In “Action Comics” #775, DC celebrated a milestone with Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo for a one-shot issue entitled “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?” In it, Superman was confronted by a brand new superhero team entitled the Elite who were comprised by anti-hero superheroes like Manchester Black, and he was forced to ask himself if he was still relevant in a world where people prefer rooting for the badass over the good guy.
Of course, the issue was really a not-so-thinly veiled response towards the advent of books like “The Authority” (Black being a direct parody/homage to Jenny Sparks) and the rise of the darker superhero who spent time swearing, smoking and punching their fists through bad guys instead of taking them to justice. “The Authority’s” deconstruction of modern superhero tropes in and of itself was fairly universally popular, becoming a highly influential series that would go on to inform how many books, both mainstream and independent, would represent their superheroic characters.
“Action Comics” #775 rejected all of this, took Superman — the quintessential superhero and a true force of good — and showed that good ol’ fashioned superheroism could still be just as cool, if not cooler. It’s a fantastic issue, one that’s hard to find currently but also one that is well worth hunting down and reading for a Superman story that is just as important to what makes the character so great as “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” and “All Star Superman.” (If you’re feeling a bit lazy, you can find the issue in “Justice League Elite Volume 1”, which is written by Kelly with more art by Mahnke and features the return of Manchester Black, or you can find it in “Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Volume 1.”)
Now it appears DC is going to be releasing Superman Vs. The Elite as the next film in their line-up of animated adaptations (an announcement we somehow missed). Directed by Michael Chang and featuring George Newbern reprising his role as Superman, Pauley Perette as Lois Lane and Robin Atkin Downes as Manchester Black, the film sees Joe Kelly himself adapting the aforementioned storyline, although assumedly with no inherent reference given to “the Authority” or the popularity of the anti-hero beyond surface value. That being said, watching an animated Superman film is always pretty fun.
Watch the trailer above, and look for the release come June 12th.
