superman

To celebrate the centennial anniversary of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster's birth, some of the men and women who've benefited from his tremendous artistic influence have paid homage to and shared their impressions of Shuster's work, his legacy, and his signature character.

Q: Aside from Superman and Captain America what hero is the most fitting representation of The United States? -- @white_dolomite A: You know, just before I sat down to write this, I was reading some Judge Dredd comics and thinking about how fascinating the idea of Dredd as this distinctly, explicitly American icon, covered in eagles and flags and badges and guns and riding on a motorcycle that is also covered in eagles, flags, badges and guns is when you consider that he's a view of America created by people who aren't Americans. There's a lot that goes along with that, and it's fun to think about when you're reading through those stories and figuring out what defines them. But when you get down to it, that doesn't mean that he's the best representation of the good ol' USA. Assuming you mean "hero" as in "protagonist" and not just as in "masked crimefighter," then the answer's easy. The quintessentially American comic book character is Scrooge McDuck.

Superman has arrived in Gotham City -- that, or he's surveying the apocalyptic wasteland that is Metropolis in the wake of his terrible wrath in Man of Steel. Either of those scenarios may be reflected in a new promotional image released in support of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, the new Zack Snyder film based on the DC Comics superheroes created by Bill Finger & Bob Kane and Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster.

We got our look at one half of 'Batman vs. Superman' back in May when director Zack Snyder tweeted the first look at Ben Affleck as Batman. Today, we get our first look at the other half of that equation with our first official look at the new Superman.

Production continues on Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the follow-up to Man of Steel that's set to include Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Aquaman and, if they have time, Superman. At the very least, they're shooting a few scenes with Superman, as evidenced by a new photo from the set showing Henry Cavill as Clark Kent.

When director Zack Snyder unveiled our first look at Ben Affleck all suited up as Batman (with his trusty Batmobile by his side) in his upcoming turn in 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,' the photo in question sent the internet into a whirl of excitement. Unfortunately, the same can't really be said of Henry Cavill's reveal, primarily because it's not even of him as Superman, but rather his journalistic alter-ego, Clark Kent.

Changing the racial identity of characters has become a contentious issue amongst fans of superhero comics and their adaptations in other media. The awful practices of casting white actors to play people of color, or of turning previously non-white characters into white characters, is all too common in movie adaptations of books, cartoons, TV shows, or even real life stories -- but rather surprisingly, superhero comics and their adaptations have mostly avoided this problem. In comics, the controversy takes a different direction. Several white characters have become non-white, mostly in movies, and sometimes in reboots. Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm in the new Fantastic Four; Helena Bertinelli aka the Huntress in the New 52; Nick Fury in the Ultimate Comics line and on screen. These are changes that agitate some readers -- but realistically, the changes don't go far enough. Superhero comics have a cultural bias towards white characters that has everything to do with their institutional history and nothing to do with what makes sense to the stories.

Q: Is it ever worth it to change comics canon to match the canon from other media? -- @firehawk32 A: This is a really interesting question for me, because I always think of myself as someone who doesn't really get excited about superheroes showing up in movies or TV. I mean, obviously, that's not actually true -- I mean, I cowrote what was essentially a full-length novel about The Dark Knight, Batman: The Animated Series ranks alongside oxygen and pizza as my favorite thngs in the universe, I could not have been more stoked about seeing Arnim Zola The Bio Fanatic in two major Hollywood films, and there will never be a time when I'm not still mad about Man of Steel. But at the same time, and at the risk of sounding like even more of a hipster elitist than usual, those aren't the "real" versions of those charactesr to me. I like TV and movies just fine, but when it comes to the superhero genre, I'm in it for the comics. Everything else is just a bonus. That said, what's considered "canon" in comics changes literally all the time, and often for a lot worse reasons than because there's something out there that's resonating with a mass audience.

The new Man of Steel sequel, which has also been referred to widely as Batman Vs. Superman because it features both heroes in lead roles, has a title, and surprisingly, it doesn't include the words "dark," "shadows," "black," or even "knight" in it, as we had previously guessed. Nope, this one's hilarious for entirely different reasons. Coming to theaters Ma

Q: What do you think is the essence of making a great iconic costume? -- @thenoirguy A: With comics being a visual medium and all, especially one that's dominated by a genre marked by its own goofy language of symbolism and iconography, I think about superhero costumes pretty often. I mean, I cannot count the number of times I have written the words "Batman's Batman-Shaped Kneepads" over

If you saw The LEGO Movie a few months back, you may have noticed that it posits a pretty interesting world, where all of LEGO's licensed characters -- well, all the characters not currently owned by Warner Bros.' corporate rivals, anyway -- coexist as blocky little mini-figures. This is pretty cool, since it's not often that you get to see Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Michaelangelo, Dumbledore

If our weekly Ask Chris column isn't enough of definitive comic book (and pro wrestling) opinions for you, good news: ComicsAlliance is proud to present Here's The Thing, a series of videos where you can join our own extremely opinionated senior writer, Chris Sims, as he sits in his living room under a framed portrait of Destro, drinking a cup of coffee and sharing his opinion on comic books. This