Action Comics No. 5 explains Superman’s origin in DC Comics’ New Universe.
Images courtesy DC Comics. Click to enlarge.

I have been reading comics for a couple of decades, starting with The Death of Superman. Since then, I’ve gone back and read older stories from the ’80s and before. Though I quickly expanded my pull list to include other characters, my go-to has always been Superman. During the past 20 years of reading the Super-family of books, I’ve probably seen the flight of baby Kal-El 50 times. Sometimes it was nothing but a two-panel glimpse into the past, while other issues have devoted their entire 22-pages to retelling and/or tweaking the hero’s mythos.

To be honest, it can get kind of formulaic and boring to long-time readers. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt with the little S-shield on the front. But Action Comics No. 5, previewed exclusively on Wired.com and hitting stores Jan. 4, is something different. As the cover says, “It begins … again!”

This is the first time the DC new universe version has been told, and who better to tell this not-so-secret origin than superstar writer Grant Morrison and his equally super (see the pattern?) art team of Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang? Morrison has been steadily fleshing out the character’s beginnings since he first came on board with the Action Comics relaunch debut.

DC Comics’ move to reboot its entire line of books earlier this year met with mixed reactions, to be sure. No character was more affected than the Man of Steel. Though long-timers like myself have been hesitant to fully embrace these changes as a whole, the numbers don’t lie: Fans are enjoying this new iteration. Each issue continues to lay a foundation for another 20 years of Superman books.

As we have in the past, GeekDad and Underwire have teamed up to exclusively bring you the first preview pages for Action Comics No. 5. Below, you’ll find the first half. Check them out in all their Kubert glory, then click over to Underwire for the back half of the preview.

Most importantly, leave us your thoughts on the current super-books and Morrison’s take on Action Comics.

Stay super.

Action Comics No. 5, Page 1

Action Comics No. 5, Page 2

Read Pages 3 through 5 of Action Comics No. 5 on Underwire.

From: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/12/exclusive-preview-action-comics-5/

An important question needs to be answered by the editors of DC Comics! Superman, one of their flagship characters, is famously unable to see through lead — even though he can see microscopic substances, and he can see across immense distances.

What is it about lead that stymies Superman’s super-vision? And would he have the same difficulty seeing through superconductors? Super-science needs the answers to these questions!

An easy reason why Superman can’t see through lead is because his vision is X-ray vision. X-rays notoriously fail to penetrate lead. But as the years have passed, and as Superman’s super-vision has gotten more complicated, we’ve learned that it’s not just x-rays that allowed him to see through objects. He’s able to see things that are too small, too soft, and too detailed for x-rays to ever be able to pick them out. Superman’s super-vision is, at this point, nearly all-powerful. But it still can’t manage to get through lead, for some reason.

So what’s so special about lead? After all, most of its physical properties are shared by other substances. Sure, it’s ductile, malleable, and conducts electricity, but those traits are shared by metals. Its sole unique physical characteristic is that, unlike other metals, it has no practical Thomson Effect, which is also known as Kelvin Heat. (William Thomson became Lord Kelvin because of his extreme cleverness in science.)

The Thomson effect is not very well known, in part because it came into being by swallowing two other effects. Charles Athanase Peltier discovered the Peltier Effect when he noticed that when an electric current was passed through two materials, one cooled and the other heated. Thomas Johann Seebeck noticed exactly the opposite. When two different temperatures were applied to the same materials, a voltage and subsequent electric current developed between them.

William Thomson came in, we can only assume on a white horse, and saw that these were two sides of the same coin. He came up with a way to measure the temperature gradient in a single material with a current going through it. Once that is established, it’s possible to come up with the gradients of any other material. Lead is often used as the baseline for these tests. It is commonly known as the only metal for which there is no Thomson effect whatsoever. It was only recently that it was shown to have the barest flickering of a Thomson Effect. This is not, necessarily, why Superman can’t see through it — but there is a way we can check.

Superconductors, by definition, have no Thomson Effect. These materials, when dropped down to temperatures within spitting distance of absolute zero, have no electrical resistance. Since it’s this resistance that causes heat, the current flows through a superconductor without heating it, and its actual Thomson Effect is right at zero.

