Review: My Adventures With Superman is an almost perfect series

Since its creation in 1938 Superman has been liked by locals and strangers, decades later the popular character continues between being there and not being there, between changing and evolving for new generations, presenting significant changes in his aesthetics, and adapting to a more technological world.

Not many changes can indeed be made without losing his essence, modernity has allowed this alien to continue telling his stories in cartoons, movies, live-action series, and animated series.

After the controversy caused by the new directors at Warner Bros, the animated division has not undergone as many changes as expected, animated series continue their course and some await their premiere, 2023 has been a year of multiple changes, some for the better, some not so much and the truth is that the world of entertainment continues its course.

My Adventures with Superman is a new animated series with a very anime style that presents a reinvention of its characters and its way of visually narrating his stories, with a picaresque tone but more fun and light.

What is the series about?

Twenty-something Clark Kent (Jack Quaid), bright, enthusiastic, and risk-taking Lois Lane (Alice Lee), and their ever-absent-witting best friend Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Sahid) begin to discover who they are and all they can accomplish together as a team. of investigative reporters at the Daily Planet even if it leads them into a series of unimaginable problems.

After so many talks at Warner, it is refreshing to see a series that completely moves away from the concept we already have about the character, this new series presents very significant changes, it is not exactly an origin story but one of discoveries on the part of its protagonists.

On the one hand, we have Clark Kent who is still in the process of discovering who he is and where he comes from, the use of his powers, and most importantly, what is his mission on our planet? then we have Lois Lane as a modern, enthusiastic and risky girl who seeks to have a place as a reporter at the Daily Planet, we know how all this will end but we had not seen what it cost her to get to that moment, finally we have a Jimmy Olsen is more inclusive, funnier, distracted and likable and, like his peers, seeks to be recognized as a star photographer.

The series has changed and taken a new direction by presenting it more like an anime than a more Western work, without abusing winks, its structure is perfectly well defined, and each character fits very well with their environment in a modern city that is plagued by crime and that he needs a protector.

The interesting thing about these first 2 episodes entitled “Adventures of a Normal Man” is the approach they have given it, in its context we can say that everything is perfectly placed in a specific place, at the beginning we see a child trying to get down his kite from a tree and we see that he still does not control his powers, an ongoing car accident causes his senses to activate and he rescues them, thus discovering that he has super speed, super strength and the ability to fly.

Years later we locate that Clark is now a young man living in Metropolis far from Smallville, along with his roommate Jimmy Olsen they will start the day as new interns at the famous Daily Planet, even though Clark strives to pass in the world as an ordinary man still does not have full control over his powers and we can see it funny when he accidentally destroys his alarm clock or when he breaks his shoe in half or damaging the door of the local supermarket.

The above recalls and makes an indirect reference to the New 52 Action Comics where we saw something very similar, it started exciting and ended up disappointing, that concept of being a clumsy but noble and fun apprentice is the best point of this series, the animation style has allowed that with very marked expressions of the anime it can develop 2 personalities, one as an ordinary young man and the almighty Superman.

The script written by Josie Campbell, Brendan Clogher, Jake Wyatt, and Cynthia Furey has what it takes to qualify these characters and make them fun, the dialogues are more attached to the current modernity and to the way and idioms that today’s young people have when expressing themselves, this gives not only a more current touch but also gives more depth to the characters and makes them real in an imaginary world.

As expected, things will not be so simple, when they appear before a Perry White (Darrell Brown) who reminds us of what Laurence Fishburne did in Zack Snyder’s universe, they do it as interns who do not know or understand anything about the complicated world from journalism, while he tells Lois to file things and make coffee, she has other plans, she has learned that some valuable and dangerous robots have been stolen that may represent a threat to the city.

With deceit he convinces Clark and Kimmy to investigate this event, this is a clear and already modernized reference to what was done by the Fleischer Studios in 1941 in the episode entitled The Mechanical Monsters where Superman faces some robots, here and now 82 years then we do not see this as a recreation but as a reference for those of us who are fans of the character and know more in detail what has been done over the years, the series does not necessarily need to have a previous background, it is Superman and we all know where he came from he comes, what he does, how he dresses and what his adventures are like.

