To add to Ed's link, DC themselves had a mini series called Red Son in which the baby Kal-el's rocket had crash-landed in the Soviet Union instead. So when Kal-el becomes an adult Superman, what's emblazoned on his chest is not the letter "S" but instead a "Hammer and sickle" emblem.

Saw Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse yesterday and I would have to say that I think it's easily the best Marvel movie not made by Marvel studios to date. The end credits scene was hilarious too.

I really liked it myself.

Movie premiere of Aquaman today. Hope it helps DC.

Back in the 60's, I never bought a single issue of Aquaman magazine. The only time I caught Aquaman was in the Justice League comic because it was one of the main magazines I collected, as I felt I was getting a great bargain from having all of the major heroes assembled in a single magazine. What disappointed and even rankled me about Aquaman is that his inclusion in the Justice League was arranged in such a way that certain situations were made up just for him because the situation had to involve the ocean in some way. In that way it appeared too contrived, if you know what I mean. So it sometimes ruined the story,although indirectly.

In comparison with the other aquatic hero namely Submariner, it was different in that Submariner's biology and powers did not affect his fighting abilities when on land. He could be pretty much extra strong while on land because apparently his physical strength had developed from living at the pressures at the deep depths of the ocean. So he fit in quite comfortably and naturally in the Invaders comic where he teamed up on a regular basis with Captain America and the android Human Torch.

For those who say, Nay... I liked the Aquaman movie. I think it was the best treatment the character ever got. Read what Orville posted just above this post, and I agree with everything he said and for the same reasons. If I wanted to nit-pick the movie I suppose I could, but that is true of most films and does not mean I didn't like them. I was especially impressed with the handling of black manta. This move made both Aquaman and Black Manta make sense. (I loved how they explained away Manta's oversized helmet.

In that trailer, the pronunciation of the word "Skrull" is finally settled. Because until now, most people had insisted that Skrull rhymes with skull. But actually,it's pronounced as scroll, as you can see from that trailer.

It just won the Golden Globe aware for best animated feature as well!

Hi Orville,

The pronunciation of Skrull is somewhat up for debate.

If you remember the 1960's Fantastic Four cartoon, it was absolutely pronounced as though it rhymed with Skull. I think like many regional accents, the pronunciation goes with who is speaking.

While we're at it, how about Mr. Mxyzptlk? I remember a local Radio announcer who used to mention it on every April Fool's Day because pranks was the whole idea behind Mister M. The way the DJ pronounced it he did not make any specific attempt at the phonetics but just made a nonsensical jumble of words. Finally in the 1970s I saw a Superman cartoon where Mr. M finally made an appearance in which his name was actually pronounced. But what really impressed me was the voice of the actor who played the imp. Because when I used to read the comics, I never thought of how Mr. M would sound like, so it was a pleasant surprise to finally hear that voice come to life.

I remember when stories that featured the little imp came with an editor's word box at the beginning of the story that described how to pronounce the name.

I loved the line on Smallville (Rotten job of bringing the character to life though) when he says his name and says, "Do you want to buy a vowel?"

They did a pretty decent job on the animated Superman series. They did the 40's Mr. M, with Gilbert Gottfried voicing him.

(This is an amalgam of animated appearances. For an appearance in "Batman - The Brave and the Bold," they used the 60's Mr. M, with the orange onesie that had "futuristic" purple trim.)

That reminds me of the time when Jimmy Olsen tricked Mxyzptlk into saying his name backwards. Jimmy had arranged with his friend at a Restaurant to have a contest. The Winner would be the customer who can make the longest word out of the pieces in the alphabet-soup. But Jimmy had arranged the pieces so they would already spell out the "word".
While I'm at it, I might as well mention when Superman himself tricked the Imp. Superman had made up a billboard advertising a fake movie entitled "the Imp and I." Pictured on the billboard was the Imp and actor Cary Grant. Under each picture were their respective names. Then Superman asked the Imp," Which actor is more handsome?"
By the way, wasn't the idea for Mr. Mxyzptlk inspired by the fairytale Rumpelstiltskin? Although I don't recall exactly whether you had to make the dwarf himself say his name or if you yourself would have to say it. One of you folklorists might know.

The queen had three days to discover the name of the little man who’d spun straw into gold for her, otherwise she would lose her child to him.

This is played for a joke, but the story is still the same;

There are variations. from wiki

We're looking at Shazam versus Captain Marvel this year. Magic versus technology and shape shifting aliens at the box office in a few weeks. In print we're also due to get some more "Marvelman"/Miracleman.

I would be so up for that! (and about time!)

Anyone watched Titans yet? Gritty to say the least.

How about the new season of Young Justice?

What I like about it is that they'll add Metamorpho. In the 1970s, I even bought a Vinyl record that had a song just for Metamorpho.
I still recall some of the lyrics especially Rex Mason's origin. It went:
"Trapped in a pyramid, he saw a light.
"It came from a glowing meteorite.
"Shooting cosmic rays stronger than the Sun,
"through his body and brain and when it was done..."
That's all the lyrics I can recall for now.
Also the vinyl record included a short story too, in which Rex fought a Fire Giant. First Rex changes into water to try dousing the Fire Giant but it doesn't work. Next he changes his body into a foam extinguisher but spraying it doesn't work either. Finally remembering his chemistry knowledge that water is h2o (hydrogen and oxygen), Metamorpho changes his body into hydrogen and merges with the Fire Giant, thereby changing the Fire Giant's body into water, thereby defeating him. I'm sure that Cliff can appreciate the physics of that story. Note also that since it's just a vinyl record with just the audio, you had to use your imagination based on the sound effects. Sometimes it was laughable because when Rex changes his body into a foam extinguisher and sprays, you could tell that the sound of the spray was done by an actor's voice. At least that's how it sounded to me, so I found it hilarious. But the idea about the H2O was clever.

Thanks for the good laugh Orville, I had not heard that song, nor ever heard of it before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JXFvyNOEd4 boy is that cheesy.

I remember loving the chem lessons taught by The Metal Men and Metamorpho back then. The science wasn't always spot on, but the way it was presented was pretty cool.