So if Superman tries, and fails, to look through a superconductor, we’ll know once and for all the reason why he can’t see through lead. And maybe that, in turn, will give us a greater insight into how Superman’s super-vision actually works. Make it happen, DC!

Via About.com, FSU twice.

From: http://io9.com/5871214/can-superman-see-through-superconductors

In April, DC comics will unveil their 8th books in the revamped universe and as of yesterday, the covers for both the Superman titles have been released.

Action Comics #8 will feature what looks like a climatic fight between Superman and the redesigned Brainiac. It also looks as if the Man of Steel will finally receive his new look and ditch the t-shirt and jeans look he has going for him in this issue.

And, on the second book after writer George Perez leaves the Superman books, the fight between Superman and Wildstorm’s Helspont continues. It seems that the creatives at DC have finally realized that the Man of Steel’s rouge gallery is lackluster after you get past Lex Luthor, Zod and Brainiac (Darkseid doesn’t count, DC say he’s a villain of the New Gods and the DC universe as a a whole), and are trying to enlist other rouges to create better stories.

Art looks amazing in this book, I’ll pick it up. =)

From: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/TheFortressofSolitude/news/?a=51906

The Meaning of Superman: A Christmas Story

I realize this is a little late, but as readers might know it’s a bit hard to break away during Christmas.

To listeners of my Panel Discussions podcast (returning in 2012!), it’s pretty well-known that the 1992 Death of Superman story was instrumental in bringing me back to comics as a teenager after a brief absence. What’s really never been discussed is the extent to which the Christmas spirit played a role in retaining me as a reader.

As is well known, as a non-reader I was part of that large population of folks who had no real use for Superman. As many teenagers are these days, I was incapable at the time of connecting with Superman, the brightly-colored avatar of hope and justice and all things bright and shiny and wonderful. I didn’t much care for Batman,either, but if I had to choose between the two, at least Batman wore black (in the Tim Burton movies). I would go one step further than that, though; I actively disliked the character (although I can’t remember why), to the extent that when I saw on the local news that DC Comics planned to kill him, I set out to get my hands on the Doomsday! story, just to “see the son of a bitch die.”

And, for the most part, I did. My father owned a grocery store so even on short notice I was able to obtain most of the issues playing into the Death of Superman story. While I had assumed that I would wander off, I found myself picking up Funeral For a Friend as well, the follow-up that dealt with “A world without a Superman!” as the tops of the books trumpeted to anyone passing by the newsstand. I’ve long told listeners to the show and fellow fans that it was Superman’s supporting cast that won me over, aided by the capable writing of people like Roger Stern,Louise Simonson and Dan Jurgens. If I’m honest, and I’ve never gone this far in the story before, it was an issue of Dan’s that did it.

“Metropolis Mailbag II”, from Superman #76, saw other superheroes picking up the slack from something that Superman would do every Christmas–spend the day answering pleas for help from people whose letters (addressed only to “Superman”) ended up in the dead letter file at the Metropolis Post Office throughout the year. The first “Metropolis Mailbag” had been a nice little story following the Man of Steel through one snowy night, which as a non-reader I had never encountered.

The second dealt with, among other things, a young man named Mitch Anderson, whose home had been wrecked during the Justice League’s melee with Doomsday. Written by Jurgens as a cynical teenager who idolized Guy Gardner and didn’t see the value in Superman, Mitch’s tune changed when the shattered League lay unconscious around him and Superman surrendered the upper hand in his fight with Doomsday to return to the burning house and save the Anderson family. As a character, Mitch had grown a lot in the days between when Superman fell and when the second Mailbag happened, as his visit to Superman’s tomb indicated. His story was doubly touching because while he struggled with guilt and sorrow in Metropolis with Jimmy Olsen, the Justice League was helping to rebuild his home back in Ohio and reunite his estranged father with the loved ones he almost lost.

