Cover Story - Top 12 Lex Luthor Covers

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Lex Luthor.  It’s a name that wrings loudly through the halls of supervillain infamy alongside such titans as Dr. Doom, the Joker, Loki, and Thanos.  Created in 1940, Lex Luthor is one of the oldest and most well known super villains of all time.  He’s appeared in almost every Superman-centric piece of media we’ve had, played by countless actors and enjoyed numerous solo comic appearances as a protagonist in his own right.  

His obsessive dedication to destroying the man of steel has shaped up to be one of pop culture’s greatest David vs. Goliath stories running across decades and multiple iterations of the character: he’s been a rogue scientist, a business guru, President, and a superhero in his own right.  This Sunday will mark Luthor’s first live-action appearance on the CW show Supergirl, played by Jon Cryer, and while that’s not quite as momentous as it might’ve been given we live in the Superhero Age I’ve still decided to mark the occasion with a deep dive into the top 12 Lex Luthor comic covers.

 

Panel Vision - Human Defense Corp

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As I write this it’s Veterans Day, the day the US has set aside to honor the men, women, and non-binary individuals who’ve served in the nation’s armed forces.  It’s also kind of an odd holiday to try and make topical content around when you’re a comic reviewer as a lot of the military-oriented comic book content is from the ‘40s and ‘60s.  Previously I’ve looked at stuff like the incomparable Enemy Ace as well as the DC military heroes who served during World War 2 but this time around I wanted to dig into something a bit more modern.  

As such, I’ll be taking a look at a peculiar oddity offered by that bizarre time in comics that was the early 2000s.  It’s part of the great DC Comics tradition of sporadically reviving their military comics in hopes of recapturing their massive popularity of past decades, each attempt a unique and curiously compelling attempt in its own right and this one is a real doozy: The Human Defense Corps. 

Panel Vision - No Man's Land

As you probably know Puerto Rico recently suffered devastation at the hands of Hurricane Maria.  It’s a natural disaster of incalculable scale made infinitely worse by the federal government's point-blank refusal to help Puerto Rico in the manner that would befit our so-called leaders.  If you’re at all able to give please consider donating to organizations like United for Puerto Rico, Americares, Convoy of Hope, Direct Relief, Catholic Relief Services, International Medical Corps, or Unicef.  The people of Puerto Rico are in desperate need of help and it’s painfully clear that it’s going to have to come from us because those in power are too cruel or incompetent to take action. 

This idea of being abandoned by our own government has been a running theme in 2017, especially with the way the natural world seems to be coming apart at the seams.  More and more, the organizations we once trusted with our basic safety and day-to-day concerns have turned on us with, at worst, a predatory maliciousness and at best a blind idiocy.  

In that power vacuum citizens have had to rely on one another to fight the battles we can’t as individuals, be that in the form of mass demonstrations and call-in over healthcare or the civilian fleet that went to Houston after Hurricane Harvey.  This blend of federal abandonment with the greater need for joint community action seemed fairly familiar to me because it’s also the core of my favorite Batman comic of all time- No Man’s Land. 

Justice League Trailer & News Update

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There’s no more beleaguered a film coming out this year than WB’s long-suffering Justice League film.  The production on this movie has been such a complete mess it’s like something out of a soap opera.  There’s been talk of a bloated production, constant re-edits after test screenings, executive panic and that’s not even touching on stuff we know like Joss Whedon coming in to relieve Zack Snyder after the tragic loss of his daughter.  

Hell, even that particular revelation couldn’t go by without its OWN revelation as Whedon entered a very public scandal of his own in the latter half of the year.  Mark my words, there will be large volumes written about how Justice League came to be.  I say all this now because of the fact that this latest trailer feels like something different yet also quite familiar feels intrinsically tied to the recent avalanche of lurid coverage.  In short, I think Justice League is finally finding itself in the editing and post-production and I actually think it looks…pretty good.

Adrian Pasdar Joins Supergirl as Morgan Edge

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Probably one of the strangest after effects of the 2016 election has been the direction taken by CW’s Supergirl.  While the show had previously had a political subtext as a series about immigration, refugees, illegal aliens, and government operations must, season 2 became infinitely more overtly a political allegory.  Even though the show never bothered adding a direct Trump allegory it very much became a show about confronting the ugly and bigoted attitudes that’ve come to infect American life in the late 2010s. 

