Superman (1988)

for Superman's 50th anniversary, DC Comics had Ruby-Spears make a new Superman cartoon.  it's now been released on a 2 disc DVD set.  I watched this when it debuted in 1988, well, some of the episodes, anyway.  I don't remember much about them.

oddly enough, this is the title.  there's no "Superman" that comes up in the by now familiar "strange visitor from another planet" narration that accompanies the sequence.  this is the ONLY cartoon version of Superman that contains the "truth, justice and the American way" sentence.

I remember thinking it still didn't have enough action for my liking.  it was definitely a step up from the anemic Superfriends, and had some gorgeous designs by the late comics legend Gil Kane, but there was no hard hitting super fights.  how boring is that?  pretty boring, actually.  Superman did get to fight a variety of robots, and I think Titano makes an appearance (I have only watched 6 of the 13 episodes.

here's a title card, showing off said designs.  this show is heavily influenced by the then current John Byrne revamp of Superman- Lex Luthor is now almost a Kingpin clone, except he's a legit businessman to hide his desire to take over Metropolis.  or the world, I've never quite been sure.

Marv Wolfman's name is a plus as well, though apparently he was hired not because of his comics expertise but based on a Superman parody he did for The Garbage Pail Kids.

whatever got him there I'm thankful for.  the episodes are all followed by flashbacks to when Clark was a kid, and these range from cute to something Uncle Mort would be proud of (nearly too sweet).

of course, the Christopher Reeve Superman is also here.  the voice acting is pretty standard, decent, but we as fans have been spoiled by the great stuff done recently by Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano in the later series' work.

and apparently I needed to watch one more episode, as Wonder Woman herself shows up to help Superman out on a case.  I do wish they hadn't used Luthor as the villain in nearly every episode.  got old in a hurry.

a good show.