I am nearly done with season 1, but I wanted to make a quick post. Firstly, awesome show, wow. Secondly, hmm, at first I thought they were going with the evil Krypton path but idk ... I think it is going to be a bit more complicated than that. Sure, episode 9 revealed the supposed invasion, but like we don't know what actually happened there. So many murky details. For some reason, I feel like the show isn't going that route with the El family and Krypton. I think Superman is going to think his origins are one thing and then be surprised when it turns out to be something else. Something that ... is perhaps even darker in nature. Who is pulling the strings? That is the question.

Anyway, I wanted to quickly post this in case I turned out to be right or wrong. I have on episode left until i am done with season 1 and then i am turning into bed.

Around three years ago, My Adventures with Superman premiered and at the time I remember it received raving reviews from critics and audiences alike. I was definitely extremely intrigued by the anime-esque take on the quintessential American hero Superman, but I just never got around to watching it. I'd seen some of Smallville and Supergirl, I watched the original Superman films as a kid, and I'd seen a handful of episodes from the cartoon, but I wasn't a Superman fan, so the show was an intruging concept but not something I felt that I had to see. But, well, now I am in my DC and Supergirl era and I heard that there is a unique and interesting adaptation of Kara in this show that shows up at the end of season 1 ... so here I am ...finally watching My Adventures with Superman and to keep it brief—the show is utterly fantastic.

I really love the blending of American and Japanese animation and writing style. There's something really beautiful to me about the fact that Japanese anime got it start with Japanese artists being inspired by American animation, specifically Disney, and now we are full circle with numerous American animation projects taking inspiration from Japan. I really like that cultural and artistic diffusion and I think it's really interesting to see it applied to Superman.

As a kid, I watched way more anime than western cartoons, so I have to say that I am feeling positively giddy watching this show. It's captured that sense of excitement and wonder that I felt as a kid watching anime that a lot of modern projects haven't quite managed too. I can't really put my specific finger onto the "why," but I just know that this show feels like a breath of fresh air to me and I find myself grinning with every episode thus far.

• The main trio of Clark, Lois, and Jimmy are absolutely great. They're such delightful characters and they have a great dynamic that brings both humor and heart to the show.
• Lois in particularly is really stand-out to me. Her stubbornness, insistence, and the way she just bulldozes forward reminds me of a great many classic female shounen protagonists. The dynamic between her and Clark actually sort of reminds of of Gohan and Videl from Dragon Ball Z. It has been years since I watched that show, so I'm not sure how accurate that comparison is but it's where my mind immediately went.
• Jimmy being a conspiracy nut is just great. I have read a few comics with Jimmy in them. Not enough to fully know who he is as a character, but I am enjoying this interpretation with him in the "crazy" but kind of right otaku role.
• And Clark Kent/Superman! So much to say there. Jack Quaid was a great choice for the role. He is able to perfectly capture that soft, anxious, and nerdy energy while also evoking the gentle strength that comes out in Clark's sincerity.
• And the animation???Amazing! These characters would not be as endearing without the incredible work of the animators. Bravo to them all.
• I'm also so intrigued where this thing with Clark's parents and the mystery of his origin will go. Obviously, we all know this origin, but we don't know what this show's take on it will be. Well, people who watched the show when it first came out know ... I don't. Though I have received some minor spoilers that are helping me put the pieces to this puzzle a little faster than I think I would otherwise.
• There's definitely this sinister feeling when it comes to the ship that Clark arrived in and Jor-El's daunting, untranslated message. Again, I'm not a Superman buff or anything, but this is probably the first time a piece of Superman media has, for me, demonstrated the sheer anxiety and terror that Clark would feel from not knowing who or what he is. And that makes his decision to help others all the more important and central. He doesn't know who he is or why he has these powers, but he wants to use them to help others.
• Oh! Which brings me to the suit! I had mixed feelings when the whole magical girl transformation on the ship happened. On one hand—it's so fucking anime and I love it, but on the other hand I like it when the suit is one that Ma Kent makes. But the show quickly rectifies this by having Ma Kent make some alterations by adding the most important addiction—the trunks! I do very much like that.
• Oh, before I forget, the flashbacks! Or visions! Or whatever they are. That I am really intrigued by. The fact that Clark is getting all these flashes and how they're connected to, what I assume is, Kryptonian technology is really interesting to me. It really centralizes the story to be about Clark discovering who he is ... and it seems like there is some darkness there. And not just the "survivor of a dead planet" darkness ... which considering what happened in Gunn's Superman is interesting. I don't know enough about Superman lore to know where they are pulling these elements from, but it is intriguing that two recent adaptations of Superman seem to be doing similar things with the character.
• I also really like how Clark is acquiring a new ability or power-up one at a time. He got heat vision last episode. I can't wait for him to get the rest of his arsenal of incredibly abilities.
• And one final note! I got incredbly excited at the beginning of episode 3 when I thought they were going to do a classic anime opening ... imagine my disappointment when it ended so fast. It was great! Really, I loved it, but give me a minute and a half to two minutes of music and animation that creates the feeling of the show. Thirty seconds is too short for me lol.

