Jonathan Goldstein's short story "Man Not Superman" (previously featured on This American Life) follows the man who dates Lois Lane after she breaks it off with Superman. Our comparatively ordinary narrator is head over heels for the famed reporter, and things go swimmingly at first; sick of superheroes, Lois just wants a guy who can make her laugh. But Lois and the big Kryptonian are still good chums, and the relationship hits a snag when Supes insists on taking his ex's new beau as his sidekick.

The original text is an uproarious read, but the artwork (composed entirely on yellow sticky notes) from animator Arthur Jones perfectly captures the narrator's insecurities and the humiliation involved in working for Superman.

Man Not Superman [Post-it Note Stories via Metafilter]

While I wasn't too impressed by the generic main plot of the episode - Bus explodes even though there was no bomb onboard (Well, at least it didn't get filled with some fast-setting magic goo), girl turns out to be able to make things explode - it was saved by the apparent new status quo of the show, the freshest part of which is definitely Clark being pro-active and actually seeming to be on his way to becoming Superman for a change: It's not just that he saved the people on the bus and stuck around afterwards to help without giving it any thought instead of running away at superspeed to feel upset about his powers, but much moreso his attempt at inspirational speaking at the end of the episode to Bette, The Bomb-Girl - For the first time ever on the show, you got the feeling that he just might grow up to become the Superman that we know and love.

If anything, the familiarity of the plot helped bring home how different the show and characters have become since its start, eight years ago. It wasn't only Clark's new assertiveness, but also the way that the show's Lois has started to settle into a go-getting reporter role closer to her comic book counterpart (but with added awkward comedy from her not being as good at her job as she'd like), Chloe getting a B-plot to herself (although, seriously, haven't we done the "female lead falls for bad guy" plot many times before on this show? For shame, people), and the complete lack of emo angst - or death of the villain, for that matter. It's like a whole new show that's ripping off old Smallville but doing it better.
Two particular things reinforced the "better" idea this week. Firstly, the introduction of new villain Doomsday was... well, not as terrible as it could've been, really. Sure, in theory I'm still entirely against Doomsday being a human transformed into an unstoppable monster thanks to Kryptonite meteors, but damned if Sam Witwer didn't make newcomer Davis Bloome into an unexpectedly charming figure that even managed to pull off the "shock" final scene of his naked, transforming, body. Much more squee-worthy was the by-now-traditional scene of newLex, Tess Mercer - not as bald, but just as evil - recruiting the villain for nefarious ends, although the reason for my excitement is more likely than not entirely in my head. Let me explain.

We've heard - thanks to Charlie - that evil New God Darkseid may be on top to appear this season. Well, watching Tess recruit Bette to her "team" made me wonder/hope: What if Tess isn't Tess? What if she's a disguised version of Darkseid's hencholdwoman, Granny Goodness, recruiting supervillains to a new televisual team of Female Furies? It'll probably never happen, but such an idea is 100% Smallville: Taking an idea from the comic books and making it work on television involving attractive young people wearing form-fitting clothes. If anyone from the show's writing staff is reading this: You know what to do to make me happy.

But even the fact that I'm fanboy excited about the possibility of something like that happening goes to demonstrate that Smallville is continuing to turn itself around and quietly become one of the more enjoyable (guilty) pleasures on TV right now. Will wonders never cease?

Not only are we likely to see Clark flying at some point in the upcoming season (The show's unofficial mantra "No flights, no tights" seems to have been changed this year, according to showrunner Brian Peterson: “We have a lot of conversations [about that]... The only thing that we are saying is that we can absolutely confirm that there is no tights, so that's pretty much all we can say on that"), but fans should also expect to see much more Daily Planet, more Lois and Clark interaction, and most excitingly, the creation of a secret identity:

What the producers can say is that this season will focus on the theme of double identity and the situations it forces Clark to be in. “That's actually his main thrust this season,” [Producer Kelly] Soulder said. “Saving people in Smallville was one thing — when he had to run to the factory to save Chloe the roads weren't very crowded, the streets weren't very crowded. Being alive in Metropolis as Superman is a very different experience and you will find very quickly in this season he discovers it's not so easy when you’re running through crowded streets or you're having to run into a crowded crisis situation.”

To which Peterson was quick to add, “Or you're accountable to Lois back at the Daily Planet.”

“So that's what forces him to start really exploring the two worlds,” Soulder said.

If this means that we're going to see Tom Welling start to wear glasses and channel Christopher Reeve, then it may be worth tuning into the new season when it starts on the CW on September 18th after all...

Reinventing Smallville with Soulder & Peterson [Comic Book Resources]

Going through the correspondence between DC (then called Detective Comics, Inc.) and Superman creator Jerry Siegel from 1939 to 1947 - made public as part of the ongoing lawsuit between Siegel's heirs and DC over the ownership of the character - comics historian Jeff Trexler uncovered some eye-opening remarks from the editors in charge of the Man of Tomorrow:

As the papers reveal, early in the history of Superman, co-creator and artist Joe Shuster was warned to tone down his depiction of Lois Lane by his editor Whitney Ellsworth, and make her less sexy. It was a warning that the artist chose to ignore for months, apparently, causing Ellsworth made an argument that seems shocking even almost seventy years later. Shuster’s Lois was so “unpleasantly sexy” that her pulchritude made her seem a bit too heavy–a problem for which Ellsworth and Murray Boltinoff had an easy solution:
"[W]hy it is necessary to shade Lois’ breasts and the underside of her tummy with vertical pen-lines we can’t understand. She looks pregnant. Murray suggests that you arrange for her to have an abortion or the baby and get it over with so that her figure can return to something a little more like the tasty dish she is supposed to be."

