Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Since this came up in another thread I decided to post a topic on superhero lore from other parts of the globe. Obviously my submission will be Japan via the flm genre called tokusatsu and it's major subgenre of henshin heroes. Henshin meaning to transform which is how 99% of your heroes get into costume. No phone booths or slipping on your tights in dark alleyways with these fellas.

Most notably the three major franchises Ultraman, Kamen (or Masked) Rider and the Super Sentai Series which serve as the fodder (for better or worse) for Power Rangers.

Both Kamen Rider and the Super Sentai series were started by the work of a mangaka by the name of Shotaro Ishinomori who was also the creator of Cyborg 009.

For more info on these heroes check out these sites:

www.japanhero.com --the name says it all.

http://www.igadevil.com/ --For facts on Kamen Rider. Masked bug-eyed cyborg heroes of justice.

http://ultramanlah.com/ --Site of info on Ultraman! The closest thing to Supermans counterpart in Japan and the superhero in can look Godzilla square in the eyes.

some others:

http://incolor.inetnebr.com/stuart/zone/

Zone Fighter, basically another Ultraman clone, but this one gets to actual team up with the real Godzilla and fight some of his villians.

Turning to China...

Behold.. Super Inframan!

This was Shaw Bros clone of Ultraman and Kamen Rider with insane over the top Kung-Fu.

http://www.stomptokyo.com/scott/infra-man/index.htm

Zu Warriors

The story is too complex to dream of recapping here, but basically these guys are true comic book style superheroes with thousands of years of Chinese mythology backing them up. The idea was to create a Star Wars type epic for China, the 1st film even had the same people who did the effects for Star Wars work on the film, the 2nd film has CGI up the Ying Yang to the point of it being more of a cartoon than anything ;)

Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain review:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/zu_warriors.htm

The Legend of Zu review:
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/legend_of_zu.htm

Japan is what I know as well.

I've seen a couple Kamen Rider

I've also seen Ultra-7 and a different Ultraman series.

On the animation front: Guyver.  Sho Fukamachi can get away with angst and darkness.  There are definite reasons for his angst.  As to darkness, well it looks like Archanfel is the prime example of a evil overlord done right.  He had his plans in motion and when he gave the word, the entire world fell to his armies in a single day.

Magma Tasai/Ambassador Magma.  This was a Tezuka manga that was translated to live action.  It beat the first Ultraman series by a couple months.  It was brought over here as Space Giants

A show I'd like to see unaltered is Gridman.  It was horribly mutiliated into the show Superhuman Samurai Cyber Squad.

I have seen DaiRanger.  It was the Super Sentai series that followed the show that gave birth to Power Rangers.

I have no idea why Saban merged Kikadier with another show to produce VR Troopers.

I have seen P-Man.  Villians are afraid of his squeaky voice(I'm not making that up.)

It was actually not Kikaider but a show that was a homage to it called Chojinki Metalder that footage was ripped from for VR Troopers.

http://incolor.inetnebr.com/stuart/metalder/

How about the true Japanese Superman?

Supergiant aka Starman:

Somewhat inspired by our own 50s "Superman" TV series with George Reeves, Starman is a being from another galaxy who wears tights, a hood, and sports cape wings under his arms, but he is able to transform into your average businessman at a given moment. He has the strength of a 100 mortals, can fly from one planet to the other, and can withstand the explosion of a nuclear bomb. Starman is a confident hero as it seems nothing can defeat him and he often laughs vigorously at his enemies before he afflicts pain on them, "Three Stooges"-style.

read about him here:
http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/n-s/starmanonetwo19645659.htm

I love Ultraman!

Since I'm sitting up here in the bottle city, I've become quite familiar with Canadian comics...

Although there were earlier versions (like Iron Man (http://www.cbc.ca/arts/walkoffame/ironman.html)), the first superhero that can be said to be distinctly Canadian was Nelvana of the Northern Lights.