And with that, I end my post here. I'm going to watch a few more episodes before I retire for the day and I hope I can catch up before season 3 premieres.

Sony has had a rough time of it these past few years trying to establish itself outside of Marvel. The Spider-verse animated films are, of course, absolutely amazing. But outside of that Sony has had a bit of a rotten time. I do quite like the Venom trilogy and Tom Hardy is great in the role, but Morbius, Kraven, and Madame Web were financial and critical failures. I haven't gotten around to watching any of them and I don't think I ever will considering the reviews. But Sony is expanding to the small screen in collaboration with Amazon and Spider-Noir actually looks utterly fantastic!

I'm definitely planning on watching in black-and-white first, but the True-Hue color also actually looks really good! I'm very intrigued by the technology behind that, because the show was filmed in black-and-white and for black-and-white, but the cameras also recorded in color but clearly there's been a lot of digital editing to the colors and tones to create the unique look of the show. In an interview with Esquire, Cage said, "“The truth is, they both work and they're beautiful for different reasons. The color is super saturated and gorgeous. I think teenage viewers will appreciate the color, but I also want them to have the option. If they want to experience the concept in black and white, maybe that would instill some interest in them to look at earlier movies and enjoy that as an art form as well.” And I couldn't agree more! The ultra-saturated color makes it look incredibly distinctive and beautiful in a way that a lot of films these days just don't.

I'm not a huge film nerd, so I'm sure there's been examples of similar processes in other films, but I can't say I've heard of any of them. It isn't that they filmed this in color too, from what I understand, because while the digital cameras did capture color-data it isn't the same data that is collected during the normal process. I'm curious if this "True Hue" will remain a marketing gimmick solely for Spider-Noir or if it will expand to other projects. Either way, it looks great in the trailers and I'm hoping that it will also look just as beautiful when the show is released.

That same interview also included some comments from the creators concerning the name change from Peter Parker to Ben Reilly for Spider-Noir.

In other words, Spider-Noir could not be an optimist. “Peter Parker feels very synonymous with a high school kid. Boyish. On his way up,” Uziel says. So they chose a clone character whose backstory could be more easily adjusted to fit a pessimistic misanthrope.

“This character's very different from the Peter Parker from the movies. He's older and jaded, and not afraid to punch a guy in the face drunkenly,” Miller says, while Lord chimes in: “He already had his Chinatown disillusionment moment that happened years and years ago.”

I actually kind of disagree with this, not entirely, but Peter Parker was a pessimistic misanthrope in the early comics. He was incredibly jaded in the early Ditko comics, but he eventually grew out of that. It's a minor nitpick to be sure, because ultimately Peter did become a different type of man and, frankly, 95% of depictions of teenage Peter Parker ignore the Ditko characterization. But I wouldn't be a Spider-Man fan if I didn't needlessly nitpick, so a part of me does dislike this description of Peter Parker. However, I think the change to Ben Reilly makes a lot of sense and was the correct decision nevertheless. I think it will be easier for general audiences. And I'm sure the contract has changed since then, but the leaked 2011 contract between Marvel and Sony concerning the character of Spider-Man and Peter Parker did lay out some strong mandates that just make a Spider-Noir adaptation with Peter Parker impossible. Ben Reilly is better suited for it. Lord and Miller do hint at there being a greater reason behind the name change that will be revealed in the show, so we will see what that means.