Perhaps more surprising was their take on Superman himself:

Another alleged problem with Shuster’s artwork is that it made Superman look gay — or in the period slang of Ellsworth’s January 22, 1940, letter, “lah-de-dah” with a “nice fat bottom.”

(The letter in question is worth checking out for yourself in Trexler's online archive of the documents; Ellsworth doesn't just mention Superman's "nice fat bottom," but makes a point of saying that he likes it, even though the artwork in general isn't up to standard.)

Whether the documents actually prove either side's case in the ongoing ownership battle is unclear - certainly, the creators' bending to DC's numerous editorial complaints show that the authorship of the characters as we've come to know them wasn't solely Siegel and Shuster's - they definitely show a previously unknown history for one of the most famous fictional characters in the world. And maybe a more interesting one, as well.

Hidden History: Lois' 'Abortion' and Superman too Gay? [Newsarama]

Introducing the panel, Action Comics writer Geoff Johns said,

We've all kind of started to work together on Superman... we're all working in tandem to get the Superman universe lined up like we did on Green Lantern, get all the characters on the same page so we can go and tell crazy stories... We had a huge summit that we worked on all three books all the way through December 2010.

The first crazy story to spin out of that summit is October's New Krypton, which Johns teased with this high concept pitch:

Kandor is grown on the planet Earth, and all the Kryptonians decide 'Hey, cool, this must be new New Krypton' and Superman says 'No, it's not,' and chaos ensues.

More important than stories, according to the writers, is the characterization. Johns again:

We don't really want to change anything about Superman like saying, he's gonna have a kid. It's not about changing stuff as much as it's about exploring character... We want to get to them on an emotional level... [For example, the story 'Last Son'] was really about, Superman can never have a kid. He and Lois may love each other, but they can never have a kid. The House of El will end. How do they react to that?

Superman writer James Robinson admitted that part of that effort will include making sure that characters like Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen will return to the versions everyone knows, instead of superpowered giant turtles fighting evil gods: "The [supporting] characters have lost their way a bit," he said, before saying that Jimmy Olsen should be the third most important character in a Superman comic, after Superman and Lois. Johns agreed, and added that there are also plans afoot to use Lois more often: "If Superman married her, she's gotta be the coolest woman in the world."

The most important revelation from the panel may have come from new Supergirl writer Sterling Gates. When asked whether he will bring a more consistent characterisation to the Maid of Steel after an erratic few years where she's been portrayed as confused, evil, stupid, slutty and almost continually unheroic, he said that he saw her as one of the strongest characters DC Comics has, and feels that she's been mishandled recently. "Can we officially say that she's not a slut?" Johns asked, to the applause of the audience. So, now you know: Supergirl isn't a slut.

That's Mary Marvel's job.

• Chloe's power is finally revealed: While we already knew Chloe was a meteor freak with some kind of magical healing tears, it wasn't really shown what she could actually do until this episode. She takes Jimmy's cut finger in her hand and makes the poor little boo-boo go all bye-bye with some sort of weird E.T. light-up hands. Her one tear could bring Lois back from the dead, but it takes a lot of effort just to seal up a one-inch cut? Give us a break.
• Grant Gabriel is a clone of Julian Luthor: We've also knew that Grant Gabriel was Lex's long-dead brother Julian for a few episodes, last Thursday was the first time it was revealed that he was actually a clone of Lex's brother, who died when he was 12 years old. Lex has been playing around in the cloning toybox and trying to bring his brother back. The first effort resulted in a clone who aged prematurely, but he seems to have it fine-tuned now. However, everyone seems to have forgotten about Lucas Luthor, Lex's other younger brother who he had hidden away several seasons ago. Counting last night's old clone, Julian, and Lucas, that gives Lex quite a family reunion to come home to. Of course, he put a bullet into old clone's chest, which will make it a bit awkward at future family meetings.
• Brainiac is on the way back: The last time we saw Milton Fine / Brainiac, he was reduced to a tiny bit of goo living in a glass vial. Last night Chloe told Clark that the fluid was evolving and getting smarter each time it tried to escape. It's liquid with a memory and a mission, but how the hell does Chloe come by this stuff? She can translate Kryptonian, hack military firewalls, and score top-secret lab reports. Too bad her talents are wasted in the basement of the Daily Planet. She could be a one-woman Geraldo.
• Clark is actually Bizarro: Clark returns from a two-week visit to the Fortress of Solitude and everything seems to be just hunky dory with the Young Adult of Steel. That is, until he hugs Lana near the end of the episode and we his shift turn angular and crystalline for the briefest of seconds, meaning he's the Bizarro version of Clark. Then we see what we imagine is the real Clark, trapped inside some kind of glass chamber back in the Fortress that looks like the device that took Supey's powers away in Superman II. So why the hell is Bizarro acting so nice and hugging folks? We'll have to wait until next year to find out.

• We were going to add "Clark finally flies!" to this list, but it turned out to be Bizarro-Clark shooting up that stairwell like a comet, so we'll still have to wait to see him take to the skies. At which point the show should instantly be canceled for violating its "No flights, no tights" rule. Then again, they should have put the brakes on this show back when it started to suck. Four seasons ago.

Famous names: John Byrne, Dick Giordano

Crunchy goodness: 3

Elevator pitch: It's just like regular Superman — only without Superbaby and the legion of Super pets.

Stunt casting: Batman puts in an appearance in one issue, but he and Superman aren't best friends. Instead, Superman mistrusts the shrouded vigilante, who resorts to becoming a suicide bomber to halt Superman in his tracks.

Most painfully dated moment: The Man Of Steel tries to flee the silliness of classic Superman so frantically, that it ends up looking old-school twenty years later.

Spinoffs/Sequels/Copycats: Byrne's reinvention of Superman helped to inspire the 1990s show Lois and Clark.

The Continuity Pages: Superman - John Byrne Era