Showing 11 - 18 of 18 posts found matching keyword: metropolis

Information and souvenir booths open at noon today for the 2012 Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois. (The phone booth won't be open until the "Phone Booth Photo-Op" at 3PM on Friday and Saturday.) This is the 34th year of the celebration, and the 40th anniversary of the DC Comics' anointing the town as the "Hometown of Superman." Forty years sounds like a good excuse to party!

While two former television Superboys (John Rockwell and Gerard Christopher) will be making appearances at this year's celebration, at least one of television's Supermen will be otherwise engaged. Tonight, Dean Cain makes his appearance on the debut of Fox network's The Choice, a "game show" where hot chicks try to entice minor celebrities to date them using their voice alone. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Who thinks this will make entertaining television? The day a girl can't sweet talk a guy into taking her to dinner is the end of the world. Why doesn't Fox just call the show The Cock Tease? You can watch it if you want to; I'll be reading comic books.

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Today is the opening day of the 2011 Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois. As recently as late last month, the city was nearly underwater as the Ohio River flooded its banks. Fortunately, Superman was on the scene, and the late flooding will have little effect on the festivities between now and Sunday.

Able to hold his breath for several minutes!

This year's marquee guest will be Brandon Routh, the most recent big-screen Superman. Routh is as popular among fans as the film Superman Returns is reviled. Superman Returns writer/director/producer Bryan Singer is noticeably not on the Superman Celebration Guest list. Maybe time will soften that attitude. It's worked wonders for Mark Pillow.

Pillow is among the other guests scheduled to appear this year. Pillow played Nuclear Man, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace's version of Bizarro. There was a time when Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was the most hated Superman movie. Twenty-four years later, the fans want to meet the man who once played the Nuclear Man. When it comes to acting in a comic book movie, Mark Pillow is no Reb Brown (who is?), but he's living proof that there is some truth to the old acting adage that there are no small parts.

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The 32nd Annual Superman Celebration kicks off at 5PM in Metropolis, Illinois tomorrow. This year the town will finally be unveiling the life-sized, bronze Noel Neill Lois Lane statue to accompany their Superman statue. The statue of "Superman's Girlfriend" has been sculpted by Gary Ernest Smith, the same artist who sculpted the town's Superman statue in 1993. On this timetable, Metropolis will have a Gary Ernest Smith statue of "Superman's Pal" Jimmy Olsen by 2027. Save time and plan your trip now.

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Update on the quest for Metropolis, Illinois' assault on the Guinness World Record for "Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Superman" at Superman Celebration 2008: They set the record with 127 people, all of whom wore costumes satisfying Guinness' strict standards for Superman costumes complete with "cape, boots and the iconic 'S' on the chest."

127 is a lot. This isn't even 40.

Congratulations, all. Let the world domination begin.

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In case you were unaware, the year 2008 marks the 70th anniversary of Superman. And this year's birthday celebration will coincide with the 30th annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois, which starts tomorrow and runs through the weekend. (It also happens to be the 30th anniversary of the release of Richard Donner's Superman, the Movie.) In tribute, event organizers hope to qualify for the Guinness Word Record of largest assembly of people dressed as Superman on June 15. Is it just me, or does that seem a little fishy to anyone else?

While I like the wooden hanger, I have to wonder if indestructable fabric can even wrinkle?

It's an established fact that once an evil mastermind has discovered that he cannot hope to best his arch nemesis in direct combat, the evil genius eventually plans to pit his foe against an equal but opposite force in order to wear the hero down either physically or mentally. And since no hero has proven more indomitable than Superman, it's an inevitability that the foes of the Last Son of Krypton would turn to duplicates of the Superman himself in order to further their twisted schemes.

So long as you asked nicely.

Clearly, this tactic has been tried before (Lex Luthor's Bizarro naturally springs to mind), but perhaps event organizer Steven Kirk has something new up his sleeve. Like all great comic book origins, a professional impersonator such as Mr. Kirk would seek to best his foe through his superior acting ability as in the classic Adventures of Superman episode "The Face and the Voice." Notably, Mr. Kirk's resume, in addition to his selected acting credits, lists both "Firearms" and "Wax Figure Sculpting" among his Special Talents. Nefarious, indeed!

