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Superman

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David Corenswet is the latest Man of Steel. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

While not the first to don the cape, Christopher Reeve is the most recognizable and lauded Man of Steel. With his 1978 breakout performance, Reeve flew into the hearts of millions. A reminder of the blending of Superman and Reeve’s iconography was brought home with Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. This recent documentary celebrated the beloved actor, dealing with honesty and sensitivity in his riding accident and its aftermath. Superman and Reeve are forever indelibly linked.

David Corenswet is the latest Man of Steel. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Big and small screen Supermen include George Reeves, Dean Cain, and Henry Cavill, each bringing his own style and stamp. Director/writer James Gunn (Slither, The Suicide Squad, and The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy) tapped David Corenswet for his Kryptonian survivor. Corenswet’s credits range from the Netflix series The Politician and Hollywood to films such as Look Both Ways and Pearl.

The current Superman is neither a reboot nor a remake. Gunn wisely eschews an origin story for a more topical, immediate narrative. Gunn drew inspiration from a wide number of Superman materials, ranging from the Fleischer Studios animated shorts of the 1940s to story arcs from Superman: Birthright (2003-04), and many sources in between. 

A brief explanation of metahumans’ history on Earth quickly brings the viewer to the present, where three weeks ago, Superman stopped a Boravian invasion of the neighboring Jarhanpur. (In other words, a very large, powerful eastern European country attacking a much smaller eastern European country.) Billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) tries to convince members of the American government that Superman is a threat, hoping to have them accept Luthor’s killing of Superman. His goal is to alienate (pun partially intended) and destroy Superman’s popularity by using a recovered recorded message from Superman’s Kryptonian parents. 

The film reaches deeply into the comic book world. Gunn populates Superman with the usual suspects. In this case, Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), the Daily Planet reporter who works with Superman’s “alter-ego” Clark Kent, knows of his dual identity. In fact, the pair’s secret relationship informs the superhero’s personal and professional struggles. Perry White (Wendell Pierce) is a less mercurial take on the Daily Planet’s editor. Cub reporter Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) is more self-aware than previous incarnations, leaving behind much of the aw-shucks for a smarter, contemporary Jimmy. Additional superheroes include Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan), Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Supergirl (Milly Alcock) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced).

Everything coalesces into a cohesive, engaging story with a good plot, plenty of action, and a strong science fiction/comic book vibe. The story fires on all fronts, often with multiple scenarios playing out simultaneously. The film smartly maintains its head and heart, never losing sight of the fact that Superman is the ultimate immigrant and yet also a true American. That, along with the European war, might garner accusations of “wokeness.” But the truth is, these are not new elements of the Superman legend. Superman came to this country/world from a place of danger, only to make his new home a better place. Nothing wrong with that, right?

The cast is excellent. Corenswet is charming, honest, and very real as Superman. He leans into the character’s humanity, and his crisis—“I’m not who I thought I was”—is compelling. His connection with the Kents who raised him is subtly but rightly given more weight. (It is also a nice commentary on adoption.) Brosnahan makes an ideal Lois Lane, tough, intelligent, and believable. She and Corenswet mine the romantic dynamic just enough to keep it interesting, but not so much to bog down the story. 

Hoult’s oligarch Luthor is a megalomaniac of the first order, with a truly sadistic streak, making him less cartoon and more a genuine threat. The business empire elements, played in full light, only further the darkness of his actions. Gathegi imbues Mr. Terrific with a shrewd mix of gravity and deadpan humor. Fillion is particularly hilarious as Green Lantern, completely lacking in any filter. 

Carrigan brings a depth to Metamorpho that goes beyond what must be on the page. Sara Sampaio’s Eve Teschmacher, Luthor’s over-the-top assistant/girlfriend who pines for Jimmy, finds nobility in what would normally be a throwaway. And Golden Retriever Riot’s Krypto is a delightfully unruly pup with an expressive demeanor. What could be an annoying Saturday morning children’s show trope is surprisingly real and all the more fun for it. 

While some will carp that the new Superman dips its toes into political waters (it does, and that is fine), at its center, it is a good old-fashioned comic book come to life. 

With exceptional visuals, wild characters, big schemes, alternate pocket dimensions, monsters on the rampage, gadgets galore, and even a looming black hole destroying Metropolis, Superman is a welcome blockbuster of appropriately epic proportions.

Rated PG-13, the film is now playing in local theaters. 

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Courtesy of DC Comics

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

How come we never see superheroes in regular moments? To that end, I wanted to share a host of images that I hope might brighten your day (if you need it).

Superman picking his nose. Okay, let’s just get this one out of the way first. Sure, he leaps tall buildings in a single bound, fights crime everywhere, and stands for truth, justice and the American way, but what about the urge to clean out the dried super boogers in his nose? And, if he did, what would happen to them? Would they decay the way ours presumably do, or would they be like rocks trickling through our plumbing or remaining forever on the floor, impenetrable even to a speeding bullet?

Okay, backing off from the incredibly crude, let’s go to Superman’s fingernails. I’m guessing he can’t clip them with an average clipper. When he does trim then, are they so strong that it’d hurt to step on them?

