I'm faster than scans_daily. *chuckle*

Finallyyyy, Action Comics #858 is here and with it a Reeve-like Man of Steel, the new artist Gary Frank and a new storyarc about Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes, a superhero group first introduced in the late 50's. He used to be friends with them when he was Superboy, often traveling far into the future (where they come from) to spend time with them. The issue also includes a great flashback to a friendless, lonely young Clark (see scans).

SPOILERS BELOW!! I didn't put up the really big one, though. One of the greatest moments to me was a quick "homage" to a certain scene in a movie... But I'm pretty sure you'll be surprised which one it is! I hope it's not just me, I really think it's a homage and a lovely one. Check it out under the cut! OMG! *flail* I even put up a comparison pic.



( 'Clark Kent gives me the creeps.' )

*flails some more* Loved this issue!

Have you seen the new Superman Returns Superman/Clark Kent figures by Hong Kong company HOT TOYS? They're over at the SupermanHomepage, too. There's Brando!Jor-El, as well. Whooo! Another Masterpiece line it is and this time not Hong Kong exclusive but for US release! I own both of the previous figures (see link for pics) and was surprised to see two more (well, 2-in-1)! *laugh* They're much-coveted because they're beautiful and limited and I can imagine the new ones will be just as popular and sought-after.

They have new headmolds again and IMO Superman looks more like Brandon than Clark does. They didn't capture Clark quite as well as before but he's still better than other SR figures on the market. Clark's outfit is also different from the Hong Kong exclusive. As far as I can see, it's a brown business suit and stripey tie he's wearing a bit later in the movie (not the one he has on at the beginning on his first day at work). I hope it's just as well made as the previous grey suit because I love the grey suit and coat... No coat this time...



*spazz*

Very good head sculpt. They're getting better and better and I thought the previous ones were amazing already. Still, it should be said that the actual faces may look different than on the official promo pictures. The resemblance to the actor depends on the paint job of the sculpt. If Superman's head looks just as good as on the above picture, you bet I want to have it... but it can wary from painter to painter. The eyebrows are done especially well (shaded, wow!) and overall there's a richer, more detailed look to the face. A lot of paintjobs look "flat", minimizing the realistic look the company tried so hard to capture. Also, there's this sheen in the whites of his eyes which is outstanding. I wonder if it's just the camera flare or actual transparent-like color applied for that wet look? Because the eyes do look real and that's very, very hard to do on action figures. If they actually went as far as apply some gloss to the eye so it would look wet, I'll be impressed!

More impressed than I already am, that is. Hah! :o) Awesome figure. The hairstyle looks more Routh-ish than before, too. Wow. Overall an improvement for an already "close to perfection" figure every Superman figure collector was drooling over last year.

The set comes with:
- 12 inches high Superman action figure with new sculpted head
- Additional business suit as Clark Kent's costume including white shirt, tie, jacket and pants with a pair of brown shoes
- Additional new sculpt Clark Kent figure head featured with glasses
- A pair of interchangeable hand
- Display base with the SUPERMAN RETURNS logo and a SUPERMAN nameplate
- Limited production run

Same stuff as before. A 2-in-1 figure (one body, two heads) was a good idea. This way we're only getting one more figure instead of 2 and you don't end up with 2 Clarks and 2 Supermen if you want to complete your collection and buy all versions, Hong Kong *AND* USA exclusives.

In other AWESOME NEWS, Action Comics #858 is shipping this week (see art previews at SupermanHomepage), featuring art by the new artist Gary Frank! He's drawing a very Reeve-ish Superman and his Clark looks sweet! OMG look:



Finally, Gary Frank! I'm so excited already, I've been counting the days till he gets on board! I squeed about him before in my journal (when I first started it). I'll SO be posting scans from his run. Guh.

This post is all kinds of bouncy, bouncy! See mood. *toothy grin*

Earlier in August Superman comics fans were happy to hear artist Gary Frank will be joining the team on Action Comics starting in October. WOW, SOME GREAT SKETCHES THERE.

