Honest Trailers - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

When BvS: Dawn of Justice came out I wrote a review for it over on Bizcommunity.com and I had many mixed feelings about it. It seem the guys over at Honest Trailers agree with me.

Respect the Hustle

Hello there, you beautiful, beautiful souls :).

I had a chat with the lovely folks over at Freelance Cape Town some months back and they decided to publish the whole affair on their blog! Here I though we were just having a nice chat between friends. But since we are airing laundry you can go check out their post on my life as an editor and freelancer here.

Stay fresh and as the kids say, respect that good ol' hustle.

The Journey Thus Far . . .

Journeys have been an overarching theme in my life of late, whether it’s at work or at home. Journeys are perhaps one of the overarching themes of all life. That and running a race. All my teachers in primary school loved comparing life to running a race. I digress, though. What I want to get at is that when one is on a journey it is good to stop once in a while and take stock. Just stop, catch your breath, relax and look back at the way you have come. A little break also allows you to look at the road ahead and to plan a bit. I recently joined the wonderful people over at Freelance Cape Town as a freelancer (duh!). Marius Vosloo, the guy who heads the team up, immediately made me feel welcome and at home. They recently launched their blog, called Our Voice and it serves as a platform for creative people to be heard. Marius asked me to write something about my journey as a freelancer thus far. I haven’t looked back on the way I have come in a while and this proved to be the perfect opportunity for me to pause, take stock and reflect on my journey as Charles thus far and to add my voice to theirs and see what sort of music comes of it.

Dear Reader and fellow traveller, sit down and rest your feet a while and let me tell you my story.

My name is Charles Siboto and I am a reader and lover of beautiful stories. I haunt places where I can find good stories. My love for stories has resulted in me becoming someone who works with stories, whether they are my own or stories that other people wish to tell. I mainly prefer stories that other people tell because there is nothing better for me than getting so caught up in someone else’s visions that you just cannot help but love and understand that person a bit more than you did before being moved by their story. I grew up as a reader and from early on I knew that stories are magic and that I want to be a part of that magic when I grow up. I never knew in what capacity I would help make and spread more of this magic but at least I had a general direction in which to start looking for where I can fit in.

I am not even all that picky in my love for stories. I love the stories my grandmother told me as a child and listened to Gcina Mhlope on the radio every Saturday morning on a show she had that was sponsored by Joko tea. I can’t remember the name of the show but I loved the monsters she always told of and how the children in the stories always outsmarted them. I read books, comic books, played video games, watched movies and listen to weird radio dramas. I landed up studying English Literature, Linguistics and Literary studies and I loved most of it and hated some of it. I remember one instance in my fourth year of university where I read the comic book, Final Crisis by Grant Morrison and had one of the greatest moments of my life reading a story and it shook me to my core. Final Crisis is a massive story in its complexity and when Zillo Valla (if my memory serves me well), one of the beings in charge of protecting the multiverse utters the following words it just gets me every single time I read that story: "Behold: we monitors who were faceless once . . . We all have names now, and stories. There are heroes and villains . . . secrets and lovers." Things like this unstitch me. Somewhere in that comic book Superman asks that the words, To Be Continued be carved on his tombstone because humanity’s story never comes to an end, it always carries on. I read and love J.R.R. Tolkien and he taught me that some stories can break your heart and yet still strike you with sorrow as sharp as swords, eucatastrophe he called it, the good ending that breaks your heart.

Stories lead me to where I am today. My name is Charles Siboto and I am an editor of children’s books by day at one of South Africa’s biggest publishing houses. This is a great honour and privilege for me because it was a struggle for me to get my foot in that door but like any good character in your favourite stories, I persevered and always kept ongoing. I am also a freelancer in the sense that I use the majority of my free time to blog and write about books, movies, comic books, video games, technology, lifestyle events and even a dash of politics for various online media. I also offer my services as a proofreader and editor to almost just about anyone who needs it. Interestingly enough, French engineering students turn up on my doorstep with reports for me to proofread on a regular basis. This led me to my exciting new venture, Charles Siboto Bulletproofreading for Interns Abroad. A bit of a mouthful, right? But it’s all very exciting and I hope the venture does well. I have even dabbled in doing voiceovers, officially becoming the voice of one of our book characters at work, Dogtective William.

