This Week is Just Super, Man

On Tuesday, DC Comics released an animated short on their YouTube channel celebrating 75 years of Superman, from his original comic to this summer’s "Man of Steel", with its sequel "Superman/Batman" to begin filming this weekend at the East Los Angeles College Weingart stadium in the US. 

Superman was created by writers Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, two high school students living in Cleveland, Ohio in 1933. They sold their concept and character to Detective Comics in 1938 and on April 18th that same year, Action Comics #1 introduced the world to a man who wore a blue outfit, red cape and red shorts with a yellow and red S symbol emblazoned on his chest who stood for truth, justice and the American way.

It is Action Comics #1 where the 2 minute animated short begins. The short highlights some of Superman’s famous stories spanning his 75 years in comics, his early TV and film appearances and ends with his latest interpretation in DC comics and the 2013 film reboot "Man of Steel". The director of "Man of Steel" Zack Snyder also directed this animated short along with the DC animated universe boss, Bruce Timm.

"The idea was to start with Siegel and Shuster and end with Henry Cavill, stopping at all the high points and iconic moments in between," the creator of Batman’s and Superman’s animated series said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

Timm told of how it was Zack Snyder’s idea to do the entire history of Superman in a minute “But we said, 'Okay...whoooo.' We started working and quickly realized there was no way to do it, even in a minute”, leading to the 2 minute run-time and that other actors who played Superman like Dean Cain from “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” and Brandon Routh from “Superman Returns” to be cut out. 

Speaking of Zack Snyder, principal filming for “Superman/Batman” begins this weekend.

In a report given out to students of the East Los Angeles College in their online campus newspaper it states that “Warner Bros. Pictures new untitled Superman/Batman project comes to film at East Los Angeles College Weingart stadium during halftime of the Oct. 19 Husky football game”.

Filming will be for “a football game between Gotham City University and rival Metropolis State University”, the home towns of Batman and Superman respectively. 2000 students have been asked to be extras in the crowd that will be given special t-shirts designed by Snyder himself.

But what is my thoughts on the superhero that can be defeated by a tiny green rock from his home planet that has lasted 75 years I hear you ask?

Well, to be honest, I have never really been into Superman. For a superhero, he was too super. He has so many powers that it’s hard to keep track of sometimes, from one minute being able to move an entire planet to being so fast he is able to go back in time to save the woman he loves.

But if anything, the superhero genre wouldn’t be what is today without the man who wears his underpants on the outside.

Without Superman selling so well on news stands by fascinating people with his stories of heroism against imaginable odds, for the oppressed and his ability to do what no mere human can do, we wouldn't have Batman or any other superheroes we know and love today who were created to match or beat the popularity of Superman and DC comics.

And to this very day, Superman continues to grow in popularity with thanks to each re-interpretation of the character DC creates, such as his New 52 reboot in the comics and in films such as “Man of Steel” and “Superman/Batman”; retelling the story of an orphan boy from a far away and destroyed planet who came to Earth and found his calling to be our planet’s protector. To be the best man he could be. 

To be, a Superman.

I’m a nerd and this was my rant.  

I Still Wanna Be The Very Best, Like No-one Ever Was.

With the release of Pokémon X and Y only 2 days away, I can’t help but feel nostalgic for the days when I too wanted to catch 'em all, playing the original Pokémon Red and Blue 14 years ago. 

But now that I am 20 years old, 13 years older than the game's target demographic of 7 years old, why do I keep coming back to Pokémon?

When I was young, I lived in a family controlled by my 3 older sisters. To keep me occupied whilst my parents dealt with them, my mother bought me a yellow Nintendo Game Boy Colour and a copy of Pokémon Blue. In that one simple act, I was transported from a world of my annoying, older sisters to the world of Pokémon created by Satoshi Tajiri.

Satoshi Tajiri

When he was a kid, Satoshi Tajiri loved nothing more than collecting insects, hunting for them in ponds, fields and forests, constantly looking for new insects and coming up with new ways to catch them.

In the 1990's, after being hired by Nintendo and creating Game Freak, he saw two kids playing with their Game Boys and a link cable connecting them together. He imagined bugs crawling up and down the cable and wanted to give future generations that same experience he had when he was a kid of hunting, catching and trading creatures.

On June 10th 1999, Pokémon Red and Blue were released in the UK.

The core concept of the series tasked players with leaving their hometown to journey across the Pokémon World in order to collect every single Pokémon and become a Pokémon Master, learning the art of battling with the monsters categorised by different types, with each Pokémon able to wield a different element such as Fire, Water and Grass. 

Kind of like Rock, Paper, Scissors but instead with dragons, large turtles with water cannons in their shells and dinosaurs with plants growing out of their back. 

5 series of Pokémon games, a trading card game, merchandise and a hit TV series later, Pokémon X and Y are about to capture the minds of a whole new generation of kids who want to have the honour of saying to their friends that “I caught them all!”.

The Kalos Region of Pokémon X and Y is based on France. Ou la la!

In X and Y, players start from their hometown in the new Kalos region, populated with brand new, never-before-seen Pokémon for them to capture, trade and evolve them into more powerful Pokémon. Their ultimate team of six Pokémon will then be used to fight against other Pokémon Trainers. But this time, players can unlock a hidden power by using Mega Stones to Mega Evolve their Pokémon into far more powerful forms. 

When I started my copy of Pokémon Blue, I was given the choice of Bulbasaur, Squritle or Charmander as my starter Pokémon. I chose Squirtle as it evolved into Blastoise, the Pokémon on the cover for Pokémon Blue.

Blastoise and Mega Blastoise

In X and Y, a whole new generation of kids will be able to choose the same starter I did 14 years ago with new players given not just one, brand new starter Pokémon to choose from, but two by choosing Bulbasaur, Squirtle or Charmander, whose evolved forms can now Mega Evolve into Mega Venusaur, Mega Charizard and Mega Blastoise.

Just like in Red and Blue, X and Y will have you tasked with going to 8 Pokémon Gyms across the Kalos region to collect 8 Badges, allowing you to face the game's most powerful Pokémon Trainers to claim the title of a Pokémon Champion.


One of the reasons I keep coming back to Pokémon is to feel that same great sense of accomplishment I had when I was a kid when I became a Pokémon Champion. Spending months on building up my team to be the strongest they can be, capturing every Pokémon I could and battling with my friends to show off my skills with the game, proving I knew more about the game than anyone. 

Nowadays, I continue to play Pokémon for the nostalgia factor. To go back and feel the same emotions and experiences I did when I played Pokémon for the first time as a kid, experiencing a rich and vibrant world that now thanks to the power of the Nintendo 3DS, can be rendered in 3D graphics, truly bringing the world of Pokémon to life than ever before. 

I maybe 20 years old, but inside I’m still that little kid wanting to be the best, like no-one ever was. To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause. I'll travel across the land, searching far and wide. Each Pokémon to understand, their power that's inside. 

I'll be picking up a copy of Pokémon X and Y when they release world-wide on October 12th!

I'm a nerd and this was my rant.