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WonderCon 2013: “Superman Unbound” Premiere Review

by Eric DiazApril 2, 2013

It’s hard to believe it has been almost seven years since the end of Justice League Unlimited and the start of Warner Brother’s series of straight-to- video animated films; it seems like only yesterday they announced at San Diego Comic Con the imminent arrival of feature length PG-13 versions of classic comic book stories Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: The New Frontier and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (I’m sadly still waiting for that last one to appear.) Many cynical geeks out there thought this straight-to- DVD venture would last a couple of years at best, but since then we’ve had sixteen of these films come out, most of which have been pretty damn good. Some have actually even managed to be great.

While Warner Brothers has been downright terrible at getting their non- Batman DC Universe live-action movies off the ground these past several years, in the meantime their animated division has been cranking out great product. Their last release was an excellent two part adaptation of Frank Miller’s seminal The Dark Knight Returns. After that movie, many fans were left wondering “just how do you top the Dark Knight Returns?” Well, the answer is you don’t even really try, you just keep chugging along and try to make the next movie the best it can be and not try to worry about following up on a classic. The result is Superman: Unbound, which premiered last weekend at Wonder-Con in Anaheim. Once again, Warner Home Video has used Wonder-Con as an opportunity to give fans an early screening of one of their films, which won’t appear on store shelves or on iTunes for another month or so. Judging by the enthusiastic crowd reaction, DC and Warners have another fan favorite on their hands. Superman:Unbound, while not quite a classic, was more than a worthy entry in Warner’s line-up of DC Universe movies…and possibly their best solo Superman entry to date so far.

While Dark Knight Returns was a tough act to follow, Superman: Unbound is still a very entertaining entry into this series of DCU animated movies. Based on writer Geoff Johns’ and artist Gary Frank’s run on Action Comics from issues #866-870 (collected in trade form as Superman: Brainiac) this movie is pretty loosely adapted from that original story, taking some major story beats and artistic designs from the original comic, but adding several other story points of their own while deleting others. For example, the movie version has a totally different opening act than the comic, and Pa Kent is nowhere to be found in this movie, just Ma Kent. (SPOILER-in the comic book version, he dies as a result of Brainiac’s attack.) In the original comic story Clark and Lois are already married, while in the movie their dating life leads to much romantic tension and an extra layer the comic story lacked. The end result of all these changes though is that this is maybe the best of the Superman animated movies so far, beating even All Star Superman, which was a fine movie overall, but had to lose way too much of Grant Morrison’s original story to really be totally successful as a seventy minute film. Unbound is also leagues better than the last Superman DTV, Superman Vs. The Elite, which never really came together for me at all, and I kind of view as a pretty big misfire.

The story this time begins with Lois Lane (played with appropriate dry wit by Stana Katic from the TV series Castle) being kidnapped by dastardly high-jackers yet again, in this instance while usual timely rescuer Superman is out of town (there is some big earthquake somewhere else, conveniently.) This changed opening to the story allows us to be introduced to Supergirl before Superman, who in this version of events is new to Earth and not everyone (especially criminals apparently) are aware that there is another Kryptonian on Earth who can also save kidnapped reporters and deflect bullets. Supergirl helps save Lois, but not before Superman shows up and gives his young cousin Kara a piece of his mind about her always being angry and a bit reckless, and trying to be a super-hero before she was quite ready. She quickly reminds him that unlike with how he grew up, she wasn’t raised on Earth and is still mourning a dead world that, for her, was still alive and kicking some three months back. This version of Supergirl is played by Molly Quinn, also from Castle, and she gives Kara the right dose of teen giddiness (that changes into adolescent angst at the drop of a hat) that makes this version of Kara Zor-El such an good take on Superman’s cute cousin. Unlike other past versions of Supergirl, this one actually evokes the mood swings of a real teenager. Just with heat vision.

We then get some pretty amusing banter between oafish bro-dude (and Daily Planet Sports columnist) Steve Lombard and Lois Lane, where while hitting on her at the office, he begins to wonder just what the real truth behind Clark’s double life might really be (“he’s super fit, but not into sports, dresses well” etc) All suggesting that Clark Kent must of course really be gay (ironically, the actor playing Clark in this is Matt Bomer, who actually IS openly gay, and was also once this close to being cast as Superman in live-action once.) When Clark shows up finally, we find out that Lois and Clark are secretly dating, and he has let her in on the big secret. But while Clark has let Lois in on his true self and and actually started a real relationship with her, their couple-hood must remain a secret from everyone else, lest any bad guy find out the truth about him and use Lois to get to him and blah, blah, blah, -you know the drill.

