Superman: The Man of Steel

  Hi, everybody. I'm so sorry for the delay, I was so busy with school that I nearly forgot to create another entry. Well, thanks for those of you who have been patient. Now I'm going to talk about none other, than the Man of Steel himself, in other words, Superman.

   I'm pretty sure that most of you already know that Superman has appeared in the comic books since his debut in 1938, not to mention his origin story, which has been told many times in the comics, as well as in the TV series and movies. Well, let's get to the point. What I like about Superman is how he is considered one of the strongest superheroes in the whole DC Universe, and the fact that when he's Clark Kent, he somehow manages to rule out suspicions that he's Superman in disguise. Out of his entire rogues gallery, my favorite Superman villain is Brainiac, and I would love to tell you the reasons why he's one of my favorite villains, but unfortunately that will have to wait for another post.

   My favorite interpretation of the character is from the film "Man of Steel". Why? Because I think it
has all of the necessary elements that a Superman film should have, action, most of the characters are well-developed, the way the origin story is handled, and the potential it has to start a DC Cinematic Universe, not to mention that even the easter eggs were awesome. I haven't watched the Christopher Reeve films yet, but I heard that the first two films are amazing.

Well, that will be it for today, sorry to disappoint, but I'm not sure if I will have time to do another post anytime soon, because I'm going to have a very busy week. So, what character do you want to know about next. Feel free to comment on my blog about which one do you want me to talk about, and I'll do it as soon as I have time. Bye-bye for now.

Batman: The Dark Knight

 

 

            Hello, everybody. I know what some of you are going to say, that I should stop informing you about the comic book companies, and to start informing and giving my opinion about the characters themselves. Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to do, and who better to start with than one of the most popular superheroes ever: Batman.

Batman, as you may already know, saw his parents die in front of him when he was a child, and seeking justice, he became the iconic hero we all know and love, with his main objective consisting of stopping criminals, whether ordinary thugs, or one of his rogues gallery, at night, while making sure that the tragedy he had gone through, would never happen to anyone else ever again. What I like the most about Batman is that he doesn’t have superpowers, instead only relying on his gadgets, in order to be a hero. I am also impressed by the fact that he deals with a large amount of villains, as well as how these villains are, in one way or another, dark reflections of the Caped Crusader.

 

I have to admit that I have only read about most of the Batman storylines on the Internet, with the only comic book story I have bought from a store and read at home so far being The Dark Knight Returns. I also have the animated films of “Batman: Year One” and “Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker” on Blu-ray, not to mention the live-action Christopher Nolan Batman films.

 I have recently acquired the "Night of the Owls" storyline, which is, in my opinion, one of the best Batman stories ever. When I took this picture, I didn't have that comic book yet, and I was planning to take a picture of it, and insert it either in this post, or my 9th post (Two-Face: The Twisted Judge), but I later decided it would be better if I just showed you the picture, when I get ready to talk about that comic book storyline one of these days.

            I can’t wait to talk about one of these films or the comic book storylines mentioned above, ¿what about you? I have a feeling my next entry will be either about the Man of Steel, The Amazing Spider-Man, or one of the Batman’s greatest enemies. Feel free to comment about what you expect to see next on this blog.

 

 

 

Marvel Comics

I’m pretty sure all of you know by now that Marvel Comics is one of the biggest comic book companies in the world. It’s very clear that out of the two big publishing companies, Marvel is more recognized by the general public due to Marvel Studios releasing two films a year since the culmination of Phase One of their Cinematic Universe, while Fox releases one film (whether it’s X-Men or Fantastic Four) a year, and Sony does the same a new Spider-Man film every two years, although the latter may probably change due to the future spinoffs of “The Sinister Six” and “Venom”.

 

 

 

 

Marvel Comics was founded in 1939, known at the time as Timely Comics. Marvel’s first superheroes were the original Human Torch (which was an android, please don’t confuse him with the Fantastic Four member of the same name), Namor (if you don’t have any idea of who he is, let’s just say he is Marvel’s response to Aquaman), and Captain America. During the 1950’s, Marvel changed its name from Timely Comics to Atlas Comics. It was until 1961 that the company used its current name.

The first superhero team they chose to introduce was the Fantastic Four, later they began publishing titles of superheroes such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and so on. Most of these superhero comics were written by none other than Stan Lee. During the 1990’s, Marvel won big amounts of money due to the popularity and recognition their comics had, so it launched the “Marvel 2099” imprint, which featured futuristic versions of the superheroes. However, in 1992, some of its most recognized writers left Marvel in order to found another comic book company, which would be known as Image Comics. Over the last decade, Marvel created new imprints such as Ultimate Marvel, Marvel Noir, etc.

