The lasting legacy of Smallville?

So I’m still thinking about that Smallville finale. There seems to be a split over whether it was good or not, though I notice that most enjoyed it (even if it was just for the relief that it was finally over). Several elements of Smallville are already seeping back into the comics — the introduction of Chloe Sullivan as a comic book character for example — which is a tradition that has stretched back to the cartoons in the 1940’s and the old radio shows. Superman, after all, doesn’t exist in the vaccuum of the comics, but through all the media he’s inspired.

The thrill of hearing John Williams’ score from the 1970’s movie should be proof enough of that.

So what’s Smallville’s legacy, beyond the new characters? Certainly, the barn setting is starting to become one of the hallmarks of Clark’s origins, and it’s already shown up in the Secret Origins comic. There’s the successful de-aging of Ma and Pa Kent, who were elderly folk since the Silver Age comics (even in the Superboy books) and are now portrayed as a young and fit couple. Those are great.

My favorite, though, is the change in the Lois and Clark dynamic. A commentor — I’m not sure where — mentioned that there’s a seismic change that Lois knows that Clark is Superman long before he takes the mantle. In fact, she inspires him to be Superman. And that’s a key change.

In previous iterations, Lois was basically a nuisance… something to hide from that kept Clark from being Superman. Think Superman II and how Superman had to de-power himself to be with Lois. (After which he had to mind-wipe her remembering he ever was Superman because she just… can’t … HANDLE IT!)

The best thing about Smallville? Superman isn’t Superman without Lois. She enables him to be the better man. She’s not some distraction that stops you from being a hero. She’s the reason you’re a hero in the first place.

And that’s what I loved about Smallville. The first hour of the finale was slow, sure… but when Clark read Lois’ vows on the other side of the door, you got a great sense of why she’s as much a part of him being Superman as simply the fact that he has superpowers. It’s a little sappy, but an essential step forward in the progression of Superman as a character for the 21st Century.

Rooktopia’s Guide to What His Favorite Superhero Reveals

Yesterday, while I was chatting with my girlfriend, she says, out of the blue, “So what’s your favorite superhero?” I had no idea what for. It turns out she was reading an online Cosmo article called What His Favorite Superhero Reveals. After she forwarded me a link, I browsed the article and came to the conclusion that the writer, Christie Griffin, was writing an article that was way out of her league. It was a very amateurish understanding of pop psychology and a very tenuous grasp on superheroes.

Not that I blame her. I’m guessing she drew the short straw, while her co-workers got to write “8 Ways to Make A Man Notice Your Facelift” or “12 Secrets to a Newer You.” I can imagine her boss trying to cheer her up. “This article’s going to be boffo! Superheroes are the hot thing! You’re going to make this magazine Megabucks! MEGABUCKS!”

So, yeah, it’s a puff piece. But I’m going to help out Christie with her mission anyways: to educate female readers the mysteries of their man based on their favorite heroes!

Who he worships: Superman

What it reveals: Your man is not really into superheroes in the first place. He was totally caught off guard by your question. He probably just waved his hand and just half-heartedly said, “Um… Superman,” didn’t he? Anyway, that’s not a bad sign. He’s probably into far more manly things than some adolescent power fantasy. It probably means he’s handy around the house. Either that or he spends his days with a cold one in his hands and watching college football all day.

Who he worships: Batman

What it reveals: This is a tricky one. If your man is into the Adam West 60’s Batman, chances are your man is a funny, if corny, guy. He probably lies to collect kitsch antiques and Transformers and other junk. Be careful: his house is likely to be messy and stinking of modeling paint. If your man is into the post-Dark Knight Returns Batman, he’s probably a bit of a metrosexual. Batman is like the James Bond of the superhero set: sauve, mysterious, and into the color black. Ms. Griffin is on the spot at this analysis by the way: Batman fans usually are loners. But aren’t most superhero fans?

Who he worships: Spider-Man

What it reveals: Your man is likely to be a generally pleasant guy. He admires Spider-Man because of his somewhat carefree attitude. Spidey is always pulling some crazy stunts, like swinging from building to building and rattling off snarky one-liners. Your man is also the kind to settle down. Untle recently, the Peter Parker-Mary Jane dynamic was the most stable marriage in all of comic books. (Damn you, Joe Quesada!) He’s friendly, down to earth, and ready to watch a chick-flick DVD with you even though you know that he really doesn’t care for Steel Magnolias.