But this Lois isn’t having any of this “secret relationship” stuff, and lets Clark know it. She’s been getting into (and out of) trouble since before they met, and doesn’t like the new dynamics of their relationship, where Clark clearly has the upper hand and holds all the cards. The dialogue and characterization of Lois and Clark here is very real and pitch perfect, and really, really made me miss their relationship in the comics, before it all got rebooted away by DC, and Lois was replaced with Wonder Woman as Superman’s main squeeze. This seems like an even dumber decision in the wake of the great Lois/Clark chemistry exhibited here by Bomer and Katic. This movie proved once again that Lois and Clark can work as a couple when written the right way.

From here on out the story plays out almost exactly like it did in the original comics, with a robotic probe from alien artificial intelligence Brainiac coming to Earth and fighting Superman, leading Supes to go on an interstellar journey looking for the real thing, as well as the city from Krypton known as Kandor that he miniaturized decades ago and stole before the planet went bye-bye. The basic designs created by artist Gary Frank for Brainiac from the original comic are used here, as is the look of Brainiac’s ship and all of his drone minions. Frank’s version of Brainiac is maybe the best one yet, combining elements of all the Brainiacs that came before, with a touch of H.R. Giger and The Matrix, so it was wise of the production team to keep as much of that look as possible. Brainiac is voiced here by Fringe’s John Noble, who is appropriately cold and robotic, but with just the right amount of emotion when the story calls for it. I’m not sure Noble outdoes the voice work of Corey Burton (who voiced the character for Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League) but as with all the voice actors on the Bruce Timm animated series, they are a tough act to follow, as they kind of defined those parts for a whole generation.

More than anything else, it is the brisk pace and non stop action that make this one so fun to watch, and the action in this movie is really top notch and well animated. Unlike some of the other recent animated versions of Superman, this version of Kal-El does NOT pull his punches (the fact that Brainiac is a robot helps when displaying all the gratuitous destruction and still keeping a PG-13 rating. Luckily for Warners, robots don’t bleed or have internal organs.) In the fight scenes of this movie, you understand why they went with the title Superman: Unbound; without worrying about having to kill anyone, Superman doesn’t waste time and kicks ass and takes names. It’s a blast seeing this version of Superman for a change, the kind that doesn’t hold back and just lets the villains have it every which way possible.

It should be noted that this is producer James Tucker’s first DC Universe Animated film that he has produced and directed; up until now DC animation legend Bruce Timm has been the executive producer of each of these films, and now his protege Tucker has picked up the mantle to do these. I can say now that the transition has been smooth, as this movie maintains the same quality of all the best of the Timm projects. Still onboard is Andrea Romano, voice director for the ages, and as always she gets great performances out of her cast. It is a shame that each of these movies is a “stand alone,” because I would love to see this group of actors reprise these roles again. Overall, the combination of fun characterization with good voice acting, great fight scenes, and a good villain make this movie worth watching, maybe even a few times over.

Grade:

Superman: Unbound is released on May 7th, 2013

Superman #13: Quitting The Daily Planet And The Misuse Of Clark Kent

by Molly MahanOctober 30, 2012

Earlier last week, when I read that Clark Kent was going to quit his job at The Daily Planet, I was pretty excited. I caught the panel of the deed on Wednesday from a little forum known as Scans_Daily, and immediately I was pumped. Mild mannered reporter Clark Kent was taking a stand, and it was going to be awesome. Not to mention the newspaper industry is a dying beast, so it had the possibility of being a relevant and interesting update.

Then I picked up and read the rest of the comic. Immediately, I was disappointed and heartbroken because it became very clear to me that writer Scott Lobdell and DC editorial had made a huge mistake, and one that did not lack in irony (be it intentional or by happenstance).

In the book—Superman #13—Kent says that he reports on the news, he does not “make it”. However, as Superman, all he does is make news. Additionally, the method in which he quits—that is, a sudden decision with little to no build up—makes it look like all DC wanted to do was make a headline, rather than tell a story. This isn’t too surprising given DC’s media whoring the last couple of years (a few choice examples: Batwoman’s back and a lesbian, but it’ll take half a decade before they finally utilize her! Rebooting the universe left and right! Not to mention that Wonder Woman and Superman are now a “power couple”, etc.).

Stop bitching and write an editorial, Kent!

