Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow!

     I am probably a few hours behind on this, but earlier today, DC Comics announced that the Superman's motto, that he "Fights for Truth, Justice and the American way.", after 80 years is being changed to "Truth, Justice and A Better Tomorrow."

    I think it's great. The original motto came out in the 1940s over the radio show based on the comic book, while the United States were fighting in World War II. It popped up again in the 1950s television show as well, and it's been around ever since. However, now that comic books are finally mainstream and "Cool" now, especially with all of the films based on them, they are a global phenomenon, and it's great to see one of the biggest superheroes in comic book history, adapt his motto to include the whole world, and fighting to make it better. 

    Superman himself has had different ideals. There's the Christian Superman that is usually brought up. He was sent to Earth by his father to be the savior of mankind. There's the fact that he wears the colors Red, Blue and Yellow, the primary colors that when mixed in different ways, become every color on the spectrum, thus, his costume represents all races. He's an awesome character, and while some comic book snobs look down on him and saying he is too powerful and unstoppable, he's been put through the ringer more than a few times, and has had to fight, literally to death, in some of his storylines. 

    Superman always represents what is good, and tries to defend for what is good in many times and ways. I'm not sure if I mentioned this on this blog in past entries, but there was a run of 12 Superman comic books called All-Star Superman. In it, Superman is in space trying to save some astronauts that are hurtling towards the sun, and Superman ends up flying a little too close to the sun.

    All of a sudden, his powers start to feel weaker, and he starts to feel sick. He is told that he is dying, and that he has about two weeks to live. That's issue one. The rest the follow Superman as he tries to put all of his affairs in order, and to try to make Earth as safe as possible, with the hope that someone, or group of heroes can take on his mantel and keep the world safe. It's beautiful and heartbreaking. Crying over a comic book sounds weird, but I shed some tears over the story, and so has a lot of comic book critics and fans. 

I love this picture from one of the covers of All-Star Superman....

    I would also like to mention a couple other Superman things...

    One, is the new show on The CW, Superman and Lois, is fantastic. It's premise is that Superman and Lois Lane have been married for years, and have two twin teenage boys, Johnathan, named after Superman's father on Earth, and Jordan, after Jor-El, Superman's real father from Krypton. They move back to Smallville, Kansas, and want to raise their boys, who have yet to learn their dad is Superman, but do in the first couple of episodes. There are a couple of big storylines throughout the episodes in season one. One is Jordan is starting to get superpowers, and Johnathan isn't, but Johnathan actually is a good brother, and is supportive, instead of jealous....for the most part.  

    The other big storyline is that there is another Kryptonian in Smallville, where there is some yellow kryptonite in mines near Smallville, and if you don't know what yellow kryptonite does, it's okay, it's not mentioned in the bigger movies or animated shows. Yellow Kryptonite can give superpowers to people who are not from Krypton, and the Kryptonian bad guy is using it to give powers to people, so that he can build an army of people with powers to take over Earth, and Lois and Superman, and Clark, are trying to uncover the motives and fight back. It's a great show, and even though there is some great Superman action, most of the show focuses on the family and the community. It's also great to see Clark telling "Dad Jokes", and trying to be a father, while acting like a klutz, which is how Superman disguises himself. The cast is awesome, and I love the actor who plays Superman, Tyler Hoechlin, who was a cameo on Supergirl before getting his own series. I like him every bit as much as the big screen Supermans over the decades.  One of my favorite scenes is a flashback when he saves someone for the very first time, a little boy, who is walking under a freeway bridge, and a car comes crashing down, and Superman swoops down, and recreates the original comic book...

 

    

After which, the kid thanks him, and tells him, "Nice costume!", and Superman smiles big and says, "Thanks! My mom made it for me!"   

It's a really sweet moment in the show. It's great, and everyone should give it a chance if they are into the superhero genre. 

    Well, I didn't mean for this blog post to be a review for All-Star Superman, and Superman and Lois, but seriously, they are great. DC Comics actually made an animated version of All-Star Superman, and the animation is great, but just like other movies based on books, there are some great things that are left out of the animated movie, and they are things that are really great. All-Star Superman is easy to find cheap, and it's a great, and fast read. 

    The original Christopher Reeve film from the 1970s was probably the first movie I saw when I was just a little baby. Seriously, I have pictures of me as a three year old, dressed up as Superman....

    

I was probably four there. My mom even found red underwear with a yellow band around the top to wear over my pajamas!

    Anyway, I have always loved Superman, and I am really glad that they are making him more of a global hero. Even in Superman and Lois, Superman flies to other countries, like there is a bank being robbed in Mexico City, and Superman is there to stop the bad guys. We have  a lot of great things in America, despite being a young country. There are still tons of issues we as Americans need to work on, but it's great that there is a great superhero to be a shining example of how to treat others, and save the world. 

    I hope you enjoyed this post. As always, I hope you are all safe. I support free will, but dang it, get a Covid vaccine. Just do it. Most places of entertainment, as well as workplaces are requiring legitimate vaccine cards just to go to work. I went to a Jazz preseason game last week, and yeah, I had to show them a picture of my vaccine card, just to get into the building, before they took my ticket. I don't want any of you out there getting sick, or worse, die, just because you didn't get a stupid vaccine. Also, get your booster shots when you are allowed to. Those are important too, and it's worth having a sore shoulder for a day or so.

    In the meantime, I hope you come back to read my next blog post. I have really enjoyed writing them, and I have actually been learning a lot of things about myself that I never thought I would. I am teetering on creating a new blog for  writing prompts that I said I would be doing with this blog that I haven't even done yet. I did do the 30 songs challenge in the beginning, but I haven't really had to use prompts. I have always  been able to come up with something that I really care about, or love, or obsess over, lol, to share with you all. I just think a separate blog would better for writing things like sketch comedy, or short stories.

    I have been mentioning that I have been working on something, but have been keeping it secret, sort of, for the most part, but I will tell you what it is now.

    I have been using a computer program called Twine, that is free, that helps you write Choose Your Own Adventure stories, and then you can post them online, and also get them published into actual books. I loved them as a kid, and I have a few that I bought for Elliot and me to read together.  I also discovered that there are more adult, not dirty adult, but CYOA books for teens and adults called You Say Which Way, and they are in print, and on devices like iPads, Amazon Kindle Fire tablets, and Nooks. They are a lot of fun, and usually each book as four different stories, which all have tons of endings, and so reading them over and over is a lot of fun, and I really wanted to try my hand at it.

    Speaking of comic books, that is what my story is about. It's about a magic comic book the reader discovers, and you become the superhero in that comic book. Also, there are three choices for what you want your superpower to be, and each one has it's own story with multiple choices and endings. I am still in the starting phases. I have the ideas, and what I want to have happen, but it's been an interesting ride. I have also been including references of things from my own life that show up, like a burger joint that is named after my favorite burger joint from Tecumseh, Michigan, Boomers. 

    That's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading, and I will be back with another blog soon. 

Up, Up, and Away!