So far it’s been unclear if the new season will walk a similar path and while I’m sure they’ll dial things back a bit as they refocus on a new bad guy I also don’t think they can really un-ring that bell.  For better or worse Supergirl IS the superhero politics show now the same way Captain America is the superhero politics movie franchise.  Now, as the new season looms, the shape of that new era seems to be forming as season 3 adds a new villain in the form of Morgan Edge, played by Adrian Pasdar.

Static Thoughts - 4 Questions About Supergirl S2B

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Supergirl season 1 was a fun but mixed bag of episodes that did a lot to set the tone of the series.  Its biggest job was planting the show’s flag on exactly what kind of adaptation of Supergirl it wanted to be.  I’ve been over this before, but Supergirl has had a ton of different iterations that the show could’ve chosen and it really didn’t go with any of them.  Instead, they opted for primarily a gender-swapped version of the Superman animated series, making the cornerstone adventures of the Superman mythos about Kara instead of her cousin.  

Now, season 2 has taken that starting point and turned in a knock-out series about the journey of the immigrant in America that could not be more prescient to our current political climate.  All of that is where the series comes from, but I want to talk about where it’s going, which leads me to my 4 questions about Supergirl Season 2B: Spoilers to Follow. 

Will Luthor Join the Justice League?

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Recently, it’s been announced that in addition to the 7 Leaguers and the villain Steppenwolf, 2017’s Justice League film will feature Lex Luthor.  That actually makes a lot of sense, even if the idea never really occurred to anyone before the announcement.  Technically speaking Justice League will form the third leg of Zack Snyder’s DC trilogy so it makes sense he’d bring back Luthor from Dawn of Justice to really close things off.  What’s more, Luthor’s vague connection to the New Gods in that film, as suggested by his closing monolog, means he’s the only human currently on Earth with any knowledge of the infinitely powerful celestial beings.  

I’m not sure if he’ll end up in his classic green and purple power armor or if he’ll just be on hand for information but outwardly there’s enough there to justify this choice.  However, things are a little strange with Lex Luthor, especially lately and especially in the comics.  There’s been a trend with him recently towards heroism that has me wondering: will Lex Luthor join the Justice League? 

Cover Story - Top 10 Deathstroke Covers

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Let’s talk about Deathstroke.  This will be my third article dedicated to Da’ Stroke, as I’ve elected to lovingly call him, and I like to think of it as trying to make peace with the Terminator.  I may dislike him for the role he played in Identity Crisis and the undo importance thrust upon him in most adaptations, but regardless of my feelings, it’s clear Slade Wilson isn’t going away anytime soon.  

As such it’ll probably be better to try and find common ground now than keep resisting him, especially because his current ongoing series is shaking out pretty well and I really like Joe Manganiello.  As such these are the top 10 Deathstroke comic covers I’ve culled from across the shockingly high number of solo series he’s had.  Seriously, for a villain, this guy has had like 4 solo series at least, but I guess that just speaks to his appeal.  Let’s see if I can find what everybody else sees in these books. 

Katie McGrath is Lena Luthor on Supergirl Season 2

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Edited by Robert Beach

As Supergirl prepares for its new season on CW, a lot of changes are getting underway to bring the Girl of Steel more in line with CW’s overall brand of superhero story and increase audience interest in the property. The truth is this: as much as I, and many others, like Supergirl, the first season just didn’t have the ratings to warrant the high production costs. Even though CW has a lower bar for rating success, changes were always going to have to be made. 

The significant changes regarding obtaining new audience members seem to be introducing more elements and characters of the Superman mythos into the show. Superman himself will be coming to the new season, and now Lex Luthor and his company will have a role in the new season.  Luthor’s appearance was to be expected even if he won’t be onscreen. But the big surprise is the introduction of minor Superman character Lena Luthor, Lex’s sister, as a new series regular. 

10 Questions for Man of Steel 2

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Edited by Robert Beach

In the wake of Suicide Squad’s monster success at the August box office, Warner Bros. has officially announced a sequel to 2013’s Man of Steel. The sequel makes a certain amount of sense with the WB’s current approach to their superhero fare.  Pretty much from the word go WB has taken a very laissez-faire approach to their films, letting directorial demands fall as they are. And, at this point, accepting box office success as the only measure of quality they care about. 