It’d be far more interesting if Clark actually used his position as a reporter to supplement his heroics, and not just maintain it as a lame-duck identity. If he’s only working for a paycheck, then why not be a waiter or a mechanic, something a little less public? There’s a reason he was a reporter and DC seems to have lost track of why and hence ignored that aspect of his character for some time. Even a mild-mannered reporter can rattle cages and investigate! If Superman really does stand for Truth and Justice, then he should be out there on the streets seeking those things, even when not battling aliens and evil geniuses with his fists. He would have a better and more effective time at it as a reporter than a fireman or accountant. Perhaps finally reveal Lex Luthor as an evil genius to world, rather than keeping it a secret. Remember when Lex became President? Yeah, probably wouldn’t have happened so easily if Kal El had utilized his position more effectively at The Daily Planet (you know, done his job). Granted, that part of DC’s history is no longer continuity, yet it still speaks to the illness that is present in a lot of superhero comics. And that is, not supplementing the alter-ego to aide in the character’s main goal (i.e., saving the world).

But, maybe, that’s the American Way aspect? All this information and hording it for himself as a 1%er of knowledge (though doesn’t Batman already have that kind of douchebaggery covered?). After all, he doesn’t owe us anything, and neither does DC. It’s completely selfish of me as a reader to suspect otherwise. Nevertheless, as a former, zealous reader of DC Comics, it is disappointing that they went after it from this angle. It feels like a cop out and not one with any real merit.

It may very well be interesting to see where Lobdell goes with this. How will he justify the transition; can he? Or will we see Clark back at The Planet or some other news-based gig in a couple months (after all, that’s all his resume is built for). Whatever the next step for Clark Kent is, I urge creative and editorial that his identity will supplement the character and his mission, rather than just be an ad hoc identity that serves no real purpose. After all, unless the secret identity has a purpose, why bother with it? The X-Men certainly don’t (no one in the Marvel Universe really seems to, aside from Spider-Man). The Fortress of Solitude is always available for living quarters, and surely someone would be willing to pay Superman copious amounts of money to be a part-time body guard, motivational speaker, etc.

Though maybe he meant the speech he gave, and the future of Clark Kent as investigative blogger for The Metropolitan Post (or whatever) could potentially be worth reading. We’ll see. After all, I’m not against change, I just hope it means something. Adds something. But in the past year, there doesn’t seem to be enough Blue Lanterns in the New 52 to justify my hopes.

One last thing: Lois Lane had always been the character Lobdell is trying to make Kent into in this issue. She was the tough-as-nails reporter who cared about the news and getting the information out to the people. In this issue, she cares about sales, credibility be damned. That’s a ‘fridging of character if I ever saw one. But another article for another time.

Superman#13 is written by Scott Lobdell, with art by Kenneth Rocafort. It is on sale NOW.

The Justice League Movie: A Mostly Coherent Guide To Super Friends on the Silver Screen

by Joe StarrSeptember 27, 2012

A lot of ‘to do’ and ‘ruckus’ has been made over how Warner Brothers should go about making a Justice League movie. Does Batman need to show up at the end of Man of Steel? How do we introduce people to all the characters? Should there be nipples?

While Marvel has had insane success with the first phase of their movie universe by bridging multiple hero movies into a shared storyline leading to The Avengers, 99% of all other movies with an ensemble cast typically manage to give you a story and characters within the first 10 or 15 minutes. And if Avengers has taught us anything about audiences at super hero movies, you don’t need to justify crazy powers, clashing genres, or put everyone in dark black leather. The crowd just wants to be entertained.

So my advice to Warner Brothers? Regardless of how Man of Steel does, just go make a Justice League movie. People know who Superman and Batman are, a lot of people kind of remember Wonder Woman, and that’s really all you need to get on board.

In fact, to help out, I’ve graciously spent 15 minutes of my life outlining a movie for you and casting the roles. You’re welcome. Please pay me. I need to see a dentist.

JUSTICE LEAGUE!

So the first thing you need to do is give a quick nudge to where we are in the world. And how do we do that without Iron Man touch screen and holo displays? THE NEWS. Show us all 17 24 hour news channels in the DCU doing a quick blitz of President Lex Luthor, who was elected after the entire city of Gotham was held ransom by Bane and is now entering his second term with a strong anti metahuman agenda in response to Superman, explaining that in the wake of the recent death of American fighter pilot Steve Trevor, who crashed on a mysterious Amazon Island, which recently appeared out of no where, these strange Amazon warrior tribes represents a clear and present danger to the United States and we’re gonna wipe the place out. USA! USA! USA!

Yeah that’s right, suck it Marvel! Ed Norton as Lex Luthor! I’m about to American History X a bunch of superheroes with SCIENCE! Eat a dick, Ruffalo!

We cut to chaotic footage of the D Day style invasion of the Amazon Island. It looks like a modern Saving Private Ryan but with 300 looking warrior ladies instead of Nazis.

