I just picked up the DVD set containing all 13 episodes of the Ruby-Spears Superman cartoon from 1988 and thought I'd share a few details here seeing as how, well, you'll see.

I watched this series when it first aired but other than an episode in which Luthor becomes a Shadow Thief and the fact that most (if not all) episodes ended with a short 'Story from Superman's Childhood' segment focusing on his time in Smallville, I remember very little other than the fact that I enjoyed it.  28 years later however, the thought occurred to me that even though the show coincided with Superman's 50th anniversary, 48 of those years might have been off-limits due to the changes Crisis and John Byrne brought to the comic.  Could characters who hadn't yet appeared post-Crisis be allowed to make an appearance?  "Hey, you know what would be great?  How about we use Brainiac in that cool looking skull ship of his?" "uh, he doesn't exist anymore but how about a fat guy in an ill fitting tux whose wife has driven him to drink?"

So while I've only watched the first episode since getting the set today, it's clear that the writers have more freedom than I thought they might be allowed.  Interestingly enough, the writer who put my concern that this series might be a little too promotey towards the Post-Crisis status quo, was none other than one of the architects of the Post-Crisis Superman - Marv Wolfman.

Wolfman was the one who suggested to John Byrne that following the Crisis, Lex Luthor should be a criminal businessman.  Actually, according to Byrne, his exact wording was:

"Outside Metropolis is a mountain. On that mountain, in his fabulous Xanadu-like estate, lives Lex Luthor, the world's richest man, and his mistress, Lois Lane. You see, she's drawn to power."

OK, so the Lois Lane stuff was never used, but that Xanadu-like estate, actually makes an appearance in this series.  It's shown briefly, but it's all there - a mountain outside of Metropolis on top of which is Luthor's home, so although it didn't make its way into the comic, Wolfman's idea of Luthor's "Xanadu-like estate" made it onto the show.  I don't know if LexCorp will make an appearance or if it will look anything at all like it did in the comics.

Now, the show is clearly aimed at children - Luthor is busy sipping a milkshake when Superman stops by to drop one of his tanks into his swimming pool - but I can't help but wonder how much of his portrayal here (and everybody else's for that matter) is due to who the intended audience was and how much was "Hey, I don't have to run my ideas through John Byrne's sieve here, so I'm going to do what I would have done had I been allowed to revamp Superman".

Wolfman once stated that he wanted to make Luthor a rich businessman because he wanted to explain how he could afford to build all these expensive machines he'd use to rob banks with.  I don't know how Wolfman expected Luthor to balance that thin line between being a notorious bank robber and a legitimate businessman/philanthropist Post-Crisis, but that's what he said.

So what does Luthor do in this episode?  He donates a bunch of robots to Metropolis to aid in catching criminals, rescuing people from fires, etc - essentially anything to make Superman look obsolete.  His plan works well enough that Superman seems to retire until we learn what exactly Luthor hopes to gain from Superman's absence - he wants to steal a trainfull of gold that's been earmarked for Fort Knox.  He's asked point blank in the episode "why do you want to steal more money when you're already rich" and Luthor responds that you can never have enough money.  Luthor's stopped, but not arrested as he's able to cover his tracks by claiming that his machines malfunctioned and if Superman checks with the Mayor, he'll learn that Luthor had already called him to explain that his robots were running amuck due to faulty wiring. 

Yeah, yeah - acceptable logic for a cartoon aimed at kids, but it likely wouldn't have worked for the comics at the time.  However, it's interesting to me that Wolfman addressed that whole "what do you need more money for" issue as if this were an interpretation of the character he believed strongly enough in to defend.  I can't help but wonder if this is what Wolfman's Luthor would have looked like sans Byrne - Businessman, yes, but still a scientific genuis who robs banks as he did pre-Crisis but with a team of lawyers (or with the Mayor on constant speed dial for those "Yes, my machines were robbing that bank when Superman arrived, but I was also leaving a message on the Mayor's answering machine with my alibi while that was going on so it's all good" phone calls) to bail him out whenever he needs them.

Other than Luthor, I can't think of anything else about this one episode that didn't work with pre-Crisis continuity.  There are a few updates - Jimmy Olsen rides a skateboard through the Daily Planet offices and doesn't wear a bowtie - but it has mild-mannered Clark Kent, a Superman who was dropped off at a local orphanage when he was discovered and not claimed as the Kents' biological child, and a Superman who had his powers as a baby.  Oh, and judging from the opening credits, Titano should be making an appearance.

Not sure how the timing works with Wolfman's departure from the comics and arrival on the cartoon - he's credited with a hand in writing three of the 13 episodes for this series.  When did he leave the Superman titles - end of 1987?  The first episode of this show aired in Sept 1988.  Would that have meant he left the comics to help with the cartoon (admittedly in a limited capacity) or is it more likely he wrote this episode (and two others) back in 1987/early 1988 and then left both the comics and cartoon while the latter was being animated/voiced/etc?

Anyhow, that's some of the stuff that was going through my head after watching this episode and thought it relevant here (though not necessarily timely).