This, dear Reader and fellow traveller, is where I find myself currently. I am juggling a publishing career and exploring many avenues as a freelancer. I am learning a lot in both spaces and I love it. I’m working with stories and helping people who tell them find ways to tell them as clearly as possible, whether it’s an author writing a book for children or a company that needs content written to succinctly share their vision. My own story remains, always, to be continued . . .

Comic-Con 2015 Geekgasms

So Comic-Con 2015 has come and gone and as per usual we were teased with comicy goodness that had us salivating for more and now we have to wait for all that good stuff to come out. But being the industrious geeks we are we will spend the next few months speculating about every little detail in all the trailers we saw.

Here are some of the stuff I thought was cool and look forward to:

Well, Star Wars is obviously going to be the biggest deal for me because that's how my geekiness was born. I have a love/hate relationship with the old movies but I constantly returned to them and I always wanted more of the stories and often read up on all the non-canon lore to get my fix. The Phantom Menace is rather silly but I still watched the nonsense out of it and collected the posters and figurines. Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith were okay for me but the old movies were still the most fun, especially The Empire Strikes Back, I love that movie. Looking at this reel from Comic-Con it looks like The Force Awakens is really a labour of love for everyone working on the film. It also looks like J.J. Abrams and his team are making Star Wars fun again, which is great because that's what Star Wars should be. Nobody cared for Anakin's pained facial expressions, what when we had cool shit like Boba Fett, R2-D2 and Chewie dammit!

Marvel have become so big with their Marvel Cinematic Universe that they don't even need to bother showing up at Comic-Con anymore. This gave DC a great chance to show off some things they have planned and although it was not the best showing (they really should have gone bigger with Marvel not being there to hog all the attention) this trailer for Batman V Superman has me a little excited. Man of Steel was more of a miss than a hit and lots of people don't have much faith in the whole Batfleck situation but this trailer gives me some hope. Zack Snyder is good with the darker and more serious stuff, which is why Man of Steel didn't go down so well but add a Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns sort of Batman to the mix and maybe that dark tone can work. I love what Snyder did with Watchmen and the political stuff happening with Super Man in this trailer is very reminiscent of that. Then we also have Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and we know Snyder is not the greatest with how he represents female characters so that could really go any way. I'm really hoping this one is good though, we deserve a good movie with Superman in it. Do good for us, Mr Snyder and crew.

Then there is Suicide Squad and from what I can see in the trailer I'm sold. I can roll with all this silliness. People seem not to be reacting so well to Jared Leto's Joker but I think it can work. Really, this whole thing looks so ridiculous that I can't wait to see it. I'm also pretty much cool with how the members of the squad turned out. Margot Robbie looks fun and sexy as Harley Quinn. Will Smith makes for a decent Deadshot and we have the wonderful Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. I have always thought that in a world of ridiculous villains Captain Boomerang is still quite silly but it works for him and Jai Courtney looks quite cool as the character. The way Adewale Arkinnuoye-Agbaje's Killer Croc looks reminds me of the character in Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo's Joker graphic novel. So, yeah, I'm pretty hyped about this one.

The official trailer may not be released yet but from the leaked versions floating around the interwebs Deadpool was probably the coolest thing at Comic-Con this year. I'll dare say that it was even cooler than Star Wars in some regards. The Merc With a Mouth has always been a fan favourite and it's good to see that it looks like 20th Century Fox will be doing right by him.

Those are my Comic-Con highlights and there were loads of other stuff to see and love that will be all over the interwebs by now. All I can say is cheers to the next few years of geeky goodness :).

DC v Marvel: Age of Justice, the Future of Comic Book Movies and Television

We all love superheroes and over the last few years DC and Marvel have been showing us a lot of comic book love on television and on the big screen. DC is struggling at the box office at the moment with Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy being the only venture that really worked out well for them. Green Lantern was a bit of a disaster and Man of Steel didn’t quite succeed in capturing what Superman is really about, what with the big blue Boy Scout probably killing more innocent people in Metropolis than he saved in his fight against General Zodd. While DC may be lagging behind on the big screen they are dominating the small screen, with shows like Arrow, The Flash (which is just pure gold, you guys) and Gotham. Marvel has Agents of SHIELD, which goes from annoying to really good and then back to annoying again. Agent Carter is nice too, I guess. The Peggy Carter character is less tiresome than most of the people on the Agents of SHIELD roster at any rate. Marvel had a great 2014 at the movies with Captain America: Winter Soldier and The Guardians of the Galaxy being absolutely amazing. They are looking to do the same in 2015 with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. Marvel also has more things lined up for television to compete with DC on that front.

