A Man, A Cape, and Hope.
In which a movie trailer provokes memories, and I try and unravel the story of a different movie.
It was 1978. I didn’t read comics anymore. I had no interest in superheroes. I was eighteen years old, and other things interested me now. Riding motorcycles, working on cars, hanging out at the pub with my mates, and trying to catch the attention of that one girl.
Until one day in December, when I watched a pair of black and white movie effect curtains draw back to reveal the words “June 1938” and then dissolve into a copy of Action Comics, all accompanied by the first notes of something that sounded magical. I got goose bumps.
For many of my friends, their movie moment had been the year before with Star Wars - for me, this was it. I believed in Christopher Reeve as Superman. Cynical eighteen-year-old me believed a man could fly.
I’ve never been a Superman fan, as this newsletter demonstrates each issue I’m more of a citizen of Gotham than Metropolis. Most of the time I read Superman stories he just came across as goofy and overpowered. But when done right, when you put the man before the super, he can be magical, he can connect with the reader or viewer at a core level. The never-ending fight for truth and justice never gets old.
Over the years, I’ve watched every iteration of Superman movies and TV show. Some have been pretty good, some have been terrible, but none have ever captured what Superman meant to me, nor have they given me the same feeling that I had that day when Christopher Reeve first pulled open his shirt to reveal the S-logo.
That’s the movie I still watch with my grandkids to introduce them to the Man of Steel.
When my daughter, her husband, and I went to see Thunderbolts the other week, they played the trailer for the upcoming James Gunn-helmed Superman movie. Yes, I’d seen it many times, on my laptop, on my phone, on my big TV, but this time. On the big screen in a theater. I got goose bumps again. I was smiling like an idiot.
As I was working on this edition of the newsletter, the new trailer dropped. I watched it on my laptop as I was working on this newsletter. It raised a lot of questions. But, with just a few words of dialogue, I got those goose bumps again,
“Your choices. Your actions. That’s what makes you who you are.”
I sincerely hope that, come July, I will once again believe that a man can fly.
Alan
Other Stuff
Welcome new folks
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Lemon Hog Publishing
It’s been a busy couple of weeks since the launch of Lemon Hog Publishing with the eBook release of Gill’s debut novel, “Trust Issues.”
The first reviews have been excellent, and we are already starting to see 5-star ratings on Amazon.
Trust Issues is also included in this month’s Early Reviewer program on LibraryThing, with demand for a copy already outpacing the number of copies available.
Trust Issues is the first novel in the exciting new Brightwater series of light-thrillers
When her ex-husband is found murdered Ellie Brightwater must delve deep to find the strength to protect her daughter. Ellie has to break out of the protective shell she has created and learn to trust friends and ex-lovers while not being sure who is working with her or against her.
You can now pick up your copy of the eBook right now at your favorite online book retailer for just $2.99.
The paperback edition will be published on May 31st.
Exciting times are ahead, and you can keep up with our progress at the Lemon Hog Publishing instagram account.
Brabazon Bits
On September 13th, I will be presenting a talk on the ‘Mighty Brab’ followed by a signing at my local indy bookstore, Snug Books in north Baltimore.
And of course, a regular reminder that we will celebrate the UK launch of the Brabazon book at the Aerospace Bristol Museum on Saturday, June 7th.
“Bristol Brabazon: The Ocean Liner of the Skies and its Ongoing Legacy” will be published on 30 MAY, 2025 in the UK and 30 JULY, 2025 in the US.
There is now an increasing list of online bookstores where the book is available for preorder
Bookshop.org (US) - helps independent stores
Pen & Sword (publishers) -
Waterstones (UK) - Free shipping in the UK -
Word Slinging
It’s been a busy couple of weeks on the Casino Royale book, as I’ve been working on figuring out a production timeline. With five different production schedules spread across three different studios, plus multiple scene rewrites, it’s proving to be a complex puzzle to untangle.
It almost makes you want to just go lie down on a roulette table…
Podcast Procrastinations
It’s been a busy couple of weeks of podcast recording and editing. Mainly for the Chronological Christie podcast, as we’ve been trying to get ahead and have enough episodes to cover the next few months recorded, edited, and scheduled before we head out on some upcoming travel.
The latest episode, which came out a few days ago, starts our three-part look at the Poirot Investigates short story collection.
In the first episode, we covered:
The Adventures of “The Western Star”
The Tragedy of Marsdon Manor
The Adventure of the Cheap Flat
The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge
The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
And to make it easier to find the podcast, it now has a shiny domain name -
https://ChronologicalChristie.com
And for updates and reminders, you can also follow the podcast's Instagram account
Pages and Screens
Books Read in 2025 - “Carl Perkins: The King of Rockabilly” by Jeff Apter
Over the years, I’ve listened to his music and read bits and pieces about Carl Perkins in various biographies as his career and his story intersected with others such as Elvis and Johnny Cash, plus his significant influence on The Beatles and George Harrison in particular.
This biography does an excellent job of putting all that into the perspective and context of the man himself. In retrospect, it seems that Perkins should have risen to the same heights as his early Sun Records stablemates, given he penned the label’s first million seller, the first record to simultaneously top the four most important US charts, the rock-n-roll anthem, Blue Suede Shoes.
Yet he seems to have been the most unfortunate and underrated performer with potential career ending accidents and poor label choices. Yet through it all he remained stoically content with his life. A fascinating look at a different take on rock-n-roll fame.
Over at our online bookstore at Bookshop.org I’ve now added a new section listing books read so far in 2025, so you can pick up copies of any that interest you, while also helping out local independent bookstores.
Weekly Web Round-Up
Batman On The Cover - We continue our chronological look at Batman’s publishing history as we take a look at the new releases from DC Comics in March 1970, including Detective Comics, Batman, Justice League of America, and World’s Finest.
Another Neal Adams cover gets my pick this time around. I find the giant shadowy figure, clearly a metaphor for industrial pollution, menacing the fallen heroes of the Justice League to be particularly effective.
Forest Comics and Books - As well as the recent restock, I have now added a supply of various non-fiction anthologies that have my words in them to the online store. So if you want to check out my thoughts on subjects such as time travel, G.I. Joe, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Batman, Japanese TV, and James Bond, you can now find it all in one place.
Where on the Web is Alan?
You can now find links to all the places you can find me online, websites, newsletters, social media, and more in a single LINKS page on my personal website.
As always, thanks for joining me this week. If you know someone else who might enjoy the contents of this week’s newsletter, or just my weekly ramblings in general, please feel free to share by clicking the button below.
See you next time
Alan J. Porter
The Can’t See The Forest (TM) newsletter is a production of Megrin Entertainment, a division of 4Js Group LLC