Panel Vision - JLApe: Gorilla Warfare

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that apes on comics sell comics.  This is a fundamental cornerstone of comics going all the way back to the ‘50s.  It first emerged under one of the colossal giants of the medium Julius Schwartz, the man who served as editor of DC Comics during its Silver age through the ‘50s and ‘60s.  Schwartz claimed to have data showing a bump in sales of comics when a gorilla was featured on the cover, data that was so convincing it actually shaped all of DC’s output for a time.  

There were legitimately strict rules and limits on the whole idea of putting apes on comics, treating the phenomena as a finite resource to be carefully exploited to avoid oversaturation of the ape-based marketplace.  Given that those 2 decades have defined the shape of comics to this very day, apes on comics remains a popular tradition to this day.  With The Flash finally bringing Gorilla City to the small screen I figured now would be a perfect time to dive into the great legacy of apes on comics in possibly their finest moment: JLApe.

Static Thoughts - Is CW Planning the Death of Superman?

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Edited By Robert Beach

There’s no denying that Supergirl season 1 is the biggest success story for the Superman brand since Smallville. It’s a knockout show that captivated audiences and embodied the spirit of the Superman mythos in a way we haven’t seen in live action since 1978’s Superman. The show embraces pure heroism and the fantasy of being able to make the world a better place, a pair of ideals both in tragically short supply these days (and lacking from the DC movie adaptation of Superman). I need to preface all of that because I’m about to suggest a very un-Supergirl thing about what we might expect from the upcoming season 2. It’s my suspicion that Supergirl is planning to kill off newly introduced Superman Tyler Hoechlin in the season 2 mid-season finale. 

Panel Vision - History of Lois Lane

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Yesterday, Noel Neill tragically passed away at the age of 95.  Though Ms. Neill enjoyed a long and storied career, her most famous role was as the very first actor to play Lois Lane, appearing initially in a pair of serials and on the Superman radio program.  Later, Neill would continue her role on the first live action Superman television series The Adventures of Superman and cement her place as one of the most iconic figures in comic adaptations. 

Seriously, alongside Dana Delany on Superman the animated series and Margot Kidder in the 1978 film series Noel Neill is one of the three women who define Lois Lane as a character and helped shape her history in the comics and the public eye.  Given that, and the fact I haven’t seen The Adventures of Superman, I thought I’d focus in on that history and break down the strange evolution of Lois Lane from girl reporter to the wife of Superman. 

Static Thoughts - 12 Things They Need in Supergirl Season 2

Edited by Robert Beach

Supergirl season 2 has now been officially confirmed, with one significant twist: it will be on CW instead of CBS. At this point, that shake-up makes a lot of sense. Supergirl was a big hit show that never quite had the ratings to sustain its budget with CBS, so farming it out to CW’s legion of superhero shows make a lot of sense. It remains to be seen if Supergirl will in some way immigrate to the main universe of CW shows or if it’ll take place on Earth-4, separate from the adventures of Arrow, Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow. However, as we wait for that answer, let’s all climb aboard the Supergirl Season 2 hype train with a list of all the stuff they should include in the next, installment of the girl of steel. 

Panel Vision - Evil Duplicate Guide

Evil Duplicates, they’re such a staple of genre fiction it seems almost inevitable that they infect every aspect of geekery.  As one might expect, there are a ton of evil duplicates in the realm of comics, mainly because most superheroes have been around for decades and decades and rather than reuse old characters authors love to make up their own spin on the concept.  That actually proves pretty fruitful as so far a lot of the evil duplicates we’ve got have proved pretty diverse an interesting as far as takes on a very well established concept go.  Granted it helps that we’ve also had decades to weed out the stuff no one cares about but that just means the stuff now is even more interesting.  Given The Flash’s obsession with evil versions of the hero and Supergirl’s premiering Bizarro, I figured now would be a good time to give you the run down on the evil duplicates of DC and Marvel. 

Static Thoughts - Supergirl, What Will Appear?

Edited by Robert Beach

Of the myriad of superhero shows coming this fall, Supergirl actually strikes me as one of the more intriguing entries. Supergirl marks the return of CBS to the superhero genre for the first time since their moderately successful Flash show in the ‘90s. It also marks the first time Supergirl the character will return to the live-action frontier since her failed 1986 film. What’s more, it’ll be one of the first major attempts to realize characters and plot elements in a TV continuity after their appearance in theaters, in particular stuff like Superman, Jimmy Olsen, & the Daily Planet. There’s a lot riding on this show and details are currently pretty sparse; however, some casting decisions are beginning to slip through, so I thought I’d go through my list of characters, organizations, and plot points that might show up in CBS’ Supergirl. Unlike the Gotham stuff, this will all be compacted to one list, starting with the villains and…