Big things are happening for both DC and Marvel this year and going ahead so let’s dive into some of the fun stuff from both of the studios, shall we. Let’s kick off with Marvel’s detailed plan for things to come and then look at how DC responds.

Marvel is taking the Avengers out on their second outing on the 1^st of May in Age of Ultron and geeks everywhere can’t wait to get some of that comic book goodness. Heck! People in general can’t wait to get hold of that comic book goodness. Then there is the bonus we South Africans have of seeing Hulk smashing downtown Jozi. Move over New York! Marvel knows how to make movies that appeal to everyone and they do it with such charm. Just to make sure that everyone knows that Marvel knows what they are doing they went ahead and announced their complete Phase 3 line-up. Just like that. BOOM! Phase 2 closes off with Ant-Man on July 17 this year. Ant-Man is looking to be the sleeper hit that The Guardians of the Galaxy was last year.

Donald Glover for Spider-Man!

Phase 3 kicks off with Captain America: Civil War set for May 6, 2016. Marvel Studios acquired the rights to Spider-Man from Sony and this is great news as he is an important part of the Civil War storyline and will finally get to play with the rest of the Avengers gang. I doubt that Spidy will be getting his own movie before then but let’s see. Also, a black Spidy seems to be a thing with Donald Glover’s and other names being thrown around. On the 4^th of November 2016 Marvel taps into the magical corner of the comic book universe by bringing in the Sorcerer Supreme in Doctor Strange. The lovable Guardians of the Galaxy go on their second space adventure on 5 May 2017 (so far away to see more of Groot) and things get all sort of apocalyptic in Thor: Ragnarok on November 3, 2017. The Avengers (and probably the Guardians of the Galaxy) assemble again to face off with the big bad Thanos in Infinity War Part 1 on May 4, 2018. Black Panther makes his debut on July 6, 2018 (I imagine we will see him in some sort of cameo before this though). Captain Marvel gets her day in the sun on November 2, 2018. The Avengers continue their Infinity Gauntlet story in Infinity War Part 2 on May 3, 2019. The Inhumans are now a thing on Agents of SHIELD but the royal family gets their own movie on July 12, 2019. I doubt we’ll be seeing any of the royal family on TV before then.

Marvel is good at interconnections between all of its franchises and for all the flak I give Agents of SHIELD it ties in nicely with the events in the films and will continue to do so if all the plans on the table work out. The 10^th of April will see the launch of Daredevil on Netflix and by the look of the trailer it’s set to be a lot darker and grittier than the other Marvel stuff. It will also tie into the bigger Marvel universe like Agent Carter and Agents of SHIELD. Later this year we’ll also get A.K.A. Jessica Jones. Iron Fist, Luke Cage and The Defenders will also be getting some love on the small screen but their dates have not been announced yet.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . . The Justice League is clearly still a thing for DC with Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice scheduled for 25 March, 2016. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) will be a principal character in the movie, so that’s the big three in the Justice League right there. Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) has been cast as Aquaman and his character has been revealed in costume on posters with the tagline: Unite the Seven. This could refer to the seven seas of which he is king or the seven founding members of the Justice League. Cyborg (Ray Fisher) is also set to make an appearance in the movie.

The Big Three

DC is playing catch up with Marvel and so they also announced their line-up for their . . . DC Cinematic Universe. DCU? DCU 52? Well, whatever they call it, here it is! After Dawn of Justice we get to see the Suicide Squad in action on 5 August 2015. Who doesn’t like themselves some anti-heroes? Really. Look out for Jared Leto as The Joker, Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang. Oprah Winfrey was one of the people being considered to play Amanda Waller but Viola Davis (Ender’s Game) got it in the end. The Suicide Squad makes a regular appearance on Arrow so I guess the TV and cinema worlds won’t be linked as the actors aren’t the same. Gal Godot returns as Wonder Woman on 23 June 2017. 17 November 2017 sees the biggie in the form of Justice League Part One. The Flash zooms in on March 23, 2018 and we take a look at what’s going on in Atlantis in Aquaman on July 27, 2018. By the power and beard of Zeus we will be graced by Shazam (Captain Marvel to some but Marvel has their Captain Marvel so yeah, that) on April 5, 2019. The Rock has been cast as Black Adam so you know this will be fun. Justice League Part Two is set for June 14, 2019, Cyborg for April 3, 2020 and DC will try again with Green Lantern on June 19, 2020.

