It All Comes Back to Superman – Details, episodes & analysis

Forty years ago DC Comics published Crisis on Infinite Earths. That twelve issue series (plus a handful of crossover issues) was part celebration of DC's fiftieth birthday and part house cleaning. Worlds lived, worlds died and the DC Universe was never the same.

To celebrate what was, at one point, a holy text to my generation of comic book fans I thought it would be fun to look at what the Superman family was up to during the story.  Joining me on this journey is three time Eisner award winning journalist (for Women Writing About Comics) Cori McCreery. Cori and I have been friends for years and I thought it was high time that I had her on the show, especially considering one of the Super Family members we discussed. See, Cori loves Supergirl and considering Crisis was a big story for the OG Kara Zor-El it seemed like "sitting down" with Cori would be a good idea.

While the bulk of the episode (the back half, as a matter of fact) concerns Supergirl, we also discuss two Supermen and a Superboy. We go over my love of the Earth-2 Superman, how the Earth-1 Superman didn't play a huge part in this extremely important story, and the introduction of the Superboy of Earth-Prime, who also didn't play a huge part in this Crisis, but would go on to be part of another Crisis two decades later where things...happened. Then we go into Supergirl and why her death in this story was so important. We also go on a few tangents, which is almost required on one of my shows.

Many thanks to Cori for coming out to play on this one.

Welcome to a "starting a new universe is what the cool kids are doing" installment of the podcasting maxiseries called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I am joined by award winning author Keith R.A. DeCandido to talk about Superman: The Man of Tomorrow from 2020. This film launched a new animated cinematic universe and did so by showing us the early days of Superman. Keith and I cover a lot of ground during our conversation including, but not limited to, the many origins of Superman we've seen since 2004, why I really don't care for Lobo, the Martian Manhunter's role in the film, Lois Lane, jerk Perry White, and even a little bit of Spider-Man right there at the end. I also share my unfiltered feelings on Max Landis's Superman: American Alien.

I want to thank Keith for coming on the show. Be sure to check out his website, especially for his upcoming novel Supernatural Crimes Unit NYPD - Book 1: The Thin, Blue Ley-Line. Keith and I both have essays in Jack of All Comics!: A Fan Conversation About the King of Comics, published by Becky Books, so be sure to check that out as well.

Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent!

You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible.

The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month.

The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound.

Next Time: Moving Kryptonian Images continues in two weeks with Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons.

Welcome to a boundless installment of the podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out Tyler Patrick of The Krypton Report joins me to talk about Superman Unbound. This animated film is based on the Brainiac storyline from Action Comics issues 866-870, which was written by Geoff Johns with art by Gary Frank and is the second animated film covered in this series where Superman faces off against Brainiac. As has become the norm with these animated films Tyler and I talk about both the movie and the comic, comparing and contrasting the two and even going into the time period the story was originally published. We also talk about Supergirl's role in the film, the voice cast, the animated, and the music. Plus, in the middle I fight a bear.

Okay, I don't fight a bear at any point in the episode. I was just seeing if you were paying attention to the notes at this point.

Once again, I wanted to thank Patrick for being on the show. Be sure to check out The Krypton Report because it's a great show.

Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent!

You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible.

The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month.

The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound.

Next Time: Moving Kryptonian Images continues with Jon M Wilson joining me for the first of two appearances. We're talking about a little film that may have made some waves online. Man of Steel.

Welcome to second in my Summer Special series, which I'm doing because there's a big time Superman film coming out and extra content seemed like a fun idea. Also, I'm in the middle of big-time mega-series on the main show, and that series is pretty rigid in its format, so specials were the only way I was going to be able to talk about the things I am going to be talking about.

This time out I am joined by Rob O'Connor and Alan Burke of the All-Star Superfan Podcast to discuss a story that many Superman fans consider to be on the greatest of all time. Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow originally appeared in Superman #423 and Action Comics #583 and served as the close out to Silver and Bronze Age era that was just about to be shown the door in favor of John Byrne's Man of Steel series. Written by Alan Moore with art by Curt Swan, George Perez, and Kurt Schaffenberger, this story tells the story of Superman's final days, which are filled with violence, heart ache, and a last stand in the Fortress of Solitude.

So... not exactly a laugh riot, but a compelling story, nonetheless. 

