week, the first issue of Jon's book since Superman has returned from Warworld. It also is the first book out since the news that the title was being canceled and rebranded as Adventures of Superman in the new year.

I call issues like these 'rest issues', a pause between big storylines giving the creative team a breather and the opportunity to showcase some character moments, catch up on lingering threads, etc.

In many ways, this issue was a primer for this book. If you were looking for a jumping on point, this would be it. The Bendix/Gamorra stuff is done. It is sort of a clean slate. If you are looking for a jumping off point and the overly long 15 Gamorran story didn't convince you, this issue shows what writer Tom Taylor envisions for this book. This is an activist Superman. There is some metatextual commentary on fandoms. 

One scene that does crackle is Jon confronting Lex Luthor. We have seen these two battle wits in the past. I like how Jon holds his own here. He isn't Clark so his dealing with Lex isn't like Clark's. The scene has the most energy in the issue even if a super-villain encounter is thrown in. 

The art is by Cian Tormey and Ruairi Coleman. It has a sort of organic feel. There isn't a sharp angle or jagged line in the book. It has a smooth feel which works with the book. The cover has the feel of Action Comics #285 when Supergirl was announced to the world. I like that too.

On to the book.

Superman Family News At NYCC 2022

I have never been able to attend the New York City Comic Con. It is a bucket list item for me.

The con occurred last weekend and one of the cool things to come out of it was a Superman panel teeing up all the things that are going to happen with the Superman books in the upcoming year.

Here is a link to the coverage over on the DC site:
https://www.dc.com/blog/2022/10/08/the-new-era-of-superman-starts-this-january

There was a lot to love in the news as discussed by the creators. Most of the upcoming plans sound fantastic. I'll touch on some of the news here but I recommend reading the entire blurb.

Let's start with Action Comics.

“My one-word mission statement for Action Comics in 2023 is ‘Super-Family,’ and I draw inspiration from the 100-page Giant ‘Superman Family issues,” said writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson. “We’re giving everyone in the House of El their own role and personal journey while still keeping Superman at the forefront, and tying all the Super-titles together in a way that’s reminiscent of the Triangle Era. I couldn’t be more excited to be part of this new era of Action Comics, and doing it alongside such a consummate artist as Rafa Sandoval and comics titan Dan Jurgens truly makes it a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

I was a kid when the Superman Family went to the dollar comic format and I loved it. So the idea of seeing something like it again is tremendous. I feel Johnson has had a great handle on the underpinnings of the Superman characters. His Supergirl is spot on. His take on Steel and Natasha is perfect. So I am glad he is taking charge in this way.

On Twitter Johnson said that the book will be 40 pages with three different stories. That is about as close to the classic Superman Family book you can get. I am hoping that eventually Supergirl will get some stories of her own. 

Review: Dark Crisis The Deadly Green

When it was announced that the big bads in Dark Crisis were Pariah and the The Great Darkness, I anticipated that the writers would be leaning into two of the bigger stories that came out in 1985. 

One, of course, is Crisis on Infinite Earths. That would explain all the multiverse stuff and obviously Pariah's presence.

The other though is American Gothic, the Alan Moore Swamp Thing arc that looked at horror manifesting in the DCU during the instability of the Crisis. That arc starts with the formal introduction of John Constantine and ends with a battle on the plains of Heaven and Hell. We see Swamp Thing tangentially touch on the Crisis in Swamp Thing #46. That arc introduces the Parliament of Trees. It ends in Swamp Thing #50 where the Great Darkness is revealed as the shadow of God, the Anti-light. In that issue, Earthbound magical heroes perform a seance to lend what meager powers they have to the side of good. In the end, Swamp Thing is profound, Mento is insane, Zatara is dead, and the Great Darkness has created an uneasy truce with the original Light. 

Dark Crisis The Deadly Green really leans into that American Gothic arc and in particular that issue of Swamp Thing. From a super-hero seance, to a profound character speaking from the ultimate darkness, to Swamp Thing playing an important role, it all resonates. Without knowing that issue inside and out, I wonder if readers pick up and those reverberations. In particular, Constantine speaking to three aspects of the Great Darkness is a sort of inverse of four heroes speaking to the Darkness in that issue, a very sneaky back door homage. Alan Scott almost perishing in flames (like Zatara did) is also a decent echo. 