There’s not much to say about DC’s TV presence other than that they are having a good time. In addition to shows like Arrow, The Flash and Gotham they have Constantine exploring the magical realm. Supergirl is getting her own show this year and Lucifer and Preacher are on the cards as well.

We have a lot of comic book movies and TV shows to look forward to over the next few years and the name of the game from both studios is clearly shared cinematic universes, which we love. DC seems not to be sharing storylines or characters between their TV shows and movies though but hey, it still looks like a lot of big things going on. Feel free to get excited about all the cool things headed our way. See you at the movies and on the couch at home.

A Little More Kindness

"More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness." - Charlie Chaplin

A few weeks ago a friend challenged me to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and this got me thinking about how everyone can do something around them to make the world a brighter place. I won’t lie, I’d never heard of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) before seeing all the videos of people pouring buckets of ice-cold water over their heads on my social media feeds. You’d think I’d know that Stephen Hawking suffers from ALS at least but nope, total ignorance on my part. ALS is a disease very far removed from my centre of attention.

The people behind the Ice Bucket Challenge, the ALS Association are looking to create a world without ALS. This, of course, requires money for researching cures for the disease and supporting people already living with it and affected by it. This is a noble cause and they used the power of social media to come up with a fun way to raise the funds they need for this good work. I commend this and it’s great to see a charitable drive gain so much momentum and create a stir. This is the sort of cause that people should donate money to or invest some of their time in whether they do it with a video or not. But you should always know exactly what it is that you are supporting.

The interwebs are a vibrant place where people vehemently share their opinions and very soon memes were making the rounds that people are wasting water whilst many regions in the world don’t have enough drinking water. Some celebrity personalities also declined the challenge on the grounds that there are reports stating that the ALS Association is involved in animal testing. Both these points are valid: wasting water is foolish and supporting an organisation that runs tests for cures for diseases on animals is not something everyone can agree on (and that’s a whole different and important argument).

The former issue made me think of my beloved mother warning me not to waste food or drink as a child because children in China are starving . . . but how would my not wasting the food ease their plight? I always thought. We live in South Africa and there were children starving in our neighbourhood that I could have given that food to. As far as animal testing is concerned, I don’t know whether the ALS Association is involved in this or not but it highlights the point that people shouldn’t blindly donate to organisations. As someone trying to ease the burden of other human beings you must go a bit further than just giving money to an organisation and invest some of your time finding out whether it shares the same values as you. This is also another reason I like the idea of volunteering because it gives you a first-hand experience of work being done by charities and other such institutes.

I took up the Ice Bucket Challenge but I did not support the ALS Association because I felt that there are causes closer to me that I can focus on. The world is in dire need of a lot of cleverness to solve many of its issues. Children should not be starving in China, South Africa or anywhere else when there is more than enough food to go around. There are enough resources for everyone on our planet but the problem is access. Clever minds are needed to enable such access but kindness is also needed. I am intelligent but I doubt I will be figuring out how to solve the issue of a child in China’s hunger anytime soon (sorry, mom) but I sure can give a hungry child who is right down the road from me something to eat. I took up my Ice Bucket Challenge in a spirit of being kind to all my fellow humans and helping where I can. I love food and I am the sort of person who packs a lot of it for work and sport so I will pack just a few more sandwiches and fruit to give to people.

Stories were my refuge as a child.

Giving sandwiches doesn’t solve the underlying problems though. I don’t have much money to give but I also don’t think that would help as much as me giving of my time. I love books and when I was growing up my family was poor (we’re only a little less so now) and stories were my refuge; they comforted me and taught me some wisdom. In addition to my grandmother and mother I was raised by stories and our local library was my second home. I can share that with children and will do so. I am privileged to work at the Children and Youth editorial office of one of South Africa’s largest publishing houses and to volunteer on the executive board (this is a whole lot less fancy than it sounds) of an organisation that seeks to get rid of the problem of illiteracy in South Africa. These are wonderful platforms from which to help nurture a hunger for learning in children and thus equip them with knowledge to support themselves as they grow older. I pledge my efforts and time to these ventures because that is a role I am most equipped to play in trying to make the world a better place.

