"Eyes up here."

Adorable child aside, Look Up.

The painting hanging above my daughter's old crib was done a long time ago by a guy who after watch Man of Steel decided to do this image because he wanted to remember the reasons why he loved Superman. That was the reason why I had to get it, other than it being a great painting.

I should be writing about other things today, but the new trailer for James Gunn's Superman dropped and I can't stop thinking about it.

I even dusted off my old blog because this is more than just a IYKYK kinda situation. I don't know if people still read blogs, but this has always been more for me anyway, so if you're here, that's for coming to my Zod Talk (yes, expect that kind of eye-rolling references)!

I've had the most fortunate time lately where I've been able to read exceptional stories. From published authors to new writers, it's been some amazingly creative works. There's also been a new Superman series called Absolute Superman that has taken a new spin on Superman's origin and powers. It's an exploration of "What If?" but also never ignoring the core essence of what makes Superman, super. I won't go into it, but definitely read it when you get a chance. Someone online said something about the new Superman trailer that made me respond to things I usually ignore cause it's the internet. He said, "Why are they doing another Superman movie? Are they just out of ideas?"

The comment was either bait, ignorance, or someone legitimately asking why. Regardless, I felt the need to respond to them saying, "Because good stories should be told in as many different ways that can reach everyone. You say that we've run out of ideas. I say that you're not reading enough to know why we haven't."

Definitely read this series!

When we only take in one narrative for so long, people assume that's all there is. It's why Americans still believe we're "Number One" in...something. A lot of people who grew up watching the original Superman movie with Christopher Reeve have it locked in their childhood that THAT is their definitive Superman. And honestly? That's a fair call. We were fortunate enough to have an actor with the humility, kindness, and grace to portray something that most found to be silly. The tagline for the 1979 Superman movie was, "You'll believe a man can fly." And yeah, for a lot of us, we did believe that. But that wasn't how it was for a lot of people at the time who didn't care about comic books, or even why they were bothering to make a Superman movie. The original Superman film was highly criticized for being "boring", or that's not how Superman's powers worked, or that the villain was campy.

But for fans of the comics, and especially kids, it was something very different. I saw a kid from another world whose parents loved so much that they sacrificed themselves to give their only child a life that they couldn't have. And who was then raised not by the rich, not by the more fortunate, but by an old farm couple who couldn't have kids themselves, but had a lot of love to give. They in turn took this gift from the heavens and bestowed upon him the best parts of humanity. They cemented what Jor-El believed in humanity, that

"They could be a great people, Kal-El if they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way, this reason above all is why I send them you, my only son."

Since then, I have seen different iterations of Superman on the big and small screen. Some worked, some didn't (Man of Steel is a great sci-fi movie, not a good Superman movie. 'Nuff Said.) But I have also read many Superman comics by writers who grew up as fans of Superman, who they themselves had their own reasons as to why Superman matters to them. Why the world needs Superman stories.

Fiction has aways been a way to convey stories that matter to people. It's a stamp that humanity leaves behind, a footprint of who we are, of our fears, our loves, of who we could be. We wrote fiction about gods who played human to see our frailties and celebrate our ability to overcome obstacles in the face of the powerful. We wrote simple fictions of a carpenter whose god-like power was to care about others in a way that changed the real lives of so many.

When Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, two sons of Jewish immigrants who grew up in Cleveland decided to come up with a super hero who himself was an immigrant, I wonder if they knew they'd be creating a character that for almost one hundred years, would be able to shape and tell stories of what it means to be, human. I guess naming him the "Voice of God" (Kal-El), they may have known that they were onto something, deep down inside.

He was just super, man.

James Gunn's Superman movie is less than two months away. The new trailer has a scene where Lois Lane interviews Superman. She questions his actions for going in without authority from anyone to stop a war. Superman's response was, "People were going to die."

If there was any question about whether or not the new Superman movie understood the assignment. That question, for me at least, has been answered.

I understand comic books aren't everyone's cup of tea. I understand that movies and TV can leave people exhausted with so much of it feeling like it's just repeating itself. But good stories weather the storms because they connect people. It's why Moby-Dick can be pandered and dismissed in Melville's time but considered an American classic fifty years after his death, cause the story was good, and someone noticed it.

I feel like Gunn's Superman is a story worth taking note of. I feel like you'll remember why we love fiction, why it represents who we are as a people.

Why, as a kid, there was a sense of wonder and imagination that drove you to, look up.