Years later, the character would be recycled as a one-note super-wannabe who founded the Supermen of America, but for this one month, the depth and emotion with which he and the other characters were handled helped to tell not only a great Christmas story, but a story that answered that recurring question, “Why do we still need Superman?”. In a single issue, I was sold and for months I had gone from not reading any comics, and hating Superman, to reading his title religiously in spite of a glaring lack of any Superman in it. I remained with those titles as long as Jurgens and Simonson did, which was a pretty long time.

Jurgens has told myself and other interviewers that he’s going to steer clear of doing anything he’s done before in taking on Superman and Justice League International for the New 52. That’s a shame, because I’ll miss the “Metropolis Mailbag” concept.

From: http://comicbook.com/blog/2011/12/25/the-meaning-of-superman-a-christmas-story/

Top 10 Comic Book Controversies Of 2011

The year 2011 was a banner year when it comes to comic book controversies. It seems like every week the mainstream media picked up on some major event affecting the life of superheroes. Comicbook.com has compiled a list of several of the 2011 comic book controversies. Which one do you think is the biggest controversy? Are there any controversies we overlooked that belong on the list?

10. Human Torch Snuffed – Marvel Comics gave us several deaths in 2011, but Human Torch was one of the biggest. Having inspired two movies, Fantastic Four can be considered one of Marvel’s most well-known comic book titles. To kill off the Human Torch and relaunch the entire series as FF was one of the biggest Marvel moves of the year. Of course, Human Torch returned along with the return of the Fantastic Four title with issue #600, but it was controversial while it lasted.

9. Green Lantern Underperforms At The Box Office – With a reported $200 million+ production budget and an extensive advertising campaign, all eyes were on Green Lantern to become the next breakout comic book movie. With elaborate special effects and a big name star in Ryan Reynolds, the movie had a lot going for it. Unfortunately, the critical reviews were awful and the movie failed to connect with the mainstream public. Green Lantern limped along to just $116 million at the box office, placing it well behind Thor, Captain American, and X-Men First Class.

8. Uncanny X-Men Ends And Relaunches – It’s the one X-Men series that you thought you would never see end. While DC Comics might have ended the run of all their comics, Marvel Comics ended the run of one of their most popular titles. Fans were shocked when Marvel Comics announced that Uncanny X-Men would be coming to an end with issue #544, as a result of the events of X-Men: Schism. Of course, Marvel Comics immediately relaunched Uncanny X-Men with a brand new series starting over at issue #1. It will be interesting to see if the new numbering holds or if Marvel eventually reverts back to the old numbering. Then again, Marvel might pull a DC and relaunch their entire line in the coming months, which would mean yet another Uncanny X-Men #1.

7. Wizard Magazine Folds – For twenty years, Wizard Magazine was the leading magazine covering comic book news. It helped shaped and redefine the comic book industry, and its coverage reached into pop culture, movies, and television. The Wizard name of course lives on through the Wizard World Comic Cons, but it looks like the Wizard print magazine is gone for good.For a magazine that many had grown up reading to suddenly cease printing came as a shock to many fans.  It was truly the end of an era.

6. The Great Starfire Controversy – The portrayal of several women in the new DC Universe as sex objects became a big controversy, but the portrayal of Starfire gathered the most attention. Perhaps, because Starfire is also featured in a popular Teen Titans cartoon, the outcry was particularly loud in regards to the way she appeared and acted in Red Hood And The Outlaws #1. There was a response from a seven year old girl, and then a follow-up response from DC Comics telling fans to be sure to pay attention to the ratings on their comics.

5. Ultimate Peter Parker Dies And The New Ultimate Spider-Man Is Half-Black and Half-Hispanic – If there is one Marvel character that is untouchable as far as death is concerned, it’s Spider-Man. Everyone knows that Spider-Man is the backbone of the Marvel Universe, and there is no way that they would ever really kill off their star player. However, Marvel found a way by killing off Spider-Man in another universe. While some might say this is only the Ultimate version of Spider-Man so it shouldn’t count as a major controversy, it’s still freaking Spider-Man. The Ultimate Spider-Man had been around for awhile, making it to 160 issues, so it was still a big event. Plus most in the mainstream public understand little about the various comic book universes, so anytime you say “Spider-Man is dead,” it becomes a major story. Then, to cap it off, Marvel announced that Peter Parker’s replacement would be a half-black, half-hispanic teenager, which resulted in another round of huge media coverage.

