It All Comes Back to Superman

This time out I sit down with writer William Bernhardt, author of The Daniel Pike Series, The Splitsville Legal Thriller Series, and the Ben Kincaid novels, to talk about his newest book The Superman Wars: A Battle for Truth, Justice, and an American Icon. The official description of the book is... Up in the sky! Look! It's Superman! Almost everyone knows about the man from Krypton who, disguised as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent working with the fearless Lois Lane, fights for the vulnerable and the oppressed. But few know the truth about this indelible character's creation. From mobster tactics to decades-long courtroom drama, a beloved American myth was born, betrayed, and eventually reclaimed—almost eighty years after the character first appeared. New witnesses, unpublished manuscripts, personal letters, and more reveal the complex and dramatic history of Superman and his creator, Jerry Siegel. This is a David and Goliath clash with twists, turns, and devastating upheavals. An underdog tale of a creator who fought for his rights and finally found redemption in his battle for truth, justice, and the American Way. A story that has never been fully told… Until now. There have been a number of books written about the history of Superman and what happened to Jerry Siegel, but this book shines a new light on the lives of Jerry, his wife Joanne and his daughter Laura. William humanizes Jerry and his family in a way that I have rarely seen and he also delves into the lives of Major Malcom Wheeler-Nicholson, Joe Shuster, Harry Donenfeld, Jerry's first wife Bella, his son Michael, and Jack Liebowitz. During the course of this interview, William goes into who Jerry was as a person, who Joanne was, the argument of art versus commerce, commerce versus conscience, and how this might be a David versus Goliath story but it is not always a clear cut good versus evil tale. William talks about searching through the various court cases as well as talking with people who, for various reasons, haven't gone on the record until very recently. It was not only an informative conversation, but a fun one as well. I want to thank William for sitting down with me for this interview. If you want to find out more information on William, his writing, and WriterCon you can check out his website. And if you want to order a copy of The Superman Wars, you can follow this link. Feedback for the show can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Audible. This show is part of The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network, which is on Patreon. This is a tip jar as I have no time for extra content at the moment, but if you like content I produce please consider contributing a dollar a month if you can. The opening and closing theme is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound. Next time: Swear to God, the final chapter of Moving Kryptonian Images is coming. This interview came together kind of fast, but I will get to the massive feedback episode sooner rather than later.

Welcome to an "it's reigning men" filled installment of the podcasting maxiseries called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor! This time out I am talking about the 2020 film Reign of the Supermen, which is the adaptation of the Superman story...Reign of the Supermen. I mean...if the name works, why change it? Anyway, I am joined by legendary comic book artist Jon Bogdanove to talk about the film since he has more than a passing knowledge with not only the story, but also with the character of Steel. We have a great conversation about what about the film worked and the few things that didn't and how my opinion of the film has changed over the years. We also talk about how Jon came to be part of the Superman creative team, his approach to drawing the character, how one of his stories has now become a popular meme when discussing fascism, and how the Zero Hour crossover issue of Superman: The Man of Steel nearly broke Jon but also made him a better artist. I cannot thank Jon enough for coming on the show to talk about this movie. It was a lot of fun and a great follow-up to my talk with Jerry Ordway. Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent! You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible. The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month. The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound. Next Time: Moving Kryptonian Images continues Henry Bernstein joins me to talk about Superman: Red Son, both the movie and the comic.

