Superman

[Stephen of Borg 2]

The Next Superman Movie- How's Our Patient?

 

My column in the 184th edition of the Big Blue Report (the free bi-monthly Superman Homepage newsletter) received such a positive response that I decided to post it here on the website for all to read. Perhaps it'll entice those not receiving the emailed newsletter to subscribe.

How's the Patient Doing?

 

I get a lot of emails asking me what the latest status is on the next Superman movie. Unfortunately my replies to these emails is somewhat empty.

 

If I was to put it across in an analogy of a person lying on a hospital bed attached to a heart monitor, I'd probably say that the pulse of the next Superman movie was a little below the average resting rate of a normal person. Not in need of medical attention, but dozing in and out of semi-consciousness.

 

There's a pulse there. It's fairly steady, but also somewhat faint. The nursing staff at the WB Hospital look in on our patient once in a while, just to write a footnote on the chart. More for their own benefit and usually in response to some annoying call from a worried friend (the fans) or pestering acquaintance (the press).

 

Although they're never actually seen by anyone, Professors (the WB execs) supposedly meet to discuss the patient's prognosis from time to time with visiting Doctors (script writers). However the minutes from these meetings are not released or discussed with the patient's concerned friends.

 

Actually the friends are mostly shut out, unable to visit the patient. The nursing staff are unable or unwilling to release any details of the patient's current status to them. The Professors may, from time to time, make some passing comment that references the patient, but these are usually vague and tend to lead to more questions.

 

The lack of information has a follow-on affect that creates disharmony between the concerned friends, who argue over what the Professor meant by the things he did or didn't say.

 

Some friends think they know better than the Professors and, although untrained, try to play Doctor and write their own prescription for the patient. Some are good. Some not so good.

 

Other friends, with no "medical" background or talent, yet with a working understanding of the patient's history, share their opinion with fellow friends of the patient (some whom they know, but most are strangers to each other).

 

The patient's friends openly discuss with each other their memories of the patient's few excursions outside the hospital's walls. Some argue heatedly, angry that the patient was allowed out when they were, in their opinion, obviously unwell and in no state to be seen in public. Others argue to the contrary, basking in the joy of being able to see their friend outside the hospital after so many years.

 

Now that friend is once again back in intensive care. The prognosis is hard to determine. Friends wait impatiently for the Professors and Doctors to begin the long awaited operation that will see our friend once again walk out the front doors of the hospital... and leap into the air.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

The Siegel family issued the following press release in response to the recent decision issued July 8, 2009 in the case of Siegel v. Warner Bros. Parts of this release were reported on by various news media, however we present it to you here in full...

 

"The Court's earlier ruling in this case ensures that the Siegels already own half the copyright to the original Superman story, published in Action Comics No. 1, and entitles them to an accounting for Defendants' exploitation of Superman. This trial was only an interim step in the multi-faceted accounting case which remains, in that it only concerned the secondary issue of whether DC Comics, or DC Comics and Warner Bros., would have to account to the Siegels.

 

To put this in further perspective, the entire accounting action pales in comparison to the fact that in 2013, the Siegels, along with the estate of Joe Shuster, will own the entire original copyright to Superman, and neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros. will be able to exploit any new Superman works without a license from the Siegels and Shusters.

 

It must be noted that the Court found that Warner Bros. should have paid three to four times the amount actually paid for the Superman film rights. Most importantly, the Court found it to be inequitable that DC transferred the Superman film rights to Warner Bros., without the standard term providing for reversion for lack of ongoing exploitation. The Court pointedly ruled that if Warner Bros. does not start production on another Superman film by 2011, the Siegels will be able to sue to recover their damages.

 

The Siegels look forward to the remainder of the case, which will determine how much Defendants owe them for their exploitations of Superman."

 

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/news.php

 

The Siegel and Shuster families deserve the rights to Superman since Joe and Jerry created Superman, but it scares the crap out of me about the future of my favorite superhero

[Stephen of Borg 2]

You may know this if you get USA Today, but they have been weekly publishing a new page of a Superman comic book story! The art is fantastic and the story really good that makes it hard to wait to see what happens next. Anyway, they are on week 4, but you can see all of it up to now at the link below :)

 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2009-0...superman1_N.htm