Before watching the final season of "Batman: The Animated Series," I'm jumping over to the what's next chronologically, which is the first season of "Superman: The Animated Series." I've only ever seen one or two episodes of these. I think it was on while I was in college, and I barely watched any TV. Man, this series is freaking great.

Anyone want to join me in the A/V Club for this? Rafael? Kid Nemo?

Episode 1 – “The Last Son of Krypton” Part I

After debuting “Batman” in such a way that BOOM, everything is there, Batman is already an established persona in Gotham, and we don’t need to know his origin … and indeed later episodes establish that he’s been Batman for a good nine or ten years before the pilot … “Superman” goes the opposite way, starting out with an expansive three-part opener, with this first part set entirely on Krypton, and ENDING with the explosion of the planet. Maybe they were influenced by the Reeve film, with it’s very luxurious unfolding of the origin story.

Anyway, it’s an interesting way to go, and this – if I’m remember correctly what Rafael told me – is the first version of Superman in which Brainiac is a computer of Kryptonian origin, and actually involved actively with the destruction. (Although it’s not really clear here that Brainiac caused it … but Brainiac does convince the populace the ignore the warnings of planetary danger by Gore-Al, ahem, Jor-El, so that it/he/Brainiac can save itself, rather than waste its processing power with boring evacuation procedures.

Jor-El is our protagonist here, drawn to look exactly like Superman, although as Lady Doot pointed out, he lacks the “S” curl in the hair, which is given to Lara instead, which is awesome.

It’s all a nice, solid little action movie, ending with the death of our protagonist, and baby Kal-El sent off to Earth. Brainiac, of course, also escapes.

Decent start, if it’s odd that the first episode ends at such an early part in the origin. (I assume these first three episodes originally aired as a TV movie or something … ?)

I actually recall enjoying this cartoon more than the Batman one.

<<dodges tomatoes>>

Hey! No need to dodge. I liked more than Batman, too. At least at the end.

I'll try to follow along and may comment here and there, if you do it. I think it's right up there with the Batman series in quality, though the animation might not be as good. Really all those Timm/Dini shows are top notch. You could go on into JL and JLU too.

I especially liked how they tied Braniac to Krypton. And yes, the first three episodes were a movie.

Rock 'n' roll!

So far the animation is working for me; it seems more consistent than "Batman"'s early years. i.e., "Batman" had some amazing-looking shows, and some really awkward ones. "Superman" so far maybe hasn't had any episodes that stand up to "Batman"'s best, but it's far better than "Batman"'s worst.

As for the writing, I think the both "Batman" and "Superman" are knocking it out of the park in terms of story.

Honestly I think it's down to some pretty subjective things: Which character you like better, and whether you prefer the more episode "Batman" thing to the more saga-ish way they do "Superman."

Tying Brainiac in with Krypton is awesome, and it was appropriated by the creators of "Smallville," which is another show that I enjoy.

Superman is a better character than Batman, so it stands to reason.

No, but seriously. I think that's a determining factor. Both shows are really top-notch. I am digging Superman more, even though there are a lot of elements of the "Batman" show that I loved, and which are -- undeniably -- missing from "Superman."

But Superman is just so awesome.

Also ... "Smallville."

No, but seriously.

I'm not sure the entire Superman show is the saga it starts out as. There are definitely more multipart stories, but otherwise it's mostly standalone just like Batman. Only brighter, like Superman is supposed to be. No Tom Welling is a plus, but it's nice to know the Smallville people weren't able to improve upon the cartoon. Excellent point.

There is also a Superman/Batman movie which I'm not sure is part of either show, but might be part of the Superman series, cut up like the first three episodes were. It's really good.

There just seem to be more open threads on the Superman show. Introduce John Corben in Episode 2, don't turn him into Metallo until Episode 7. Introduce Darkseid at the end of an episode, don't bring in Darkseid as the main threat until the next season, etc. It's not a soap opera, but it feels more like an ongoing narrative. I don't feel as if I could watch the Superman shows out of order, whereas Batman for the most part could be shuffled around quite a bit, as so much of it is episodic. (I may be exaggerating the difference in my own mind.)

The Superman/Batman thing apparently IS three episodes of the Superman series. Looking forward to it!

And you make a terrific point about "Smallville" being a great show, with an incredibly talented and charismatic lead actor.

Batman had Harvey Dent show up a few episodes prior to him becoming Two-Face, and a couple of two part episodes, but otherwise yes, there isn't much that would prevent you from watching the series in any order. I haven't watched in a while so I might be missing some other threads. I think they were still finding their feet the first two seasons of Batman, as far as an animated universe was concerned. It wasn't until Superman and then Justice League where everything started tying together more coherently. Mostly because when Batman started they had no clue it would succeed, or that there would even be other cartoons, of course.