The tv show will also bring in two other Spider-Man characters that have longed deserved some attention on the screen. Robbie Robertson appears in the Raimi trilogy in a rather small role and while he is a great character there, his significance to the broader Spider-Man mythos is ignored. I'm looking forward to seeing a live-action version of the character that is given more screentime and story significance. I'm also intrigued by this description given by showrunner Oren Uziel when describing the character:

“They're both investigators,” Uziel says of Reilly and Ben. “They both go back a long way. Their friendship has really deep ties. The biggest and most obvious difference is that Robbie is a guy who almost carries around a rabbit's foot. He thinks he's lucky, and it's all going to work out. Ben is a character who thinks it's never going to work out. It's all going to go to shit. Life's a big disaster. So Ben's cynicism is kind of an opposing force to Robbie's optimism.”

Since Ben is much older than he or Peter have ever been in the comics, it seems like Ben Reilly will almost be the J. Jonah Jameson to Robinson. The dichotomy between Robbie and Jonah is central to those characters in the comics, so I'm glad the writers understand that and are having Robbie serve as that foil to Ben Reilly. I think Robbie is a character who needs to be surrounded by cynics in order for his optimism to shine through.

The show will also have Cat Hardy! A character who is not so subtly a loose adaptation of Felicia Hardy. I'm curious to see how they will adapt her character. Is the name change another way to fit the film noir aesthetic, or is it to indicate that the character is more of a reference than a direct adaptation? Admittedly, while I'm a Spider-Man fan, I have not read the comics with Black Cat so most of my knowledge of her character comes from adaptations and fan engagement. (I'm somewhere in the 70s in my Spider-Man reading and I took a break a couple years ago... I need to get back into it.) But I do think Black Cat is probably the best character they could have chosen to be the femme fatale for this story.

Anyway, I am incredibly excited for this series. I have not read the Spider-Noir comics tho I have been debating reading them ... but I think I'll hold off until after the show comes off. I am really looking forward to the show and being surprised at all the different changes that are made when it comes to adapting Spider-Man to this specific setting and seeing how different The Spider is as a character.

I have never been a fan of DC tbh. Not for any particular reason, but just because I was a Spider-Man fan as a kid so when I started reading comics I chose Spider-Man and then expanded to the rest of the Marvel universe. There were a few times I tried to read DC comics over the years ... but like with anything ... comics are incredibly daunting to get into. But I did absolutely love the Arrowverse when I was younger, including Supergirl (though I ended up dropping the show around season 4). And with DC releasing such fantastic films as Matt Reeve's Batman and James Gunn's Superman and Craig Gillespie's Supergirl coming out soon, I decided to take the plunge into the world of DC comics especially since it's been a while since I've read anything from Marvel. And in the past month, I have read a lot of comics.

Because the upcoming film is based on Tom King's Woman of Tomorrow, I read that first. And it is a great comic! Absolutely loved it and it is probably a good decent introductory comic, I admit, I wish I had waited a bit longer to read it. The comic is essentially a Supergirl character study from the perspective of a young girl on a quest for revenge and I think these types of defining character study comics work better when you already have a strong understanding of the character. I absolutely loved the comic! But I do wonder if maybe it would have been more impactful if I had saved my first reading of it for later. We will see if my perspective on the comic changes once I reread it after I read a lot more comics.

After that, I read the New 52 run and I really enjoyed it. It definitely had some challenges and issues with the writing and pacing, but I enjoyed the take on the character and how the comic portrayed Kara's grief and anger. I like it when Kara is a bit of a messy hero, but my biggest qualm with the comic series is I do feel like we didn't get as many moments of Kara being a proactive hero as I would have liked. A lot of things happened to her and then she reacted which does make sense for the story and what was going on, but after so many issues, I was eager to see Kara not have a totally shitty day of being randomly attacked ... and that wouldn't happen until many, many issues in.

