Canister X – A.P. Fuchs: Zombie, Paranormal Romance and Superhero Novelist, Blogger, Artist, Publisher

. . . in DC Universe Online, anyway (available for free download for PC and PS3). The other day I saved Superman from Lex Luthor and was officially invited to the Hall of Justice and bestowed a Justice League emblem and an offical induction into the League.

This game has become a pretty big part of my life lately and is especially cool because I get to play as my own superhero character, Axiom-man. First Axiom-man was in novels, then in comics, then in cosplay . . . and now is active in the DCU.

Of course, he’s not a DC Comics character and is exclusive property of Coscom Entertainment, but to “role play” as him so to speak–takes it to a new level, especially since he has superpowers in the game, something you can’t get out of cosplay.

Below are some screen shots of Axiom-man in the DCU. I was able to get his costume pretty close based on the templates/formats available for players. Also in the shots below he’s wearing his Justice League emblem–given to him by Oracle–which he only wears in-game, at least for now.

Take a look, click to zoom in:

I bought this series originally because it was written by Alan Moore. I knew going into it that it was kind of like Superman but still it’s own thing.

Wow. This series remains in my top ten graphic novels of all time. Though called Supreme (created by Rob Liefeld), it is Superman. Even while reading it, you envision Superman doing all the things Supreme does. It even has it’s own Lex Luthor-like villain (Darius Dax), and Batman and Robin parellels.

So amazingly good.

If you’ve been longing for a good Superman story that conveys the awe and wonder associated with the Man of Steel, though this isn’t Superman, these books are the best places to get your fix.

Click the Image to Order from Amazon.com

Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t have the other one, Supreme: The Story of the Year, listed, but it’s definitely worth hunting around for.

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com

5 out of 5

If any one season of Smallville made me feel like I was deeply immersed in Superman mythology and was watching a true, live-action version of a DC comic book, Season Eight was it.

Not only is Clark Kent and Lois Lane working at the Daily Planet, but Doomsday, the monster that killed Superman in the comics, is the over-arcing plot this season. He comes in the form of Davis Bloom whom, we learn, experiences these mysterious blackouts as he transforms into the Kryptonian beast and murders anyone that crosses his path.

To make matters worse, Davis has a soft spot for Chloe and despite her best intentions, giving in only sets off a chain of events that screws up her relationship with both him and Clark.

Also introduced this season—and taking the place of Lex Luthor—is Tess Mercer. At first she’s as loyal to the Luthor name as anyone, but when she learns what kind of a man Lex Luthor truly was, everything changes and we encounter a woman who is just as evil as her predecessor.

I have to admit I was unsure how Smallville was going to work without Lana Lang and Lex Luthor as key characters, and for the first few episodes, the show did feel a little empty, but that was more than made up for with the breakneck pace the show took and the dark path it led its viewers down while creating the Doomsday saga. With Tess Mercer and Doomsday as the central villains, you forget all about Lex Luthor and instead try to read between the lines to see how he’ll one day return as Clark’s rightful foe, while watching Tess and Doomsday lead the world into destruction.

I was really happy with how this season turned out after my initial skepticism. The episodes were great, the appearances of other DC alumni like Zatanna, Maxima, Jimmy Olsen, the Legion of Superheroes and more just made Season Eight fantastic.

Like I always say, this show just keeps getting better and better and I cannot wait to see how everything pans out from here on in. Too cool.

Recommended.

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com

4.5 out of 5

Kicking the season off, Clark fights a bizarro version of himself, picking up the cliffhanger from the previous season. Great start. Then things get even more cool with the emergence of a super . . . girl? Yup, you guessed it, Supergirl herself has arrived on Earth. Her name is Kara. She is Clark’s cousin from Krypton and Laura Vandervoort does a fantastic job as the Girl of Steel, who not only proves that blood runs thicker than water, but also has no fear of heights like her farmboy cousin and does plenty of flying to prove it.

Not only is there one Supergirl in this season, but two. Kinda. Helen Slater, who played Supergirl in the 1984 movie of the same name, made an appearance as Clark’s Kryptonian mother, Lara, in the episode that shared her namesake.

Season Seven was a load of fun and was one of the best ones of the series so far.

The only episode I didn’t really like was “Wrath,” where Lana gets Clark’s powers and uses them to get her revenge on Lex. Again, this kind of thing was done before in Lois and Clark (the power transfer), and I was getting tired of seeing these repeat ideas as they had done Lois and Clark-type episodes in the past. Speaking of which, the Dean Cain episode, “Cure,” made me feel like I was watching Lois and Clark all over again and though this episode was more filler than moved the Season Seven story arc along, it was cool to see Dean Cain back in the Superman universe. They even called his character Curtis Knox (see the initials?).

The last thing that bothered me about this season, more specifically the episode, “Quest,” was the major playing up of Clark being some sort of messiah. I’m a Christian, so this probably bothered me more than most, but that aside, it still was overdone. Okay. We get it. Clark’s going to save the world one day. Move on.

This season was a step up from Season Six, so 4.5 stars out of 5.

Recommended.

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com

4 out of 5

This season had me seeing green. Green arrows, that is.

Justin Hartley joins the regular Smallville cast as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, billionaire business tycoon by day, daring Robin Hood do-gooder by night.

At first I wasn’t sure what to think when I heard Green Arrow was going to have a place in Smallville’s continuity. Of course, I was, like, “Hey, cool, another superhero joins the show and this one actually wears his costume!” Whereas the other part of me was, like, “What does Green Arrow have to do with Superman growing up, again?” All I can say without giving anything away is having Green Arrow join the show was a brilliant move. Not only does he demonstrate a good example for Clark, but his past and present conflicts with Lex Luthor also add a nice twist to the storyline.

