Animated Movie List Part 2... or not. Instead, SUPERMAN!

Part of the problem with trying to write while at the shop is that sometimes those pesky customers come in and demand to give me money. (And really, who am I to deny them?)

It's been almost a week since I wrote about Yahoo's stupid movie list and, amazingly, I find that I just can't get the anger to rise like it was last week. Some fine suggestions were made in the comments and there are still several films that I would like to comment on but ultimately, or at least for today, I just find the subject not to my liking. Perhaps I will revisit it again soon but for now I will leave it be. Please feel free to continue to leave comments about films you think are worthy additions to a "best of" list.

New comics came in today and there was one in particular I would like to comment on.

Action Comics #866 - This is the start of yet another revamp of the Brainiac character. (Really? Again? Can't we pick a retcon and just leave it be?) But that's not what I want to comment on.

The artist on the book is Gary Frank. I generally don't care for his art. I don't hate it but there is something about his style that always makes me think, "Meh." Lately his art has looked, to me, like a cross between Frank Quietly and Paul Gulacy. That's not a pretty picture, so to speak. And the first few pages of this issue are typical Frank. Nothing great, nothing horrible. Just meh. But then, on page 13, he draws Clark Kent doing something that just made me smile. Not a "That's funny" smile but a "Thank you. You just made my day" smile. A joyous smile. A smile that makes me remember how good it feels to feel good. What was it that Mr. Frank drew that made me feel this way you ask?

He drew Clark Kent pushing his glasses up with his index finger.

*crickets*

I know. That doesn't sound very exciting. Or funny. Or important. Or uplifting. It doesn't sound like anything, does it? And yet, it was all those things because in that one moment, in the way that he drew it, he made the DC Comics Clark Kent into the Christopher Reeves Clark Kent. It wasn't that he drew his Clark Kent to look like Christopher Reeves. But at that point in the reading it was feeling like he was trying to evoke Reeves without actually doing his likeness.

Some who read this won't make a distinction between the the comic book Superman and the Christopher Reeves Superman but for a great many people Christopher Reeves IS Clark Kent/Superman. It was his portrayal of the character that turned so many of us into fans of not just Superman but into comic book fans. I can easily say that seeing Superman: The Movie for the first time was just as important to me as seeing Star Wars for the first time. Looking at Superman: The Movie today it is easy to forget how amazing it was to see Superman fly. And that's all we wanted from that movie! Hell, that was the whole ad campaign! "You will believe a man can fly." Ah, simpler times.

So I'm reading the book and that little nod to Christopher Reeves comes up and I get all warm and fuzzy and I'm smiling like an idiot when, two pages later, Mr. Frank makes me into a kid again. I mean, I feel JUST LIKE a little kid again. I wish I could describe the feeling. I was almost teary eyed because it felt SO FUCKING GOOD! There he is, in a full page panel. Christopher Reeves as Superman. Gary Frank has captured him magnificently.

And suddenly, just like that, I'm a Gary Frank fan.