4. Superman Gets A New Costume – You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t pull off Superman’s red trunks. You don’t give Superman a v-neck collar. And you certainly don’t plate him in armor. When you mess with the costume of an American icon, then it’s certainly going to raise a big debate. There were quite a few other controversial costume changes in the new DC Universe (i.e. Harely Quinn), but as the most well known character, it was Superman who attracted the most attention among the media.

3. Digital Comics Same Day Launch – When DC Comics announced digital comics would be released same day as print comics, it set off a huge debate in the comic book world. With many comic book stores already struggling, some comic store owners fear that digital comic books could take away customers that they can’t afford to lose. Other comic book store owners believe that print customers will always be print customers and digital comics are a step forward to bringing in new fans. Since DC Comics made the change, many other publishers have followed suit, and the debate rages on.

2. Superman Renounces U.S. Citizenship – Unlike most major comic book controversies of the year, this one appears to have been completely unintended. In Action Comics #900, DC Comics ran a back-up story where Superman threatened to renounce his U.S. citizenship. While the story was apparently intended as just another take on the man of steel outside of regular continuity, the story caught fire in the press, and people who likely hadn’t read comic books in years weighed in on how Superman parting with the American way likely signaled the end of days.

1. DC Comics Relaunches Their Entire Line – Every comic publisher knows that killing a superhero is a great way to attract the attention of the press, but DC Comics found an even better way to attract the attention of every media outlet in the U.S. DC Comics announced plans to kill and relaunch their entire line of comic books. When you take comics like Action Comics that have been published for seventy-three years and renumber them, then you are truly creating a once in a century type event. The DC Comics relaunch was by far the biggest controversy of 2011.

Top 10 Comic Book Controversies Of 2011, 5.5 out of 10 based on 2 ratings

From: http://comicbook.com/blog/2011/12/24/top-10-comic-book-controversies-of-2011/

Schwartz wrote Superman for 14 years. Back then, writers didn’t receive credit for their work, but an analysis by American comics expert Rich Morrissey credits Schwartz not only with inventing Bizarro, but also red kryptonite, teaming Superman and Batman to launch the pair in a series, creating Superman’s heat vision and extending Superman’s ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound to flying. Morrissey also credited Schwartz for giving Superman and Clark Kent “a great deal of genuine humanity.”

Schwartz was inspired to create Bizarro after reading Carl Jung’s writings on “mirror images.” He endures in pop culture, inspiring the 1996 episode of the Seinfeld, The Bizarro Jerry, where everything was turned upside down and backwards, even the theme music.

As Brad Mackay, an Ottawa-based comic historian, wrote recently about Schwartz and Bizarro: “Though he often bristled at being defined simply by the peculiar, white-skinned character, its creation was representative of how Schwartz approached his art – he was more interested in deconstructing popular myths in order to see how they worked than the myths themselves.”

In 1998, Schwartz said he stopped writing comics 40 years earlier because of a confrontation with a new editor at DC, who asked him to transfer Superman’s powers to Lois Lane. Schwartz said that he “argued” that Superman “would never give his power to Lois. It was stupid.” The editor insisted. “I wrote the story, turned it in, and walked out.” However, Schwartz later said that he quit the funny business over not getting proper credit for the origins of Bizarro.

Regardless, in 1958, he began a successful career in advertising and market research. A decade later, Schwartz moved to Canada with his second wife, Kay, a Canadian, where he wrote documentaries and docudramas for the National Film Board of Canada.

In 1997, when Schwartz was 81, he published An Unlikely Prophet, a metaphysical autobiography in which he is contacted by a seven-foot Buddhist monk named Thongden, a tulpa, who set him on a journey involving quantum physicists and superheroes. Superman, as it turns out, was much more than a comic book hero. Schwartz wrote that he is all of our reality when we’re “truly impermeable, indestructible, totally concentrated, and living entirely in the now, a condition each of us actually attains from time to time.”

