Sommerleigh Pollonais, Senior Writer
Everyone loves Batman, but as a fan of the man from Krypton I can attest to how hard it is to defend my choice of favourite DC superhero Superman to those who thinks he’s too perfect. As hard as I fight for my right to love Supes, DC hasn’t always made it easy, like the recent shake up in the world of live action movies where poor Henry Cavill, who never got a real shot at portraying the character (beyond the obvious physical attributes), is being replaced by David Corenswet. While we wait to see how that shakes out the DC animated universe hasn’t stopped pumping out content and, while most have been adapted from the comics, every now and again we get something new. In the case of My Adventures with Superman we don’t just get a fresh take on Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman, we get a fun one too!
Now I might be getting ahead of myself, with only two episodes released so far the show has a long road (hopefully) ahead of itself, but from the moment the brightly coloured, anime-inspired first scene opens of a young Clark Kent trying to get a kite out of a tree only to witness a car swerve dangerously off the road and having his first experience with his powers revealing themselves, I knew this was going to be something special. Fast forward a bit to a 20-something Clark Kent (Jack Quaid) who along with his roommate Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Sahid) are excited to begin their internship at the Daily Planet. After a meet-cute with Lois Lane (Alice Lee) the three join forces in the hopes of breaking their first major story, that of a possible upcoming robot attack, and just like that our Adventures with Supes begins!
Anime fans will quickly realise the shonen-inspired art style and narrative at play here, with this series exploring a version of Clark who wants to live as normal a life as he can, something that’s of course made difficult not just because he’s an alien but being friends with someone as adventurous as Lois Lane means the trio are always going to be in trouble. There’s so much I enjoyed here but just focusing on Superman for a minute, this series has already shown a keen understanding of why fans of the big guy love him. Instead of retreading old ground they take established character traits and play with them ever so slightly to deliver something that feels fresh to viewers. And making the smart choice to portray a much younger, unsure, and most importantly NOT all powerful Kryptonian means there’s a real sense of tension (or at least as much tension as an animated series such as this can provide) when Clark/Superman is in danger.
Whether you’re a fan of anime or just a fan of animation in general I think you’re in for a good time with this one. With just two episodes MAWS has managed to deliver on solid world building, excellent animation, a wonderful balance of drama, laughter and a Superman that’s anything but boring. Here’s hoping this show keeps this exact energy going all the way through. If they do, we just might have another top tier Superman story that can stand, or in this case fly, head and shoulders with the rest of them.
Sommer’s Score: 8 out of 10
Have you checked out the first couple episodes of MAWS? What did you think of it? And you can check out more animated content featuring the Man of Steel below:
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge-Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.Double Tap Baby! Read More