Today is "Superman Day".
The day commemorates the arrival of Action Comics #1 as it hit newsstands on April 18th, 1938.
In years gone by, I might have written multiple paragraphs about what Superman means to me, but I'll hold onto that thought. Nor will I provide a history lesson.
What you should know is that Superman and Lois Lane arrived in one shot, echoing sci-fi and pulp-crime characters of the time, and somehow becoming more than the sum of their parts. There's been plenty of iterations, and there will be more, across comics, movies, television, radio, video games and peanut butter bottles. But today we're here to get jazzed about Superman as a concept so we all plan on going to see Superman.
The reality of the matter is that this day is really Warner Bros. working hard to turn the wheel of the Superman ship after letting it steer a bit rudderless in the public's eye for decades. It's work to rehab the idea of Superman for the average human with $20 to spend at the movies, and get people excited for this summer's new Superman movie when the last outings were not widely loved.
And that's okay! Getting people excited for a movie, especially when you're giving them a version of that thing they've never seen before, is a challenge. If they didn't try, I'd be more concerned.
But... the marketing is a bit silly. The question of "how has this fictional character you think of from time-to-time inspired you?" feels weird. Telling people in advance that they should have been inspired by Superman, when the last cinema Superman mostly just managed to get killed, is kind of a stretch. And the version they knew before that was considered camp by a lot of people - who haven't watched it since they were kids. And they're half right. It is pretty campy, and got more so with each film.
I mean, I know how I'm inspired by Superman across thousands of comics, the movies, the shows, etc... and I'd consider Superman a great good in my life if he wasn't simultaneously one of the greatest expenses in my life.
I guess I am not cynical about Superman Day, but I am also not myopic. I do think this is a good. But...
Frankly, I don't really know what today was supposed to be. Wear a shirt? Most people can't do that.
Did we geta new trailer? No. Curiously, The Fantastic Four got a new one yesterday.
Instead, we got a behind-the-scenes. But I kinda don't want to see how they made Superman fly til after I've seen him do it. And they always toe the line of not showing much, anyway, while telling you how great this is going to be, and... I'd rather be sold by a great trailer.
I expected maybe today they would cater to the rabid fans and collectors and we'd see more merchandise available for at least pre-order, and we didn't quite get that. Instead we got images of stuff we can pre-order soon. But with no date when that will happen.
It's very, very weird. And if you're asking, for weeks in advance for people's attention for a whole day, you kind of have to actually give them something. And that didn't really happen. At least not by early evening.
Who knows if influencers were asked to influence? I didn't see many tie-in's. The primary thing I saw was DC asking us to post a video of ourselves looking up at the sky. And... no. I will not be doing that.
Certainly they tried to make it a thing in comic shops with reprints and fun stuff there - but if sales are any indication, that is not going to move the needle on movie tickets sold. I DO hope people pick that stuff up. But as I've been picking up Superman for a long time, I have all the stuff they're selling. So it's not really for me, the actual Superman nerd. And that's fine! They have the promise I'll see this movie.
Now, me not really getting today isn't any big deal. It has nothing to do with whether the movie will be good or not. But it does feel like WB kinda flubbed this a bit. It's cool to share Superman's history on FB and Insta, but, also - maybe show us Superman in the new movie flying or something?
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