Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2022 13:46:55 GMT -5
I'm sitting here bedridden watching Challenge of the Super Friends on DVD on repeat, and it reminds me how much the cartoons played just as much importance to me as a young kid as the comic books themselves did. Superman is a great character in this show, I think it's why I dressed up as Superman for Halloween (Ben Cooper costume of course!) that year when the series first aired (1978). Plus the live action movie came out later in that year as well of course.
Others have touched on this aspect, but it was great that as a young kid in the 70's, the various media out there allowed me to jump into the Superman mythos without needing to understand any of the comic book publishing history over the prior decades. When I read the comic books themselves, I might not have always understood all the references originally, but had enough familiarity with the character that I could still follow along and enjoy. And as a little kid going to the spinner racks, I only had so much money (my parents originally might have said pick out a comic book or 2 each visit), and it was the cover art that often pulled me in to be honest.
In retrospect, I think Superman's best run during the Bronze Age was DC Comics Presents, those stories tended to have more mojo to them than Action and Superman. Though I was reading a lot of Silver Age Superman (and older) stories during that time as a kid via the various digest reprints (like Blue Ribbon) and other collections, and those were by far my favorite stories.
I think the Dini/Timm-verse Superman really demonstrated how to carry Superman into more modern times credibly. He was, by way of his 90's cartoon and then in the subsequent Justice League and JLU series the hero of light that contrasted with the dark of Batman. No gimmicks needed, just that timeless heroism in the hands of a great creative team, both visually and in terms of storytelling.
And those cartoons bring up another important point...you don't really need to figure out how to "evolve" a character who has been around for decades and retrofit continuities and all that. You just need some great stories to tell, some nice visuals, and a character that people find compelling. Those are timeless elements.
Others have touched on this aspect, but it was great that as a young kid in the 70's, the various media out there allowed me to jump into the Superman mythos without needing to understand any of the comic book publishing history over the prior decades. When I read the comic books themselves, I might not have always understood all the references originally, but had enough familiarity with the character that I could still follow along and enjoy. And as a little kid going to the spinner racks, I only had so much money (my parents originally might have said pick out a comic book or 2 each visit), and it was the cover art that often pulled me in to be honest.
In retrospect, I think Superman's best run during the Bronze Age was DC Comics Presents, those stories tended to have more mojo to them than Action and Superman. Though I was reading a lot of Silver Age Superman (and older) stories during that time as a kid via the various digest reprints (like Blue Ribbon) and other collections, and those were by far my favorite stories.
I think the Dini/Timm-verse Superman really demonstrated how to carry Superman into more modern times credibly. He was, by way of his 90's cartoon and then in the subsequent Justice League and JLU series the hero of light that contrasted with the dark of Batman. No gimmicks needed, just that timeless heroism in the hands of a great creative team, both visually and in terms of storytelling.
And those cartoons bring up another important point...you don't really need to figure out how to "evolve" a character who has been around for decades and retrofit continuities and all that. You just need some great stories to tell, some nice visuals, and a character that people find compelling. Those are timeless elements.