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Posted in: Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Max, Review, TV, Warner Animation Group | Tagged: Adult Swim, cartoon network, clark kent, Jack Quaid, jimmy olsen, lois lane, my adventures with superman, superman
My Adventures With Superman Review: A Super-Fresh New Series Debuts
Adult Swim's "My Adventures With Superman" animated series with a fun, refreshingly modern take on the Superman story we all know so well.
Let's take a step back in time. No, not back to 1938 when the world first met Superman, but instead to almost one year ago exactly when I asked, "Why haven't we had a new Superman animated series in quite some time?" At the conclusion of that piece, I mentioned how the then-named HBOMAX (now just MAX) streaming service had a new series in the works, and fast-forward a year; here we are with last night's debut of the first two episodes of My Adventures With Superman on Adult Swim (they're available to stream on MAX today). So were the new animated adventures of Superman worth the wait? Indeed they were, as we were presented with a debut that should please lifelong Superman fans and newcomers alike.
My Adventures With Superman doesn't quite rehash the classic origin story from step one onward as numerous other Superman adaptations have, but rather focuses on Clark Kent at two very specific points in his life: when he first discovers his amazing powers as a young boy in Smallville and at the beginning of his career as a mild-mannered reporter (just an intern here, to be specific) for The Daily Planet in Metropolis. This framing serves the story well, as it answers a question that often turns off outsiders from other Superman adaptations: who is this guy?
If you worry that Clark Kent/Superman is unrelatable, that is not the case here. We see Clark is a kind, caring, and very helpful young man who goes out of his way to help others around him, especially with problems he accidentally causes with his titanic strength. He's a genuinely sweet guy that you instantly like and root for. That relatability comes as we see him just trying to live a normal life as a "normal" person. He coaches himself to be like everyone else and not crush someone's hand while shaking it or rip a metal door handle off like it was made of potato chips. He's not out to be a superhero or anything like that. He's just a young dude trying to get his foot in the door to start his career. But when trouble arises, be it a cat in a tree or rampaging giant killer robots, Clark knows what he can do and doesn't hesitate to use his abilities to help others. This makes his becoming Superman necessary.
Clark isn't alone in his journey, though, and is joined by his roommate/best friend Jimmy Olsen, and their new friend, fellow Daily Planet intern Lois Lane. I liked the presentations of these characters, who were both instantly recognizable with all of the traits you would expect from them, but also modernized and put into a situation that felt totally fresh and youthful. They're all just starting out in their careers and have to learn to work with each other to achieve their goals.
Lois isn't yet the iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning superstar reporter we're used to but is hanging on by a thread in her Daily Planet internship as Editor Perry White (presented as short-fused and blasé as ever here) has had enough of her overeager and reckless behavior. Clark and Jimmy being able to reign her in and keep her focused on proper office work is her last chance. Of course, she doesn't settle for that and instead leads them into neck-deep trouble.
And trouble it is, as the three wannabe reporters find themselves involved in a battle between a gang of high-tech arms dealers (led by Leslie Willis in a new take of the villain Livewire) and a top-secret government agency (Task Force X, presumably pre-Suicide Squad). When Clark is forced to throw on a disguise and use his superpowers to save his friends in clear view of them and their attackers, he realizes it's time to find out who he is and where he came from.
This brings him home to Smallville, where Ma and Pa Kent help him dig up the spacecraft (which we learn has grown significantly since they buried it) in the field where he landed years ago. The whole thing comes to life as Clark engages with it, and he faces a hologram of his Kryptonian father, Jor-El. Interestingly, Jor-El only speaks Kryptonian and is unable to verbally communicate with his son, instead being forced to bring him into a simulation (I guess their new version of The Fortress of Solitude) showing him the last moments of his time on Krypton before they sent him to Earth. I thought this was both unique and symbolic. It reinforces the fact that Superman is a refugee from another culture, and just like a child from another country brought to America and adopted, his home culture would be entirely foreign to him. We see the frustration in Jor-El at this, and that is one of many cases in My Adventures With Superman that effectively grounds everything and gives it a real human relatability.