Rob, Alan, and I tackle this story from every angle. We talk about the previously mentioned violence, our favorite parts, our less than favorite parts, Superman's actions at the end of the story, and ask whether or not this was a fitting end to the Silver and Bronze Age of Superman. We also get into the thorny debate of whether or not Superman should kill or not, which is an issue that has come up a lot in Superman fandom since the snap heard round the world in Man of Steel.

I wanted to thank Alan and Rob again for joining me on this one. It was a lot of fun. Check out the All-Star Superfan Podcast. It's amazing.

Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent!

You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible.

The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month.

The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound.

Next Time: Come back on Monday for another installment of Moving Kryptonian Images. Tyler Patrick and I are talking about Superman Unbound. And then, in two weeks, another Summer Special where I go solo and talk about the various number one issues Superman has had.

Welcome to a...dare I write it...SUPER sized installment of the podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I am shaking up the format. Slightly. This time I am joined by old friend Charlie Niemeyer (host of Charlie's Geekcast and Ranger Chronicles) to talk about Superman vs. The Elite, the 2012 animated adaptation of 2001's Action Comics #775. What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way is considered by many Superman fans to be a stone cold classic, and the movie adaptation seems to be well regarded as well. Charlie and I talk about both the comic and the movie and while there are many aspects of both that we liked we also have some reservations about them. We talk about the cultural climate of 2001 and, to a lesser extent, 2012 (when the movie came out) as well as the animation, the story, how I really wanted an overt homage to Rocky IV at one point in the film, and the differences between the ending of the movie and the comic.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

After the comic/movie talk, I present audio that was recorded at the 2017 DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia. That year I had the honor of co-moderating a panel with Comics and Pop Art programming director Tony Barleta started with everyone watching Superman vs. The Elite (I didn't record that part) and was followed by a Q and A with Joe Kelly himself! The audio quality is not the best at times, especially when it came to audience questions, but this was a fun panel and Joe was the nicest guy ever and revealed some fun behind the scenes stories about the movie and his time writing Action Comics.

Once again I want to thank Charlie for being on this episode. We've known each other a long time and it was great reconnecting with him about this movie. Be sure to check out Charlie's Geekcast and Ranger Chronicles.

Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent!

You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible.

The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month.

The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound.

Next Time: Moving Kryptonian Images continues with Tyler Patrick of The Krypton Report joining me to talk about Superman Unbound!

The first full trailer for James Gunn's Superman film dropped on May 14th and because there is a little-known federal law that was passed with full bipartisan support several years ago that states if you are a Superman content creator and a new Superman trailer (teaser or otherwise) drops, you have to do a reaction video/episode within 10 business days or face substantial fines and possibly jail time. Given how well I would do in prison (or rather how well I wouldn't do in prison) and the fact that I couldn't pay any kind of fine, substantial or otherwise, I thought it would be better to get this done as soon as possible.

Joining me to talk about the trailer is my good friend Jon M Wilson, who you might know from such podcasts as Superman in Crisis, Babylon 5: Thirty Years Later, and 90s Ninjas and Bots, and we have a grand old time talking about the trailer. Actually, we talk about the trailers for Superman The Movie, Superman Returns, Man of Steel, and discuss how those films were marketed and then we do the breakdown of the new trailer. From David's Superman voice to our first real look at Lois to how adorable Krypto is to the Kents being alive, Jon and I cover all of that and more. It's two and a half hours of Superman talk with a few digressions and some snark just for fun.

Be sure to check out Jon's podcasting work. You can do that by going to his websitte, Jon Reads Comics.

Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent!

You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible.

The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month.

The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound.

Next Time: Moving Kryptonian Images continues with Charlie Niemeyer, who joins me to talk about Superman vs. The Elite! And soon...Rob and Alan from All-Star Superfan join me to talk about Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow!

Welcome to another cells exploding installment of a podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I am joined by Russ Burlingame (journalist and author of The Gold Exchange: The Unofficial Booster Gold Companion and Best Movie Ever: An Oral History of Kaplan and Elfront's Josie and the Pussycats) to talk about 2011's All-Star Superman. Russ and I cover a lot of ground in this episode because of how beloved the original comic book version has become. We talk about how well the movie adapted the source material, the things they left out, they way both the comic book and movie treated Lex Luthor compared to how other writers have in the past twenty years, the ending, what people are looking for in a Superman film compared to a Superman television series, and so much more. We also go on several digressions about the upcoming James Gunn film that somehow come back to the main conversation.

