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Superman '78 (Comic Book)

 Superman '78 (Comic Book)
type
TVTItem
 Superman '78 (Comic Book)
label
Superman '78 (Comic Book)
 Superman '78 (Comic Book)
page
Superman78
 Superman '78 (Comic Book)
comment
Superman '78 is a six-issue DC Comics miniseries. Created in a similar vein to the Batman '66 and Batman '89 comics, the series is a continuation of the adventures of Christopher Reeve's Superman from Richard Donner's Superman Film Series (the first film in particular), and is written by Robert Venditti (Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps) and drawn by Wilfredo Torres.A bright, shining day in Metropolis is interrupted by a mysterious drone that crash-lands in the city and starts wreaking havoc. This looks like a job for Superman! But where did the metallic menace come from, what is its purpose, and who is Brainiac?A sequel was announced in 2023, Superman '78: The Metal Curtain, also by Venditti.
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2024-03-21T15:01:24Z
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2024-03-21T15:01:24Z
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book)
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DBTropes
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_11bc87bc
type
Comic-Book Fantasy Casting
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_11bc87bc
comment
Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Wilfredo Torres used Yul Brynner as the visual basis for this version of Brainiac.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_11bc87bc
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Gone Horribly Right
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_1994ba0b
comment
Gone Horribly Right: Not wanting to be upstaged by Brainiac, Luthor planted a device on Superman and used it to contact Superman so Brainiac can detect it. He did, alright... and decided Earth is too dangerous to be left alone.
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Fantastic Nature Reserve
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_23ca8dff
comment
Fantastic Nature Reserve: Brainiac's ship is full of collected species he claims to have "saved" from extinction. Including the city of Kandor with Jor-El and Lara.
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_26ac510e
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Mythology Gag
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_26ac510e
comment
Mythology Gag: In general, there are a lot of panels and poses that are outright traced from the movies. "Otisburg" graffiti can be seen on a wall Clark is running past. In Luthor's secret lab in his apartment parts of his famous battle armor can be seen along with a giant tube labeled "BZ1". Brainiac's drones use the robotic-skeletal Brainiac design◊ first introduced in Action Comics #544 in the early-80s. Superman uses the (in)famous "cellophane S" from Richard Lester's version of Superman II against a couple of Brainiac drones. When Brainiac returns to Earth, Lex dons his purple and green jumpsuit from Pre-Crisis continuity and Superfriends. Richard Pryor pops up in a crowd scene as Braniac prepares to shrink and capture Metropolis. Very likely supposed to be same character he played in Superman III. Brainiac being the featured villain may have been inspired by an earlier script for Superman III in which he was intended to be the Big Bad.
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Break the Haughty
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_2af6bbeb
comment
Break the Haughty: Lex Luthor's life on parole seems to be nothing but this; being offered menial labor of working in a cafeteria and living in a rundown apartment that take two trains and a bus in the rain to get to.
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It's Cuban
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_37707f7a
comment
It's Cuban: After Brainiac III carts Superman away, evil billionaire Lex Luthor offers Lois a Cuban cigar, and comments that it's her loss if she's too distracted to have one.
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_38d02d44
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Batman Gambit
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_38d02d44
comment
Batman Gambit: When Luthor bid Superman farewell, he planted a device that could contact Superman via the brain's Alpha Waves. He intended it to drag Brainiac back to Earth so he can prove that he was the greater intellect. It worked a little too well.
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_40cc0c7e
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Bittersweet Ending
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_40cc0c7e
comment
Bittersweet Ending: Though Brainiac is killed in the explosion of his ship and Metropolis is spared becoming nothing but rubble, the cities Brainiac held in his collection are still shrunken and Luthor used the confusion to get away. However, Superman has vowed to find a way to restore the worlds, which Jor-El and Lara are more than happy to wait for as they now know they have hope of returning to normal.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_40cc0c7e
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_450c5a85
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Alternate Continuity
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_450c5a85
comment
Alternate Continuity: At the end of the series, Jor-El and Lara survive and Luthor makes his getaway, making both Superman Returnsnote And, by extension, Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019) and, at least, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace non-canon (at least in this continuity).