Rooktopia rates the Superhero Movies, Part II

Time to take a look at some more random superhero movies.

Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer — I can’t really comment on the first movie, since I’ve never seen it all the way through. Not that I haven’t had my opportunities: it was an in-flight movie during a particularly long international trip, and I did my best to avoid it. However, I did see the second movie at a drive-in. Ugh. So the Stan Lee cameo was awesome (and surprisingly, actually canon), but the rest was pretty blah and forgettable. And how could they screw up Dr. Doom so badly? He’s the greatest supervillain in all Marvel, for Pete’s sake! He wore a mask and cape long before Darth Vader made it the symbol of villainy! Gah! Rating: 2/5

Superman — Was and still is the pinnacle of superhero movies. There is absolutely nothing I can say that’s bad about it, so I’m not going to even try. Heck, most origin stories are pretty rote and tedious; here, it’s the best part in the entire movie! Sure, Superman travelling faster than the speed of light to go back in time was a little cheesy, but he was always pulling stuff like that off in the comic books. You just had to stick “Super” behind a verb, and voila! new superpowers. Don’t underestimate the giddy imagination of the Silver Age. Rating: 5/5

Batman Returns — There has been a movement recently that this was the best Batman movie before Batman Begins. And I scratch my head. Why? This was an utterly joyless exercise where you didn’t even feel like really rooting for the hero at all and left you wondering if Penguin wasn’t right to have the entire city destroyed. This is the movie where Catwoman is thrown out of a window and as a result develops cat-like powers (including, as it is suggested at the end, a cat’s nine lives). Sure, it looks a lot better in comparison to the Shumaker sequels, but c’mon. Batman Returns was as needlessly dour as Batman & Robin was as needlessly ridiculous. And at least the latter had some laughable “cold” puns delivered by the Governor of California. Rating: 2/5

Batman & Robin — unfortunately, THIS is the worst movie of all time, superhero or otherwise. I get some joy nowadays from Arnie’s horribly ridiculous one-liners (“What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age”), but that’s all. Everything else about this movie is so bad that you just want to take a claw-hammer and smash every existing reel, VHS, and DVD on the market. The unnecessary addition of Batgirl. The Hockey Team from Hell. The fact that Mr. Freeze was one of the most sympathetic villains on the Animated Series, and the movie just ruined him. Then you want to go down to TBS (the Superstation) and demand that they stop airing this movie 24/7. Only then will the nightmares stop. Rating: 0/5

Supergirl — You know, I must have seen this movie at least three times in my lifetime, and I can’t remember a single thing about it. IMDB says Peter O’Toole was in it, so I’ll have to take their word of it. Wasn’t there some kind of witch who turned into a monster in the end? Or am I thinking of Enchanted? Gosh, that Amy Adams has such a wonderful screen presence doesn’t she? And that movie was absolutely robbed at Oscar time. I realize I’m not talking much about Supergirl, but it was so utterly forgettable that there isn’t much to talk about. Rating: 1/5

Mystery Men — It’s too bad that this movie bombed at the box office, because it isn’t terrible at all. Maybe they were doing too hard to make the superheroes low rent and the villains too ridiculous. Maybe the source material was too obscure: even comic geeks don’t immediately recall side characters from The Flaming Carrot. Maybe it’s because parodies of superheroes rarely do well on the big screen (which shoots down my hopes and dreams of seeing the Great Lakes Avengers movie). I came across one comment, though, that easily pinpointed where the movie went off the rails: when Captain Amazing dies, and it’s the Mystery Men’s fault. I love dark humor as much as anyone, but when the good guys screw up this badly, it makes me think that they should quit before more people get killed. (However, I’d heard a rumor somewhere that “Captain Amazing” was originally going to be The Flaming Carrot. If that was the case, then the death would be much more awesome. Stupid vegetables.) Rating: 3/5

Animated Fridays: Superman Retires

Superman vs. Mr. T: and it’s ooooonnnn! This hilarious mash-up takes footage from the Super-Friends and Mr. T cartoons … and combines it with dialogue from Rocky III. Supes is ready to retire (from superheroing, supposedly) when a certain eccentric in a mohawk and 50 lbs. of gold chains butts in. This is one clash of the titans where everyone wins.

