Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… Jim filling in for Connor again!
Look, when this assignment popped up I jumped at the chance. Some of you may remember my coverage
of the Summer of Superman last year! I critiqued Superman 2025 Here, All-Star Superman’s re-release as an audiobook Here, and the High Flying History of America’s Most Enduring Hero Here, because for literally as long as I can remember, I have been a Superfan of Superman. My Adventures with Superman has been an absolute joy so far and so getting the opportunity to jump into the next season a little early? How could I not!?
As is the norm for this column, I’ll be breaking the critique down into three categories; Story, acting and overall. Overall is where I’m going to place comments about animation, so if that’s your key interest, stick around till then!
Story 8.5/10
I wanted to grade the story higher. I’ll get into why I couldn’t later but first I want to talk about the great parts.
I’ll admit, upon seeing the promo art and the pre-release trailer I was a little concerned that we’d be traveling down some familiar paths and ones that have been well-worn by now. Anyone who knows their Superman lore will immediately recognize Hank Henshaw in the promo art and we know that Superboy is involved as of the trailer release. We’ve had John Henry Irons in this show already. Given all these folks coming together it’s reasonable to assume that we’re getting a re-tread of one of the most popular Superman stories of all. We got it in 2007s Superman: Doomsday, 2016s Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, 2018s DCAMU entry The Death of Superman, and in Superman and Lois’s final season in 2024. And as much as I love these stories… it’s kind of a lot?
My Adventures with Superman’s writers, though? They flipped all my worries on their head. While there are a lot of familiar elements to this story, none of it is anything you’ve seen before. At least, not in the way it’s presented here. There were enough Easter eggs, call-backs and references to have me grinning like the fan that I am, but everything is presented in a way that’s super fresh and new. I often complain about legacy properties relying too much on nostalgia and nostalgia alone but this show walks a wonderfully fine line and never feels like it’s pandering, but it’s got a lot of respect for what came before. It’s determined to tell its own story its own way and show you why this version of Superman is one of the best we’ve ever had.
Kara’s arc is pretty great this season! She’s a wonderfully different take on Supergirl who does a lot to showcase the Kryptonian desire for conquest that’s a key point in this show. (The Kryptonians as presented here are a lot more akin to Klingons, Saiyans or Viltrumites than in prior versions where they’re often militaristic but kind of dry with it.) Her attempts to get closer to Jimmy are absolutely wild.
Speaking of, Jimmy is just as loveable and wholesome as he has been throughout the entire run of this show. His key concern is working and spending time with his best friends, and running his Flamebird (Screee!) section of the Daily Planet’s multimedia division. He gets a really sweet arc that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Lois gets a lot to do and her story is fantastic. I can’t talk about it too much because I really don’t want to run the risk of spoiling anything, but holy cow – she really is such a huge part of this show’s heart.
The key reason I couldn’t give it a higher score for story is just that I kind of wish we were given a little bit more breathing room. There is a LOT of Capital-B Big story crammed into ten, half-hour-ish episodes and so it’s very much a continuous rush of excitement. Excitement is great! But I did find myself missing some of the more calm bits from prior seasons. Superman doing smaller-scale Superman stuff in regards to the citizens of Metropolis, Jimmy fending off Steve’s clumsy bonding attempts, those kinds of things. Even some of the bit-part villains from seasons 1 and 2… we see them and we get to know that they’re still around but I don’t think most of them even get voiced lines. I also wish we got to see more of Hank Henshaw as Cyborg Superman doing actual GOOD before his big plot twist. If anything I think this is just my way of saying I enjoy so much of the world this show presents us with, I’d like to spend a little more time enjoying it without everything being on fire. I feel like Clark kind of shares this frustration – all he wants to do is paint his little model farm but… y’know.
Acting 10/10
Jack Quaid is just so, so good as both Clark Kent and Superman. (There’s a bit which I am convinced is him ad-libbing – he’s talking about things that are better than investigating an abandoned military base on Halloween and it’s hysterical. I’ve seen so much of him being a goofball on the sets of other shows and it makes me believe he was just listing off whatever came to mind after reading the scripted line and someone decided “We need to animate this.”. I will not be convinced otherwise unless someone who actually knows tells me I’m wrong.) But yes. He’s been great from the first episode till now and I don’t see it changing.
Alice Lee does an incredible job as Lois. She can turn on a dime from being bubbly and enthusiastic to determined and headstrong to incredibly unsure and vulnerable. This season really pushes the character in so many different directions and it all sounds great.
Jimmy Olsen is voiced by Ishmel Sahid and he’s just as funny, wacky and earnest as he’s always been. The perfect pal for Superman! He too can go from full of energy to vulnerable and unsure of himself pretty quickly and make you feel it. I love this show’s take on Jimmy; he’s the kind of best buddy we all want and so much of that is down to the stellar work of Ishmel Sahid.
Kara Zor-El is voiced by Kiana Madeira and she really gives Supergirl an edge. This version of Supergirl remembers Krypton and was used as a weapon after its destruction. She knows how to fight and she’s good at it but she also gives being a kinder, gentler person a shot and the juxtaposition is sweet and often hilarious. (Her constant desire to pet dogs and not-dogs made me grin!)
There’s a lot of other amazing talent that works on this show as well!
Overall 9.2/10
If you enjoyed the first two seasons, you’re going to love this one. It has a lot going on and is really fast paced, but it’s filled to the top with heart. I laughed a lot, I shed a few tears and I can’t wait to see what next season has in store! (Season 4 isn’t confirmed yet, though the plot has been pitched and it’s all dependent on viewership for season 3.)
The animation is also better than the prior two seasons as well, which is saying a great deal because seasons 1 and 2 were already pretty well done. It’s definitely anime inspired, but a lot of the design work is unmistakeably American, so, you get the best of both worlds. This season sees the characters really letting loose with an amazing sense of physicality and weight. I think the biggest shift upwards is in the facial expressions – there are some incredible shots of characters with these awesome facial close-ups and you just know some artist was having the absolute time of their life drawing this stuff. You can just feel it. The background work is lush and detailed and the range of character designs is really noticeable – lots of body types are represented with respect and care. The level of diversity of all kinds is really nice to see!
Jim’s Final Thoughts
This show does so much so well. I didn’t even cover half of what’s going on here because I want you to check it out and see for yourselves, honestly. If you’re a Superman fan, of course, but even if you’re not and just like superheroes in general, this is a great show. Some of it may be a little intense for younger viewers, though, so do be advised of that.
June 13th at midnight on Adult Swim is when this show premieres and it’s available next day on HBO Max. I can’t wait to check it out again!
Facebook Comments