Nelvana was also the first female superhero --beating Wonder Woman, et al into print by several months.

Created by cartoonist Adrian Dingle (http://shusterawards.com/story.asp?storyID=4), Nelvana was inspired by actual native myth.  Her magical powers of flight and transformation gave supervillains, spies, and tyrants a hard time during World War II.

The strip also had its share of romance (http://www.time-cat.com/valentines.html).

John Byrne Alpha Flight heroine Snowbird was supposed to be the daughter of Nelvana.

Other strips like Johnny Canuck (http://shusterawards.com/story.asp?storyID=5) and Canada Jack (http://www.time-cat.com/rae.html).

Since the war, the most successful superhero has probably been Captain Canuck (http://www.captaincanuck.com/), but there have been many more (http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/c/canada.htm).  I'm sure older posters like India Ink might have more to say on the subject.

Genis has already discussed some Italian superheroes (http://superman.nu/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1752&highlight=canadian+italian) here and there.

I wish I could upload directly as the Weekly World News did a story about super heroes aropund the world with Joe Kubert's GREAT WALL of China, Skip Williamson's PINATA MAN and Frank Brunner's SASHIMI LAD.
Have you ever seen such talent in the same place -much less mentioned in the same sentence????

Im a big fan of Supah-Giant aka Starman from way back. Love those Emerald Planet duded and the fire breathing dancing salamander men!

and how can you not? how can you not...


I LOVED Ultraman as a kid, there are a billion different Ultrapeople, Which one is the one I would had seen on US TV during the early 1980's?

I would love to be able to see them again.

http://home.cfl.rr.com/ultrafaq/Ultraman-FAQ.html

I had posted this before, but it's worth posting again:

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/nonus.htm

    * Translated from Japanese to English
          o Ultraman
          o Ultraseven (actually not a direct translation, but often a rewrite)
          o Ultraman Ace
    * Produced in English
          o Ultraman: Towards The Future (a.k.a. Ultraman Great)
          o Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero (a.k.a. Ultraman Powered)
          o Ultraman: The Adventure Begins


Also one of the recent and most well regarded of the Heisei Era (A period that basically covers..I want to say from mid 80's through 1999) series Ultraman Tiga was dubbed (HORRIBLY!) for the Fox Box kids line-up on Saturday mornings.

By the mercy of the gods, the show was canceled AND there were DVD sets put out with full and accurate subtitles and the actual Opening and Ending sequences and music intact. These can be found on Amazon.com if you want to check this show and be able to appreciate it as it was intended.

Tiga and Nexus are my personal favorite Ultraman series. Tiga has a classical feel but it's also pretty modern. Nexus has a much darker tone but isn't dumb, cheap, and nihilistic about it. It simply presents a world that is very much in need of the light of hope that Ultraman represents.

what is Ultraman Gaia - The Battle in Hyperspace  ?

Ultraman Gaia was the third of the Heisei Ultraman series and the movie is kind of a stand alone adventure with him and his regular cast. It features a team-up with his fellow Heisei Ultramen, Tiga and Dyna.

http://home.cfl.rr.com/ultrafaq/Ultraman-FAQ/WhoIsGaia.html

I don't use the term "classic" lightly, but...

INFRA-MAN is the greatest classic in the history of cinema.

There are some people who say that THE INCREDIBLES or SUPERMAN are the greatest superhero movies ever. Those people are morons. Did SUPERMAN have a deathtrap of "liquid ice?" Did THE INCREDIBLES have any chick with eyeballs on her hands? Huh?

Was any line given as inspirational and cogent as "gentlemen, the situation is so bad, that it is the WORST in HUMAN HISTORY!" Or "We're doing this for the children of the world?"

Don't forget this exchange, one of the great works of Western Literature, along with HAMLET, WAR AND PEACE, and AVENGERS #26:

Professor Chung: "Reyma...for success, it's essential you have Thunderball Fists."
Infra-Man: (sounding very impressed) "I...I can have such a thing?"
Professor Chang: "That's right - Thunderball Fists!"