In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired, for approximately between $4 billion and $4.2 billion dollars, Marvel Entertainment, which is a parent corporation of Marvel Comics.

While I prefer DC Comics more, I also think that Marvel is just as good as DC, in its own way, due to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the other Marvel-related films and TV series, which manage to entertain people, while at the same time, revealing specific details about what to expect from their next films (and seasons in the case of TV series, like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).

Feel free to comment about what movie, game, series, or a specific character or superhero team from Marvel you would like me to talk about, and then I’ll see what I can do. Have a nice day.

 

 

 

DC Comics

Most of you may already know what DC Comics is, as well as the fact that it’s one if the biggest comic book publishers in the world, being only tied with Marvel Comics. But do you know what DC stands for, and since when the editorial was founded?  The appropriate answer to those questions would be that DC stands for “Detective Comics”, and it was founded in 1934, although during that time, it was known as National Allied Publications.

 However, it was in 1937, when Detective Comics, Inc. was formed. 1938 was the year in which DC Comics began introducing superheroes, starting when Action Comics #1, best known for the debut of the character known as Superman, was published, therefore leading to the beginning of the Golden Age of Comic Books. DC Comics started to gain more popularity, so they decided to introduce other characters, such as Batman, Wonder Woman, and the first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, which was composed of lesser-known characters such as the original Flash and Green Lantern, Hawkman, Hourman, Doctor Fate, the Atom, the Spectre, etc.
 

                                                       

Then, the Silver Age of Comic Books (1956-1970) began. For DC Comics, The Silver Age is best known for the introduction of characters such as the modern Flash and Green Lantern, the Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, Batwoman, Bizarro, Brainiac, the Fourth World, which marked the debut of the New Gods, etc. The Silver Age was shortly followed by the Bronze Age (1970-1985), during which the comic book industry became focused on tackling real-world issues, like drug abuse and pollution, with one of the most recognizable comic books featuring those topics being the Green Lantern/Green Arrow comics.

Finally, the Modern Age of Comic Books, also known as the Dark Age of comic Books, was the period during which the characters of DC were significantly altered, becoming darker and more complex. Some of the characters’ franchises were rebooted in order to be able to be fit for the modern audience, one good example would be “Batman: Year One,” which retells Batman’s first year of his crime fighting career. In time, darker storylines began to rise more frequently such as “The Death of Superman”, “Batman: Knightfall”, “Emerald Twilight” (which is a Green Lantern story), not to mention “The Dark Knight Returns” and “Watchmen”, which were considered the darkest comic book stories of all time. In 2011, DC Comics revamped its continuity again, this relaunch would be known as “The New 52”.

In my opinion, DC Comics is the best comic book editorial company ever. Why? Because it has the most interesting characters, you can read the same storylines over and over again without getting bored, and it also manages to entertain people long enough in order for them to be encouraged to buy more comic books of that company.

Well, thanks for your attention. Feel free to comment on my blog about what DC Comics character, storyline, game, or movie would you like me to talk about, and stay tuned for more details about comic books.

  

Introduction to the World of Comic Books

 

Do you know what a comic book is? Imagine finding a book or magazine featuring a superhero, such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Avengers, X-Men, or Spider-Man, on the cover, and participating in fascinating adventures where danger, fiction, and emotions are combined. Well, that is what you're going to find in this blog, along with the individual origin stories of the superheroes and the supervillains, as well as the greatest story arcs in which these characters appear. Not to mention that this blog will also feature reviews of the games, novels, movies, and even TV series, whether they are animated or live-action, in which these characters are involved, from the worst adaptations to the best ones, from the most controversial to the most critically acclaimed, from the adaptations with lack of character development to the ones that manage to perfectly capture the essence of the characters, what are their motivations, and most importantly, what are their goals.
So, now you know what a comic book is about, you will probably want to know more about the companies that produce them, like DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Dark Horse Comics. Don’t worry, my dear readers, you will soon discover how these companies contribute to the world of comic books.
My name is Adrián Ramírez, but you can call me Adrian, and just like you, I'm a big fan of comic books, especially the comic books that feature superheroes. The function of my blog is to inform people about each one of the characters that appear in the comics, and letting the general audience know that the characters t that they already know about, and appear in the comic book superhero films and TV series that have been released, aired and announced so far, are just a small quantity compared to the vast amount of characters that can be found in the original source of inspiration, in the form of these comics. I highly recommend you to stay tuned for more details. See you soon and have a nice day.