I think most people are looking for opportunities to be kind but miss them in their daily lives because they think their acts of kindness may be too insignificant or they are daunted by the really large acts they really want to be doing. Look at all the opportunities on social media that are wasted! People will like and share the crap out of a status highlighting conflicts across the world and how we really should be doing something. Sometimes people even emotionally blackmail each other with posts about how you support something heinous like rape if you don’t share some picture. I hate stuff like that but it shows that people want to be kind, there is a spark of it albeit somewhat misguided. This whole Ice Bucket Challenge proves that social media can be a powerful tool to create awareness of issues and even to raise money for them but you still have to go out and be kind and generous in your daily life. Do small things for people and if you can, do big things. Just try and extend a helping hand whenever you can. That is my challenge to you.

The world is full of injustices like hunger, rape, murder, sexism, racism, corruption, war and many issues like disease and natural disasters. Lend your support wherever you can. You don’t have to be Superman or Wonder Woman (unless you can, then totally do that) but your small acts of kindness and even your cleverness can go a long way.

JoyStiq: Injustice: Gods Among Us XBox 360 Review

DC goes Battle Royale!

NetherRealm Studios has decided to give our favourite DC heroes and villains a stage on which to beat the snot out of each other and it sure does look pretty and is loads of fun to play. Injustice: Gods Among Us is the new kid on the block in the fighting games arena and it holds its own against the big boys like its stablemate, 2011's Mortal Kombat. In fact it’s pretty much Mortal Kombat with new mechanics added to the gameplay. DC has never had its own brawler unless you count Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, which you should seeing that it’s still fun to play. Most gamers grew up on fighting games. I remember running to the ‘games shop’ (we never called it an arcade) near my house after school with a pocket full of 50 cent coins with the aim of kicking butt. Most of the fun in fighting games comes from mastering all of the characters’ hellishly difficult moves and stringing a bunch of cool combos together. Looking back I realise that this was actually an achievement on the same level as attaining a PhD. Injustice allows you to spend hours mastering a character like Batman’s moves so you can kick Superman in the head in a showdown.

I’ve yet to meet a fighting game with a storyline that actually makes sense and Injustice doesn’t stray from this time-honoured tradition. The story in Injustice exists solely to give you a rather flimsy reason as to why DC’s roster of characters are all standing around beating the nonsense out of each other. This isn’t a bad thing because you’re really only playing to beat up a bunch of virtual people. The plot explains things like how Batman is able to beat Superman into a Kryptonian pulp. Everything kicks off with in an alternate reality in which the Joker tricks Superman into murdering a pregnant Lois Lane, which results in the destruction of Metropolis because the Joker linked bombs to her heart beat. Superman loses his mind and kills the Joker in fit of super rage. Batman witnesses this and because of his moral inclination cannot stand for it. This results in two sides being established; evil Superman and those who side with him and Batman and his side of good guys. Add an incident that allows travel between alternate universes and you have Injustice: Gods Among Us. It’s all fun.

As I’d mentioned earlier, Injustice looks pretty. The characters are well designed and they look good. The Joker looks especially creepily crazy, which we like. The game levels look amazing and are interactive. Each level is tiered and you can beat your enemies through walls and such to launch them into the next tier in a spectacular fashion. The fighting stages include classic locations like the Batcave, Superman’s Fortress of Solitude and the Justice League’s Watchtower. You get to battle it out on many of the places in the DC universe where you’ve ever wanted to see a showdown between DC’s finest or worst – depending on your inclination.

The gameplay in Injustice is all the things you’re used to in fighting games with cool twists added. Every match consists of only one round and each player has two health bars and the match ends when both those bars run out. The four-button control scheme consists of light, medium and heavy attacks. The fourth button activates an ability unique to each character. This is one of the features in the game that levels the battlefield for characters like Batman and Green Arrow against behemoths like Superman and Doomsday. Characters are divided into ‘power characters’ and ‘gadget characters’. The former use their brute strength and super abilities to bash your skull in and the latter rely on weapons and other external mechanisms to defeat their opponents. Speaking of external mechanisms, each level is littered with interactive elements each character can use differently. Superman can throw a car at his enemies whereas Batman can use that same car to launch himself into the air and pull off a combo. Players also have super meters that you can fill by pulling off cool combos against enemies or by getting clobbered. You can use the meter to either to perform special attacks or to compete in wager battles by means of the Clash system. When you go into wager mode a cutscene pops up to interrupt the current play and each player has to put a portion of their meter energy on the line. The player whose wager is the most wins the clash. The clash can only be activated when you’re down to your second health bar. This adds a great strategic element to the game in addition to the interactive elements littered around the levels. I like this system of gameplay as it makes every fight more exciting. The game isn’t difficult to get a hang of but mastering it is a different matter – that requires some effort. The game doesn’t have much of a tutorial system so players have to master character moves during actual combat. The game does include different game modes in addition to the Story Mode and sparse Training Mode. These are Battle Mode, Versus Mode and S.T.A.R. Labs (missions that consist of Batman using S.T.A.R. Labs facilities to complete objectives).

