Nerdage NewsOK.com Blogging Community

Newsarama talks to David Boreanaz, Kyle MacLachlan, Brooke Shields and Jeremy Sisto about their roles in the animated “Justice League: The New Frontier.”

Executive producer Bruce Timm talks about the rationale in choosing MacLachlan for Superman:

“Kyle MacLachlan is the perfect example – he sounds exactly like what you’d think a ‘50s era Superman would sound like,” said executive producer Bruce Timm. “He’s very righteous and good, but still very natural. We didn’t want the sound of Superman in 2008, and Kyle gave such a great, stylized performance in capturing that mid-50s feel.”

MacLachlan had long been in the running for the George Reeves role in the film that ended up being ”Hollywoodland,” and I thought he brought a perfect 1950s Superman inflection to this role.

Scroll down at Supermantv.net to see a MacLachlan as George Reeves, as compared to Ben Affleck as Reeves and Reeves himself.  MacLachlan looks the part, and I say that as someone who thought Affleck nailed the role in the finished film.  

– Matt Price

Linked via the Comic Reel, Kids’ WB has posted a new “Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes” video, featuring the team taking on Imperiex.

 - Matt Price

Many of you in your 30s will remember the TV show “Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends,” which featured Spidey teaming up with Firestar and Iceman in an animated Saturday morning cartoon.

Sean McKeever revisited the Amazing Friends in an issue of Spider-Man Family not too long ago, and now writer Brian Michael Bendis is doing the same in “Ultimate Spider-Man.”

Bendis said this idea has been building for a while in an interview at Marvel.com:

Marvel.com: Spidey and some of his pals are coming to town. Is “Amazing Friends” something that you have wanted to do for a while?

Brian Michael Bendis: Absolutely. Literally, when it became clear that [ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN] was gonna do [well], and it was going to be an ongoing and I wasn’t going to get fired, [I made my] wish list of stuff [I would] love to do. I wrote down “Amazing Friends” and I looked at the idea, and I was like, “How do you get Iceman in the book?”

Keep in mind that ULTIMATE X-MEN hadn’t even started yet, so how do you make it organic and not just a goofball team up? But if Kitty [Pryde] joins the book on an ongoing basis, that gets Iceman into the book organically. It’s been building since like the second year, so yeah, I’ve been waiting a long time to get this done.

—

The team-up takes place in “Ultimate Spider-Man” No. 118, slated for a Feb. 6 release.

Meanwhile, to revisit the original cartoon, visit Spider-Friends.com, or check out the intro on YouTube (complete with den that transforms into crazy Batcave-like lair with supercomputers).

– Matt Price 

God, I love that stupid joke.

But enough about that, here’s the scoop — “Smallville” fan-fave Chloe will be joining the DC Universe in Superman #674.

Now, before you purists get your Spider-Man Underoos in a knot, let’s look at the long history of comic book characters who have come from outside the comic book world.

1. Jimmy Olsen — Superman’s Pal, was not created for the comic book page, but rather for the radio (or “talkie box,” if you’re 200 years old). That’s right, kids — Jimmy was not in canon to begin with.

2. Firestar – This red-headed mutant was first drawn on a cel for animation before she made it to the Marvel Universe. She appeared on “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends,” taking the place of the Human Torch (who was tied up in legal limbo at the time).

3. Kryptonite — Superman’s greatest weakness also came from the Adventures of Superman radio show. That’s right, fellow nerds, all your base are belong to us. Nothing is what it seems. Black is white. Dogs sleep with cats. Talkies are going to ruin this business!

4. Harley Quinn — Dr. Harleen Quinzel, the femme fatale with a taste for homicidal clowns, first showed her pretty painted face in “Batman: The Animated Series,” long before getting her own series, she was working it on the small screen in one of the greatest cartoons in the history of man, ape, lizard or 8th dimensional imp. 

What am I missing? Matt, I know you’ve got some science to drop on this. Let me know in the comments or lose me forever.

– Greg Elwell