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_589243b5
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Never Say That Again
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_589243b5
comment
Never Say That Again: When Lex is able to transmit a way to allow Superman to escape the bottled city of Kandor, Jor-El praises the invention, saying it must be the work of a true genius. Superman just responds to never let Lex hear that
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_589243b5
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_6b2b3b59
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The Reveal
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_6b2b3b59
comment
The Reveal: Jor-El and Lara-El are revealed to be alive in issue #3. Taken, along with Kandor, during the very last seconds before Krypton was destroyed by Brainiac.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_6b2b3b59
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Spared by the Adaptation
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_7453bc5b
comment
Spared by the Adaptation: By the end of the series, this proves to be the case concerning Jor-El and Lara, stuck in the Bottled City of Kandor, but still alive.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_7453bc5b
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Tuckerization
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_95bca4c9
comment
Tuckerization: A train station is shown in a panel with the name of "Shuster Station", a nod to Supes' co-creator and original artist, Joe Shuster.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_95bca4c9
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_970c790a
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Big Bad
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_970c790a
comment
Brainiac being the featured villain may have been inspired by an earlier script for Superman III in which he was intended to be the Big Bad.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_970c790a
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_984ef9ef
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"Not So Different" Remark
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_984ef9ef
comment
"Not So Different" Remark: Brainiac brings this up with him commenting on he and Supes both respectively being the last their kind, as well as the physical pinnacle of their races.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_984ef9ef
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_acf33d00
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Nice Job Fixing It, Villain
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_acf33d00
comment
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Luthor's device is exactly what Jor-El needed to help re-enlarge Superman.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_acf33d00
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Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_acf33d00
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_ad17a1ac
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Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_ad17a1ac
comment
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Brainiac justifies his actions by screaming at Superman about how he lost everything. Superman's response:
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_ad17a1ac
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_b5e23d81
type
The Collector
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_b5e23d81
comment
The Collector: Brainiac's, as expected, modus operandi.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_b5e23d81
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_b6203862
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Interquel
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_b6203862
comment
Interquel: Interestingly, unlike its companion series, this is actually set in between the events of Superman II and Superman III.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_b6203862
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_c3cc5fa0
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Mad Scientist Laboratory
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_c3cc5fa0
comment
Mad Scientist Laboratory: Lex is revealed to have a hidden laboratory in his rundown apartment.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_c3cc5fa0
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: Lex first shows up applying for a job at Kord Industries. Kord Industries being the company of the Ted Kord version of the Blue Beetle. Thanagarians are shown as part of Brainiac's collection of shrunken captured alien species. On a newsstand can be seen a copy of the Gotham Gazette with the caption of the "The Prodigal Son Returns". One to another Richard Donner film. As Metropolis falls, The Goonies can be seen completely regretting their decision to go on a field trip to the city.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_c75df49a
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_d32b5dde
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Hope Bringer
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_d32b5dde
comment
Hope Bringer: Superman proves he's this once more by the end of the series.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_d32b5dde
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_e26f04b4
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Last of His Kind
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_e26f04b4
comment
Last of His Kind: Brainiac states he's the last member of his species and we're shown a brief flashback to him surveying the remains of his civilization following some unspecified apocalypse.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_e26f04b4
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_e567510d
type
Determinator
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_e567510d
comment
Determinator: Superman sums up why he and Brainiac are completely different in six simple words in issue #6
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_e567510d
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_eba911fd
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Dark Messiah
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_eba911fd
comment
Dark Messiah: What Brainiac accuses of Superman being to the people of Earth. He's also one himself with his talk of preserving life and saving Earth from an "invasive species" like Superman.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_eba911fd
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_f0f03464
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TheSeventies
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_f0f03464
comment
The '70s: Well, obviously.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_f0f03464
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_f1d3f0c9
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Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_f1d3f0c9
comment
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor doesn't disappoint when he shows up.
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_f1d3f0c9
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 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_fc7c4f92
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Canon Immigrant
 Superman '78 (Comic Book) / int_fc7c4f92
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Canon Immigrant: The first issue does not waste anytime by introducing Brainiac into the continuity of the Donner films.
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Superman '78 (Comic Book)

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