One of the most significant references it has for readers of the comic character is the mention that rats entered Bogdanove’s cafeteria or that Mrs. Jurgens eloped with the superintendent, this is a mention of the artists Jon Bogdanove and Dan Jurgens.

After a confrontation with the robots to save Luisa and without a suit and a personality that defines him, he reveals himself to the world as a savior, which brings more questions than answers for Lois who, when presenting the note to Perry accompanied by blurry photographs, does not believe let this be front-page material, while there is growing attraction between Lois and Clark.

In the second part, we see more of the relationship between these 3 characters, and the appearance of Jor-El who has completely changed his aesthetic here, we see a man with an eye patch, cape, and a more Kryptonian outfit speaking in an unknown language, the point in favor of it is that this is an artificial intelligence that has the knowledge that Clark needs to know who he is and where he comes from.

As he discovers things about his past, Lois and Jimmy track down the robot thieves and we already know that the thief Leslie Willis (Zehra Fazal) will become the villainous Livewire in a showdown she now has with a Clark transformed into Superman, after a fight where she is defeated and captured by the black ops man, while she is tied up they interrogate her from behind a window, he thinks she knows more than she says about Superman, behind him is Amanda Waller.

The episodes are:

Adventures of a Normal Man Part 1.

The alien who secretly lives as Clark Kent and his best friend Jimmy Olsen begin their internship at The Daily Planet and meet fellow intern Lois Lane who forces them to investigate the theft of military robots that threaten Metropolis.

Adventures of a Normal Man Part 2.

Clark returns to the Kent farm with questions about where he is from and who he wants to be. Meanwhile, Lois and Jimmy track down the mercenary Livewire and encounter “Superman” again, who saves them from a massive explosion in town.

It is very interesting to see how these characters develop in such a short time, Clark is portrayed as an inexperienced and insecure young man with a great attitude to help, he is willing to take action when necessary, he is courteous, polite, good companion and friend, it is not so difficult to empathize with him from the beginning.

Lois is very much Lois Lane, she is fearless, feisty, headstrong, stubborn, and just adorable, she has a lot of Margot Kidder and what she brought to her character, Jimmy instead. Olsen is a typical teenager, he is a bit silly and naive but his attitude and intention are in the right place and his personality is in line with what the show wants to show.

The three together make a great team, this is one of the points in favor of the series.

We have seen before the interaction of the 3 characters in Superman: The Animated Series (1996 – 2000) that although they were friends, they did not feel that camaraderie between them as they do here, each one shines in their way, Perry is brusque like It was to be expected, the dynamics they have are hilarious, they are constantly giving orders and they disobeying them, this is not an example to follow and one of the moral discourses that the series has is knowing how to work as a team, friendship and of course the consequences of not doing what should be done.

With only 2 episodes out of a total of 6 that make up this first season, it is too early to know the direction things will take, we know that there will also be a new version of Supergirl, apart from Livewire and Amanda Waller there will be other villains like Brainiac, Parasite, Silver Banshee, Deathstroke and the charismatic and funny Mister Mxyzptlk.

The animation for its part is impeccable at all times, its style makes it different and very attractive visually, the animators have taken care of the details that we can see although it does have some errors, for example when Lois looks for Clark after the attack of the robots in the first episode we see that he finds the blue tie he was wearing and later when he shows up he already has it on, so these continuity details are not so important if everything else is done well.

The voice cast is made up of Jack Quaid, Alice Lee, Ishmel Sahid, Darrell Brown, Reid Scott, Jason Marnocha, Vincent Tong, Melanie Minichino, and Jeannie Tirado, each one of them brings a very unique feeling and a unique and defined personality to each one of them. one of his characters.

The music composed by Dominic Lewis and Daniel Futcher is more than consistent and perfect, it combines very well with the structure of the series, it is not as orchestral as that composed by John Williams and it works well, it also has a defined personality.

The fact that it is broadcast in the nighttime programming block oriented more for an audience of adolescents and adults gives a great variation to what we see, this is not exactly a program that boasts of being childish, it is a very well-planned and elaborated anime without falling into excess.

In conclusion, My Adventures With Superman is a job well done, a job that is enjoyed whether you know the character or not, it immediately involves you in its plot and its subplots, making this one of the most attractive presentations for an animated series to come. in such a controversial moment and that at the same time renews everything we know about these characters.

My Adventures With Superman is now available on Max.