In 2006, Schwartz received the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing, which his son Orin says is among his proudest achievements. That year, he also published his follow up semi-autobiography, A Gathering of Selves.

In recent years, comics fans increasingly sought Schwartz out in Chesterville. Brad Mackay, a writer and lover of Bizarro, describes driving out to meet him. “I arrived as a fan and left with a mentor.”

Mackay found Schwartz frustrated by his isolation from the New York literary scene and even Hollywood.

Two years ago, Mackay took him to a comic book convention in Ott awa where he sold his books and signed autographs for a few hours.

“Afterwards in the van, he turns to me and says, ‘What the hell is wrong with those people? Grown men reading comics. Don’t they have something better to do with their time?” Schwartz himself never had enough time.

From: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Alvin+Schwartz+relentless+iconoclast/5906961/story.html

Darrell Huckaby

Remember comic books? They were all the rage in the ’50s and ’60s — at least in my house. I liked Superman. What was not to like about Superman? He worked for a newspaper in real life and had two hot women — Lois Lane and Lana Lang — in his life. Sure, Lex Luthor was always plotting to kill him and Perry White was a bit of a pill, but he could fly, for goodness sakes, and every 13-year-old boy who ever bought a DC comic knew how Superman used his X-ray vision when he was off duty. And what red-blooded American male wouldn’t love to have a Fortress of Solitude to hang out in, especially this time of year. It was the original man cave!

My buddy Wayne Penn preferred Batman, although I will never understand why. The dude had a cool car and all that but who’d you rather hang out with — Lois Lane or the Boy Wonder? I rest my case.

There were lots of other comics, too. Marvel had Spiderman, Captain America and the Incredible Hulk, among others. DC, in addition to Super and Bat, had Green Lantern and Metal Men and let’s don’t forget Wonder Woman. I actually met her in college — or at least an extremely attractive imposter, but that’s another story for another day.

Randy Layson liked the Easy Company comics, about Sgt. Rock and his band of World War II brothers. They don’t make soldiers like Rock anymore.

My sister, Myron, liked comic books too and I would read hers when I tired of stories about super heroes who were trying to save the world or soldiers who actually did. She liked Nancy comic books and Dennis the Menace. I liked following the adventures of Nancy and Sluggo, too and still keep up with them in the funny papers, but I have got to tell you, Aunt Fritzi has aged remarkably well and if Clark Kent ever showed up to do a story in her town he might give up on that whole Double L obsession.

Myron also read comic books about two little babies called Sugar and Spike. Sugar was the girl and Spike was the little boy baby. They would “goo goo” and “ga ga” when adults were around but carry on conversations that would put the E-trade baby to shame once they were alone. Yes, I would glance at the comic books about the babies every now and then.

But my sister’s comic book of choice — and I will admit, I liked them, too — was anything from the Archie series. Archie Comics was about a group of teenagers who inhabited the fictional town of Riverdale. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the one in Clayton County, though. Archie and Reggie were pals and they hung out with a goofy guy named Jughead. I think there was a stereotypical dumb jock named Moose, too, but I might be remembering something that didn’t happen. I do that sometimes.

Archie and Reggie were friends with — and romantically involved with, from time to time — Betty and Veronica. Betty was a blond girl-next-door type and Veronica was a spoiled little rich girl with hair so black that they always tinted it with blue streaks. I spent half my life looking for a girl with hair so black that it had blue streaks, but to no avail. Archie and the gang were typical teens who hung out at the malt shop and munched burgers and fries while getting into and out of one scrape after another.

Truth be known I had lost touch with Archie and the gang over the past, I don’t know, 50 years, but they are still around and I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that a lot of us are going to hear a lot about the Riverdale kids soon.

