Sunday, July 16, 2023

My Adventures with Superman, “Adventures of a Normal Man Pt. 1”, Review!

The series was developed by Jake Wyatt who also worked on Steven Universe. It is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC Studios with animation by Mir, the South Korean studio that also animated The Legend of Korra. The episode aired on adult swim, streams on Max, and is also available on the Adult Swim YouTube channel. There is a awesome opening with Superman’s chest insignia before he flies around the DC logo. We see the morning sky. There is a freeway sign showing Smallville, Baker, and Metropolis. Baker is a new location for the DC Universe. This is just to the side of the Kent farmhouse. 

There is a red kite caught in the branches of a tree. Interestingly, it is in the shape of the Superman chest insignia. Young Clark Kent (Kari Whalgren) stares at it below, glasses, wearing a red and white sweatshirt. His shirt has an S, most likely for Smallville. Whalgren played Saturn Girl in Young Justice. He tries to leap up for it and then resolves himself for another try. No superpowers yet. Then, Clark notices a car careening down the road, it is heading towards a pot hole!  He tries to flag the driver down. The driver is a mother who is trying to give a bottle to her crying child in the back seat! The car strikes the pothole and spins out of control! Clark desperately runs towards them, I like his gritted teeth, his eyes start to glow, spark! 


He starts to move in a flash of super speed. Clark takes hold of the back of the car, his heels digging into the road, the driver faces a tree as the car hurtles towards it! The car comes to a stop. The mother is stunned as the boy cheers! Clark opens his eyes and steps back to see what he has done. He stares at his hands as cars pass. Then, prepares himself with a half-smile, leaping up for the kite and catching hold of it. Clark realizes he is floating in mid-air and then flies upwards! Flying in circles and then faster than a speeding bullet. Clark soars above Smallville and then wonders about his powers. Darkness as we hear Clark ask himself, “Who am I?” Clark Kent's first flight is always a joy and way to show the emergence of his super powers. 



Metropolis, we see a alarm clock, an old throwback? It rings disturbing Jimmy Olsen (Ishml Sahid), the roommate of Clark Kent. Lonnie Coleman is played by Sahid in the comedy series, Jury Duty. Clark (Jack Quaid) wakes up, he has the massive size of Superman. Quaid voiced Gwen Stacy’s Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. He is excited to wake up for the day. Another alarm goes off and Lois Lane (Alice Lee) also wakes up happily. Lee starred as Emily in Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. She has the short, dark hair that makes her perky, sort of sporty. Her alarm clock keeps beeping as she punches it! Clark pulls on his red sweater practicing his introduction to Perry White. His handshake crunches the faucet as Jimmy impatiently waits outside. 


Clark has no refinement of his powers. I always thought that having no powers and then slowly developing helped his adjustment so he can act normally and then unleash super power when needed. This is of course Clark before he was Superman. Lois shares his upbeat attitude, practing her story proposal to Perry, and pins a picture of “Robots” on her wall. The anime touches is seen in the characters. Clark is jogging on a Metropolis bridge. He sees a picture of a sad, missing cat posted on a tree. The cat clings to a tree branch, funny animation! Clark looks around and then super speeds the cat into the arms of the girl posting the pictures. He reminds himself that he is a “normal man.” Clark crushes the handle of a bodega and opens the door as Lois casually walks in. They both stare at each other blushing. A Meet Cute, but I like this first meeting, Lois falling for Clark before she sees Superman. 


Clark is about to introduce himself to Lois, but a very happy bodega owner hugs him and thanks Clark for his repair work. This makes Lois admire him. Then, the owner gives him three boxes of doughnuts and then puts a bib around him for the sprinkles. Funny! Lois laughs at him and Clark runs out embarrassed. He catches up with Jimmy at a park who is busy taking pictures of everything with his camera. Jimmy rambles about aliens and wild theories. Clark sees him distracted as a truck is about to run him over. He superspeeds him a nudge and then turns to see the driver, a short, blond-haired woman that we later find is Leslie Willis (Zehra Fazal). The voice actress played Talia al Ghul in Batman: Death in the Family (2020). Lois bursts into the office of Perry White (Darrell Brown) with her robot story. Brown provided the voice of Santa Kitty in Gabby’s Dollhouse. Perry is not interested, the character usually has great instincts, and wants his intern to show around the new interns, Clark and Jimmy. Lois is able to convince the duo to investigate the robots right out of “The Mechanical Monsters” (1941) film from the Fleischer Studios! My Adventures with Superman is a fun launch of the animated series with a dash of anime, humor, and a great cast!  


Five Robots out of Five! 


#MyAdventuresWithSuperman, #JackQuaid, #AliceLee, #IshmelSahid, #DarrelBrown, #ZehraFazal, #KariWahlgren  

 




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