After three high-profile culture flops, films that failed to make it into the collective psyche of pop culture, I’d be one to count my money as a victory too. I also speculated that this announcement might be more than just capitalizing on Suicide Squad’s moment, but actively trying to pivot from the general disinterest in their Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.  We may never know for certain, but for now, here’s ten questions and speculations about Man of Steel 2.

Cover Story - Top 15 Lois Lane Covers

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Earlier in the week the geek world lost a true legend when Noel Neill, the first Lois Lane, passed away at the age of 95.  I already wrote a whole other piece surrounding this issue and talking about the history of Lois Lane but this is still very much the story of the moment in the world of nerd media and frankly I’d rather write another Lois Lane article than another Captain America one.  As such, I’m going to be looking today at the comic Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane, one of the hottest selling comics of the 1960s. 

Seriously, this was one of DC’s biggest success stories for an entire decade and lest you get the wrong idea, that success was BECAUSE of the romantic elements rather than in spite of them.  The book plays like a blend of sci-fi weirdness and romcom wackiness, allowing it to skew very moderately older and appeal to young girls as well as boys. Seriously, this is one of the definitive comics of the ‘60s, right there alongside Fantastic Four and Spider-Man.  With that said, let’s dive into the shallow end and get the cover story on the top 15 Lois Lane covers. 

Film Land - The Future of DC Films

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Edited by Robert Beach

There’s no denying that the comic book superhero is the dominant culture myth of the 2010s.  Ever since the double-barreled blast of greatness that 2008’s Iron Man and Dark Knight the genre has risen to greater and greater heights, dominating the foreign and domestic box office, making a massive mark on the national psyche, and making name heroes out of obscurities like Ant-Man or the Guardians of the Galaxy.  All of this makes it even more bizarre that WB, the people who own DC Comics and thus half of the entire collection of viable superhero properties, have had such a difficult time turning their huge library of IP into quality films or solvent blockbusters. 

For whatever reason, WB has yet to turn out a good superhero film this decade, instead handing in a series of embarrassing failures like Green Lantern, Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel, and most recently Batman v. Superman.  Things seem to be changing however as WB has recently released a whole sweep of information about their plans for the rest of the decade.  Could this single an end to years of failure and the beginning of a DC movieverse to rival Marvel?  Let’s see. 

Static Thoughts - Justice League: A Better World

Edited by Robert Beach 

So the popular DC comics fighting game Injustice is officially getting a sequel, and the first trailer and gameplay footage are now dropping. Your excitement over this fact may vary based on whether or not you thought Injustice was a super hardcore, awesome experience or a sludgy fighter with junky controls, flaccid character design, and a story that started at ‘outwardly moronic’ and just got worse as it went along. 

I’m in the latter category (Can you tell?), so I’m not terribly enthralled by the prospect of MORE Injustice. The new game looks to be aping the worst aspects of Destiny’s bizarre quasi-freemium set-up. Instead, let’s talk about the story that “inspired” Injustice. By inspired, I mean Injustice ripped it off wholesale while draining the characterization and nuance. Let’s talk about the best episode of the animated Justice League series, and the best version of the “superheroes take over” story; let’s talk about "A Better World."

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. 

Cover Story - Top 25 Supergirl Covers

Edited by Robert Beach 

This Monday could mark the end of a brief, but amazing, era in geek culture. Supergirl season 1 is coming to an end. At time of writing, it’s unclear if Supergirl is getting renewed for a second season, which means this Monday could be the last time Kara Zor-El gets to grace our scenes for a good long while. It’d be a damn shame if that happened given Supergirl is really good and the best adaptation of the Superman mythos since Christopher Reeves’ Superman in 1978. 

With that level of awesomeness, I figured we’d give the show a proper send off if this really is the end for Supergirl 2015. So I’ve culled covers from across Supergirl’s massive history from early appearances in Action Comics, her cavalcade of ongoings and minis in the ‘70s, the metaphysical weirdness of the 2000s show, and even the New 52. Let’s dive into the shallow end and get the cover story on Supergirl. 