From the samples of art I've seen floating around I think he'll do an amazing job on Superman. I can't wait to see the more realistic approach that his art has, the characters just seem to breathe life and pop out the comic pages! We haven't seen much of that for a quite a while besides Pacheco's and also Guedes' work. I get the chills when we get art that is so life-like and the characters so real that it's easy to imagine them as real people, easy to think of them as breathing people such as actors on the tv screen, for instance. It's not everyone's cup of tea and not everyone prefers characters to look like actors, be it Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh, Tom Welling or whoever. Many want the comics and movies to remain different. Movieverse should not mix with comics verse, yadda yadda. But I get a kick out of it, it's one of the reasons why I started reading American comics. It's really amazing because the comic art I used to dig the most was manga (both boys and girls manga). Superman comics opened my eyes to art I've been overseeing for so long.

Here is Gary Frank's Superman:


A huge brownie point to Frank whose Superman is based on Christopher Reeve and Lois Lane on Margot Kidder. *wipes drool off keyboard* Not an overly muscly Arnold Schwarzennegger Superman in any way, thank God, and I know that kind of style has many fans... But I prefer a more realistic look. Muscular and solid-looking but not like a pumped-up pro wrestler either. And the new Lois Lane is going to be fantastic! What an interesting and pretty BOLD look for her, seeing how she's always either extremely attractive or with a killer body but a weird short hairstyle or not pretty at all, depending on the artist. Her looks vary just as much as Superman's.
Actually, in recent incarnations I seldom thought she looked anything like a newspaper reporter... Maybe that's the writers' fault, too. I liked her look in Up, up and Away and she's ok in the current Last Son storyline but the super short hair bugs me.

Now I'm pumped for this new version and am seriously intrigued. Hopefully the end result will look close if not exactly like the sketches. Her eyes have just as much "steel" in them as her husband's...which is BEYOND AWESOME. *grin* Isn't it cool they both have expressive eyes? As if he was looking for a soulmate with eyes as piercing as his... Or almost. His peepers are sure unmatched in their intensity.

Says Gary Frank:

"I didn't want her to be this tall, voluptuous beauty that takes men's breath away when she enters a room. Geoff [writer] said that it was fine if no one noticed her when she entered the room, but after she had said her piece, all eyes would be on her when she left. For her build, I just wanted her to have strong, defined legs that looked made specifically for stomping in and out of editors' offices."

Awesome. I love her thinner lips and high cheekbones, too. She looks very much the strong Lois Lane I've envisioned. Beautiful, cool, collected one moment, and fiesty and boiling with excitement and energy the next. Lex is also spot-on and I would have liked Supergirl more if she wasn't so thin-looking (my fave version is that of Renato Guedes), though I like that Frank didn't overdo with the boobs on purpose to cater to fanboys and actually plans on drawing her gangly instead of just Paris Hilton stick-thin because that's apparently the most popular look for a girl's body from the point of view of many guys. >_>;

I still laugh whenever some guy online moans how Guedes' Supergirl is "fat". I can't believe he can't see how skewed his perception has become because the readers have been fed the starved, impossible stick-thin figure for 19 issues and think it's the norm for a real girl. It's probably the way Guedes draws her knees that make them scream FAT FAT because I can't see how other parts of her body are anywhere near fat. She's amazingly fat-free still, she's just not overly skinny and she has strong legs (and by strong I don't mean to imply "fat" at all, like saying "healthy" instead of "a few pounds too many"). She's NORMAL. But normal is fat now, apparently. God.

It's like fat and skinny are the only perceived body types but normal does not exist anymore. Gary's version goes back to the very skinny version of Supergirl but I sincerely HOPE she won't be like the Kara in her own issues because that one was a mess before Guedes hopped on board and he's only on for 2 more issues before another creative team starts their work. *sigh* Please, Frank, don't ruin Supergirl again!

Check out more of Gary's art at the above link. Can't wait for October.