For you Guyver fans, check out this neat website:

http://www.bioweapons.com/

Anyone know where to get a non-bootleg (ie, a high-quality) DVD of Infra-Man?  Region encoding doesn't matter, but English dubbing and/or subtitling would be a plus.

:s:

There are two versions of the film:

The wacky English dub which completely changed the lines and many of the names to make it as cheesy as humanly possible, most American only know this version.

Then there is the uncut version which was remastered and looks great and has extras, fans of cheesy movies do not like this version since there isn't as much to make fun of.

There are only bootlegs of the cheese dub, but the true version has been release in Hong Kong. Hong Kong DVDs are vastly better than mainland China releases, which many times are just cheap bootlegs.

The best place to get it is right here:

http://www.hkflix.com/home.asp

I ordered from them many times. I believe they have it on sale.

Heres a link that has  a lot of info on 3 Supah Giant aka Star Man films with lots of photos.

http://www.tarstarkas.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=44

http://tarstarkas.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=1

http://tarstarkas.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=44

Back to Infra-man for a bit, here is the famous Infra-man review by Roger Ebert and the famous follow up:

Infra-Man

* * * (Three Stars - See Notes at the end of the review)

PG, 92 m., 1976

Li Hsiu-hsien, Wang Hsieh, Yuan Man-tzu, Terry Liu, Tsen Shu-yi, Huang Chien-lung, Lu Sheng. Directed by Hua Shan and produced by Rumme Shaw.

By Roger Ebert

Within the first four mintues of "Infra-Man," (a) a giant flying lizard attacks a school bus, (b) the Earth cracks open, (c) Hong Kong is destroyed by flames, (d) mountains disintegrate to reveal the forms of reptilian monsters with blinking yellow eyes, (e) the Professor announces that a twenty-million-year-old woman is unleashing the hibernating monsters upon civilization, (f) the Science Headquarters is shaken by a second quake, (g) the Mutants awake, and (h) the Professor, obviously shaken, informs a secret meeting of world leaders, "This situation is so bad that it is the worst that ever has been!"

No doubt about it: This is a case for Infra-Man. In his secret laboratory far beneath the Science Headquarters, the Professor explains to a brave volunteer: "We will wire your arms and legs with powerful transistors and death rays. You will be powered by a tiny nuclear reactor. Unfortunately, the operation will be very painful and you may die."

And so we're off and running, in the best movie of its kind since Invasion of the Bee Girls. I'm a pushover for monster movies anyway, but Infra-Man has it all: Horrendous octopus men, a gigantic beetle man with three eyes who sprays his victims with sticky cocoons, savage robots with coiled spring necks that can extend ten feet, a venomous little critter that looks like a hairy mutant footstool, elaborately staged karate fights, underground throne rooms, damsels in distress, exploding volcanoes, and a whip-cracking villainess named Princess Dragon Mom (Philip Wylie, please note).

The movie's totally, almost joyfully absurd, and a victim of John Carter's Syndrome. You remember J.C.S., based on the logical oversight in Edgar Rice Burrough's books about John Carter of Mars. After whole chapters of galloping across the Martian desert on his Martian steed and fighting off enemies in sword fights, John Carter finally says to hell with it, pulls out a ray gun, and fries everybody.

Same here. Gigantic mutant monsters with built-in death rays attack Infra-Man, who can hurl lightning bolts from the soles of his feet, and what do they do? They have a karate fight. After ten minutes of chopping and socking and doing acrobatic flips, THEN they zap each other.

No matter, Intra-Man contains terrific moments. In one cliff-hanging scene, for example, the Professor has Infra-Man wired up on the operating table when Science Headquarters is attacked by gigantic mutant arms. That's right, arms: no body, just arms. The arms squirm all over the headquarters, knocking off the power supply. The Professor shouts into his radio: "You have one minute to restore power before Infra-Man dies!"

