Tag: off-topic

The munchies would have been impossible to appease on the set of last summer’s Superman – Twight banned junk food and soft drinks from the set, as he continued to sculpt the new Man of Steel, Henry Cavill. The trainer has nothing but praise for Cavill, who had to keep up his physique for a grueling 127-day shoot. “It’s not like you’re peaking a guy for three days for his shirtless scene,” Twight says. “You’re living with this guy for a year.”

For the six months prior to the shoot, Cavill worked out and ate according to Twight’s plan. The film’s producers actually contacted Twight and his wife, Lisa, a trainer, to make sure they weren’t giving Cavill anything illegal. With tarnished heroes like A-Rod and Lance Armstrong, it was important to establish that our most American superhero wasn’t a juicer.

“Someone in production had me more than pinky swear,” says Lisa, leaning on a stationary bike. “They told me that they’d be drug-testing Henry.”

Did they?

“They never tested him,” says Twight, “but I gave them a list of every supplement, with contact numbers.”

Twight says there is a secret to Cavill’s transformation. “Yeah, there’s a 90-day miracle, but you’re not gonna fucking like it,” he says, laughing. “It’s hard work. It’s commitment. Self-discipline. Persistence. And mindful attention to all this stuff. Then you can become whatever you want.”

Men’s Journal Magazine – May 2014 – “Building A Bigger Action Hero”

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Happy New Year!  I hope you had as wonderful a holiday as I did.  With the time off without briefs to write or court to prepare for, I finally was able to catch up on a lot of Superman media and enjoy some of the Superman-related gifts I was given.  They ended up being a great sampling of Superman through several ages, mediums, and perspectives.  I was able to enjoy:

• Superman: The Sunday Classics (1939-1942, 190 pages) – Anthology of full-color newspaper strips
• It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman (1966, 50 minutes) – Broadway Musical Album
• Superman: Comic Strip Hero (1981, 50 minutes) – BBC documentary in anticipation of Superman II
• American Icon: Superman (2006, 50 minutes) – Public Radio following Superman Returns
• Adventures of Superman (2013-2014, 51 issues) – Digital First Series out-of-continuity stories
• Superman: Doomed (2014, 544 pages) – Recent New 52 story arc

Brief impressions or comments on each:

Superman: The Sunday Classics (1939-1942, 190 pages)

Of a different era, there certainly is a different style and elements that would be questioned for their political correctness today, but even the early strips contained many of the trappings we associate with Superman to this day, with the conspicuous absence of the power of flight (although the influence of the Fleischer cartoons might be seen in the later strips).  Superman has super breath, x-ray vision, telescopic vision, super hearing, and can render people unconscious with a nerve pinch.  He’s happy to help without thanks, but not afraid to threaten to extort information (or even a bank loan so a logger can make payroll).  Superman wants to be a journalist in order to be aware of trouble even in the first strip.  Although he’s repeatedly called the Man of Steel and the Man of Tomorrow, he’s actually successfully knocked out by narcotic gas in one story.  It’s easy to see why these could have been captured the imaginations of so many in its time.

It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman (1966, 50 minutes)

Not the best musical, but with with a few great numbers.  “You’ve Got Possibilities” is clever, catchy, and the anthem to my love life.  “Doing Good” and “We Need Him” are satirical insights into the public perception of Superman in the 60s while Adam West’s Batman was a television sensation.  The other numbers don’t do much for me, but they’re interesting to hear.

Superman: Comic Strip Hero (1981, 50 minutes)

The documentary aired after Superman II had debuted in the States but before the UK premier.  Cheeky and subversive (as you might expect from a British documentary about the American superhero) it doesn’t exactly celebrate Superman but it doesn’t dismiss him either.  You get to hear from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, DC’s Editor-in-Chief at the time, and many diehard Superman fans.  However, you also hear directly from Fredric Whertham, Art Spiegleman, Larry Niven, and other dissenters who take issue with Superman… either specifically or symbolically as representative of the entire superhero comic genre.  The cynicism makes it apparent why in only a few years, Watchmen would thoroughly deconstruct the genre, The Dark Knight Returns would take hold, and Superman would be re-imagined and relaunched in Man of Steel all in 1986.

American Icon: Superman (2006, 50 minutes)

A full on analysis and deconstruction of Superman, you can read my thoughts on this here.  Briefly though, completely worth a listen!

Adventures of Superman (2013-2014, 51 issues)

I enjoyed this anthology for the clever ideas, intriguing twists, the sentimentality, and the tradition when unshackled by continuity.  It lacks a certain degree of depth of character capable of being perpetuated but I’m so happy this exists for the flavor.  I’ve been buying these digitally as they came out but never had a chance to read them all.  I hope they get released in a single physical volume.  I know that’s not their intended format, but it was a pleasure to read the Sunday Classics mentioned above and you may recall the epic Wednesday Comics (2010) in newspaper page aspect ratio and size.

Superman: Doomed (2014, 544 pages)

Overall, quite a serviceable story.  Not likely to be anyone’s favorite of all time but solid.  I don’t need my every Superman experience to be life-changing and sometimes it’s nice just to have a story to read.  The weakest tie-ins were the Supergirl crossovers in my opinion, but everything else seemed like it mattered enough to justify the crossover.

by Juan Martin Ponce

Originally published in 2002 on Fanzig

Many different versions of Superman, who has been constantly published since 1938, have existed throughout the years. In this article I will discuss the number and level of his superpowers in each version. First, the Golden Age or “Earth Two Superman,” then the Silver Age or “Earth One Superman,” and lastly, the post-crisis Superman, the Superman introduced in John Byrne’s “Man of Steel” miniseries in 1986.

Some readers may believe a fourth version of Superman has existed since the reintroduction of his “silver-age” Krypton origin in Superman 166 (volume 2), but – in my opinion – there are only three versions, not four, because Superman 166 did not change the history or chronology of the post-crisis Superman. It only messed around with his origin (the history of these different versions and their first and last appearances will be material for a future article). read more