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cantsayidont · 4 months

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There are some things in DC's voluminous back catalog that they ought to properly reprint because they're good — gems of past eras. However, there are also some things they ought to properly reprint because they're delightfully stupid, like the Superman/Batman team-ups from WORLD'S FINEST COMICS. DC has actually reprinted all the stories from the '50s, through about 1961, but a lot of the '60s material has only been reprinted in the B&W SHOWCASE PRESENTS books, which is a shame.

The WORLD'S FINEST team-ups went through several distinct phases. Superman, Batman, and Robin had shared the covers of WORLD'S FINEST COMICS since 1941, but it wasn't until 1954 that shrinking page counts obliged them to actually share the lead feature. The '50s stories are pretty good of their time, with some lovely Dick Sprang art, and the presence of Superman meant the drift into science fiction was less jarring than in the contemporary Batman books. In 1964, editorial control of WORLD'S FINEST passed to Mort Weisinger and it became a Weisinger-era Superman book that happened to have Batman and Robin in it. Starting in 1967, though, things started to get stranger and stranger as Weisinger's stable of sci-fi veterans like Edmond Hamilton and Otto Binder gave way to Bob Kanigher, Cary Bates, and Bob Haney, who turned out some exceedingly weird material. Stories like the two-parter about Superman having died and willed his super-organs to various people (#189–190) aren't quite as ghoulish as the covers suggest, but their inexplicable weirdness is emblematic of the period.

For a little while in the early '70s, DC evicted Batman from the series, making WORLD'S FINEST a general-issue Superman team-up book. (DC reprinted those issues in trade paperback in 2020.) This apparently wasn't a big commercial success, but rather than immediately returning to the expected Superman/Batman format, WORLD'S FINEST began to feature the Super-Sons, the teenage sons of Superman and Batman in a hazily defined parallel reality — written by Bob Haney, whose stories consistently evoke the sensation of mild concussion. The "real" Superman and Batman also returned, although they had to alternate with their hypothetical future sons, appearing roughly every other issue through 1976. From 1976 to 1982, WORLD'S FINEST once again became an oversize anthology book, with a Superman/Batman main feature backed by a variety of other characters like Green Arrow and Hawkman. The stories in that period are not quite as ludicrous as the late '60s (although if you see Bob Haney's name in the credits, you know you're in for a wild ride), but even the soberer installments are consistently very silly, full of nonsense like Kryptonian lycanthropy and the return of some especially ridiculous older villains like the Gorilla Boss of Gotham City and Doctor Double-X.

It wasn't until issue #285 that Superman and Batman again had the book all to themselves. The late period dials back the zaniness and has mostly uninspired plots, but writers Doug Moench and David Anthony Kraft compensate with some eyebrow-raising and apparently deliberate "Superbat" ship-bait; my personal favorite is Kraft's "No Rest for Heroes!" (a short story in the back of WORLD'S FINEST #302), where Superman and Batman go to a dive bar in the middle of nowhere to talk about their relationship and Batman ends up throwing a knife at someone.

Very little of this stuff is actually good by any normal standard — although the 1964–1967 period is no more or less weird than any other Weisinger Silver Age Superman stories — and the artwork is only occasionally better than passable. However, it's so stupid and so ridiculous that it's consistently fun, in a way DC doesn't really do anymore, at least not on purpose. Assembling all the Superman/Batman stories (leaving the Super-Sons to their own TPB), omitting the various backup strips, and giving it decent color reproduction would make for a nice package, and the presence of Superman and Batman would make it more commercially viable than some of DC's more artistically worthy back catalog material. Low-hanging fruit, if you ask me.