Once again, I'd like to thank Russ for joining me. Be sure to check out his books The Gold Exchange: The Unofficial Booster Gold Companion and Best Movie Ever: An Oral History of Kaplan and Elfront's Josie and the Pussycats as well as his work on ECV Analog and Oni Press. And keep an eye out 0n August 15th for his Time to Be Heroes book about the CW's Legends of Tomorrow series comes out.

Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent!

You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible.

The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month.

The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound.

Next Time: Moving Kryptonian Images continues with Charlie Niemeyer, who joins me to talk about Superman vs. The Elite!

Welcome to another apocalyptic installment of a podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I welcome Doctor Anj (of the Supergirl: Comic Box Commentary blog) to talk about Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, which adapts the Superman/Batman: Supergirl storyline. Not that you could tell from the title of the movie and that's one of the things that Anj and I talk about. Other topics include, but are not limited to, how this storyline brought the Kara Zor-El Supergirl back to the mainstream DCU, the character designs, the animation, the Fourth World, Darkseid, and the Supergirl series that followed the Superman/Batman arc.

Again, be sure to check out Anj's blog, Supergirl: Comic Box Commentary. He's been writing about Supergirl since 2007, so not only is it full of great reviews and commentary, but it's also a natural history of Supergirl over the past seventeen years.

Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent!

You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible.

The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month.

The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound.

Next Time: Moving Kryptonian Images continues with Russell Burlingame joining me to talk about All-Star Superman!

Hey there and welcome to the first in a series of Summer Specials here on It All Comes Back to Superman. I don't know if you've heard but there's a new Superman movie coming out this summer and both DC Comics and DC Studios have declared this to be the Summer of Superman! I don't know if this is a legally binding type of thing, but I felt obligated to celebrate this with a series of specials because I can't do it in the main show because I'm in the midst of a huge mega-series called Moving Kryptonian Images. So, these specials will allow me to do some fun Superman content that doesn't have anything to do with the movies.

Notice I wrote, "...to do with the movies," because this first special is about a live action version of Superman. And Lois. Back in December of last year the final episode of Superman and Lois aired and it was very emotional for me. I loved that show. I loved the cast. I loved the writing, and it was very hard to watch the show end after four great seasons. I thought about doing a "saying goodbye" episode at the end of last year, but it didn't feel right. I wanted to let some time pass before I collected my thoughts and shared them with the world.

And that's what this episode is. Me, looking back on this, the most unlikely Superman show of all time, and talking about why I loved it so much. Joining me is my co-host over on The Overlooked Dark Knight (as well as the co-host of Hey Kids Comics with his son Micheal and the host of The Amazing Spider-Man from the Beginning) Andrew Leyland, who was also a fan of the show. We talk about the early days when Tyler was a guest star on the Supergirl television series, the crossovers, the Crisis, and then we get into the series proper. It's a fun, sometimes silly, sometimes poignant conversation where Andy and I tell you why this show was so special.

Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent!

You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible.

The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month.

The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound.

Next Time: Come back on Monday for another installment of Moving Kryptonian Images. Doctor Anj and I talk about Superman/Batman Apocalypse. And then, in two weeks, another Summer Special where Rob and Alan of the All-Star Superfan podcast join me to talk about Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow.

Things continue to be animated this time out on the seemingly never ending podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out Donovan Morgan Grant of Questions: We Don't Have Answers Podcast and writer for the DC Comics website joins me to talk about Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, the animated film that adapted the World's Finest story that appeared in the first six issues of the Superman/Batman series. Don and I go over both the movie and the comics, mainly pointing out the differences between the two but also what this series meant to the world of comics when it first came out and what it meant to us as readers. 

As stated, Don co-hosts the Questions: We Don't Have Answers podcast and writes articles for the DC Comics website. Be sure to check out his work because it's fantastic.

Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent!

You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible.

The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month.

The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound.

Next Time: Moving Kryptonian Images continues with Doctor Anj joining me to talk about Superman/Batman: Apocalypse!