Comics Rainbow - Lex Luthor

Well this has been a strange year for the Superman franchise.  On the one hand it enjoyed what has been easily the franchise’s best live action installment since Superman 2 in the form of CBS’ Supergirl.  On the other hand, it was struck a possible deathblow by the worst live action Superman entry of all time in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, a film so bad it killed any future plans for more Superman movies.  Given my maniacal obsession with topicality and the fact we’re still talking about Superman related things I figured I’d jump on board with a look at Superman’s greatest foe Lex Luthor. 

Lex Luthor is one of the most well-known and oldest super villains of all time, first being introduced in 1940 and working his way through numerous live action and animated adaptation.  In the 70 plus years of his time in the comics he’s gone through numerous changes and re-imaginings, some terrible, some brilliant, some meh and we’re going to dive in to get the full spectrum on all of them.  

Cover Story - Top 15 Batman/Superman Covers

Edited by Robert Beach

So, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice comes out today, or at least, I assume it did. I’m actually writing this the Tuesday before its release, so it’s completely possible some random calamity befell the intended release date. Somehow I kind of doubt it. By the time this goes up, I’ll most likely have already seen it. For now, I’m eagerly awaiting its release like the rest of us, so let’s talk about comic books instead, specifically some Batman and Superman comics. 

Because Batman and Superman were DC’s biggest success stories for decades and decades, the two eventually ended up in a long-running comic together entitled World’s Finest. World’s Finest was a weird amalgam of elements owing mainly to the fact that it originally began in the late Golden Age and then continuing through to the early Bronze Age of comics. As such, we’ve got some really crazy comic covers to get through. Now it's time to dive into the shallow end and get the cover story on World’s Finest.

Static Thoughts - Superman: Fun and Games

So, Supergirl has resumed airing with a brand new episode that featured one of the more off-beat Superman villains: The Toy Man.  The episode was a solid entry and an interesting reworking of the Toy Man’s character, drawing from his original identity as an older toymaker criminal while also making him the deranged father of series supporting character Winslow Schott Jr.  It’s overall a very solid handling of an actually pretty troublesome character within the realms of Superman villains.  Most of Superman’s foes that are interesting enough to come back more than once are defined by their power and ability to go head-to-head with someone as strong as Superman but Toy Man has always been an outsider in this realm.

 He doesn’t have any powers or even a robo-suit like Lex Luthor, just his crazy toy based inventions.  Even the idea of him using toys as weapons is a little odd, something that sounds cut more from the realms of Batman or the Flash, to the point that Batman the animated series concocted their own toy collector villain.  Supergirl mostly handled these elements well by slotting Toy Man’s creepiness into a familial center, tying into the show’s overall themes of family conflict but there is one show that did the character even better: Superman the animated series. 

Panel Vision - Comic Book Presidents

In case you aren’t one of my American readers, and I know you exist thanks to blogger’s analytics page, we over here in the states are currently in the midst of a fairly crazy presidential election build up.  We haven’t started the primaries yet but they’re looming ever closer and it’s been a wild ride punctuated by a slew of hilariously awful Republican candidates and the still ludicrous convolution of the Democratic leads.  I’ve already released a number of articles capitalizing on this particular election cycle so here’s another one because if you think the real life candidates are insane…well you’re right but here are a bunch of completely weird and out there superheroes and villains who somehow managed to take the highest office in the land against the better judgment of the electorate and editors everywhere.

Panel Vision - Supergirl (1984)

So, it seems that CBS’ Supergirl has been a pretty major hit, scoring nearly 13 million viewers with its pilot episode making it the most watched superhero premiere of the modern era.  More than that the show has found a major following, gaining almost universally positive reviews from critics and a blossoming online fan base.  None of this is really shocking but it’s certainly a nice precedent to have and flies in the face of all conventional wisdom surrounding the superhero genre, the Superman franchise, and Supergirl in particular.  

For years now we’ve heard from the executives at DC and Marvel that people don’t want female superhero properties but now, we have Supergirl.  WB/DC have been shaking in their boots over Superman being too powerful or light to the point that they let Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan turn him into a drab and joyless husk to get beaten down by Batman in between murdering his enemies, but now we have Supergirl, light, super powered, optimistic, massively popular.  For nearly 30 years the very idea of Supergirl was considered to be a tainted and irredeemable brand, now; bigger than ever.  That last one though is a bit of an earned concern because, now having watched 1984’s Supergirl, I can tell you that it’s the worst superhero film ever made.