Online multiplayer options consist of King of the Hill and Survivor modes. In the latter mode players spectate matches whilst awaiting their turn. This mode supports up to eight players. Survivor Mode consists of players carrying over whatever health they had left from previous battles throughout as many fights as possible. Playing through all of Injustice’s modes unlocks artwork, new costumes and music.

Pick up Injustice: Gods Among Us for approximately R600.00 at your nearest games retailer. Injustice is nowhere near being a great fighting game but it’s fun to play and because it’s not as technical as Tekken or Street Fighter anyone can pick it up and have a great time fighting against their favourite DC characters. The roster is on the skimpy side but DLC will probably fix that soon enough.

Pick up Injustice and button mash your way through the ranks.

Cupboard Person of the Week

Superman

“It's not about where you were born. Or what powers you have. Or what you wear on your chest. ... It's about what you do... It's about action.”

With the Batman trilogy's director, Christopher Nolan producing and 300's Zack Snyder in the director's chair I have faith the movie will be worthy of the Superman mythos.

This week I’m pulling out the biggest gun of them all! This post will be riddled with exclamation marks to emphasise the awesomeness of this more-than-man! Everything about this guy’s extreme; there are no half hearted attempts at anything on his part. I am referring, of course, to the greatest hero of them all, Kal-El or Superman as we know him on planet Earth.

The Sphinx: What happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object?

Superman: They Surrender.

-          Grant Morrison

Let me start off by saying that I didn’t like this guy much to begin with. In fact, there was a part of me that outright hated him! He was just too good at everything for me to take him seriously as a hero. He is almost perfect dammit! This is strange in itself, that I’d hate the guy for being too rad-ical. I liked (and still do) super muk muks (as Dan Turpin refers to ‘em) like Batman who are at the ‘peak’ of human excellence and whatnot because at the end of the day they’re human and if I train hard enough I could be like them. This was a naive thought, though, because when it’s all said and done Batman’s also too good to be true. Thus, after looking at Superman from a new perspective I’ve started appreciating him for what he is in the DC universe. I actually like him quite a lot now, especially after reading Final Crisis: Superman Beyond by Grant Morrison.

“It is a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then... he shoots fire from the skies and it is difficult not to think of him as a god. And how fortunate we all are that it does not occur to him.”

-          Batman

I agree with Batman's sentiment that Clark is the most human of us in that he lives up to most of the virtues that we uphold as being good and true but never seem to be able to live up to. He shares some similarities with Jesus in that regard. The whole idea of man made perfect and all. As our greatest hero he sets the standard for us. Philosopher, Peter Kreeft says of Christ that He is not the exception when it comes to being the perfect human being but the rule. Superman's whole ideal is the same, he seeks to inspire people to stand up and be more than they ever thought they were and to uphold justice in all that they do, regardless of their power and abilities. People don't have to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound to stand up against the tyrannies of this world. But it does look cool dealing with them by shooting heat rays out of one's eyes, you have to admit.

Superman's one of the most powerful beings in the DC universe but his humilty is quite astonishing and he is willing to give his all, body and soul, to protect is adopted homeworld against powerful threats like Darkseid, who in Final Crisis launches an attack against existence itself. In a squeeze Superman's the dude you want by your side: powers that embody the term badassery (a real made-up word, Thato!) and humility that makes you think you're on the same level as he is. He is without a doubt DC's greates hero and I, for one, cannot wait to see him in all his glory on the silver screen next year in Man of Steel. I really hope the reboot does him justice because all the movies thus far made him seem a little bit silly. With the Batman trilogy's director, Christopher Nolan producing and 300's Zack Snyder in the director's chair I have faith the movie will be worthy of the Superman mythos.


P.S. That turned out a little more serious than I'd intended. Not enough Pow! and Bam!