It seems that a year or so ago the publishers of Archie Comics felt compelled to introduce a gay character named Kevin Keller to the Riverdale mix. Welcome to the 21st century? Well guess what, y’all. Next month Kevin, in a flash-forward, is going to tie the knot with an African-American physical therapist named Clay Walker. I ain’t making this up. A comic book for adolescent kids is taking a stance for gay marriage, right there in Betty and Veronica’s hometown. What’s next? Return to Mayberry for Barney and Ernest T’s nuptials? I’m so stuck in the previous century that I haven’t even made up my mind between Ginger and Mary Ann. Thank goodness we didn’t have to throw the professor or Gilligan into the equation! I wonder what Frank Rock would think about all this?

I’m glad that when I was a kid reading comics they weren’t trying to mold my social mores. And to think that my mama got upset when I graduated from Superman to Mad Magazine.

What, me worry? You bet your bippy.

Darrell Huckaby is a local educator and author. Email him at dhuck08@bellsouth.net. For past columns, visit www.rockdalecitizen.com or www.newtoncitizen.com.

From: http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/news/2011/dec/22/darrell-huckaby-comic-books-have-come-a-long-way/

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IT’S A QUESTION NEARLY AS OLD AS superhero comics themselves: If you could be any crimefighting cartoon character, who would it be? Answering that question when you’re running for higher office, however, takes on loftier levels of would-be import. Because do you really want to be known to all of America as the candidate who longs to be Ant-Man?

Or Aquaman? (Not if you don’t identify as green and eco-friendly.)

Or Robin the Boy Wonder? (Say so and you seem destined to be No.-2 on the ticket, at best.)

Now that telltale question is being posed to Republican candidates who have been glad-handing the good folks of New Hampshire.

Freelance documentary producer and writer Darren Garnick tells Comic Riffs on Wednesday that he has made a video “for fun” in which his tween-aged son, Ari — whom Garnick calls a “superhero fiend” — poses that singular query to the contenders:

If you could be any superhero in the world, WHO would you be?

(Full disclosure: Garnick notes that during the 2008 campaign, he did a project for The Post’s sister outlet Slate, in which he “tried to photograph my daughter with all the candidates.”)

Garnick’s new video is titled: “Republicans in Tights: Behind the Scenes of the ‘Superhero Primary.’ “

The first thing you may notice is that among these human contenders, Superman wins a mortal majority. Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and the pre-suspended Herman Cain all pick the Man of Steel.

A second thing you may notice is that among the men who seek the highest office in D.C., the most popular superhero galaxy is DC. (Among the non-DC Comics candidates: Jon Huntsman likes Spider-Man; Rick Santorum goes Pixar with Mr. Incredible; and Ron Paul apparently doesn’t know who his favorite superhero is.)

Which, when purely playing the odds, means the 2012 general election will shape up as a DC vs. Marvel showdown.

During his 2008 run, President Obama made it known that he was a Spider-Man fan, eventually appearing on a top-selling Marvel issue alongside the webslinger even before he was inaugurated.

The real point, of course, is that naming your favorite superhero is a form of personality litmus test — voters can try to glean what attributes the candidate most identifies with, and what superpowers the contender would most wish for.

“I wanted to take Ari out on the New Hampshire primary campaign trail, which — like Iowa — is the greatest social studies classroom available,” Garnick tells Comic Riffs, “and I knew that having a superhero theme would make it more interesting for him.”

Garnick would also like to hear how one other candidate might answer the big question.

“I’m very curious to hear what Michele Bachmann will say if she makes it back to New Hampshire,” Garnick tells us, noting that he “will be shocked if she has a surprise pick besides Wonder Woman.”

“ There are not as many women heroes to choose from,” he says, “but there are much more than are on people’s radar.”

Which superhero would you pick for different candidates? You can email your picks to comicriffs@washpost.com or via Twitter to @comicriffs.

From: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/video-of-the-day-from-batman-to-mr-incredible-gop-candidates-pick-their-favorite-superheroes/2011/12/21/gIQA7Djn9O_blog.html

The evidence is piling up. We are living in a Bizarro Sports World.

Bizarro World is the place that the minds at DC Comics created for their Superman series where everything is upside down or backward or the opposite of what it’s supposed to be.

