Happy Birthday to the Man of Steel!

Last week--April 18th to be exact--the world's first and best-known superhero turned 75 years-old! It's probably not escaped you that coming June 14, Superman returns to the big screen in Man of Steel. The most recent trailer is nothing short of fantastic!



For a while now, geeks (like myself) around the world have been wondering what (if any) particular story might serve as source material for the film. While this new interpretation will be the third time in the last 30+ years that we've seen Kal-el's origin on screen, it appears that the filmmakers are going for a different flavor of Superman. One with more angst about his purpose on Earth and a tougher road out of adolescence.

Now there are plenty of Superman comics out there that cover his origin, but one of my personal favorites was published a few years ago. The Birthright storyline gave us a more in-depth look at Clark's personal motivation for wanting to do good with his powers, by learning more about the world outside of Smallville--before moving on to the big city of Metropolis.

Clark is just starting out as a reporter and travels to Africa in his early 20s. I won't spoil it--you really should read it--but in trying to help some newly made friends he learns a few hard-knock lessons about his own limits. The result is likely the most human depiction of Superman we've seen to date. Clark fuses his Kansas and Krypton upbringings into a single vision to do good in for the entire planet (not only Metropolis)--through his earthly talents (journalism) as well as his otherworldly ones (super powers).

While we've seen Supes care for the planet before, before Birthright we never really got see Clark--or at least young Clark--get his feet wet and learn about humanity.

It's no secret that the storyline carries through themes from the (now ended) Smallville TV series. My guess is that this story might have been an influence on the new film. Though (again, don't want to spoil the comic's story here) it looks like some locations may have been changed.

Birthright and Man of Steel also share a similar threat in the form of enemies from his former homeworld Krypton. General Zod, the main villain from Christopher Reeve's Superman II, appears to be the key adversary in this latest rendition as well. There's a twist in Birthright that I won't give away, but I think there's enough evidence here to say that it's had an influence on choosing Krypton's most-wanted rebel. Lex Luthor has a great part in the comic as well--it remains to be seen if he'll show his shiny, bald visage in the film.

In any case, you should stop on over to the Library of Justice soon and check out the great Superman stories we've got in stock. Oh, and happy birthday Supes--you don't look a day over 30!

Now in the Library of Justice:

DC Showcase Presents: Superman Vol 1. (See anthologies)

Superman: Birthright

Various issues of Superman Family Adventures

SFA is a fantastic kids comic about Supes and his gang (Supergirl, superdog Krypto, Lois Lane, etc.). It featurs fantastic artwork by Franco and Art Baltazar and is a superlative entry into comics in general--as well as Superman lore. We've got several issues from which to choose.

More on Superman's 75th birthday:

• LA Times tribute 
• Comic Book Resources: Fans choose on the greatest Superman stories
• Comics Alliance: Superman (and co.) comic art through the years

You're Invited to Free Comic Book Day!

Click to visit the official FCBD website!

We're celebrating super-style next month with FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Seriously, can you think of a better day, ever? Yes, technically EVERY day at the Library of Justice is a "day in which you can get a free comic" but to have a whole day around the world dedicated to it is just amazing!

We received a huge shipment of comics! This isn't even half of them!

So, in case you weren't aware, the first Saturday in May is always Free Comic Book Day, when kids of all ages can go and get free comics from participating shops. To celebrate, we're going to have lots of free comics to hand out at the Library of Justice, plus prizes, and refreshments. We'll have plenty of comics and books for kids of all ages, teens, and adults.

Artist: Jeffrey Brown

So mark your calendar for 3:00 p.m., Saturday, May 4th and stop by the Library of Justice (links to Google Maps) for some super fun!

BONUS: Geeks everywhere are DOUBLE excited because May 4th each year is (unofficially) "Star Wars Day"--as in MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!

We'll have Star Wars books and comics to give away as well. It'll be more fun than you can stuff in a space cruiser!

Okay, I don't think I can over-hype this enough, but just in case I missed anything, here's Wolverine telling you how awesome Free Comic Book Day is gonna' be...

P.S. You can follow us here on the blog, as well as on Facebook and Twitter for updates!

Building the Library of Justice: Part 3 - The Door

We've already covered the planning stage, where we learned the door to the library would need to be the entire facade of the Hall of Justice. In the construction phase, we sort of whipped through the door's development. So this is a little more in-depth look at how the door's look and construction was accomplished.

The Arch is Everything!
The door is pretty much the key ingredient in the library's design that lends to its overall look. My friend Joe had drafted several wonderful blueprints and we finally decided that the arch would need to be the door. (Note: some of what follows is a recap of that earlier design post, so I'll summarize.)

The arch and pillar design is based on the iconic headquarters of a certain team of superheroes, maybe you've heard of them--the Justice League!

The Hall of Justice as featured in the Super Friends cartoon, featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, among others.

The action figure playset by Kenner had different dimensions and arch angle.

Joe used several references in his designs, but when it was time to construct the door for the Library of Justice, we used an amalgam of the proportions to maximize interior space without allowing the overall box and door becoming gargantuan. It turned out that the the block-y toy version provided a great basis for the arch curvature (though we did widen it out a bit from there).

A neat little bit of behind-the-scenes trivia: the Hall of Justice featured in hundreds of comics and cartoon episodes was itself modeled off of Cincinnati Union Terminal.

Fabricating the Facade

My father-in-law, Jon cut the facade from a piece of 2.5' square, .5" thick, piece of plywood using a jigsaw. He'd then added pieces of trim, layer-by-layer to help flesh out the pillars and window frames. He did all of this in about a week and I didn't see it until it was finished:

Jon's an incredible carpenter and he did an amazing job! The following week he brought me the box and door to sand and paint. I put (at least) two full coats on and did as much detail work as necessary to make sure all nooks and crannies were filled in. The really nerve-wracking part was still to come--the window glass...

Window Pane Horror!

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the plexiglass that Jon picked up for the door, but it's about .25" thick and was around 2' square. I was there that day to assist and it was slow, frightful work. Every time he put blade to glass could have spelled doom for our big bright window pane.

To make the cuts, he basically scored the glass thoroughly enough that we could chip pieces off the sides. We'd tried an electric saw on the edge of the glass, but it melted and created a blob on the seam. So it was just an old-fashioned x-acto blade to the rescue. 

When it came to the curve he went even more slowly and scored in smaller increments to achieve the rounded top. We only had enough glass to try twice. After cutting through about 3/4 of the first pane, a huge spidery crack ruined our first attempt.

SO WE WENT EVEN SLOOOOWER on the second try. As you can see, we were eventually rewarded with success:

We sanded the glass edges a bit to make sure it was safe to handle and then secured the window in place using glue and mirror clips around the edges. I was quite proud to have contributed that idea!

Weather Proofing and Hardware

One of the biggest challenges in weather-proofing the door was deciding how it would keep water out. Jon had already shingled the roof to help with watershed, but we needed a tight seal between the door and the box. We played with a few options, but ultimately the weather stripping you see in the photo above (placed on the door as well as on the box) was the best option. As of this writing, the stripping has been successful, but it will likely need to be replaced at least annually.

We fastened the hinges and latch hardware to the door and--voila! We had a finished library box!

Standard, finished hinges - as large as we could manage - were used to secure the heavy-duty door.

A simple latch was chosen so that kids could gain access without much fuss.

Next in our series we'll take a look at how the library was mounted on its base and placed in our yard in: INSTALLATION!