#comics #world's finest comics #curt swan #neal adams #murphy anderson #superman #batman #robin #jimmy olsen #mort weisinger #cary bates #robert kanigher #bob haney #david anthony kraft #doug moench #superbat

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davidmann95 · 6 years

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I read your post about why Batman is great and I love how thoughtful that is. Can you do one for Superman? Thanks ^_^

Unsurprisingly, I’ve touched on a lot of the basic aspects of it before, so for a couple parts of this I’ll keep it restrained (speaking entirely relatively), but given I think about Superman more than most people think about their best friends, I feel qualified to state that yes: Superman is great. As I said with Batman, the reasons why on a mass cultural basis are much broader than ‘he’s a really well-written character’ - hell, too often that isn’t even the case, even if plenty *have* stepped up over the years - so I’ll start with the lizard hindbrain stuff and work my way down to the finer details.

Superman has iconic power by default

What it really comes down to, at least in terms of keeping him afloat in the public eye when actual public opinion on him has been shot completely to hell over the last couple decades, is that Superman is a Big Deal. He’s the founder of his own genre: literally every surface-level aspect of his mythology is shorthand for the concept he created as well as for plenty beyond superheroes, from the suit (trunks included) to Lois Lane to Lex Luthor to Clark Kent to flying to Kryptonite to Bizarro and Brainiac to super-pets and x-ray vision. A red cape fluttering in the breeze is itself an evocative image entirely sans context, because people know that means him, by which it really means all superheroes. That means he takes the hits of getting all the complaints other characters duck even as others write thinkpieces on his place in culture and how he represents everything from America to Jesus to conservative values to the immigrant experience, all from people who may well have never picked up a comic or watched a cartoon of his in their lives. Even when most people don’t know much about him as a character, he as a symbolic figure is too massive to not grapple with one way or another, even via shorthand such as ‘he’s dumb’ or ‘he stands for us at our best’; while many of his recent woes can be traced back to people telling stories solely about or defined by that iconography, it still has power. Kids on the other side of the world from wherever you’re sitting right now know he can leap a tall building in a single bound. There’s maybe two or three other fictional characters in the world with that level of exposure and impact, and the unconscious emotional connection that comes baked right into it.

Superman is a protector

When kids talk about loving him because he can do anything, and adults talk about how he brings back those memories of joy and comfort, I think this is what it really comes down to a lot of the time. Superman’s the one who looks out for us, the guy who cares about you. Yeah, there’s gotta be the odd story about how NOT EVEN SUPERMAN CAN SAVE EVERYONE! to keep him honest, but by and large, yes he can. He wears a fun flashy uniform and he can wrap you up in his cape and fly you away from whatever bad’s happening, and even if something can catch up, no bullet or bomb in the world is going to get through him to you, or even hurt him enough to at least be scary. Nothing’s so hard or so big or so scary he can’t help, not really; he naps on clouds and swims in the sun. He’s polite, and never aggressive towards the innocent (not even that often towards the guilty), and he doesn’t talk down to people even though he’s stronger and knows better. He’s as confident as a cool big brother, as supportive and sturdy as a good dad, as vaguely ethereal and perfectly impossible as Santa Claus. It’s not an act, it’s not impersonal - he wants you to be okay, he cares about you and he’ll do whatever he can to make sure you’ll be alright. When that’s done just right? That kind of unreserved, unconditional, powerful demonstration of kindness making a difference, even from a cartoon alien, can knock a lot of typically steely emotional walls down like balsa wood, especially when that can save the day just as much as quick wits or a fist, the way anyone here could too in the right circumstances when they try their best.

Superman is a romantic figure

Something overlooked or deliberately sidelined by many is that a huge, huge part of Superman’s appeal in lots of circles is that he can be a romantic ideal rather than (or as well as) a protective one. He’s a sweet, funny, confident, smart guy who’s built like Adonis and doesn’t think he’s better than everybody else even though he’s literally the best. He holds down a socially valuable job he’s successful and happy at, he’s gentle and considerate, and he’s entirely comfortable being second in his household to a commanding career woman who he’s instinctively protective of, but also willing to back off of when she feels smothered because he acknowledges her independence. He can fly her to the moon, he never lets her forget how happy he is that when he was left lost and alone on the other side of the universe he fell to the one place he could find her, and he wears tights. The comics may forget that, but Lois & Clark knew it. Smallville sure as hell knew it. So have the last couple movies, and Supergirl. Even Christopher Reeve, America’s Dad, got it on with Margot Kidder in that weird shiny Fortress hammock. You wanna talk about the aspects of Superman that go for…ahem…primal instincts, that he’s the member of the Justice League historically most likely to go shirtless* is worth bringing up.

