Save the Heroes From Fashion Vol 1: Superman

In the history of comics, you'd be hard pressed to find a hero more recognizable than DC's powerhouse Superman. He was created in 1938, so it comes as no surprise that he's received a few costume overhauls in the 72 years since his creation, but how many people could actually tell you what they were?
Looking back on his creation in '38, Superman is mostly recognizable to the modern audience. His now famous crest was a simple triangle with a "S" in it. He's pretty much an everyman in spandex. Years later came the look we all know as the right one, which is shown at the top of the article.
In 1992 DC comics made a drastic decision. They killed Superman, and in the wake of his death, they introduced four new Supermen, all with a distinct look.
From left to right, top to bottom of this picture on the left: the homicidal Last Son of Krypton, the "too good to be real" Cyborg Superman, the imperfect clone Superboy, and the man in armor Steel. For months, DC ran an arch where these four Supermen fought over who was/would take over as the "real" Superman, but the real reason for their fighting was to get us ready for the nigh unbelievable, a costume change.
Superman returned from the dead in this appropriately colored getup. It didn't last long, but it served the purpose of testing the water for major changes to the character.

In 1998 Superman developed electric based powers, which after bad storytelling and an event involving the Cyborg Superman, Superman split into two separate beings, Superman Blue and Superman Red. Each took a part of Superman's personality, and neither could get along with the other. Eventually, after more ridiculous stories and love triangles, the two were once again merged into one being, the Superman we know and accept, but hey, what can you do. There are also many "elseworld" versions of Superman, but that's a story for another day.

Do you have a character you'd like featured in this segment? Do you have a better name for this segment? Do you want to put in your two cents worth? Drop us a line at mamaslittlepansys@gmail.com.

Que the music. No, the good music!

I don't know about everyone else, but when I was a kid there was one thing I held above all else in the world. My cartoons. I liked Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Transformers, but none of them help a candle to the super hero shows. I'd sit down to watch them every weekend, and if my dad didn't have something to do, he'd watch them with me, because he grew up with these characters, and he wanted to see what I was learning about them. From the interest he saw that I had with these characters, he started hunting down the cartoons he watched as a kid, so I could see them, and see how he got into comics. The thing I could never get past on any of them was the themes. With that in mind, I'm going to share the themes from then and the themes we grew up with, to show you how far we've come.

First of is The Hulk.

And now the theme from the show that started after the movie by Ang Lee.


Next is one of the few old themes that most people know, Spider-man.

Here's the little known Spider-man and his amazing friends.

And now, the 90's version.


Everyone knows about the Adam West Batman show, and how campy it is. Well, that just makes the theme even funnier to watch.

And then, when Bruce Timm, who previously had started Tiny Toon Adventures finally got the go ahead to make a Batman animated series, he did the unexpected. He used a Danny Elfman score for a cartoon theme. (Thanks for the catch)

The music and art style went together so well, and I doubt it will happen that well again.

I know that most people that have been in an arcade of any type have seen the X-Men arcade game. It is arguably one of the biggest arcade games of our generation, but did you know it's based off of a failed tv show?

And then a few years later they released the show that everyone remembers.

And then a few years after that ended came X-Men Evolution.


The next stop on our comparison trip will be the slew of Iron Man cartoons. The first one if from around the same time as the Spider-man show.

Then came the first season of the 90's show.

And then the second season, which was much better all around.


The last comparison we make is of the Fantastic Four shows. I put them here because when it aired, it was the second show of "The Marvel Action Hour" placed behind, you guessed it, Iron Man. Speaking frankly about the themes, I think this is the only show who's theme got worse on the remake. But I'll let you judge for yourself.

And now the 90's version.


Having gone through the whirlwind of cartoon themes, I know I'm a little tuckered out, so I'll keep the writing to a minimum. These shows were fun and the themes really show you where we were at the time of release, and for that you can't bash too much. Some of the younger readers my notice that we're missing a couple theme songs. Namely the newest Spider-man, Iron Man, and Batman themes. Here's the deal. I didn't watch them, so I left them out. And before you ask, yes, I watched X-men Evolution. I was just young enough when it came out to not know any better about how bad it would be.

So did I miss any other themes. Do you feel jaded that your favorite didn't make it? Let us know! We're always open to new ideas! And speaking of new ideas, do you have a post you want to see made? Tell us in the comments, or e-mail us, and we just may write it!



If you're still reading, I've got something special for you. Extra Credit Videos. I couldn't include them in the meat of the post, because they aren't being compared with a remake, but they're too good not to share.

Captain America


The God of Thunder: Mighty Thor


I dare you to get through this one.

"First Class" casting is second rate.

Just a quick story I found and thought I'd share. James McAvoy, who played the main character of Wanted, and that goat boy from Chronicles of Narnia, will be playing Charles Xavier in the upcoming movie X-Men First Class. The story is early on in the mythology, when Xavier and Eric Lensherr were still friends, and it leads to the start of the war between them. Granted, I think they need to leave the franchise alone, seeing that X-men as a series is turning to crap, but let alone doing a prequel. Has Hollywood no shame? Of course not, that's why we see all of these crappy license movies.

But that's not my real problem. My problem is casting. McAvoy isn't a bad actor, he's just not a Charles Xavier type. I mean take a look and judge for yourself.



Vs



Nope, bad casting.