Geek Syndicate Issue 8 | Page 78

Geek Syndicate
For many people, the big
blue Boy Scout known as Superman has lost his appeal
and relevance in the modern age. He is a character
that they could no longer relate to. He was too good, too
nice and too powerful. I had
a wee wobble in my teenage
years but overall I have loved
reading and seeing the Man
of Steel and find it sad that
a character that is meant to
be the paragon of virtue and
goodness has lost favour in
the public eye.

Unfortunately I never saw it
all because it was Christmas
or something like that and it
was time to go somewhere.
But those fleeting moments
of Krypton dying have always
stayed with me until I finally

Image © Warner Bros., ABC, 1993

This year saw the theatrical release of the latest film adaptation, The Man of Steel. The film
is due to be released on DVD
and Blu-Ray this month and I
think Superman is as relevant
as ever. I believe that the film
manages to show how much
we still need that big old S.

When I was growing up I had
a Superman costume. I bet
many people did. There
was
nothing
better
for me than to run
around in that costume pretending I
was him. I remember my first experience of the 1978 film,
Superman: The Movie. It was
a school holiday and it was
on the BBC, sometime around
noon. As soon as it started I
was mesmerised by the huge
structures that I would come
to know as Krypton.

TV’s Lois & Clark. A more homely but still optimistic take on Superman

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saw
t h e
amazing Donner film in
its entirety.
Even those few
short scenes on
Krypton gave me
so much hope. Jor-El
would do anything to
save his child. He believed
in him. Superman showed
me how much you can rely on
the others around you in your
time of need.
The rest of my childhood I
spent watching the series Lois
and Clark (or The New Adventures
Of Superman as it was branded
in the UK). I loved this program and it shaped my view
of Superman for a long time.
At this stage though I was beginning to develop a love for
Marvel and it was not until I
became older, and started to
see how amazing the DC characters were, with their strong
moral core, that I would return to them. In fact I would
now happily state I am a DC
boy through and through.