Adam West to join Super Hero Squad Show
Adam West joins Marvel’s “Super Hero Squad Show” as the voice of Nighthawk, leader of the Squadron Supreme, in Saturday’s episode of the show.
West, star of the 1960s “Batman” show, will voice the alternate-universe dark avenger on the Cartoon
Adam West (AP)
Network show.
West has recently voiced both Proto and Thomas Wayne on the animated series “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” and Mayor West on “Family Guy.” The Hub is currently airing the 1960s “Batman” TV show, which starred West as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Burt Ward as Dick Grayson/Robin. The pair appeared last weekend at the Austin Comic-Con.
In the new episode of “Super Hero Squad,” Thanos seeks the Mind Stone, and to get it, he’ll send superpowered heroes from another universe against the Squad. The Squadron Supreme, led by Nighthawk, also features Power Princess and Hyperion.
The new episode airs at 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
- Matt Price
Superman races Flash in oversize extravaganza
Superman races Flash
I’m running as fast as I can again today, which often inspires me to post a cover of the Flash. Here, he’s racing Superman in this Treasury edition that reprinted the two Superman-Flash races that had been printed up to that time. Find out more about the issue, and other super-cool Treasury editions, at TreasuryComics.com.
- Matt Price
A Smallville Season 10 reading list
The Great Darkness Saga
The 10th season of “Smallville,” based on a young Clark Kent learning to become Superman, begins tonight on CW.
As announced at Comic-Con International in San Diego, the DC Comics villain Darkseid will be the villain for the show’s final season, although like previous villains, he’ll be tweaked somewhat to fit in the “Smallville” continuity.
DC Comics’ Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns will write an episode of this season’s “Smallville,” which will feature DC Comics characters Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. Laura Vandervoort’s Supergirl is also set to make a return appearance this season.
To catch up on the background of these characters, here’s some recommended reading for this season of “Smallville.”
“Superman/Batman: Supergirl” by Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner. Darkseid attempts to brainwash a powerful teenage girl in this reintroduction of Supergirl to the DC Comics mythos. This story, adapted into animated form, will be released Tuesday as “Superman/Batman: Apocalypse” on DVD. Tim Daly will voice Superman; Kevin Conroy will voice Batman. The cast also includes Andre Braugher as Darkseid and Summer Glau as Supergirl.
Superman/Batman Vol. 2: Supergirl
“The Great Darkness Saga” by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen. In the far future, the heroes of the 30th century must battle a grave evil. Darkseid emerges in the 30th century with plans to acquire mystic artifacts and control a race of 3 billion superpowered beings. The Legion of Super-Heroes call on all members, past and present, to face off against Darkseid, who has yet another plan behind the scenes. A new hardcover edition of this classic story is set for release in November, though the individual issues and earlier softcover printings are findable.
“Cosmic Odyssey” by Jim Starlin and Mike Mignola. Starlin, known for his cosmic tales like “Warlock” and “Infinity Gauntlet,” teams with “Hellboy” creator Mike Mignola for this story of a threat so great, that some of Earth’s greatest heroes are forced to work with Darkseid. Superman, Batman, Green Lantern John Stewart, Martian Manhunter, Starfire, the Demon, plus Orion, Lightray and Forager of the New Gods are called on to halt a being who can destroy galaxies.
“Showcase: Booster Gold” by Dan Jurgens et al. Booster Gold’s original series, primarily written and drawn by Dan Jurgens, is collected in this volume as a time-traveling former football star from the future comes to 20th-century Earth aiming for fame and fortune.
Blue Beetle: Shellshocked
“Blue Beetle: Shellshocked” by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, Cully Hamner et al. The mystical Blue Beetle scarab chooses a new guardian: teenager Jaime Reyes. The El Paso teen becomes a reluctant hero after the alien technology of the scarab bonds with him, allowing him to create a superpowered blue armor.
