Wow. I just... wow.

Please, kind reader, please tell me my fanaticism does not seem on par with this fellow's.

Supergirl can!

Pastor Gavin is doing something very cool.

You see, he has a young daughter. And he would like her to grow up with the belief the world is open to her. That she can accomplish great things without regard to gender. So he's making her a storybook called Supergirl Can! and you can help.

It's a pretty cool idea and very sweet, I think. I encourage you to help him out if you can.

Crazy crossover craziness

Superman is constantly crossed over with other properties. From not so spectacular things like other characters in his own universe to characters from Image and Marvel. More interesting to me though, is that for some reason Superman ends up meeting characters from entirely different mediums (and the real world) more often than any one else.

I thought I'd review what I thought were some of the more out there team ups he's had, but then decided that would be kinda dry. I've also decided SIB says swears too much, and could use a little classing up. Thus I give you several Superman media crossovers: reviewed in haiku.

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Superman Vs Muhammad Ali

Superman, Ali
I've no words; Genius fits. AND!
Neal Adams drew it!

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Superman Vs Predator

Superman and hunter
Expect action? No, no. Talking.
Just punch the monster!

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Superman and He-Man

Kal El wears his cape.
He-man, fuzzy underpants
Hide your shame, He-Man!

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Superman Vs Aliens

This is very good
Yet it is by Dan Jurgens
My world makes no sense

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Superman and Bugs Bunny

You will not believe!
They played it straight! Looney Tunes!
Why not make it fun?

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Superman and the Thundercats

Eighties properties;
Briefly hot again. DOES NOT
make this crap okay

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Superman meets Lucy Ricardo

Seen many times, still...
Is it meant to be George Reeves
Or Supes guest-starring?

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A recent comment:

My good friend James Figueiredo (check out his fly ass art blog, btw) says:

" Thomas, why are you effectively destroying my love for Byrne's run?!
Man, I can't stop seeing the ugly subtexts now! Damn you, Denton!"

And with that one statement all of SIB becomes worthwhile.

A desperate plea for help

See this?



It's a DC Super Heroes Cyborg Superman. I want one, but I don't have one. And I can't find one any where. They're sold at places like Wal-Mart, Target, and lately lots of them have been spotted at Big Lots. They retail for about ten bucks.

If you go to those stores, please see if they have one for me, because I'm obsessive compulsive and not having the last Superman villain in the line makes me the think the world is going to end. I will pay you back in monies and sweet, sweet love.

The 10 Worst Moments in Superman History, a series

"Superman has a code against killing. Thing is, why? Because it's wrong and Superman's smart and powerful enough that killing never has to be an option? Because this is a kids book about a hero and heroes shouldn't kill unnecessarily? No, no. That's not good enough. I KNOW! I'll have the code come from his murdering 3 defenseless criminals and then going crazy! Byrnesy, my boy, you are a GENIUS!"

Superman V2 #22

See that cover? Used to see crazy stuff like that all the time in the 60s and 70s. Thing was, back then, it was always a swerve just to draw you in. Not when Byrne got his hands on Superman, though. Oh no. That cover is exactly representative of the comics interior.

I mentioned this before in my history of Zod post (scroll about half way down for the full scoop). In brief, Superman confronts Phantom Zone criminals in another dimension. He defeats them, and robs them of their powers forever. But instead of imprisoning them, he murders them. Byrne claims he did this because Superman's code against killing should be born of something other than the fact that he thinks it's wrong. So I'll just say this again:

SUPERMAN IS BETTER THAN US. IF I KNOW IT'S WRONG TO KILL, I'M PRETTY FREAKING SURE SUPERMAN WOULD HAVE ENOUGH SNAP TO KNOW IT WITHOUT HAVING TO KILL SOME ONE TO FIGURE IT OUT!

Wanna see it? Sure you do. Here's Superman, a hero kids are supposed to aspire to be like and find hope in, deciding it's up to him to kill 3 defenseless criminals and while watching them beg for their lives. As a bonus, the female victim offers to pleasure Superman in exchange for sparing her. Who the hell approves this for a children's comic?! Click it to make it easier to read.


I have rage. I promise something fun and not bitchy soon. And no complaining about Byrne for at least a week. I promise.

In Action 854

Superman mentions having Krypto since he was a kid. Not since he went to some weird fake Krypton created by Brainiac (which had been his origin in recent years).

This makes me happy.