* Aside from maybe Batman, who’s usually beat to hell and too miserable to leverage any of that playboy charm, and Aquaman, who’s Aquaman.

Superman is an easy power fantasy

Obviously, superheroes are often power fantasies in general; they do stuff we can’t do but wish we could. And Superman’s near the top of that list not just because he’s iconic, and not even because of the scope of his power - Green Lantern and Thor are comparable in terms of raw ability, GL even has an honest-to-goodness wishing ring, but they don’t measure up in that regard. What is is, I think, is that Superman’s powers are rooted in physicality, and therefore easy to imagine yourself doing. Everything most people can do, he does best, from lifting to running to looking to hearing to punching. Even his non-physical powers have a connection to actual physical acts: to see through objects he focuses as if peering through a fog, he doesn’t shoot power blasts from his fists to light things on fire but instead burns them with a furious glare, he doesn’t dispassionately levitate through the air as a standard but takes off and holds his arms forward as if in a mighty never-ending leap. Batman may be ‘real’, but if you imagined suddenly being him, you wouldn’t be Batman, you’d be a rich dude with a weaponized theme park in his basement, because you have no training and no tangible point of reference for thinking of how anything works beyond “punch and throw things”. But it’s easy to imagine being Superman in a visceral, physical sense - just imagine everything you did worked optimally, even the way it only could in a dream.

Superman is fun

All of the above makes him grand and likable, but that’s not the same as being able to support decades of monthly adventure stories. The basis of that is that he lives in a universe-sized, Earth-shaped toybox. He doesn’t just have superpowers and a nifty suit, he’s got a cave at the North Pole right near Santa with a time machine, statues of all his friends, a space zoo, a gun that turns people into ghosts, and a bottle city full of real people, plus robots to keep it all tidy, and only he can get in because the key was forged in the heart of a star. His cousin, kid, dog, and a few of his best friends wear capes too, and his ‘brother’ with reverse-superpowers lives on a cube planet where it’s perpetually opposite day. His friends and wife often go on their own adventures and get temporary superpowers just by being in his vicinity, he dated a mermaid in college, his after-school club was in the future and he commutes to the moon for work, and his deadliest enemies include a crazed mad scientist, an evil robot with a death-heart, a mischievous imp in a derby hat, and brilliant alien computer literally named Brainiac. Superman lives in a sci-fi fantasy dreamland of childish archetypes that can exist on any scale from the microscopic to the galactic to the other-dimensional, and as a result of that he can go on any adventure imaginable, to any time and place, and as a super-man who doesn’t often have to worry for his own safety, he can survive and appreciate and care for it all.

Superman mythologizes the mundane

And it’s where the fun and the big, mythic aura Superman carries meet that the magic happens that makes him as versatile and effective a character as there is in fiction: everything he does is rooted in something incredibly normal and human. His wild super-suit of circus royalty is made to reconnect with his heritage the only way he has, and to try and make himself colorful and unthreatening to a world he needs to accept him. When he travels through time, it’s never just to save reality, it’s to go see family and friends. He walks his dog around the rings of Saturn, he looks at his city in a bottle and wonders if he’ll ever be able to get around to taking care of that, he walks on the bottom of the ocean to think things through privately, and spends an entire day saving the world to get away from a conversation he doesn’t want to have. Every mad, cosmic aspect of his world is something totally normal blown up to be as big as it feels, and even when he does interact with the truly ‘mundane’, his presence alone elevates it to myth in a way no other superhero can. That’s the true source of his ability to adapt, rarely tapped but always potent: he can do anything, because he’s us.