Also recommended: For the full story on Booster Gold’s return to heroism, check out the four volumes of “52.” For the original “New Gods” saga, including the first appearance of Darkseid, check out “Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus” Vols. 1-4. And for the origin of the Booster Gold-Blue Beetle team-ups, featuring Jaime Reyes’ predecessor, Ted Kord, read “Justice League International” Vols. 1-4.
- By Matthew Price
WORD BALLOONS
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season DVD review
Smallville Season 9 DVD
The Kryptonian military leader Zod (Callum Blue) is Clark Kent’s opponent in the ninth season of “Smallville,” which brings in more characters from the DC comic books.
At this point, Tom Welling has played Clark Kent longer than Christopher Reeve or George Reeves, though he hasn’t donned the famous red-and-blue suit of Superman. His journey toward becoming the Man of Steel continues in Season 9, as a younger version of Zod (who previously appeared in seasons 5 and 6 of “Smallville”) seeks to regain his powers and take over Earth.
The cyborg Metallo, played by Brian Austin Green (“Beverly Hills 90210), kicks off the season with an appropriate sense of menace. Toyman also gets the spotlight early in the season, as he continues a feud with Green Arrow (Justin Hartley). Surprisingly, the Wonder Twins from the old “Super Friends” cartoons are translated to “Smallville” style reasonably well in the episode “Idol.”
The season highlight is the two-parter “Absolute Justice,” which introduces Hawkman and the Justice Society of America to the “Smallville” mythos.
Erica Durance, who plays Lois Lane, has great chemistry with Welling; the developing romance between Lois and Clark is compelling.
Despite a few clunky episodes (notably “Warrior”), Season 9 finds “Smallville” regaining its footing as it heads toward what’s been announced as its 10th and final season.
DVD extras: deleted scenes; a “Kneel Before Zod” featurette looking at Zod’s appearances in comics, film, animation and live-action TV; a “Justice for All” featurette exploring the adaptation of the Justice Society of America to television; and commentaries on episodes “Idol” and “Kandor.”
— Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Make-A-Wish Foundation helps boy with cancer become a superhero
" Electron Boy", played by 13-year-old liver cancer patient Erik Martin, stands in front of members of the Seattle Sounders soccer team as he listens to a video message from arch villains Dr. Dark and Blackout Boy on the Qwest Field screen in Bellevue, Wash.
Really beautiful story about Make A Wish helping 13-year-old Erik Martin, who is living with liver cancer, become Electron Boy as part of his wish to be a superhero for a day. The Seattle Times has a full writeup, which you should definitely read. The AP reports that the regional chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation made Martin’s dream of becoming a superhero come true, organizing hundreds of volunteers in Bellevue and Seattle into a simulated comic-book caper.
Video from CNN about Electron Boy below.
DVD review: Super Friends: Season One, Vol. 1
Vol. 1 contains the first eight episodes of the 16-episode season. After these 16 episodes, the show was canceled and retooled for the 1977 “All-New Superfriends Hour.” “Super Friends” ran in one form or another until 1986. But these earlier cartoons lack any sense of menace or even action. Way too much attention is focused on the teen characters and their dog, which aren’t particularly clever or funny. Viewers won’t be sure why exactly Superman and Batman are putting up with these kids, and won’t want to do so for long themselves.
Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog lumber along in plotlines that were probably rejected as “Scooby-Doo” episodes. The lack of any classic DC Comics villains is glaring, though guest-starring heroes Flash, Green Arrow and Plastic Man do appear.
The animation is bad, especially by modern standards, with mistakes and off-model characters. Batman’s logo will disappear for minutes at a time, and colors don’t always match from scene to scene. The DVD transfer isn’t particularly crisp, either. The discs’ only bonus feature is a Super Friends Trivia Challenge.
Ultimately, “Super Friends: Season One, Vol. 1” is for completists only. For those who want a nostalgic thrill, the previously released “Challenge of the Super Friends” is the way to go.
— Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
DVD review: Ruby-Spears Superman
The 1988 “Superman” animated series was the first version of the character to come to television since comic-book writer/artist John Byrne’s noted revamp of the character in the 1986 “Man of Steel” miniseries. In the new “Superman” comic-book line, Byrne and writer Marv Wolfman introduced the idea of Lex Luthor as a corrupt industrialist instead of mad scientist. That characterization is followed up here, as Wolfman was the animated series’ head story editor.
Even though the Christopher Reeve film series was over by the time this series aired, after the dismal failure of 1987′s “Superman IV,” the 1988 animated series still paid homage to those films. Luthor’s assistant, Jessica Morganberry, is a version of the film’s Miss Tessmacher, and Luthor, though an industrialist, speaks in a manner consistent with Gene Hackman’s Luthor from the films. Furthermore, the theme song for the Ruby-Spears “Superman” uses a bit of the famous John Williams “Superman” score. The series calls back to Superman’s past in another way, too: The opening narration was the same as the 1950s “Adventures of Superman” television show.
Superman/Clark Kent was voiced by Tulsa-born Beau Weaver, who later voiced Mr. Fantastic in the 1990s “Fantastic Four” animated series.
Each episode of “Superman” featured an 18-minute Superman adventure followed by a 4-minute segment called “Superman’s Family Album,” which touched on his days as a youngster in Smallville.
While “Superman,” produced by Ruby-Spears, only lasted one season, it provided an intermediate step between the silliness of the “Super Friends” of the 1970s and the more modern take of the 1990s series.
— Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
DVD review – Super Friends: The Lost Episodes
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and friends are back in “Super Friends: The Lost Episodes,” a group of episodes produced by Hanna-Barbera when the “Super Friends” show was temporarily canceled by ABC in the early 1980s. Most of the episodes weren’t aired in the U.S. until a decade later.
What’s lost is not always treasured. The 7-minute episodes that make up “The Lost Episodes” feature some of the wackiest, most out-there Super Friends storylines. Superman alters his own timeline in a pretty unexplainable – and actually cruel – way in “The Krypton Syndrome.” While that’s the most egregious of the episodes, many of them are odd or downright silly.
Earth is nearly taken over by alien toys in “Invasion of the Space Dolls,” and the Titanic is raised, and then turned into a sea monster, in “Terror on the Titanic.” Bizarro captures the Super Friends inside a 1980s-style video game world in “Video Victims.”
Still, the episodes can be nostalgic fun, if you can ignore occasional lapses of superhero judgment. The set contains all 24 of the 7-minute episodes. The special features are downloadable issues of the “Super Friends” comic. One comic, perhaps ironically, features Wendy and Marvin, the teen sidekicks who were brushed away to make room for the Wonder Twins Zan and Jayna. The Wendy and Marvin “Super Friends” episodes have yet to be released on DVD.
- Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Sweet fan-made Green Lantern trailer
Check out this excellent fan-made trailer of a “Green Lantern” movie that would star Nathan Fillion (“Firefly”). My opinion? They should hire this guy and Fillion both to work on the movie. (I’m sure they’ll go younger, and someone not currently in a TV series for Hal Jordan, but wouldn’t Fillion be great at it?)
– Matt Price
More superhero cakes
So superhero cakes came up as a topic again after Marvel’s Tom Brevoort appeared on Last Cake Standing on the Food Network. I noticed more traffic to this page, where I showed off some superheroic cake designs from my wife, Annette.
Since I’m all about giving the people what they want here at Nerdage, I asked Annette if she had more cakes she’d be willing to show off at the blog. She obliged. The Booster Gold cake shown above is one of my all-time favorite superhero cakes. The following gallery showcases superhero cakes including Aquaman, Rorschach from Watchmen, the Wonder Twins and more. For the non-superhero fan, there’s a Spock from Star Trek and a Tom and Jerry. Enjoy! Feel free to share your own superhero cake pictures of you’ve got ‘em.
– Matt Price