I think you are confused, because the show Smallville that I'm talking about was a giant pile of wank. Is there some kind of animated miniseries or a comic book that you're thinking of?

Who noticed baby Kal-El's white dog? Krypto,let's call him. He returned in an issue of the Superman Adventures comic book,which tied in with this show.
I remember the first 3 episodes premiered all together in prime time on a Labor Day weekend.
The first episode was a solid out of 4.

I really liked the Jack Kirby influence on Superman.

Hmm, so the dog never comes back on the show? I kind of assumed he eventually would ...

... Guess I'll have to seek out the back issues of the comic!

You must have seen reruns of some old show called "Smallville" that was from the 60s or 70s. The one from 2001-2010 was excellent.

Episode 2 -- “Last Son of Krypton” Part 2

The origin proceeds apace. There’s no “death of Pa Kent” in this version, but all the other archetypal bits are there: Ship crash lands, the Kents find him, he grows up in Smallville, his main confidant is Lana Lang (who wears a very very short skirt). When Clark’s powers are fully developed, the Kents show Clark the spaceship and tell him for the first time that he’s an alien. I didn’t realize how much the “Smallville” pilot was influenced by this cartoon. The bit with the parents showing Clark the little ship for the first time is very very similar.

Speaking of “Smallville,” its funny that after Clark learns he’s an alien from Krypton (thanks to a recorded message beamed into his brain by an “S” shaped laser light thingie), the show skips to Clark arriving in Metropolis in glasses, newly hired by Perry White as a reporter for the Daily Planet. He meets Lois and Jimmy, and meanwhile he is moonlighting as a mysterious savior in blue to the people of Metropolis. They completely skipped what happens in between teenage Clark learning he’s an alien and him becoming Superman! I think there are at least 218 hours worth of stories there to be explored.

(It is odd that they don’t really spell out Clark’s reasoning for the glasses, nor for why he chose blue tights as his outfit of choice when he’s out super-ing. The red cape evokes what Jor-El and Lara wore on Krypton, and the “S” was shown to be a Kryptonian symbol … but why the blue tights?)

Anyway, we just have to run with it. Clark and Lois go to cover a press conference held by weapons manufacturer Lex Luthor, Metropolis’ number one billionaire. Then some terrorists show up to steal the big-ticket item that Luthor was debuting, a suit of armor. Superman shows up to stop the terrorists. Fight. To be continued!

This episode was all right, but a bit choppy, with half of it in Smallville and then the sudden skip to the Metropolis status quo. If that jump had been between the end of one episode and the beginning of the next, it would have felt less jarring, I think. Instead it feels like a scene or two got skipped.

Some thoughts on the main voice actors:

Tim Daly works great as Superman. His Clark Kent voice is exactly the same, and also the frames of Clark’s glasses are really, really thin, to the point of almost being non-existent. It’s like the creators are just saying “Screw it,” and not even trying to explain it. This Clark Kent is identical to Supes, and people just don’t notice. Fair ‘nuff. I think I’d prefer to hear Daly do two different voices. After all, Conroy does it for Bruce/Batman.

Fresh off being Bruce Wayne’s love interest in “Mask of the Phantasm,” Dana Delaney plays Clark’s crush now too. Funny that they cast such a perfect live-action Lois to be a cartoon version. Feels like a waste somehow.

Clancy Brown’s Lex Luthor strikes me as a little too obvious. In a continuity where Lex is supposed to have a beloved public face, his evil hidden, it seems off to have a voice that is dripping with sinister-ness. He’s not quite Montgomery Burns, but he’s on that part of the spectrum.

George Dzunda’s Perry White doesn’t get much screentime, but I thought it was interesting that they got the actor who was so notable on “Batman” as both Scarface and the Ventriloquist.

I'll read along, that's for sure.



Until someone makes a good Superman movie, this is the greatest adaptation of Superman's origin to me.

It's not as if you're admitting to liking Savage Dragon or some such crap.

Maybe Batman is the favorite, but this Superman was great as well.

This actually seems to be a trend with these two franchises. The George Reeves The Adventures of Superman pilot starts with the origin of Superman while the Adam West Batman pilot starts with Batman well into his crimefighting career. Superman: The Movie starts with Superman as a baby, while Michael Keaton is already Batman when we meet him in Tim Burton's film. Hell, this trend even continues to the comics -- Superman's first appearance features a brief one or two page origin story as a prologue while we don't learn Batman's origin for a year or so after his debut.