Bad is good. Ugly is beautiful. Smart is stupid. Republican is Democrat.

OK, nothing in the universe is that Bizarro. But you get the idea.

If you have doubts, consider that only in a Bizarro Sports World …

is John Elway a villain in Denver.

is a quarterback who can’t throw and is operating out of a read-option in the NFL able to make Elway a villain in Denver.

is the Big East Conference where Boise State and San Diego State will play football.

is Tiger Woods so desperate to win that he enters a PGA Tour Fall Series event — and still doesn’t get a victory in an official Tour event for two years in a row.

is a Dream Team in Philadelphia about to get its coach fired.

is Alex Smith an NFL quarterback.

is Joe Paternonot a college football coach.

is the Heisman Trophy in the hands, not of a quarterback from Stanford, but one from Baylor.

See what we mean?

We may soon know positively — or is that negatively? — that we’re living in a Sports Bizarro World.

And it only figures that Superman would be involved.

There is yet another report that the New Jersey Nets are on the verge of completing a trade with Orlando for center Dwight Howard, who lays claim to being the NBA’s Man of Steel.

OK, so the latest report came from a Lakers radio guy who once asked Phil Jackson if the summer heat in Phoenix might affect his team against the Suns in the playoffs.

Jackson noted that he was fairly sure the plan was to play the game inside an air-conditioned US Airways Center, but if it would make the radio guy feel any better he would certainly make sure that everybody was well-hydrated.

Anyway, there is no doubt that the Nets and the Lakers would like to pry the disgruntled Howard out of Orlando.

But only in a Bizarro Sports World does the guy actually prefer the Nets over the Lakers!

And where else but in a backward universe could the Nets have a nucleus that could include point guard Deron Williams, Howard, forward Andrei Kirilenko if he signs as a free agent and/or forward Kris Humphries, should he re-sign with the club?

Yes, Humphries might be a little distraught because more than two months of wedded bliss suddenly came to an end in that whole Kim Car-crash-ian thing.

But his specialty is rebounding, so we believe he will rebound from that, too.

And the idea of the Nets as an NBA power is not too far-fetched when one considers that owner Mikhail Prokhorov is sort of a Russian Mark Cuban, and the Nets will be leaving the swamps of the Meadowlands for the $1 billion Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn for the 2012-13 season.

Meanwhile, such a move by Howard to the Nets would leave the Lakers out in the cold again.

For the first time in recorded history, NBA Commissioner David Stern blocked a trade that would have sent a superstar to the Lakers.

Now that’s Bizarro!

Instead, playmaker extraordinaire Chris Paul wound up down the hall with the Clippers.

Suddenly it is plausible that the Lakers will play second fiddle to the Clippers in Tinseltown.

The Clip Joint features Paul, “The Human YouTube” Blake Griffin and “Mr. Big Shot” Chauncey Billups.

And though it was only a preseason game, the Clippers trounced Kobe Bryant and the Lakers on Monday night.

Plus:

Bryant is going through a divorce.

Pau Gasol is likely to sulk after he nearly was dealt for Paul.

Center Andrew Bynum has the knees of an 85-year-old Greg Oden.

Jackson no longer is around to soothe egos having been replaced by Mike Brown, whom we’re pretty sure Kobe hasn’t even invited to a coaches meeting yet.

Yep, what was up could be headed down.

Why, it has become such a Bizarro Sports World, the next thing you’ll be telling us is that the Packers lost and the Colts won on the very same day.

Wait, what?

Reach the Heat Index at 602-444-8271 or bob.young@arizonarepublic.com.

From: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/heatindex/articles/2011/12/20/20111220heat-index-sports-world-bizarro.html

Diamond Comics has released the list of comic books and other items on sale this week. Here are the Superman related items in that list…

Available This Week: December 21, 2011.

The following products are expected to ship to comic book specialty stores this week, with all comics also available for digital download. Note that this list is tentative and subject to change. Please check with your retailer for availability.

Click on the magnifying glass icon () next to a comic’s title to view a sneak peek at the pages within.

From: http://www.supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=10685