Of particular note this season was the episode, “Noir,” where everything was in black and white and took place in the ’30s. Reminded me a bit of the Lois and Clark episode that did the same thing, but Smallville’s was much better written and not as cheesy.

The over-arcing storyline of the phantoms that escaped from the Phantom Zone was cool and gave Smallville its trademarked horror-esque twist, but without continually going into Twilight Zone territory like it usually did.

I should add there was one more green element to this season: Martian Manhunter, played by Phil Morris. The only downside, though, was no alien visage but rather his shape-shifted human form instead. Oh well. The budget can only go so far, I suppose. Still, would have been cool if Martian Manhunter had more screen time, but this isn’t his series.

The only thing that I didn’t like about this season was Lex and Lana getting together. It really bothered me and didn’t make much sense when looking back over the first five seasons. This is the reason I give it 4 instead of 5 stars.

Recommended.

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com

5 out of 5

When I heard they were coming out with a new Superman television show back in 2001, I was thrilled. I had watched Lois & Clark religiously, so to learn that Supes was back, but this time exploring his pre-Superman years as a mild-mannered teen in Smallville, well, needless to say I was pumped, and Season One of Smallville didn’t disappoint.

We got our first glimpses of Clark’s developing superpowers, how he and Lex met and the friendship that would later help forge the greatest archrivalry of all time, Clark’s Kryptonian heritage and more. Likewise, to meet Lana Lang for the first time and not just as a mere movie character but someone who—if you know even a chunk of the Superman backstory—made a huge impact on Clark as he grew up was especially interesting.

I remember watching the season finale and flipping out over the cliffhanger ending.

I’ve been watching the series ever since, every week, barely missing an episode.

Check this series out if you haven’t already. This stuff is good. Real good.

Superman Returns (2006)
Review by A.P. Fuchs

3 out of 5

The Man of Steel had vanished for 5 long years.

The world moved on.

So did the one person everyone thought never would: Lois Lane. She even wrote about it in a Pulitzer Prize-winning article entitled, “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman.”

But that’s not all that changed. Lex Luthor had swindled his way out of a double life-sentence with a new plan: create his own continent and wipe out all the others.

He just wasn’t prepared for one thing—Superman returns.

It’d been almost 20 years between Superman movies when this one came out, the last being Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Expectations were high, the hype was through the roof, a star director (Bryan Singer) was attached to it, huge names played some of the key roles . . .

The payoff: an embarrassing movie.

I remember feeling ashamed of my hero when I walked out of the theatre. Being a lifelong Superman fan, I thought Superman Returns would nail it and kick a certain red-and-blue wallcrawler off the box office charts.

I was wrong.

The story of Superman Returns is okay. It’s nothing new, pretty much a rehash of Superman: The Movie, just updated with a different spin.

There are also several terrible and nonsensical moments in the film: Superman’s son, Superman in the hospital, Superman lifting a massive island made of kryptonite and flying it into space even though just before that scene being around kryptonite made him virtually mortal.

It was tempting to give this movie 2 stars, but Brandon Routh’s portrayal of the Man of Steel saved the day. He did a stellar job as both Clark and Superman. Aside from Christopher Reeve, he’s my favorite boy in blue.

Kevin Spacey did an all right job as Lex Luthor—evil, funny, selfish, manipulative, king of understatement. But he wasn’t evil-evil, unlike Michael Rosenbaum in Smallville. Though I realize their different continuities/series, you’d think a grown up Lex would be darker than his younger counterpart.

Warner Brothers et al. erred with this film because they didn’t remember the secret to Superman: people don’t want to relate to him. He’s an icon, an ideal. He’s not Spider-Man. We want to be amazed, put in a state of awe. People want to only relate to Clark Kent, not his cape-wearing alter ego. They blurred the line between the two when it should have been crisp and clear, and that is where this movie failed.

Hopefully the sequel will not be a drama, but a serious yet fun superhero movie, one filled with wonder, eye-popping action and a story worthy of the Man of Steel. I just hope they don’t use kryptonite as a weapon against Superman. If they do, they’re going to have to use a whole planet’s worth to make a dent seeing as how a kryptonite island didn’t stop him.

Language warning: Blasphemy

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com

4 out of 5

Digging deep beneath the planet’s surface, Lexcorp accidentally unearths the merciless killing machine known as Doomsday. Immediately, the behemoth of rage goes on a rampage, destroying everything in its path, and all efforts to stop it fail.

The Man of Steel, learning of the destruction and deaths in Metropolis, takes it upon himself to take the monster down before more lives are lost.

The battle is epic.

The action is huge.

The consequences are dire.

Superman fails, falls . . .

Dies.

Adapted from the biggest and most shocking comic book story of all time, Superman: Doomsday is the emotional and action-packed tale of the life, death and return of the world’s greatest superhero.

This story is dark, and not just because Superman dies. This isn’t a kids cartoon. The themes are mature (i.e. Lois half-naked in the Fortress of Solitude), Lex Luthor, distraught over Superman’s absence in his own weird way, is the most evil Lex ever seen in a cartoon and the things he does at some points in the film make you go, “Man, that’s evil. Not just evil. HUGELY evil.”

What was most astonishing was the swearing. I never would have expected that from a Superman cartoon.

On the plus side, the battle between Superman and Doomsday is the greatest slugfest this reviewer has ever seen in a superhero cartoon (and I’ve seen nearly all of them). The story is solid and packs a lot in given the amount of time Warner Brothers seems to allow for these direct-to-DVD cartoons of theirs.

The animation is dynamic, the coloring bold, the art in the style of the Justice League cartoons.

This DVD includes a few special features, most notably the enthralling documentary on the life, death and return of Superman, chronicling the death saga from conception to fruition, with interviews with the many artists and writers and editors on the project.

Language warning: Cursing and blasphemy