This is the place where I discuss all things Sacred and Profane. Stop by and check me out. Leave a comment (or not), as this is done for my own amusement. If you too are entertained, all the better, but that is not the motivation here. For I, am a...Writer with attitude! Comics, Sci Fi, movies, TV, Books, the Internet, Pop Culture, you name it. I talk about all of these things and more. These are the things that entertain me. I can only hope that some of them will entertain you as well.
So, we just came from watching the new James Gunn Superman
flick—which we thoroughly loved—and we wanted to talk a little bit about it.
This isn’t our review, we’ll be writing and posting about that later (We’ll
link back here to hook you up with that review as soon as it is written,
posted, and approved). But for now, what we want to do here is to talk a little
bit about how there are reports on social media about how Gunn turned Superman
“Woke” and they don’t like it.
To those people who feel this way, all I have to say (as
someone who has been reading comics since 1961, working in the field as a
journalist since 1981, and as a comicbook creator since 1986) You have no idea
what you are talking about here. And trust me, as I’m something of an expert in
this.
But first, allow me to go back a few years when the first
Wonder Woman film came out in 2017. Back then a pair of conservative talking
heads whined on-air about how disrespectful it was that the film changed her
uniform from red, white, and blue like Superman’s. This without clearly
realizing that her costume was never red, white, and blue, and neither was
Superman’s. Hers has always been red, gold, and blue, while
Superman’s was red, Yellow, and blue. Further, neither of them are
actually Americans, Wonder Woman is from the mythical island of Themyscira,
while Superman (Kal-El) was born on the planet Krypton and is (technically) on
Earth (and in the U.S.) illegally.
Next up, in 2022 other conservative TV talking heads
(probably from the same network) were griping that Marvel has gone woke by
creating a female Hulk, without realizing that She-Hulk first appeared some 43
years earlier in her own Marvel Comicbook. According to information at the
time, the character was created to protect the company’s trademark on the
green-skinned Hulk character’s name. In fact, there is a video clip of a
reporter interviewing Bill Bixby (who played David Banner on the TV show. That
clip is shown below.
My point with these first couple of paragraphs is that quite
often, the folks on (pretend) TV news shows very often don’t know, or even
understand, even the simplest of things (which can be looked up) on which they
are reporting, and if they can get simple (not important) things like those I
cited wrong, then how can we trust them getting actual important news correct.
Then there is the case of Dean Cain (who played Clark
Kent/Superman) in the CBS TV show Lois &
Clark,The New Adventures of Superman(1973–1977).
Sometimes, proving that even when they have some understanding of who the
character is because they actually played them on TV. Cain re-entered public
awareness recently with his negative assessment over Gunn’s film (without even
having seen the film). Cain claimed that the film is too woke because it
celebrates Superman as an immigrant (somehow forgetting that only is he an
illegal immigrant, but that there was an episode of Lois & Clark that dealt
with the same topic.
Another issue the conservative Cain mentioned about the film
is Gunn’s changing the long-standing mantra first associated with Superman m
the 1950s TV show, stands for “Truth, Justice, and the American way” to “Truth,
Justice, and a better tomorrow”. Well, two things here. First, under our
current administration, America isn’t as welcoming to immigrants as we were in
the ‘50s. Second (and more relevant to the character) those of us who actually read
comics already know that back in 2011 (Action Comics #900), Superman addressed the
full council of the UN and renounced his U.S. citizenship and declared himself
to be a citizen of the world. Thus, making the “…for a better tomorrow” a far more
reasonable pledge.
THIS JUST IN!
Shortly after posting this article, we learned that Dean Cain (who is Japanese American and whose father's entire family was interned in a camp in Idaho during WWII) has recently announced that he is joining ICE!
Having written all that, we have seen the new Superman film
and let us state that we fully enjoyed it and state that it is easily one of
the best stand-alone Superman films ever made (and the presence of Krypto
certainly helped in that regard). Further, the appearance of the Justice Gang
(especially Metamorpho, an old favorite of ours) added to the film’s fun. Plus, the addition of Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor was simply brilliant. Ultimately, we believe that a large part of the misunderstandings covered in this
article stem from the fact that many folks still believe that superhero films,
and the comics from which they are based, are still “junk” or “kiddy” fare, and
not legitimate literature or cinema. And frankly, as far as we’re concerned, that’s simply a crying shame.
*
* *
Oh, and just to let all’y’all
know that I know what I’m talking about, in 1961 I moved from reading
syndicated newspaper comic strips to reading comicbooks. Around 1978 I joined
comicbook fandom and began to contribute to an APA (Amateur Publishing Alliance).
In 1981 my first comicbook article was published in Amazing Heroes #5. In 1986
my first comicbook (Agent Unknown: Renegade Press) was published. I spent the
next 15-20 years working as a journalist in comics, writing for virtually all
of the magazines that covered the comicbook industry. Currently I still post about
comics both here and over at HubPages,
I also still write comics at Dark Fire Press, and
other indie publishers.
As many of you already know, earlier this year, Action #1 (the first Superman) sold at auction for a cool million, a few weeks later, Detective #27 (the first Batman appearance) was gobbled up for a mil-five. Now we hear that Batman #1 is up for sale, and is expected to net over $40,000!
A longtime Alaska comic book buff is selling one of the gems in his vast collection, a rare copy of Batman No. 1 published 70 years ago. Mike Wheat of Fairbanks has put the 1940 comic book on the auction block through Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries, where it's expected to fetch more than $40,000. Online bids already have climbed to $35,000 for the book, believed to be one of fewer than 300 still in existence. Online bids will compete with a live auction set for Thursday.
Personally, we’re still awaiting news on how much Amazing Fantasy #15 (a comic we own), which was the first appearance of Spider-Man is going for these days.
OK, if this don’t take the cake. Just a couple of days ago we reported that Action Comics #1 had set a new record for the sale of a single comicbook (a million bucks!), and, well, we though that was totally awesome. Imagine our surprise today when we learned that that most astounding record has been broken already, by none other than Detective Comics #27 — the first appearance of the other half of the Brave and Bold team — none other than Batman himself.
Yep, that’s right, it has just been reported that Detective Comics #27 just sold for $1,075,500 (US) at an auction. Apparently the owner of the comic bought it back in the 1960s for $100.00.
Now that’s what I call a sound investment.
Me? I own Amazing Fantasy #15, the first appearance of the Amazing Spider-Man. Wonder how much that will go for 20 years from now?
This just in, Action Comics #1 (the first appearance of Superman), has just been reported as having been sold for $1,000,000.00. Yep, that’s one million dollars. How cool is that?
A copy of the first comic book featuring Superman, considered the holy grail of comic collecting, sold for $1 million US on Monday.
The sale, on auction site ComicConnect.com, set a record for a comic sale. The previous record was estimated at just over $400,000 US.
The buyer Monday was a New York-based collector, according to a ComicConnect.com spokesman.
Action Comics #1 (which originally sold for 10¢ in 1938) sold for $317,000.00, just last year. Though ther had been comicbooks prior to the publication of this comic, the comic is generally credited with kicking off the comicbook revolution, and spawned thousands of imitators and knockoffs.