Another week, another tangent from Moving Kryptonian Images. This should be the last one. Promise. Anyway, in a weird way this episode could be considered an addendum to the conversation I had with Russ Burlingame about All-Star Superman. In the time between that episode and this one, another adaptation of that story has been released. On June 24, 2025 Penguin Random House put out an audiobook version of All-Star Superman with a cast that includes Marc Thompson, Kristen Sieh, Christopher Smith, Matthew Amendt, Scott Brick, Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes, Robert Fass, January LaVoy, Saskia Maarleveld, Brandon McInnis, and Ray Porter. I've been wanting DC to do more in the audio realm, especially with Superman, and it's cool that this came along. Joining me this time to discuss the audiobook and the story in general is the woman that adapted the story. Meghan Fitzmartin is no stranger to either writing adaptations of DC characters or writing the characters for the comics. Her credits include Dark Crisis: Young Justice, Tim Drake: Robin, and Batman: Urban Legends as well as the animated film Justice Society: World War II and both parts of Justice League and Rwby: Superheroes and Huntsman. In a pinned post over on Blue Sky she wrote that you could ask her anything about All-Star Superman and I thought I would take her up on that offer. For a little over an hour we discuss a variety of topics, including what fantastic comic turned Meghan into a lifelong fan, how Adventures in Odyssey led to her love of audio dramas, what went into turning Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's comic book story into an audiobook, her feelings on Bizarro speak, who Lex Luthor would have voted for in the recent election, which live action Lois Lane made her love the character, and so much more. It was a fun conversation, and I appreciate Meghan taking the time to join me on the show. Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent! You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible. The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month. The opening theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound. The closing theme is a surprise. Next Time: I should get back to Moving Kryptonian Images. Reign of the Supermen is the next film in the series and I will be joined by a special guest. Who? You'll have to tune in to find out!

Welcome to a very special installment of the podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor! In 2018, the most famous (or, as some would say, infamous) Superman story of all time got a second chance at an animated film. Despite looking more like a New 52 story, The Death of Superman was a closer adaptation to the original comic book story than the 2007 version. Because of that, I wanted to do something special with this episode and the next one and having one of the architects of said original comic book story seemed like the way to go. Joining me for this episode is Jerry Ordway and the conversation we had touches on the animated film but goes far beyond it as well. Jerry shares his thoughts on the movie, but also what it was like attending a screening in New York City where he got to meet some of the cast and crew. We also touch on the behind the scenes of the original comic book version of the death of Superman, how Jerry broke into comics, his early career and how quitting DC led to him getting more work, the early days of the Post Crisis era, and so much more. He also talks about his visit to the set of the new Superman film and what it was like meeting the new Superman and Lex Luthor. I cannot thank Jerry enough for appearing on this episode. It meant a lot to this Post Crisis fan. Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent! You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible. The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month. The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound. Next Time: A slight detour from Moving Kryptonian Images. Andy Leyland joins me to talk about the times that Superman met the Fantastic Four (and vice versa) both directly and indirectly.

Welcome to a controversial installment of the podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor! I think it is both fair and accurate to say that Man of Steel is a contentious Superman film, at least as far as the Superman fan community is concerned. It was a movie that brought in a new generation of fans, but it was also a movie that did things to the character that some (not all, some) older fans had serious problems while other older fans really liked it and what could best be described as a bar fight broke out on social media platforms and, in some corners of those platforms, that fight is still going on. Talking about Man of Steel is much more complicated than it needs to be. Because of that, I wanted to talk to someone that loves Man of Steel but is still willing to have a genuine and honest conversation about the film. Which is why I asked my good friend Jon Wilson (he of Ninjas and Bots, Babylon 5: Thirty Years Later, and The Spider Diaries) to not only join me for this episode, but also the next one. We talk about all of the big moments of the film as well as the moments that caused the most controversy. The new version of Krypton, Jonathan Kents "maybe", Jonathan Kent's death, this version of Zod, the neck snap heard round the world, and Zack Snyder and David Goyer's take on Superman in general. I'm not saying it's the most in-depth conversation about Man of Steel, but it's honest and kind of funny at times. Once again, I'd like to thank Jon for joining me on this episode. Head on over to the Jon Reads Comics site to check out all of his fantastic podcasts. Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent! You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible. The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month. The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound. Next Time: Moving Kryptonian Images continues with Jon coming back to talk about Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice!