And a key plot point of the main Dark Crisis book is tucked away here too. 

All that, from the homage to the key plot point, makes me wonder why the creator list of the book reads like a phone book. It sports three writers - Ram V, Daniel Watters, and Alex Paknadel. It has four artists - Daniel Bayliss, George Kambadais, Tom Derenick, and Brent Peeples. I suppose that the number of creators doesn't matter if the story works. But the art styles flipping about did pull me a bit out of the story. 

All this makes me wonder if I should just review Swamp Thing #50 here.

On to the book.

Review: Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #5

Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #5 came out this week and I have to say there are some great moments in this book. But I don't know if I quite understand everything that is going on.

Joshua Williamson continues to really plumb the depths of the DCU in this mega-event and that will always make me happy. We saw Body Doubles in a past issue. In this one we see Sideways. So anytime I get the breadth of the DCU I am happy. 

And we also see Williamson leaning into some DC history here. This whole series has been a bit meta with the Pariah enslaving the big bads from prior universal events as his lieutenant. So seeing Kingdom Come images again homaged works well. Gar Logan returning from his injuries with an eyepatch is interesting to me given his long history an enmity with Deathstroke. We also, finally, get the return of the JL albeit in their dream versions. All that works.

But how Pariah is doing all this is still a bit unclear to me. How he corrupted the Great Darkness doesn't make a lot of sense, even from a comic book science viewpoint. And all the stuff about heroes being tied to dream planets and therefore dead but not dead seems weird. I also don't know why everything hinges on Deathstroke? Is it because he is a linchpin or is it because Pariah has made him one.

Daniel Sampere's art is just gorgeous throughout. His battle sequences are gritty. His splash pages work on the 'big moments deserve big art' scale. And his more cosmic splashes are really lush. He is making all this work visually. 

On to the book.

Superman Family At NYCC

Hat tip to blog friend Mart Gray for sending me to Bleeding Cool to see this image and learn about the Superman panel being done this weekend at NYCC. Here is a link to the story:

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/dc-reveals-new-superman-family-members-outfits-no-capes/

Now the Bleeding Cool article seems to focus a lot on the lack of capes. But there is more to glean here. 

First off, the art looks like Dan Mora. So no complaints there. 

But lets take a little deeper dive, Let's start out with red and black shoulder s-shields they all are wearing? Nice way of showing immediately that this is a team, a family.

The Breakdown of each costume is pretty interesting too.

Review: DC Vs. Vampires #9

DC Vs. Vampires #9 came out last week marking the halfway point of the second arc of this book. As this second arc has Supergirl as a main character and ... gasp ... a hero I felt the need to grab it and review.

I have admitted in the past that books like this or zombie titles don't usually get my attention. I am probably not the target audience here. But I will also admit that I am a sucker for Elseworlds and that I have been enjoying this book so far.

Writers James Tynion IV and Matthew Rosenberg are doing what they should do in books like this, introducing us to the broader DCU in the context of this vampiric wasteland. Now I didn't read the first 6 issues so I don't know how or why so many heroes got turned to the dark side. But I like the ragtag group of uninfected heroes who are still trying to save the world. Steel, Jayna, Green Arrow, Batgirl, and a depowered Supergirl sort lead different factions on different quests. There is a very nice surprise in the middle of the issue which I didn't foresee which also made me happy. 

Perhaps the one thing that I worry about is that there are three very different plot lines happening in this book meaning each issue is sort of sliced into thirds. I am far more interested in the Batgirl and Supergirl plots than I am the Green Arrow one and so I wonder if so many plot lines are too many for a book this length. 

I love the art as well. Guillem March's covers are horrific and dynamic. I loves seeing Supergirl front and center fighting fanged Atlantean warriors. Otto Schmidt is on interior art and brings his somehow both loose and polished look to the inside. I really like his work.

All three plots are nudged along in this issue so let's get to the details.