superman

Supergirl set off something of a mini-mystery with news that Cyborg Superman would appear in next week’s “The Darkest Place,” forcing producers to clarify that Tyler Hoechlin wouldn’t be returning just yet. A number of probable candidates could possibly fill the cyborg boots, but our first trailer for “The Darkest Place” may have revealed an unexpectedly obvious solution.

Does politics belong in comics? Can comics influence politics? And what impact do we expect the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States to have on the comic industry and on the stories it tells over the next four years? ComicsAlliance contributors Elle Collins, Kieran Shiach, Tom Speelman, and Tara Marie join editor-in-chief Andrew Wheeler for a roundtable discussion about the relationship between politics and comics.

Just when DC had us distracted with one shiny animation return, so too is the Justice League ready to grace our screens again in animated form. See for yourself in new clips from the forthcoming Justice League Action, including musical moments, alien worlds and a little Bat-time travel.

So let's talk about the Jimmy Olsen Fan Club for a minute. I love Jimmy Olsen, and I will go to bat for him as being one of the single greatest comic book characters of all time, but even I am occasionally mystified by the fact that in the canon of the Silver Age, he had a worldwide fan club whose members thrilled to his every adventure, purely by virtue of just being Some Guy Who Knew Superman. I mean, Lois had a fan club, too, but that makes sense. She's an ace reporter and a go-getter. But I've read a lot of Jimmy Olsen comics in my day, and I don't know that I've ever seen any indication that he's actually any good at his job. Perhaps the weirdest thing about the Jimmy Olsen Fan Club isn't that it exists, but that it once inadvertently caused Jimmy, Superman, and Supergirl to screw up so bad that it took a dozen tiny Supermen to fix it.

Supergirl snuck in a surprise announcement with the recent press release confirming the debut of DC villain “Cyborg Superman,” though the text was less than clear on who might be underneath (or woven around) said tech. We’ve had some theories, but if anyone was expecting a certain Super face from the past, we can apparently rule that one out.

There are a lot of ways that a comic book can reinforce the iconography of the superhero. A snappy costume; signature powers; an artist that defined the look of the book for a generation. But part of the iconography of the superhero is a good logo, and part of establishing that iconography is that hoary old comics tradition: saying the logo out loud.

The first season of Supergirl cleverly side-stepped the comic alter-ego of David Harewood’s Hank Henshaw to make the identity a cover for Martian Manhunter, but the real Cyborg Superman may arrive in a roundabout way. A new synopsis for “The Darkest Place” reveals the steely Superman’s debut, but who’s behind all the gear?

One of the weirder quirks of DC's Rebirth era is that Superman and Batman are both fathers. With Jon Kent and Damian Wayne both running around the universe, it was only a matter of time before the World's Finest Dads got together to spend some quality time with their kids. In next week's Superman #10, it's finally happening as Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, and Mick Gray kick off "In The Name of the Father." I just don't think anyone expected it to involve a psychedelic moose. Check out an exclusive preview!

There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of duplicate knock-off Supermen serving as his villains, since once you’re defined as the top dog of the universe, the only way to match you is to literally match you. My favorite isn’t Zod, or Cyborg Superman, or the Eradicator; my favorite will always be Bizarro.

Q: Are superheroes inextricably tied to their alter-ego day jobs? For example, does Clark Kent have to be a journalist, or Hal Jordan a pilot? — @Chan_180 A:For all the questions about whether the Secret Identity is a concept that can still provide drama within the superhero genre or something that just sticks around as an outdated trope from the Golden Age that was handed down to comics by Emma Orczy and the Scarlet Pimpernel, the idea of getting rid of the day job is something that's rarely discussed, probably because it hasn't actually happened all that often. Let's face it: If you're a superhero, you're a whole lot more likely to literally come back from the dead than you are to start a new career once you're in your thirties.