His aide struggles toward a red power switch. He is knocked unconscious by an arm. Shot of a stopwatch ticking away the seconds. He regains consciousness, struggles some more. The arm attacks again. With ten seconds to go, soldiers burst into the room with a power saw and cut the arm in half. The switch is thrown and Infra-Man lives.

There are other good things. Lines like, "We are doing this for the children of the world." Or, "The clouds will cut off the sun and deprive Infra-Man of his power source." Or, "Drop the Earthling to her doom_she will melt at 3,000 degrees." The movie even looks good: It's a classy, slick production by the Shaw Brothers, the Hong Kong kung fu kings. When they stop making movies like Infra-Man, a little light will go out of the world.

here is the follow up included in the Mighty Peking Man review:

Mighty Peking Man" is very funny, although a shade off the high mark of "Infra-Man," which was made a year earlier, and is my favorite Hong Kong monster film. Both were produced by the legendary Runme Shaw, who, having tasted greatness, obviously hoped to repeat. I find to my astonishment that I gave "Infra-Man" only two and a half stars when I reviewed it. That was 22 years ago, but a fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that film. I am awarding "Mighty Peking Man" three stars, for general goofiness and a certain level of insane genius, but I cannot in good conscience rate it higher than "Infra-Man." So, in answer to those correspondents who ask if I have ever changed a rating on a movie: Yes, "Infra-Man" moves up to three stars.

Ebert was/is one of the great movie critics.  But he was really good in the 70s.  I love his wild collections of interviews as well.  Not bad as a screenwriter, either!

Beppo, thanks for the link on where to get a copy of Infra-Man.

I ordered the DVD, hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to turn on the English language subtitles when presumably all the menus and everything are in Chinese.

:s:

As long as you can read English, you should be fine, since it's all translated :)

Hong Kong used to be owned by the British remember, now they want to break away from China and become their own country, but enough politics.

This movie is the most surreal experience of my life.

Better than Thunderbirds are Go, though.

:s:

No argument here!

It's much easier and funnier to laugh at something than to praise it, so allow me to be perfectly sincere for a second: INFRA-MAN is totally awesome. Roger Ebert, despite his baffling praise for TITANIC, is one film critic that tends to be right on the money, because he has the experience and maturity to judge a work by what it is trying to accomplish and how close it comes to that, instead of by some objective standard that makes a lot of wonderful but unambitious movies (like this one) slip through the cracks.

Some links from reviews in portuguese of the brazilian supr-heroes Combo Rangers:

http://www.universohq.com/quadrinhos/review_comborangers09.cfm

http://www.universohq.com/quadrinhos/review_comborangers04.cfm

http://www.universohq.com/quadrinhos/review_comborangers05.cfm

Note the homeges to Superman, Superfriends and the Justice League International.

Here is an article about Superman evolution:

http://www.omelete.com.br/quadrinhos/artigos/base_para_artigos.asp?artigo=698

Hey, don't forget the Phillippines, an unlikely location to be a cradle of superheroism!

Here, check out Darna, the Phillippines Wonder Woman/Captain Marvel created by the unconquerable Mars Ravelo:

http://www.marsravelodarna.com/

A few things to notice:

1) Vilma Santos, the actress that played Darna in the 1970s, is now a congresswoman.

2) According to the site, some of the flying shots obtained in the Darna movies of the 1950s was obtained via wire work with a helicopter. I read that over several times in case I had made a mistake. WHAT? Wow, guess they don't have actors unions in the Phillippines. On the other hand, the blooper reel for this picture must be pretty hilarious.

There's a funny story about another Darna site: when showing it to one of my buddies: he thought after I showed the site to him, that I had gotten a virus onto his machine. To which I responded dryly: "Well, it wouldn't be the first time I went to the Phillippines and got a virus."