I knew Rebirth was next to read, but I wanted to go back in time before the reboot and read Post-Crisis era Kara starting with her first appearance after decades in Superman/Batman. I really loved her initial appearance in this comic series. I thought the comic did a great job of exploring her isolation and the challenges she faces. I also liked the dynamic between her and Clark, Bruce, and Diana and how they serves as mentors to her. Sadly, this would not last. Her solo title left much to be desired and it went from "meh, it's fine" to "holy shit this is so bad" extremely fast. Her appearances in Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes were a welcome break from Joe Kelly's writing in her actual eponymous series, however, due to the nature of a huge team book Kara wasn't given too much of a chance to shine or develop especially with later on her memories of the events of the comics are erased in order to preserve the future timeline. Still, these comics were way more enjoyable than reading her solo title where she was subjected to about five jailbait jokes per issue. We get it! She's 16 and everyone thinks she's hot. You're so edgy. That isn't to say there weren't any issues during this period that I liked. I actually quite enjoyed "Little Miss Perfect" in issue #18. It's an interesting story idea that could have been better executed, but I like the idea of a messy, modern Kara fighting against an idealized version of herself based on the Silver Age. It just falls flat when the "messy" version of Kara is so poorly written.

Thankfully, Joe Kelly eventually left the title and it was taken over by Kelley Puckett. His run wasn't spectacular or anything but it was a remarkable improvement. I did actually quite like the story arc with the child who had cancer. And he helped to rehabilitate Kara's story a bit. Overall, I am glad that I read all of those issues because I had seen several people online say to just skip them, but while Loeb, Kelly, and Puckett all had flaws in their writing, there were elements I found enjoyable and intriguing ideas in each run.

But, anyway, my next comic on the reading list was Superman: Brainiac from Action Comics #866–870 and it was amazing. Kara has a relatively small role in that comic, but it's an important part of her story as it is—spoiler alert—the comic that brings a piece of Krypton back to life and begins the famous and beloved New Krypton arc. Let me not jump ahead though. I really loved Kara's appearance in the Brainiac storyline and she went on a full arc in those five issues that put her entire solo title to shame. Perhaps that sounds harsh, and it is, but after weeks of reading shitty comics, I was overjoyed to read this comic arc. Brainiac is one of the most fearsome beings to Kara as she was just a normal, everyday teenage girl when Brainiac arrived and killed millions while kidnapping an entire city on Krypton. She was not a superhero. She had no powers. She was a civilian and she was terrified then and now all these years later she is again terrified when Brainiac arrives on Earth, but she faces her fears and she conquers them and helps Superman save the day. It's a nice little arc for her and the conversation between her and Clark about mourning Krypton really captures to me all the differences between the two characters—both in how they conceive of the loss of Krypton but also in their perception of the other. Kara is still just a 16 year old girl so as she mourns the loss of Krypton, she tells Clark, "Sometimes I wish I was like you and didn't remember Krypton. Then I wouldn't miss it as much." And Clark just has this haunted look in his eyes because he misses Krypton everyday too. It's a difference sense of loss and grief, but grief all the same, and Kara at 16 isn't yet old enough to understand the burden that Clark feels even if its a different burden than the one Kara feels. It's a great comic!

And that leads me into the New Krypton arc where the Supergirl 2005 series finally gets good! Sterling Gates is a phenomnal writer and his take on Kara is really great. I'm also reading all the other interconnected comics that are part of the New Krypton arc and I'm about halfway through. I planned to talk more about it, but this post is getting long enough, so I think I'll save it for a second post. But it's so good! I was worried it wouldn't live up to the hype with countless fans online utterly gushing about Gates' Supergirl run but I'm happy to report it is well worth the gushing! My only gripe is I wish we got to see more Kara in her Linda Lang persona, but I understand that with the crossover it just couldn't happen but I do really like the relationship between Kara and Lana.