Here’s an illustration of the Metropolis skyline at night.
I started with a pencil sketch to outline each building.
I started painting by covering the large areas first: slate gray for the sky, black for some buildings, and gray for some buildings.
Then I added in all the details.
You can see my other Posca pen illustrations under the “Posca” tag.
The new season of Superman & Lois hasn’t started yet, and I’ve been missing Superman stories. To fill the gap, I’ve been watching Superman: The Animated Series and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. I’ve seen both shows before, but what I notice now is how often Superman deals with smaller problems. It’s not super villains and the end of the world every episode. I’m enjoying that smaller scale.
The antagonist is an angry business partner. Or a public figure who’s lying about their investments. The episode plots feel more focused and more grounded. Lex Luthor is in both shows, but even his schemes feel more grounded.
Superman gets involved in the plots because Lois and Clark are investigating. Not because he’s the only one who can help.
Both of those shows aired in the 1990s, before superheroes were mainstream on TV and in movies. Maybe all the superhero media in the past 20 years has upped the stakes over and over. And that’s why it’s doomsday stories all the time in newer media.
Superman & Lois has its lighter moments, but for the most part, it’s drama, action, and saving the world. They deal with one antagonist all season. Parts of seasons 1 and 2 felt exhausting to me because of that.
I love watching Clark and Lois in everyday life. I love their journalist sides. I’d love for season 3 to have smaller stories that connect to a bigger arc over the course of the season.
But it’s difficult to find that balance. The Flash struggles with the same issue–so much focus on the main antagonist that there isn’t much room for lighter, smaller stories.
I don’t watch a whole lot of current TV shows, so I don’t know if this is a trend in other genres. Are other shows hyper-focused on one antagonist? Do they balance smaller stories with larger arcs?
A Superman story that’s pretty much the same as the original, except he has a different reason for being a hero.
It’s not because he feels he should help people since he has superpowers. It’s not just because he’s a good guy at heart.
Superman went to the Fortress. He saw the history of Krypton. He knows what led to the planet exploding—his parents’ neglect.
Jor-El was a skilled scientist, so he knew what was wrong with the planet. But he was arrogant. Instead of raising an alarm, he wanted to fix it on his own.
Lara was on the governing council. People’s safety should have been he top priority. But she was too comfortable with the status quo.
Besides, the House of El was high society. If anything really bad happened, they had escape pods ready. No problem flying off planet.
Arrogance and laziness. They both shirked their responsibilities.
And Superman knows.
It sickens him.
He’s trying to make up for their shortcomings. Every person he saves. Every disaster he stops. It’s because his parents wouldn’t step up.
It’s the reason Clark became an investigative reporter—to make sure people in power are honest and ethical.
He spends both lives, as Clark and Superman, making sure that no one hurts people out of arrogance or neglect.
Superman isn’t interested in bringing back Krypton.
He wants to make sure it never happens again.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created a classic trio of characters with his Sherlock stories: hero, sidekick, and villain. For example: Sherlock, Dr. Watson, and Moriarty.
I took a look at other stories to see how closely they fit Conan Doyle’s setup. These aren’t in any particular order and this certainly isn’t an exhaustive list — just off the top of my head.
| Story | Hero | Sidekick | Villain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sherlock | Sherlock | Dr. John Watson | Moriarty |
| Harry Potter | Harry | Ron, Hermione | Voldemort |
| Merlin (v1) | Merlin | Arthur | Morgana |
| Merlin (v2) | Arthur | Merlin | Mordred |
| Fringe | Peter/Olivia | Walter, Astrid | Walternate |
| Superman | Superman | Jimmy Olsen | Lex Luthor |
| Batman | Batman | Robin | The Joker |
| Doctor Who | The Doctor | [companion] | The Master |
| Teen Wolf | Scott McCall | [his pack] | [multiple] |
| Haven | Audrey | Nathan, Duke | the Troubles |
| Chuck | Chuck, Sarah | Casey | [multiple] |
| Back to the Future | Marty | Doc Brown | Biff |
| Dresden Files | Harry | Murphy, [multiple] | [multiple] |
| Roswell | Max | [his friends] | FBI |
| Matilda | Matilda | (none) | her parents, Trunchbull |
| The Sandlot | Benny | Smalls | the Beast |
| Star Wars (original triology) | Luke | Han, Leia | Darth Vader |
I finished reading It’s Superman! by Tom De Haven, and one of the things that struck me in the book is that Clark thinks he is dumb. He mentions it briefly at first:
Especially since he’s not smart the way that he feels he should be, all things being equal. Intelligence to match his physical powers: is that too much to ask?
Later he thinks about it again:
Because no matter how strong he is or how fast or how far he can see, he is still a farm boy, as Lois rightly called him, a twenty-year-old wheat from Kansas who never figured out the mysteries of the slide rule, who can’t fathom electricity or the principles of music theory, much less radio transmission, and who is utterly mystified by the atom, the X-ray, and the salinity of the ocean. So just how is a guy like him supposed to take on and best somebody like Lex Luthor, a grown-up, a millionaire, a genius who evidently can snap his fingers and make whatever he wants or doesn’t want vanish into thin air?
I took Superman’s intelligence for granted. He is super strong and super fast. I thought super smart was a given, especially since his Kryptonian brain should be able to process thoughts faster and remember more than the average human brain. I still think that’s the case, and the key point is that Clark in It’s Superman! isn’t really Superman yet—he is Clark Kent running around town in a movie costume.
It makes sense that Clark Kent, new to the big city, still discovering what he is capable of, doesn’t realize his full potential. Maybe it’s just a matter of him trying to learn something new on his own, and then he’ll be able to pick it up quickly without a problem.
I’ve always been interested in Clark Kent’s story, pre-Superman, and It’s Superman! does a great job showing us what Clark is like when he is figuring out what kind of person he is and what he should do with his power. I’m glad Tom De Haven specifically points out Clark’s intelligence, because a Clark Kent who doesn’t think he is smart is not something I’ve seen in other Superman stories.