Super Powers (by Ookla The Mok)

You ever have one of those days where you hear a song… and you just instantly associate images with it and it won’t get out of your head unless you actually make a video out of it? Maybe you haven’t by I have. While I was doing my “Top 10 Songs About Superheroes” list, I came across music from the band called Ookla the Mok. They’re famous for writing ultra-geeky songs about superheroes. I was torn between choosing three great songs for my list: “Stop Talking About Superheroes or I’ll Kill You,” “Arthur Curry,” and the subject of today’s video — “Super Powers.” It a fun little song about superhero origins, and half the fun is trying to figure out which superhero each verse refers to. Observe:

Top 10 Songs About Superheroes

Who doesn’t love songs about superheroes? They provide us with a healthy does of fun and nostalgia. Artists can treat the heroes as symbols. Or they can poke fun at how silly they are. A wide spectrum of musicians — from rap artists to indie bands to well-known rock acts — have performed songs about superheroes. Who wrote the best songs about superheroes?

In composing this list, I’ve tried to only have each superhero only appear once. This may not seem fair, but if I were to list superheroes more than once, Superman would appear on more than half the entries. That guy attracts songs like flies to honey.

Honorable mentions: Green Lantern, by Blue Harvest; The Riddler, by Method Man; Superman, by Goldfinger; The Ultimate Showdown for Ultimate Destiny, by Lemon Demon

#10 – XTC: That’s Really Super, Supergirl. Man, this song reeks of the 80’s. I mean, this song could be playing in one of those movies where career-minded women are trying to move up in the world, probably to support their supply of Aqua-Net and legwarmers. This song, by British pop band XTC, illustrates the typical dilemma when a man has a relationship with a woman who has superpowers. “How you stop the universe from dyin’/But you never gonna stop me cryin’…” So it’s the basic role reversal; Supergirl is saving the world but doesn’t have time for her man, who “Doesn’t feel super.” I guess if a girl band wanted to cover the song, they could change “Supergirl” to “Superman” without a hitch. I mean, it even mentions Kryptonite and the Fortress of Solitude and all, and most people associate that stuff with the Man of Steel in the first place.

#9 – Huang Pin-Yuan: Teen Titans. Some people are not going to agree with me, but I think this version by Taiwanese-born Huang Pin-Yuan is better than the original by Puffy AmiYumi. Mainly because Puffy AmiYumi is so sugary that if you listen to them for too long, you get diabetes. Huang doesn’t deviate too much from the original sound, and the words are in Chinese this time around, but I find the song overall to be far more tolerable. (And you know, I do like the peppy, anime-like theme song a lot.)

#8 – The Kinks: Catch Me Now I’m Falling. Iconic British band The Kinks write a song about Captain America… technically. It’s probably a symbolic call for the rest of the world to aid the US during the Oil Crisis in the late ’70s. “Now I’m calling all citizens from all over the world/this is Captain America calling./I built you up when you were down on your knees/so can you catch me now, I’m falling.” Still, it gives me the warm fuzzies to know that Cap is probably the only superhero that can represent the United States in a non-ironic sense, and that a highly respected band like the Kinks managed to work him into a song that’s relevant even today.

#7 – RBX, Snoop Dogg, & The Lady of Rage: Batman & Robin. “No one can save the day like Batman/Robin will make you sway like that and/Beat for Beat, rhyme for rhyme/Deep in Gotham, Fighting Crime.” This rap song by Snoop Dogg and friends is fun and upbeat. It shouldn’t be a surprise, the inspiration is the 60’s TV show. The song works in references to several of Batman’s rogue’s gallery: Two-Face, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and even Clayface and Mad Hatter. And you gotta love lyrics that go “Hit ’em with the POW! BAM! BIFF! Whoa,” complete with the thrilling trumpet blare. Righteous, Snoop. (As a side note, why does Batman, the grim and gritty hero, end up getting the fun songs, while songs about Superman end up making the Man of Steel sound like he’s the world’s most depressing man?)

#6 – Ookla the Mok: Stop Talkin’ About Comic Books or I’ll Kill You. Ookla the Mok is pretty much the nerdiest band ever. They’ve released several superhero-themed songs. They have songs about Aquaman (“Arthur Curry”) and Super Skrull (“Theme from Super Skrull”) for pete’s sake. Despite the title of “Stop Talkin’ About Comic Books…”, this is perhaps the song best tailored for basement-dwelling geeks. There’s several references to insider geek favorites that casual superhero fans (the ones weaned on movie) are not likely to pick up: the Spider-Man clone saga, Zero Hour, Jack Kirby’s DC run, the Overstreet Price Guide… and the piece de resistance, a final reference to The Invisibles, proving that the singer is even geekier than the person he is threatening to kill.