Superman

WashingtonIn another life, an adopted child named Cathy Deupree fantasized that her parents had been killed in a car crash or a plane disaster, or even that she was somehow the offspring of aliens.After all, she reasoned, Superman -- her favorite comic book hero -- had come to Earth from the planet Krypton. And anything would be better than facing the possibility of having been willingly abandoned at birth.The girl grew up to be a woman who now calls herself Jett Williams. As she reached adulthood, she searched for her birth parents and found that her mother was a Nashville secretary named Bobbie Jett.

Apparently the thought police are alive and well. How is it possible that in a country where everyone is supposed to be entitled to their opinion, a person can be judged unfit to write a comic book just because they oppose gay marriage ("Superman author choice won't fly, some fans say," Feb. 22)? What has the one thing got to do with the other? How many people reading a Superman comic even know the author's position on gay marriage, or care? Those who oppose gay marriage are just supposed to accept it without complaint, while those who support it are entitled to keep vilifying those who take a different view.

If having a baby was a ratings boon for Murphy Brown, think what killing off Superman will do for sales of DC Comics. Surely only a sinister corporate plot could explain such madness. After all, we thought Kryptonians lived forever -- especially one like Clark Kent, whose healthy habits and mild manner would seem to put him at low risk for the dire fates that claim many Earthlings.Only two years ago, the corporate executives approved another attempt at a ratings boost -- having reporter Kent finally become engaged to the ever-faithful Lois Lane.

It's hard to imagine that gay marriage and Superman could be wrapped into a controversy, but that's happening across the nation as  DC Comics launches a new line of comic books featuring Clark Kent's alter ego. One of the authors signed on for the upcoming "Adventures of Superman" series is Orson Scott Card, who wrote the popular Ender series. He certainly has science fiction cred, but his views opposing gay marriage have caused some bookstores to boycott his newest works and have triggered a petition drive.

Apparently the thought police are alive and well. How is it possible that in a country where everyone is supposed to be entitled to their opinion, a person can be judged unfit to write a comic book just because they oppose gay marriage ("Superman author choice won't fly, some fans say," Feb. 22)? What has the one thing got to do with the other? How many people reading a Superman comic even know the author's position on gay marriage, or care? Those who oppose gay marriage are just supposed to accept it without complaint, while those who support it are entitled to keep vilifying those who take a different view.

Who says Superman is invulnerable?"Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Proving there are things even more dangerous than Kryptonite, low ratings do in Superman. The series wraps up its four-year run tonight, as Supes and Lois (Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher) worry that they may not be able to have a child (incompatible biologies, apparently). Meanwhile, Harry Anderson is the bad guy du jour, Dr. "Fat Head" Mensa, bent on using his considerable telekinetic powers for evil.

A Baltimore comic store has joined the growing public outcry over DC Comics' decision to hire a gay-marriage opponent and author to write part of the coming "Adventures of Superman" series. Joining many shops nationwide, Gorilla King Comics in Fells Point will not sell the two issues expected to be written by Orson Scott Card. "I have a lot of gay customers," says owner Ian Sayre. "I don't want someone to come in here, see that and think that's me or that anyone in the store supports his policies.

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation. National • The biggest, most important news of all time: William and Kate married! (Daily Beast)  • This is seriously crazy: Tornados devastate the south . (AP)  • I think he was an illegal immigrant from space anyway: Superman renounces U.S. citizenship . (Comics Alliance)

HOLLYWOOD -- Warner Bros. Pictures hopes Superman Returns will be able to leap an extremely long weekend in a single bound. The studio has decided to move up the release of the film to June 28, getting a two-day jump on what for many people will be a four-day weekend, with July 4 falling on a Tuesday. It had been set to open June 30. The decision was made with an eye toward the past successes of competitors' films, when Sony's 2004 Spider-Man 2 and Paramount's 2005 War of the Worlds opened early ahead of long July 4 weekends and did well in the weekend box office.

Near the end of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Vol. 2, Bill (David Carradine) compares the double life of his former girlfriend/assassin (Uma Thurman) with that of Superman. Superman's mythology, Bill contends, is different from other superheroes because unlike, say, Peter Parker, who fights crime as Spider-Man to protect his everyday life, Superman was born on another planet and uses his human identity to blend in, to hide from humanity. The bespectacled Clark Kent is Superman's critique of the human race as weak and cowardly, Bill says.