I'm going to guess it's Superman's powers -- since they're so fantastic, the writers must feel people need that explanation up front; meanwhile Batman is a regular dude, so his backstory isn't as important for audiences to know straight away.



I think this is a smart bit of writing myself and something subsequent versions of Superman should have made standard (I think Morrison used it for his New 52 Action Comics reboot). It seems that writers like to incorporate the villain into the hero's origin and this was a pretty seamless way to do so that makes Brainiac's ties to Superman much more personal. I've often thought that this pilot and the later episode Stolen Memories could have been combined to make a pretty satisfying live-action origin film.



I think the biggest missing factors are a voice actor as perfect for Superman as Kevin Conroy was for Batman, the overall design isn't as edgy and cool as Batman: TAS, and the music isn't anywhere near as good. Superman's main theme is nice, but feels like a fairly generic superhero theme song. The design seems heavily inspired by Byrne's recreation of Krypton, which I never particularly liked.

The design of the Superman character himself is particularly lacking. It's not bad at all, but there's a bland quality to him and he's boring to look at. He doesn't compare to the iconic and nearly definitive version of Batman than Timm came up with for his show.

Timm's said that he's much more of a Batman fan and that Superman wasn't a passion project for him, that the show was ordered because Batman was successful and it seemed the logical next step. He's said that he wasn't able to generate real passion for the show until they started introducing the Fourth World elements that seem to define this series the more it goes deeper into its run.

That said, there are some good points to this -- I think the show's voice actress, design, and writing for Lois Lane adds up to my favorite version of that particular character. Luthor's design and voice are also spot-on. And all the Fourth World stuff they do is just awesome, especially for Darkseid.



Well, that was all canon in the comics at the time -- for me, this show feels very much like an adaptation of John Byrne's Man of Steel Superman reboot (in fact, I believe Byrne created the idea that Superman gradually gained more and more power as he reached adolescence -- prior to that, he was always fully powered up, even as a toddler), the same way Batman: TAS felt like an adaptation of the 70s-80s runs of Batman of Len Wein, Steve Englehart, Denny O'Neill, etc.

Smallville may have been influenced by this show, but they are both telling the same backstory told in Man of Steel #1 and #6.



I like it as well and it kinda feels like the show needed the grandeur and cosmic threat that the Fourth World delivers. I think one of the big problems with Superman is that his power levels are on a cosmic level like Thor or Green Lantern, but his rogues generally seem unworthy of battling an opponent so formidable. It feels like the Silver Surfer battling Spider-Man's rogues a lot of the time -- not a lot of drama to be had since the baddies tend to be overmatched both physically and mentally.

Back to the topic of Superman's design -- I really like this look from the Crisis on Two Earths animated film and wish it could have been the animations style of that series.

Tim Daly is okay,but he's no Bud Collyer.Miss the voice change from Clark to Superman;helps put over the idea that a pair of glasses could be an effective disguise.
Used to be Bruce Wayne didn't change his voice when he put on the Batmask.Now he does,but Superman doesn't.
Lois and Lana both wear really short skirts.Hey kids---legs!

Take care not to become dehydrated, from all of that spitting on Christopher Reeve's grave.

Well observed, mein freund. Now that you say that, it occurs to me that it's also true of the new DC cinematic universe: Superman gets an origin film, but Batfleck just shows up fully formed.



I agree, it's a great idea. The reason I know for sure is that "Smallville" also made Brainiac a Kryptonian creation, and "Smallville" was awesome.




Yeah, Batman was smart in appropriating the Elfman score. You can't beat that. I actually like Shirley Walker's theme for Supes, but it does seem a little "John Williams-lite."

I guess I don't disagree with any of your points, although I'm not sure that "edgy" would work for Superman in any case. Superman should feel a bit more classical and clean and straightforward, and I think Timm's version does that well. And the writing on "Superman" is just as strong as on "Batman," I would say.



Gotcha. Y'know, I've wanted to go back and read that Byrne Superman stuff, just for curiosity's sake. But the few pages I've seen posted look so terrible. ("Even my SUPER-FAST thought processes are having trouble!") I think I might not ever bother. I know Rafael really digs "Batman:TAS" despite disliking the Wein/Englehart/O'Neill Batman era, and I guess I am in the same boat with this show. This is all largely adapted from the post-Crisis continuity, and the 80s and 90s Superman comics which (from what I've read) I really don't like, yet I really love the series.



I'm looking forward to getting into the Fourth-World era of the show.

Awkward.