A brief note

I haven't been posting much. Blogs not dead, you should totally keep reading, but I just won't be posting as much. Maybe once or twice a week as opposed to the near-daily posts I've been doing. So yeah. Not dead, still around.

Johan Åberg is a genius

He drew this a while ago when the call for stick figures went out, but I didn't want to post it with those because it was so awesome. Then I forget to post it all because I suck. So yeah. Behold pure unbridled awesome: Superman fighting Cthulhu.

Mike Wieringo

Mike Wieringo died yesterday. He was one of my favorite artists ever and simply a really nice guy. He made comics that weren't afraid to be fun, and comics that I could share with my nieces and nephews.

I met him once and talked to him online a few times. He was never anything but really cool, and so appreciative of his fans.

I am genuinely saddened by this. The comics community is much poorer for the loss.

I have to have a license to go fishing

But these people are allowed to reproduce all willy-nilly.

An actual quote

I read this on a message board, it concerns Supergirl #20, (which wasn't perfect but made HUGE strides towards being the great book it could be, i liked it) featuring the new creative team:

"Well the h8rz got what they wanted-- Supergirls' a fat dumpy polyana. Im droppin this title and maybe dc will know they have one more unsatisfied customer!"

Ladies and gentlemen, the future.

My current obsession (updated)

Mattel is currently putting out a line of Superman and Batman figures called DC Super Heroes, and I love them. I've not collected super hero toys regularly in a long time, but these just look so cool and have such a great selection of villains I had to have 'em.

Here's a brief rundown of what's out there from the Superman side of the line and how likely you are to find it at your local Target, Wal-Mart or Toys R Us. (You can click on any of these to get a better look.)



Superman, Lex Luthor, Brainiac (the last two here are getting harder to find but are still out there)


Clark Kent (came in a two pack with Superman, probably not gonna find that any more), Bizarro, Parasite


Supergirl (pretty hard to find), Darkseid (easiest to find in a new darker paint job), Mongul


Steel, Supergirl (Linda Danvers) (probably gonna have trouble finding her in her regular colors, but there's an easy to find repaint with a black skirt), Doomsday (probably only going to find this one in his new orange paint job)

Not pictured because I don't have them:
The Cyborg Superman (who i desperately want and is really hard to find now) and many Superman variants , including Our Worlds At War black Superman with black trim, the silver and black costumed Superman from Emperor Joker, one with lame gambit like headgear called "Kal El", and another in the classic costume that's a different (and ugly) sculpt.

Gary Frank's Superman

Gary Frank's gonna be drawing Superman soon. Lots of people online seem to like what they see. I've seen "Best since Swan" said.


Look at his eyes! That dude has corpses in his deep freeze.

The 10 Worst Moments in Superman History, a series

"Let's see, I've been given freedom to tell my kind of stories with Superman, ones that will really connect with the modern reader and put Superman back on top! What can I do?

Oh! I've got it! I'll put him in porn!"
Action Comics #593

This issue's been covered and mocked and stood in awe of a million times on the internet, so I'll keep this short. A villain from Apokolips kidnaps Barda, superhero and wife of fellow superhero Mr Miracle. He hypnotizes her and starts filming her doing porn. Yeah. Same villain grabs Superman and does the same because he thinks, "I'm making a fortune with one superhero, but what if I had two!"

Seriously, what the hell were you thinking Byrne? And who the hell approved this? On what the hell planet is this an acceptable story for children?

Want to see Byrne's lame ass defense of the story?

In the ACTION COMICS two-part storyline involving Big Barda, Miracle Man and a character called Sleez, it appears that Sleez was trying to film a pornographic film involving Superman and Big Barda. Is that right? Did Superman and Barda actually make the porno?

JB: If you want it to be a porno flick, it was a porno flick. If you don't, it wasn't! (8/31/2005)

Superman snapped out of the hypnosis before actually sleeping with Barda due to his strong moral fiber. Barda didn't though, because apparently deep down she wants to cheat on her husband on camera.

Jack Kirby hated this story, by the way. (And by all accounts generally thought Byrne was a douchebag all around.) He felt it was an inappropriate use of his characters and Superman. Fun fact: Kirby modeled aspects of Barda's personality on his wife. Barda. The character Byrne put in porn. And Byrne claims to not understand why Kirby didn't like the story.

Edit to add: You really should read the comments on this one, Russell knocks it out of the park.