A Baltimore comic store has joined the growing public outcry over DC Comics' decision to hire a gay-marriage opponent and author to write part of the coming "Adventures of Superman" series. Joining many shops nationwide, Gorilla King Comics in Fells Point will not sell the two issues expected to be written by Orson Scott Card. "I have a lot of gay customers," says owner Ian Sayre. "I don't want someone to come in here, see that and think that's me or that anyone in the store supports his policies.

When it comes to lacrosse, all roads lead to Baltimore: That's key to the history of "Crooked Arrows," the first mainstream feature about the sport. It involves a stream of small investors and one genuine big-screen superhero — Brandon Routh, star of "Superman Returns. " But at the start, there was just a boy bowled over by Baltimore lacrosse. Mitchell Peck, a native of Richmond, Va., had the athletic epiphany of his life when he went to Naples, Maine, to attend a summer sports camp called Skylemar.

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation. National • The biggest, most important news of all time: William and Kate married! (Daily Beast)  • This is seriously crazy: Tornados devastate the south . (AP)  • I think he was an illegal immigrant from space anyway: Superman renounces U.S. citizenship . (Comics Alliance)

If Baltimore had a pop-culture Mount Rushmore, Barry Levinson, John Waters and David Simon would be on it. In a few months, it might be time to start clearing room for one more filmmaker. On April 8, Pikesville-bred TV comedy whiz Jason Winer makes his big-screen debut with a star-studded production of a beloved old movie: "Arthur. " The trade journal Variety has already called him "One of the top ten directors to watch. " 2010 was a powerhouse year for Winer. He executive-produced the Emmy-winning ABC comedy "Modern Family" and directed every other episode in the first season.

The departure of Donald DeVore marks the end of yet another secretary who has failed to turn around Maryland's most troubled agency, the Department of Juvenile Services. Mr. DeVore announced Thursday that he would not seek reappointment and was considering career opportunities outside the state. His withdrawal perhaps just saves Gov. Martin O'Malley from having to fire him so that the department, which has been plagued by persistent organizational and security problems, can finally begin to move ahead.

Two and a half years ago, Davis Guggenheim was struggling to figure out how to dramatize the education crisis in America as vividly as he did global warming in his Academy Award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth. " He told producers that the subject was "a storytelling quagmire, full of controversy, with layers of denial and anxiety. " He didn't think he could explore it in a lucid and engaging movie. He was ready to give up until he read Thomas L. Friedman's New York Times op-ed piece on May 25, 2008, about a heart-piercing event Friedman observed at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore.

Superman swooped back into town yesterday, and fans were leaping over tall magazine racks in a single bound just to get their hands on him.The Man of Steel returned to comic shops and sports card stores after publisher DC Comics resurrected him from last November's much-ballyhooed death.The death issue sold 4 million copies, and the publishers are betting Superman's return in Adventures of Superman No. 500 may be an even larger boon. DC Comics is publishing 6 million of them.Business was brisk as the issue hit shelves early yesterday afternoon.

Comic book collectors won't be making a big killing from the death of Superman.Last November's Superman No. 75, in which the Man of Steel was supposedly bumped off by the underground creature Doomsday, had a huge press run in the millions.So, while the black poly-bagged collector edition now sells for $15 or more compared with the original $2.50 cover price, that plentiful issue's value could soon be settling back down to earth again, some experts believe. The subsequent "resurrection" issue No. 500, in white poly-bag, was similarly run in massive quantities.

Many presidents and politicians have claimed education as their first priority over the past 40 years. They signed legislation and threw money at public schools — pushing per-pupil spending from about $4,000 in 1971 (in inflation-adjusted dollars) to more than $9,000 today, as student achievement stagnated. How could we spend so much for so little, dooming millions of children to "dropout factories" and diminished lives? That question drives "Waiting for Superman," a documentary by Davis Guggenheim of "An Inconvenient Truth" fame.

- The topic at the Batcave recently was the future of that other superhero - you, know, the one from Metropolis. "It's very exciting, we have a fantastic story," Christopher Nolan said while sipping tea in the sleek editing suite that fills the converted garage next to his Hollywood home. "And we feel we can do it right. We know the milieu, if you will; we know the genre and how to get it done right." Nolan was standing with his wife, producer Emma Thomas, his partner in all his films - including "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight," the grim franchise that pulled in more than $1.3 billion at theaters worldwide - and he was explaining their plan to take on a challenge that has frustrated Hollywood for two decades: getting another Superman film franchise off the ground.