Superman’s an actual good, interesting character

I place this at the bottom because it’s the aspect that’s most rarely captured, especially in the public eye (though the handful of times it has been are why he’s my favorite). But when he’s handled properly, then even divorced from everything else, Superman is fascinating as a *person*. Raised knowing there’s something different about him even as his weird alienness lets him understand people and the world around them in ways no others can, he learned one day he was born of the most mind-shattering act of cosmic horror imaginable, with a place greater than Earth in every way destroyed by coincidence, a signpost by any measure that the universe is a chaotic, meaningless, cruel place that destroys the innocent with indifference…and he became a good man who treasures life over anything. He has power that lets him do literally anything he pleases, and he spends half his life among us at a desk job because he thinks we’re just swell and he wants to keep being part of it all. Even though he can never entirely, not really, divvying his life up into discrete, manageable chunks that let him interact with the world on his own terms and try to see through what he sees as his responsibility, until a woman sees through the deception and self-deception and gets the real him to tentatively come out.

He has fun little hobbies, and unusual friendships, and a complex rivalry with the one man in the world who could’ve been his equal. He’s seen the best and worst of the world, and he accepts it all, but he still radiates a decency and innocence that can be mistaken for naivete by those who don’t know him. He’s clever but easy to catch off-guard in the right circumstances, always struggling to be the god people expect him to be rather than the inadequate fake his humility can make him look at himself as, he likes football and pretzels and pulp novels and Metallica, he gets a kick out of writing because it’s one of the few things he can do on an even playing field, he’s not sure how best to raise his kid, he worries that that one alien dictator is going to pop by again soon and he might not be ready to deal with it, he has to coordinate dates with his wife precisely because they both have such busy schedules, he counts dust particles in the air when he gets bored, and he believes in everybody. There’s so much going on with this guy, this identity-case, this brute, this pacifist, this establishment-man, this rebel and idealist and weirdo and a dozen other conflicting things. He’s been and done just about everything with charm and style over the decades, and it works, because it all adds up into one nice guy’s unusual, well-rounded life. And because it’s always anchored by an understanding: for all that he’s a unique freak of creation, he knows that in all the madness and uncertainty and horror, the one thing we have to rely on is each other. So he’ll put on his suit and throw himself out there against the only things in the universe that could kill him when he could be doing anything else, because he’s found a home with us little people when he lost his, and he knows we’re worth the fight; everyone is, aliens just like him in their own ways, waiting to be saved the way they saved him when he landed in a field. That’s why Superman’s great.

#Superman #Analysis #Opinion

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aion-rsa · 5 years

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Inside Awesome Con and Its Fan First Approach

http://bit.ly/2v6fOYd

We spoke with Ron Brister and Ben Penrod, the creators of Awesome Con, about what sets their show apart from other big fan conventions.

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Aaron Sagers

Apr 10, 2019

Geek Travel

This article is presented in partnership with Leftfield Media and AwesomeCon.

It happens nearly every weekend around the nation. Thousands of superheroes, villains, monsters, fantasy fellowships – and even a few civilians -- gather alongside the actors who portray the characters, and the creatives who give them life. They gather to dress up, share their love of fandom, hear experts talk, pursue holy grail collectibles, nab autographs, and photo ops.

This is the world of comic cons, and it is quite literally show business where pop culture comes to life. And for the past decade, in particular, business has been booming as more fandoms emerge, and genre content takes over box offices, networks, and streaming platforms.

That’s where Ron Brister and Ben Penrod come in, two lifelong fans, and founders, respectively, of Rose City Comic Con in Portland, Oregon, and Awesome Con in Washington, D.C. The two serve as partners behind Leftfield Media, an event company that hosts large scale conventions, which also includes Big Easy Con in New Orleans and Anime NYC.

Leftfield’s events features star talent; KJ Apa and Cole Sprouse of Riverdale, and casts from Cobra Kai, The Office, The Princess Bride, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and more are scheduled to appear at Awesome Con, which runs from April 26-28 in Washington DC.