“Victor can you believe all chicks with swords? It looks like something out of Revenge of the Titans, a great movie I saw in 3D 7 times! OH GOD ARROWS!” A young terrified marine named Victor Stone (John Boyega) saves a buddy with awesome movie taste by punching out a warrior lady but then gets nailed by a ton of friendly fire and some guy is like OH GOD MEDIC! And they cut back to Amy Adams as anchor Lois Lane at Daily Planet and she’s like ‘yeah so that was an awful thing to see. Here’s some cats in a wheelbarrow.’

Yeah I just watched Attack the Block. So what?

We cut from the Victor Stone POV to a bunch of armored ladies forcing Princess Diana (that’s unfortunate) to evacuate because they need to make sure she’s safe and protected. Throw in some statues that look exactly like Lucy Lawless because who else would play Hippolyta in the eventual Wonder Woman movie? We get some tossed in lines about ‘that man that crashed in the iron bird…I thought he would recover! What happened?!’

Hi, I’m Katrina Law. I’m on the show Spartacus where I kick the crap out of people and am super beautiful. I’m literally the only actress on the planet currently qualified to play Wonder Woman.

The Amazons maybe didn’t kill that pilot like the president says they did? OH SNAP SOMETHING IS ROTTEN ON THE ISLAND OF… Does it have a name? Sorry, I’ve been spending all my money on Avengers books my whole life. How stoked are you guys about Marvel Now? LOTS of really cool titles dropping and…Ok.

JUSTICE LEAGUE.

That’s where you throw the title. See? Just jump into this shit. Instead of overthinking about how to make this OK for an audience, just punch them in the face with it, show them how cool it looks to have Xena chicks beating the shit out of the cast of Blackhawk Down and have them be like ‘holy balls, what the eff word?!’ when the title drops. In addition to blowing everyone’s minds out of their buttholes, now we know Batman exists and that the Nolan Bat movies and Man of Steel are this movie’s Phanton Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and A New Hope. Welcome to Empire Strikes Back.

Wait Joe! Remember at the end of TDKR when Batman retires and the Looper guy replaces him? Well, we’ll deal with that later. Ok? Hey look, a private jet owned by Wayne Enterprises!

Bruce Wayne is watching the news on the invasion from his private jet.

Bruce: “It’s hell over there, Alfred. A completely unprovoked act of aggression on a people we know nothing about.”

Alfred is played by Michael Caine again because that dude doesn’t turn anything down ever.

Alfred: “Well sir, perhaps you could show them what happens to acts of aggression in your city.”

Bruce: “That’s the problem, Alfred. This isn’t my city.”

Reveal of METROPOLIS! Batman is in Metropolis! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH.

Honestly? I don’t know who the hell should play Batman. But right now I’m going with Dustin Clare, because male DC heroes should never be played by American actors. ‘But a Bruce Wayne this young could never fit the Nolan timeline!’ you say? New 52 Batman banged Talia and had a 12 year old son in 5 years.

Argument invalid.

DAILY PLANET: Clark! Get in here! Yeah Perry? You’re covering the premiere of Honey Booboo The Movie tonight! But I thought I was covering President Luthor’s dinner? Are you kidding? You look awful on camera. Lane is covering the dinner! You’re covering this crap. GET ON IT.

People keep telling me I need to learn how to format scripts and I keep telling them to stop trying to hold me down. That scene was magic.

Also this movie needs to have a sense of humor about Green Lantern, where people always mention that they heard about what happened in Green Lantern and no one believes any of it because it just sounds ridiculous.

At the dinner, Luthor reinforces his stance on metahumans, that aliens like this…Superman not only spit at the law, they spit at the human spirit and the idea of human achievement. But in the spirit of human achievement, thanks to a partnership between Lexcorp and the Pentagon, the poster boy casualty of the Amazon Invasion, Victor Stone, has been saved! Project: Cyborg! Cyborg, covered in lots of cloth and gauze, waves to the cameras and asks the President when he can get back out there! Everyone claps because America. Also, Lois Lane hits on Bruce Wayne a bunch! “Hey Bruce we all thought you were dead after the Bane incident but when you ended up being fine we were all weirded out that you didn’t take your house back from those orphans and he’s like ‘Lets just say Gotham is in good hands and I’m focusing on a global scale.” See? Addressed. At some point he decided to unretire and then wink at the Grant Morrison fans with a seriously thin Batman Inc reference. It’s this movie’s unfinished Cap shield.

And then Diana from the Island busts in and is all like YOUR FAULT! ALL OF IT! Bruce Batmans up in a some kind of bad ass mobile costume suit up sequence and defends the president against her! It’s the first Batman sighting since the Gotham City siege!

