HOTW- Superboy (the original)

 

From Wiki- From the character's first published story in 1944 until 1992, the title Superboy was applied to versions of the adventures of Superman (Kal-El) as a boy, teenager or young adult. The primary settings for the stories were the fictional town of Smallville, the 30th Century (where Superboy featured in time travel adventures with the Legion of Super-Heroes) and universities attended by Clark Kent.  Back to me:  Since 1992 there have been about a billion other characters with this name, and none have been quite as fun as the original  I have no idea if Krypto exists, though movies have been made about him, as well as cartoons, but none are as fun as the original, either.

thoughts on Superboy Season 2

 

Season two has brought some changes to the show- mainly replacing the first Clark/Superboy with the new Gerard Christopher, who is doing his best to channel Christoper Reeve as Clark, at least.  That is a little too much, especially now.  I liked John Newton's more confident Clark, but I see why they chose this direction.  Much worse is the loss of TJ White, as he left college to be a photographer for his father's paper, the Daily Bugle.  He is replaced by the really annoying and rather creepy Andy McCallister.  Bleah.  The new Lex Luthor seems to be a Joker clone now, since he acts a bit crazy.  That's not much fun, either.

Superboy makes a statement

This first season tries really hard to be important and have a message.  It got a little too much at times, and bordered on Afternoon Special messaging.  The first season of the show is a little rough, with Superboy fighting crooked beauty pageant promoters, gangsters and Lex Luthor being normal.  Mr. Mxyzptlk shows up once, and we get a few aliens and robots.  Those appearances make the episodes more special, but it makes the other episodes ever so dull.  I like the cast, but I think the second season is going to be better.  They replaced most of the principle cast.

Superboy s.1 e 12

Kryptonite Kills: they sure didn't have a handle on the characters just yet.  I mean, in 12 episodes Clark has fallen in love with a gangster's daughter, kissed Lana and has a close other female friend in Smallville.  Lex still has hair and flunkies and Lana is, well, not as smart as Lana had become since John Byrne took over (I love Lana, and her knowing Clark was Superman was a great step for her).  This episode is the introduction of Green K, which spells troubles for everyone.  Only Professor John Peterson knows it hurts Superboy by the end of the episode.  Lex uses it for a power supply, which doesn't go the way he plans.

Young Justice

This is a series about several of the "sidekicks" of the major DC heroes.  It is definitely not the Teen Titans, though it sure starts out that way.  Speedy, Robin, Kid Flash and an Aqualad I've never seen before are teamed up with Artemis (not Arrowette) and Miss Martian and the clone Superboy.  Speedy, I mean Red Arrow, shows up occasionally so far.  At least he got rid of that dumb name. The show is about them becoming more than sidekicks, true heroes in their own right.  Naturally, they fight various villains along the way and have personality struggles with both their adult counterparts and each other.  The JLA is seen occasionally, and J'onn's all black costume... can we be over everyone wearing black these days?  It's a pretty classic lineup of the JLA, Hal, Katar and Shayera, Green Arrow and even Captain Marvel... this is Earth-16, so I guess that can make sense.  I still think Cap is best used in a humorous hero vein, rather than as a "serious" hero, but no one asked me, did they?  In season 2 more young heroes show up, including one that's obviously missing from this mix, Wonder Girl.

Superboy meets Mighty Lad

I do love Filmation's Superboy cartoons. a lot of that has to do with seeing Krypto. you can search for my love of these cartoons. it's here all over the blog at this point. one of the other great things is the theme music, which is really great. Superman has been blessed with several awesome theme songs, and this is one of them. it sure sucks that DC is still in litigation about this character, as I'd love to get a legit DVD set of these.

Superboy Cartoon opening

curse DC and their stupid intransigence. I want these cartoons on legit DVD. the worlds needs to see more of Krypto.