While the stars will be in attendance, the company has also distinguished itself with robust programming. For instance, they partner with Smithsonian magazine for Future Con, a block of panels highlighting the intersection of science, technology, and sci-fi. Then there is the generous comic book programming spotlighting industry guests, and the kid-focused Awesome Con Jr.

For a company dedicated to delivering a fan experience unique to each host city, Leftfield’s partners each approached the con business from very different backgrounds – and neither initially involved comic cons.

Brister’s fandom began when he was a military brat living in Japan. He became hooked on animation before returning to the United States around the age of eight, and obsessed over Robotech anime and G.I. Joe comics.

“My mom had got me a comic book subscription at a local comic book shop, Lady Jane’s, because I didn't enjoy reading and she wanted me to read,” says Brister. “But the Larry Hama silent G.I. Joe issue [#21] came out, and that really got me into comics.”

Similarly, for Penrod, it was also his mom that was the nerdy mentor, even though she wasn’t an “out in the crowd, open nerd.”

Penrod’s mother loved Star Wars, and that opened the door to his passion, which led to his love of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman: The Animated Series, and then buying and selling comics on eBay.

Penrod says he went from selling cars in 2008 to buying and flipping comic book collections, and had acquired a quarter million comics in his warehouse. Even though it never became a lucrative endeavor, it served as an intro to the convention scene.

read more: The Best Paranormal and UFO Conventions

“When I was growing up, the scene wasn't like it is now,” Penrod says. “There were cons around, but I grew up pretty poor, and didn't have the money to go out and do a lot of things like that, and I also didn't have anybody to go with, so I never really went to a con until I think 2009, and I was selling comics.”

“I didn't really experience the Con thing as a kid, either,” agrees Brister. “There was an old comic book show that took place, but I never went to it; I don't know if it just wasn't on my radar when I was a kid, or if we were just far enough outside of the city that my mom wasn’t willing to drive into Downtown Portland at the time, and in an area that had been not the safest of neighborhoods.”

Brister's first brush with the world of conventions took place while working for a comic book store in around 1991 – a job he took because it was across the street from the mall where his future wife worked.

“I remember working in the shop, and lo and behold, Todd McFarlane came into the shop," Brister says. "Image was just starting, and he came in to trade stuff like Spawn books because he had this Hot Wheels car that he was putting out and he was looking for hockey and baseball cards. So the first time I met a creator was in a comic book store outside of Portland, Oregon, and he was a guy just shopping for hockey and baseball cards, and had stuff to trade, just like anybody else.”

These early experiences where it wasn’t easy, or affordable, for them to get to cons proved formative for their work on Rose City, Awesome Con, and Leftfield as a whole. Rather than pay-to-play game tournaments, Brister said Leftfield offers “learn to play” tourneys, and strives to offer retro gaming, as well as diverse options in nostalgia, wrestling, and manga categories.

“We're not in the business of chasing down attendees for $500 photo ops with all the stars,” Brister says. “We feel like that market is being served by other organizations …[but] maybe people want to learn about how to break into comics or want to hear from Greg Rucka or Greg Capullo or Scott Snyder or Tom King on how they got into comics.”

As an organizer, Brister says the upwards of 120 hours of programming -- ranging from fan-submitted to “fun and goofy” to curated panels featuring astrophysicists -- is worthwhile for his attendees at Awesome Con “from an educational standpoint and from a value standpoint.”

“You can go to a ‘Learn to Draw Spider-Man’ panel, or you can go to a college level lesson or symposium on the evolution of Superman, or you can get on and listen to Erin Macdonald talk about the mechanics and the physics related to going to Mars,” Brister says. “And we're going to have the director of NASA at Awesome Con this year! What other comic con has the director of NASA?”

Penrod adds the programming reflects an important goal of Leftfield Media to host shows that represent the city they’re in.

“For Awesome Con to be special in D.C., it has to incorporate the city,” he says. “It has to stand out amongst all the other shows in the country, and be something you could only get in D.C.”