How about Batman? Is there room in that suit for hiccups? What happens when he’s driving his super fast car or flying bat mobile and he gets the hiccups? I know my hiccups, which are loud enough to cause Superman’s super fingernails to bend, are so distracting that it’d be tough to fight crime, or even navigate at incredible speeds, when my diaphragm is spasming.

And then there’s Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter, if you’re old enough, and Gal Gadot, for the more modern fan, are both incredible fighters who save the day, rescuing mere mortals like Steve Trevor. But do they have the kind of arguments with their mothers that I’ve seen other women (no one in my family, of course) have with their mothers? Are they tempted to take out their truth lasso and demand that their mother say what she really thinks or share what she really did? Can you imagine Wonder Woman in a shouting match with her mother, reaching a point where she wraps the rope around her mom’s wrist and demands to know, “What do you really think of my new boyfriend” or even “you mean to tell me you never acted out against your own parents?”

How about Aquaman? Not to be too obsessed about the nose here, but does he ever get water up his nose, the way the rest of us do when we’re diving or doing awkward flips into the pool? Given the speed at which he swims, I would imagine such water in his nose might cause even more agony for him than it does for the rest of us, who find the dense medium of water difficult to traverse rapidly.

What about the Flash?

I haven’t seen the recent multiverse movie with him, but I would imagine his shoes, which withstand the incredible force of him tearing around town, are a vital piece of equipment that could be enormously problematic if they tear or have holes.And, unlike me, as I sit here with the tongue of my right sneaker hanging off, I would imagine he couldn’t wait any length of time to replace the shoes that glide over the ground at speeds that, if my interpretation of the recent movie trailers suggest, exceed the speed of light and can, to borrow from the singing superhero Cher, “turn back time.”

Sorry if you’ve now got that song ricocheting around your head. Come up with a better song and you’ll be fine or maybe just count backwards from 20 in French or any foreign language, if you know how to do that.

And what about Spider-Man? Does he ever eat something that totally disagrees with his system, making it impossible to leave the house until he’s taken a super dose of an antacid? Sure, super heroes inspire us with their incredible deeds, but I’d like to know how they manage through the kinds of everyday issues, challenges, and regular stuff in our lives.

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This year’s superhero summer reading theme has elementary to high school students frequenting libraries. Photo by Giselle Barkley

Summertime usually means barbeques, sunbathing, sleeping in and packing in as much fun as possible before the beginning of another academic year. But one thing is missing from that list — reading — and it’s at the top of the list for youth departments in local libraries that encourage kids to pig out on books before going back to school in the fall.

And what better way to encourage kids to read than with superheroes? Local Long Island libraries’ summer reading lists for kids and young adults bring superheroes to the foreground with their series of hero-related books for elementary school to high school children.

Brian Debus, head of the Children’s Department at Emma S. Clark Memorial Library in Setauket, said the younger kids favored these graphic novel superhero books the most. Of the nearly 70,000 books in the Children’s Department, the aisles for these books and books for beginner readers are nearly barren, according to Debus.

“By the middle of the summer at least all of them have been checked out at least once,” Debus said. Children receive weekly prizes after reading the books they log out. Although the theme is superheroes, kids can log  out other books as well. According to Debus, from June 22 to July 10, children had logged out 3,674 books.

Fantasy books aren’t only flying off the shelves at Emma Clark Memorial Library. According to Katherine “Kathy” Kalin, department head of Young Adult Services at North Shore Public Library, science fiction and fantasy books are a hit among elementary, middle and high school youths.

The library’s Battle of the Books program is one of its summer reading programs for sixth- to eighth-grade students. But ninth- to 12th-grade students who aged out of this program can still keep up with their summer reading in the Battle Bistro summer reading program at the North Shore Public Library.

Battle Bistro participants read three books: “Half Brother” by Kenneth Oppel, “The Kiss of Deception” by Mary E. Pearson and “The Rules of Survival” by Nancy Werlin. According to Kalin, who has read all the books for both reading programs, teens across Long Island and the country can also register for an online reading club, Unmask!, which allows them to “unmask the superhero in you.”

Unmask! club members are not limited to stories about Superman swooping in to save the day, as the hero in their story can be as simple as a strong female character.

“It’s things that kids can relate to in their lives.” Kalin said. Teens in this reading club must answer a question to show they read the book. According to Kalin, this year the question encourages kids to delve into the storyline and examine if they could relate the book to an experience in their lives.

Teens can register for this club and track their reading progress and receive a prize for every two hours of reading.

Huntington Public Library also rewards its reading club participants. Laura Giuliani, department head of Youth and Parent Services, said more students are using suggested reading lists provided by their schools.

Picture books are popular among preschoolers. “Wonder” by R. J. Palacio and “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher are popular with teens and deal with ideas of self-acceptance and suicide, respectively.

While Giuliani doesn’t know why these two books are a hit among teens, she said it’s possible the kids reading these books can relate to the storyline in some way. But regardless of the genre of book or the types of prizes, these libraries want one thing: to encourage kids and adults alike to keep reading and avoid the summer slide.

“It maintains their reading skills throughout the summer so that they [don’t] … lose those skills that they learned,” Kalin said.

Giuliani agreed saying, “If kids don’t get any reading in, they kind of fall out of the loop. It keeps the reading comprehension … and vocabulary [up].”

Most importantly, reading is just a simple fun and relaxing way to get lost in a different reality before preparing for another school year.

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