Spoilers After The Break: The Final Days Of Superman

Unlike some of our readers who may not have been born yet, I was a regular in the comic book stores in 1992 when DC pulled the ultimate publicity stunt and killed off the Man of Steel.  His death in Superman #75 sold 3 million copies.  It was a perfect storm.  You had regular comic readers interested.  Former comic readers interested.  Non-comic readers.  The young and old.  Fans of the Superman movies or various TV shows.  Everyone was talking about it.  It was during a time when the death of a character seemed to actually mean something and didn’t happen every other day.  Especially to such an iconic character.   Sales were also boosted by occuring during the comic market boom as people were buying multiple copies as investments, hoping to cash in down the line.  Especially the variant black polybagged version which featured the logo above.  “Fans” were buying two copies.  One to open and read and one to lock away in a pressure sealed vault for safe keeping.

As we know, the market boom crashed not long after and this issue has often been attributed as having a major role in that.  But that’s a different column.  We’re here today to talk about the potential latest death of Superman.  More (including spoilers) after the break on the ongoing Final Days of Superman storyline in Superman #51, Batman/Superman #31 and Action Comics #51.

Spider-Man Complete Chronology Update 10 (Spider-Man v Superman Edition)

In an era where Marvel and DC are spending most of their time and resources duking it out for supremacy at the box office, it may be hard to believe that it wasn’t that long ago the Big Two had quite a run of crossovers between their respective super hero universes.

The 90’s gave rise to crossovers such as Batman/Daredevil, Batman/Punisher, Batman/Captain America, Batman/Spider-Man…hmm…I guess they should more accurately be called Marvel and Batman crossovers.

Prior to that 90’s boom however, the crossing over of characters between the two companies was few and far between.  After the break we’ll look at two of those starring the two companies biggest hitters (apologies to Batman): Superman and Spider-Man.

As usual, spoilers follow from here on out if you’ve missed out on the last 50 years of Spider-Man and are just getting started.

Geek Review: Batman V Superman

Like many people, I saw Batman V Superman:  Dawn Is A Dish Detergent over the weekend.  I actually went with a small group and got a small range of opinions.  My group included:

• Me.  Duh.
• My thirteen-year old niece.  She’s a sucker for the Marvel movies, and since I was going home for Easter, I asked her if she wanted to see the movie.  She said yes.
• My brother.  Another geek, mostly.  I had initially asked him if he wanted to come along with our niece and myself and bring his oldest son (age 9) too.  My brother wanted to see the movie first before he took his son.  Understandable.  Then he asked me to get another ticket when I bought them.
• The open seat.  Here’s where everything got complicated.  The original person I got this for was my sister-in-law, who is not a geek.  At all.  But, she got sick Saturday.  My brother asked his son.  The kid wanted to go at first, then changed his mind for some reason no one understood.  The last ticket was eventually used by my brother’s father-in-law, of little geek persuasion.

So, tickets in hand, this motely group went to see the movie.  Review and SPOILERS after the cut.

[A note from Jimmy: I’ve hijacked this post and put my thoughts at the end.  They are spoiler free, but since you have to read through Tom’s excellent review to get there…I guess it matters little.]

The Punisher Problem

The second season of Daredevil dropped today.  I’m not one for binge watching, personally, so I have no idea how long it will take me to watch the show, but as of this typing I’ve watched the first episode and liked what I saw.

But the promised appearance of the Punisher had me reflecting that, no matter how popular a character he is, he is a weird anomaly in the Marvel pantheon of a character with little discernible personality and few memorable appearances.

Afternoon Funnies- Super Antics Edition

Also known as “Watson Didn’t Want to Write an Article today and Just Dumped a Bunch of Pictures Off His Phone”.  Click on for a mild chuckle.

Going Through The DCAU Part Five

Continuing Tom and Jimmy’s rewatch of the DCAU.

This week, we’re covering “Heart of Ice,” “The Cat and the Claw Parts 1 and 2,” and “See No Evil.”

Podcast Reaction: The Steve Trevor Edition

She’s right there, dumbass!

 

This week on the podcast, Jenny and the guys talked comics.  I, generally, use this site to talk comics.  However, so does Jimmy, and he’s also doing a podcast reaction this week.  In fact, it’s probably live as you read this, but not as I type this, so go read Jimmy’s column, or he’ll be a sad panda.

But I do that “Misplaced Hero” column, so let’s cover a character discussed during the GNOWs that isn’t really a misplaced hero but more of a misplaced love interest.

ICYMI- What Would Happen If The Justice League Had to Fight….TO THE DEATH?!?

I was going to write an article to coincide with the start of the NCAA basketball tournament consisting of a bracket of 64 superheroes in a “who would win a fight” contest. Those are so boring though because inevitably the answer is “Superman wins!” Thinking of scenarios that could make for better clickbait more entertaining content led me to recall one of the greatest articles I have ever read in the history of the Internet. Thus begins our journey!

ICYMI-And Now…Twilight Bashing

Don’t worry. This article is worth the pain memories of this photo may cause.

I tagged my first two articles with the tag “Twilight sucks”.  It would be irresponsible of me not to explain why.

See, I’m a happily married man.   As a result of this fact, I have seen most of these movies.  I am not sure my wife even really likes these movies.  She proclaimed reading the final book as six months of her life she’s like to get back since the book was so dull it took her that long to get through it.  But I am not my wife.  I have photos of the two of us in the same room to prove it.  So, why do I think Twilight sucks?

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Convergence: Week Five Part One

I’m back baby!  (Editor’s Note: Jimmy, you used that two posts ago.)  As Convergence continues its trek towards being the most forgettable crossover event ever.  The tie ins are not bad, but seem to have little to no bearing on the main book and vice versa.  If you like a particular DC character from a particular era, pick up those books.  Otherwise, just pick up the main mini-series, which may be of interest.

Be sure to catch up on all the Convergence happenings with coverage of:

Week One: Part One, Part Two
Week Two: Part One, Part Two
Week Three:Part One, Part Two
Week Four:Part One, Part Two

Read on for Week Five spoilers after break for Convergence #5, Convergence Batman And Robin #2, Convergence Superman #2, Convergence Nightwing Oracle #2, Convergence Batgirl #2, and Convergence Harley Quinn #2.