After accepting his heritage and all that comes with it, Clark emerges from the craft fully powered and wearing a Kryptonian caped outfit, which Martha Kent humorously decides doesn't look quite right and adds her own touches to bring it all together, such as a belt and the classic red trunks. I loved this as it combined both classic origins of Superman's costume: being the homemade creation of Clark's Earth mother and the later versions where it was an alien uniform made of Kryptonian materials. By combining them here, Superman is nicely and appropriately representing his two homes.
Clark returns to Metropolis as Superman just in time to save Lois and Jimmy from certain doom, and the required big end battle ensues. The action was fun, fast-paced, and very well-animated here, but I think it's a testament to the quality of the characters and the writing here that it wasn't my favorite part over the more subdued scenes. Of course, Superman saves the day, a supervillain is born, and the three young interns get their first big story in the paper, making them big-time reporters. Well, two out of three ain't bad, as the disappointed young team is forced to reckon with workplace politics and see their story stolen by more seasoned writers (nice name-dropping of classic Superman side characters Cat Grant and Steve Lombard here).
My Adventures With Superman was a refreshing take on classic characters and a story so well-known that our grandparents could recite it. If the prevalent fear is that Superman can't be relatable or modernized, this show should put all of that to bed. While I have no doubt, James Gunn will be doing the same on the big screen with Superman: Legacy in 2025, My Adventures With Superman beat him to the starting gate with a fun, heartfelt, and youthful new vision of the Superman mythos that left me excited to see what comes next.
The voice cast here is all on-point. Jack Quaid does a really nice job making Clark totally relatable and emoting things verbally that could otherwise come off as cold or, at other times, over the top. Here, he sounds like one of your friends. He also changes his tone just enough to make Superman sound like a different person, but in an almost winking-to-us fashion where we're in on the gag. This is the John Byrne approach where Clark is the real guy, Superman is a character he's playing, and Quaid leans into that in a fun way here. Ishmel Sahid and Alice Lee are equally fun and on-character as Jimmy and Lois, respectively. The three have great chemistry together and genuinely bounce off of each other well in every scene.
I'll admit, I was a bit worried about the anime-influenced design of the animation here, but in seeing the completed product, it works for the vision they're going for and helps give us a look at Superman and his world that feels new, while retaining the classic pieces you'd expect. That approach translates to the characters and story as well, as we instantly recognize each character, but it feels like we're just meeting them and getting to know them.
There are some cool throwbacks for the old-school DC Comics faithful, such as the inclusion of The Newsboy Legion (known here as The Newskid Legion to acknowledge the girls in the group) and Jimmy's use of the name Flamebird as a screen name, which classic Superman fans will know is his superhero alias in his Silver Age adventures in the shrunken city of Kandor.
Simply put, new and old Superman fans should have plenty to enjoy here. It's a great jumping-on point for kids or anyone who isn't quite familiar with Superman, and there's enough familiar stuff that feels like we're seeing it through new eyes to appease old grumps like me who have been reading/watching Superman stories for decades. My Adventures With Superman is off to a great start, and I can't wait to see what's to come next week.
If you don't have MAX and would like to check it out, the debut episode of My Adventures With Superman is officially available to watch on YouTube.
My Adventures With Superman, "Adventures of a Normal Man", Parts 1 & 2
8.5/10
"Adventures of a Normal Man" kicks off Adult Swim's "My Adventures With Superman" animated series with a fun, refreshingly modern take on the Superman story we all know so well. Here's a Clark Kent we can all relate to and empathize with as he sets out to find his place with his career, his abilities, his heritage, and his daily activities just trying to be a normal enough guy. It's a fun and funny action show which puts its characters first and has plenty to love for kids and adults alike, as well as newcomers and Superman diehards alike.
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