Recently reviewed in Vol. 12.1 of The International Journal of Comic Art! THE academic publication for comics scholarship, put together with such care by John Lent. The film was reviewed by Dr. Matthew J. Smith of Wittenberg University, who also wrote The Power of Comics.
Review from Toronto Film Scene:
Joe Shuster was actually born in Toronto but this documentary focused more their teen years growing up just a few blocks away from each other in Cleveland, Ohio. Joe as the artist and Jerry as the writer created a world that was influenced by pop culture, the movies, sports, history and the people around them to create on of the most enduring fictional characters of all time. There have been many misconceptions of how and where much of the Superman mythology came from over the years. This film does a great job of clarifying those myths and revealing many unknown facts: Everything from the origins of Lois Lane to where the look and name of Clark Kent came from.
Read the rest here — I really like what the reviewer says about the kids.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t make the drive up to Toronto — I’m a teacher and it was the last day of the semester. Thanks to Ellie Skrow for taking such good care of the film. She said the turnout was great and people were “blown away” by it (!). Hopefully we can bring it back to Toronto soon, but like I said, it really meant a lot to have its Canadian premiere in Joe’s birthplace at this very festival. Thanks so much to those who came and saw it — drop me a line and say hi.
I’ve had Batman on the brain for the past couple of weeks — zooming around under the L didn’t help
the expo was fantastic: clean, well-lighted, less of the freak flag. great panels, a complete academic conference, and some good films. met the people behind the runaway crazytrain that is The Transient, the Abe-Lincoln-is-a-vampire movie
friends at Chicago Comics advertised the film for me, which was really cool — I just explained to them how I think I might have lost my glasses there once and they were more than willing. They do lots of exclusive Alex Ross and Chris Ware stuff.
the best part of going around and showing this movie though, by far, is the people who come with and the pals we meet up with. this is Dave, who said of the movie: “This isn’t about Superman, this is a Cleveland lovefest.” Totally on. Dave later drove us around and we all had a nice dinner with him and Michelle at the Firehouse (where I wore a Herculoids t-shirt — classy)
The show itself was good. We had an afternoon time so I was surprised that people did show up…including some comics people, scholars, and serious fans. Thanks to ALL for coming out. Good Q&A afterwards. And oh yeah, people LOVED the trading cards…If you want more pics, come over to facebook: Last Son.
All in all, a great time — go next year if you are nearby or just want to take a trip. I got a lot of cool stuff, including my favorite cover image of the last year: The Anti-Monitor busting out of the Black Lantern. Greg Horn was cool enough to sign it for me and explained his rationale for “swirling mists.” I totally concurred. I also scored an Astonishing X-men Omnibus! YES! I am a geek.
spring is here and baseball is in the air, so time for a cool giveaway for the inaugural C2E2 event this weekend in Chicago.
Last Son will be playing at 3 pm on Friday, April 16.
If you come, you will get some of the BRAND-NEW LAST SON EDUCATIONAL CARDBOARD TRADING CARDS! Produced by Topps(!), the first two cards are of (shocker) Joe and Jerry. BUT there will also be THREE (3) SUPER-LIMITED EDITION CHASE CARDS! Cards will be given away FOR FREE to guests on Friday. Collect! Read! Trade with friends! Spread the news! While supplies last! Hope to see you there — we’re all going out after so if you want to join us and talk about the movie, just invite yourself (it’s cool).
these cards are for educational purposes only and not intended for resale. They are not approved by the families, DC Comics, my boss, or The Lorax. They exist, like Last Son, not to make money (what’s that?) but to educate the comics-bearing public. Plus they would look great slid under the plastic cover of your Trapper-Keeper.