Welcome to second in my Summer Special series, which I'm doing because there's a big time Superman film coming out and extra content seemed like a fun idea. Also, I'm in the middle of big-time mega-series on the main show, and that series is pretty rigid in its format, so specials were the only way I was going to be able to talk about the things I am going to be talking about. This time out I am joined by Rob O'Connor and Alan Burke of the All-Star Superfan Podcast to discuss a story that many Superman fans consider to be on the greatest of all time. Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow originally appeared in Superman #423 and Action Comics #583 and served as the close out to Silver and Bronze Age era that was just about to be shown the door in favor of John Byrne's Man of Steel series. Written by Alan Moore with art by Curt Swan, George Perez, and Kurt Schaffenberger, this story tells the story of Superman's final days, which are filled with violence, heart ache, and a last stand in the Fortress of Solitude. So... not exactly a laugh riot, but a compelling story, nonetheless. Rob, Alan, and I tackle this story from every angle. We talk about the previously mentioned violence, our favorite parts, our less than favorite parts, Superman's actions at the end of the story, and ask whether or not this was a fitting end to the Silver and Bronze Age of Superman. We also get into the thorny debate of whether or not Superman should kill or not, which is an issue that has come up a lot in Superman fandom since the snap heard round the world in Man of Steel. I wanted to thank Alan and Rob again for joining me on this one. It was a lot of fun. Check out the All-Star Superfan Podcast. It's amazing. Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent! You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible. The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month. The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound. Next Time: Come back on Monday for another installment of Moving Kryptonian Images. Tyler Patrick and I are talking about Superman Unbound. And then, in two weeks, another Summer Special where I go solo and talk about the various number one issues Superman has had.

The first full trailer for James Gunn's Superman film dropped on May 14th and because there is a little-known federal law that was passed with full bipartisan support several years ago that states if you are a Superman content creator and a new Superman trailer (teaser or otherwise) drops, you have to do a reaction video/episode within 10 business days or face substantial fines and possibly jail time. Given how well I would do in prison (or rather how well I wouldn't do in prison) and the fact that I couldn't pay any kind of fine, substantial or otherwise, I thought it would be better to get this done as soon as possible. Joining me to talk about the trailer is my good friend Jon M Wilson, who you might know from such podcasts as Superman in Crisis, Babylon 5: Thirty Years Later, and 90s Ninjas and Bots, and we have a grand old time talking about the trailer. Actually, we talk about the trailers for Superman The Movie, Superman Returns, Man of Steel, and discuss how those films were marketed and then we do the breakdown of the new trailer. From David's Superman voice to our first real look at Lois to how adorable Krypto is to the Kents being alive, Jon and I cover all of that and more. It's two and a half hours of Superman talk with a few digressions and some snark just for fun. Be sure to check out Jon's podcasting work. You can do that by going to his websitte, Jon Reads Comics. Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent! You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible. The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month. The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound. Next Time: Moving Kryptonian Images continues with Charlie Niemeyer, who joins me to talk about Superman vs. The Elite! And soon...Rob and Alan from All-Star Superfan join me to talk about Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow!

Welcome to another apocalyptic installment of a podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor! This time out I welcome Doctor Anj (of the Supergirl: Comic Box Commentary blog) to talk about Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, which adapts the Superman/Batman: Supergirl storyline. Not that you could tell from the title of the movie and that's one of the things that Anj and I talk about. Other topics include, but are not limited to, how this storyline brought the Kara Zor-El Supergirl back to the mainstream DCU, the character designs, the animation, the Fourth World, Darkseid, and the Supergirl series that followed the Superman/Batman arc. Again, be sure to check out Anj's blog, Supergirl: Comic Box Commentary. He's been writing about Supergirl since 2007, so not only is it full of great reviews and commentary, but it's also a natural history of Supergirl over the past seventeen years. Feedback for It All Comes Back To Superman Series 2 can be sent to itallcomesbacktosuperman@gmail.com. At the end of this series I will be doing a feedback special going through all of the emails and comments that are left or sent! You can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or stream it through Spotify, iHeart Radio, and Audible. The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network is on Patreon. It's mostly a tip jar as I have no time at the moment to produce exlcusive content, but if you like the content I do produce please consider contributing a dollar a month. The opening and closing theme to the show is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound. Next Time: Moving Kryptonian Images continues with Russell Burlingame joining me to talk about All-Star Superman!