“We could have a big top tent, roll into cities, and just pop up like the circus and roll away, but that's not our modus operandi,” says Brister, who noted every city has its own vibe that must be catered to, from the “creative, well-read, comic-centric” fans of Portland, those who love science and pop culture in D.C., and the horror, nostalgia, and strong cosplay contingent of New Orleans.

read more: The Best Cosplays at Comic Con

Penrod says Leftfield also hosts events throughout the year, such as scavenger hunts, movie screenings, or events in local retailers designed to remain active in communities year-round. Brister jokes there is a strong connection between fan culture and beer culture – a connection he shares – and that Leftfield tries to create partnerships with local breweries in each city.

Not that Brister has much time for a cold one during a show, since he and Penrod are often running about, managing the fan experience.

However, both men have had their special comic con moments which eluded them as children.

Penrod says it always shocks him on some level when a big celebrity guest arrives at a con, as was the case with the Twelfth Doctor from Doctor Who. “I know that there's a contract, and they're advertised that they're coming to the show, but it's always not real until they actually show up.”

Penrod says he knew Peter Capaldi had checked into the hotel, and was on his way to the event. But then he met him.

“He comes through the door, and I introduce myself, and then he's got to go off and do his thing, and I just looked over at Peter, who works with us, and I'm like, ‘The Doctor is here! Like, The Doctor! He's actually here!’ So, we kinda geeked-out over that.”

Poignantly, Brister’s experience goes back to his mom, who supported his fandom in the first place.

“My parents had split up when I was a kid, after we got back from Japan, the one thing that my mom loved, and still loves to this day, the old Star Trek,” reflects Brister. “So when I had the ability to bring in William Shatner in a number of events, it was a cool seeing my mom's reaction to getting to meet him, and how genuinely nice to her he was -- it was probably one of the best experiences for me, being able to give her that experience.”

While not every fan may meet Captain Kirk, Brister’s story sums up the kind of memorable experience available to all attendees who visit the unique Leftfield Media events.

Awesome Con Events and Guests

What makes Awesome Con so awesome? So glad you asked. The celebrity guest roster at this year’s event includes cast reunions for Star Trek: The Next Generation (Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden), Weird Science (Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Kelly LeBrock), The Office (Kate Flannery, Creed Bratton, Oscar Nunez), Karate Kid/Cobra Kai (Ralpha Macchio, Martin Kove, William Zabka), and The Princess Bride (Cary Elwes, Wallace Shawn, Chris Sarandon), along with KJ Apa and Cole Sprouse of the hit show Riverdale. Marvel’s Netflix shows will be represented by The Punisher’s Jon Bernthal and Luke Cage’s Mike Colter and Theo Rossi.

As if that’s not enough, other celebrity guests include Val Kilmer, Jason Isaacs, Milo Ventimiglia, Tom Payne, “Weird” Al Yankovic, Mary McDonell, Michael Biehn, Tara Strong, Susan Egan, Greg Cipes, Sean Schemmel, Zach Callison, Phil Lamarr, and more!

- On the comic front, Awesome Con is gathering top talent from the industry including Clay Mann, Greg Capullo, Tim Sale, Amy Chu, sci-fi author extraordinaire Timothy Zahn, Kevin Maguire, Chrissie Zullo, Margueritte Bennett, Steve Orlando and more.

Both Oni Press and Adult Swim are bringing exclusive goodies to Awesome Con including a Rick And Morty #49 comic limited to 500 issues with a limited edition variant by Kyle Starks.

- Drink up (if you’re of legal age) the exclusive Awesome Con beer Hop Bot, from Atlas Brewery. But always be a responsible nerd.

With both Future Con, and Awesome Con Jr., the programming takes flight with science and culture focused panels involving the Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, and more -- with World War Z author Max Brooks bringing his zombie expertise to the show. Meanwhile, the programming for younger fans at Awesome Con Jr. include Dreamworks, and The National Wildlife Foundation.

Awesome Con runs from April 26-28 in Washington DC. Click here for more info!

from Books http://bit.ly/2X2EU61

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