Maybe they can take Superman from behind. Wait a minute...

Shame on the Guinness World Record people for assisting in this mad plot. I checked their website. Not surprisingly, there doesn't appear to be any previous record for "Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Superman." Has everyone already forgotten the lesson from Superman III? Richard Prior, disguised as an Army General, usurps a Smallville celebration for Superman in order to present the Man of Steel with synthetic Kryptonite which ends up splitting Superman into his own impersonator. If there's anything to learn from that disaster (other than to keep your ticket stub so that you can demand a refund), it's to remember that you have to check the credentials of these people before you can allow them to crash your party, Metropolis!

Is this the line for DragonCon?

I, for one, know that I'm not fit (either heroically or physically) to wear the familiar red and blue tights of Superman. So I'll just be sticking stick to my Underoos, thank you.

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Wait just a darn minute. How come Harry Potter gets 20-acres of theme park before Superman? Just because Potter has sold more than 325 million books in his short, six-book publishing career, making J.K. Rowling reportedly the first author-turned-billionaire, he gets the run of a Florida theme park? Why, if Superman and Action Comics are conservatively estimated to have sold a mere 40,000 copies per issue (which is not bad for a modern comic, but laughable compared to the titanic numbers of even 10 years ago), Superman has moved almost 25% of Harry's haul with two comic book titles alone. Where's his theme park?

Now THAT's a theme park!

You can forget about those Superman rides in Six Flags parks across America. Six Flags is the worst theme park chain by far, and their run-down, cramped attractions that like Kryptonite sap the life from the Man of Steel can hardly be called Super-parks.

Roller Coaster Database tells me that there are 12 active Superman themed coasters worldwide. Think about how awesome it would be to ride a dozen Superman themed rides through a single park divided into areas representing Krypton, Smallville, Metropolis, and the Fortress of Solitude. Coasters simulating flight, cyclotrons demonstrating Superman's ability to drill through solid rock, shooting ranges with heat vision, and, of course, a few carnival games testing your strength, speed, reflexes, and mental dexterity, among other comparisons to Superman's many, many powers. I can hear the barkers now: "How many people can you hear yelling for help?" "See a man blow on this cup of water until it turns to ice!" "I challenge you to hold your breath during a brief trip around the moon!" "Guess the number of people trapped inside the burning building!" Why, even the metal detectors checking guests for weapons as they come in the door could be turned into a comical demonstration of Superman's X-Ray Vision!

I understand that Metropolis, Illinois, has pursued a Superman themed attraction for years, but I'm sure it would end up more like South of the Border than Cedar Point. (No offense to South of the Border, but it's not really all that Super, unless third-world truck stops are your thing.)

Oh well. I guess I'll just have to keep wearing my Superman underoos while leaping off my roof. At least the admission price is right.

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Today is the first day of the 29th annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Il.

I think it's amusing that for the past week, national media outlets have been strongly promoting the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars franchises, while in the heartland of America, the die-hards will be continuing a relatively quiet annual tradition of celebrations that have been going on for just as long. The first Star Wars film was released in 1977, and Superman: the Movie saw theaters a year later. That means that the Superman Celebration has been celebrated annually since the movie was released. With the 4th Star Wars Celebration being celebrated last month, Star Wars fans have some catching up to do.

On an almost related side-note, the Man of Steel cannot be cut by a lightsaber, so don't even bother trying.

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In honor of Action Comics #1's June 1938 cover date, I'm declaring June "Superman Month"! (No, I don't need a better reason than that. It's my blog, dammit.)

Don't miss the annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois June 7-10. Even though Erica Durance cancelled, Noel Neil is still scheduled to be there. Maybe you can have too many Loises in the same place at the same time.

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To be continued...

 

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