Hey! Also in the room! It’s a catering guy! It’s a misplaced plane! No! It’s Superman! Still played by Henry Cavill because I really want his movie to be awesome! High powered Lexcorp soldiers led by Amanda Waller still played by Angela Basset who’s been by the President’s side in like every scene he’s in are escalating the crap out of things! The president points to the cameras and says C WE REALLY NEED 2 DO SOMETHING THESE GUYS R A MENACE K THANX. Lexcorp troops are going to kill Wonder Woman and Superman is all like woah due process and they’re ‘like suck a dong Superman’ and so he grabs Wonder Woman and Batman and flies them to THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE. Wonder Woman and Superman fight because she’s freaked out and he locks her in a cell because chill lady.

Batman and Superman take a moment to size each other up. Everyone gets boners in the audience, except for people who are wondering where Thor is. You know where he is? He’s a hot lady in a cell in the Fortress of Solitude because Wonder Woman should be DC’s Greek God based Thor and her movie should have been the Clash of the Titans remake but in present day and how hard is that to figure out?

President Luthor announces a big Skynetty computer AI defense system to track and deal with metahuman threats. He laughs and reminds everyone that people always accuse him of being a Brainiac so that’s what it’s being nicknamed. Batman tries to check out the Brainiac project by breaking into Lexcorp. In one room he sees a big global map with different areas located, squints his eyes and says ‘Atlantis…?’ and then Cyborg attacks him because these heroes have to get on the same page, am I right??

But then it turns out that Luthor built Brainiac with what he thought was Krypton tech but it turns out to be whatever it is that Brainiac actually is and I’m not exactly sure what that is because looking at his Wikipedia page gave me a migraine. But any way, Brainiac attacks and Cyborg is saving people and Batman is in the holding cell Cyborg and Amanda Waller dumped him in all like ‘let me help you’ and Wonder Woman is like ‘let me help you’ to Superman and he’s all like ‘I dunno lady I’m a boy scout and you’re dangerous’ and she’s all ‘ughhhhh you’re an idiot but also my sexy male equivalent.’

And then Brainiac hits the Fortress of Solitude and trashes it. It’s on. Superman and Wonder Woman show up in Metropolis to fight it’s AI hordes. Cyborg goes against orders and lets Batman out and the team comes together. At some point Batman picks up a bow and arrow and says WELL THIS IS JUST STUPID staring right into the camera. Eventually Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Cyborg beat Brainiac through a series of progressively escalating CG action pieces that make up most of the third act of the movie and the world forgives Warner Brothers for Batman and Robin but not for the Matrix sequels.

NEVER FORGET

Brainiac not being completely dead is teased. At the end of the movie after the good guys win, Supes salvages the fortress to begin building a new structure so that they can keep an eye over the world they’re trying to protect. You know, like an ~~Avengers~~ Watchtower.

And then Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern shows up and Batman is like ‘oh, you’re real?’ and in the background a wacky homeless guy who earlier bet another homeless guy that ‘there’s no way a guy ever fought a purple jizz fog because how stupid does that sound?’ just quietly hands his buddy three bucks. And Green Lantern says ‘But seriously guys, I hate to sound ridiculous, but I’m a galactic peacekeeper, and Earth is about to be invaded. By Mars.’ And then there is this crazy shot of White Martian fleets mobilizing.

HEY we’re in the sequel to rub John Carter in Disney’s face a little more!

And there you go. You get the big three anchored by a young every man people can get behind because he served his country. You get Lex Luthor as a legit bad guy that isn’t scamming real estate agents: He’s the POTUS. You get guns vs. swords and you get super heroes vs. AI robot hordes. You get a Martian Manhunter tease. You get an Aquaman nod.

Because you guys HAVE to have an Aquaman nod.

*sighs, waits for millions of dollars to roll in*

Geekscape Comics: A First Look At Superman’s New Love Interest!

by Shawn MaddenAugust 22, 2012

Well, Entertainment Weekly has just posted the first look at Justice League #12, and it features the good ol’ Man Of Steel kissing someone who definitely isn’t Lois Lane. Who is it?

Well, it appears that Superman will be engaging in a romantic relationship with none other than Wonder Woman herself. One of the things that happened when DC launched the New 52 was the ending of Supermans marriage to Lois Lane. This may cause quite a bit of controversy from the people who were hoping to see them get back together. And Geoff Johns assures us that this is definitely no one-issue sales stunt right here.

“This is the new status quo.”

He also states that the relationship will have a seismic impact on all the heroes and villains in the DC universe. So, what’re your thoughts on this one?