Superhero Health and Exercise

I've always been into two things for most of my life which are weight lifting and comic books. Right now I'm really into health and fitness in general, and I've created a site dedicated to health and fitness called hip2bfit.com health and fitness . I've recently added a section about superheroes and fitness. I talk about actors and what they do to get into shape for superhero movies, and some comic book characters that relied on the gym to get their super powers.

Time-Rider Returns

No I'm not talking about the old movie from the early 80s. I'm talking about a comic book creation of mine. I spent quite some time a couple of years or more ago on creating a superhero time traveler character. At first I had him travel time by just walking through doors of time, but this time around he's only going through time with the help of his flying 57 Chevy equipped with its very own artificial intelligence. Yes, my comic book may be really campy, but if you like old fashioned comic book goodness with a slight twist then give it a try.

The latest story also features another character I call Johnny Rebel, who has been around since the Civil War, but is really digging the 1950s so much he's gone to dressing like James Dean. Yes, that's right the latest story starts in the 1950s. Rebel is sort of like Superman only with an attitude and electrical powers. He's not from another planet however. He's a man with a curse.

Time-Rider is just an average guy living on a farm who once was involved with the Philadelphia Experiment. He has no memory of the time travel adventures that occurred due to his military mission. His wife however knows everything. At some point she's got a lot of splainin to do as a very popular 50s TV star might say.

So don't be square. Take a ride back into the 50s and beyond with the adventures of Time-Rider.


Read the Return of the Time-Rider

2010 Movies for Action Junkies

Ok guys, 2010 is here and I thought we might list some of the movies that might be of interest to fan boys, action junkies, and general all around movie lovers.

First up, Clash of the Titans. Opening April 2, 2010 Here's the trailer for your enjoyment.



Clash of the Titans is a remake of the 1981 film of the same name that is currently for sale on DVD right now. Here's a bit of it's official description -

"The ultimate struggle for power pits men against kings and kings against gods. But the war between the gods themselves could destroy the world. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus is helpless to save his family from Hades, vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing left to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus and unleash hell on earth."

It's got Sam Worthington from Avatar and Terminator Salvation. Of course he's really popular right now since Avatar is making more money than any movie ever made. That is unless you count in inflation, but who knows if it keeps going at the current pace it might be the box office champ of all time inflation or not.

Next up The Losers based on a DC Comics book. Opening April 9, 2010


A tale of double cross and revenge, centered upon the members of an elite U.S. Special Forces unit sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. The team-Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar -find themselves the target of a lethal betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Presumed dead, the group makes plans to even the score when they're joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda. Working together, they must remain deep undercover while tracking the heavily-guarded Max, a ruthless man bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war.

This one stars Chris Evans from the Fantastic Four and Jeffrey Dean Morgan from Supernatural and the Watchmen.

Then Opening April 16, 2010 there's Kick-Ass.



April 23rd, 2010 The Expendables. I've seen two different release dates for this one including one for August, but whenever it comes out it's going to be good! It's basically every action star that ever blew up a building in one movie.

Sylvester Stallone ... Barney 'The Schizo' Ross

Jason Statham ... Lee Christmas

Jet Li ... Bao Thao

Bruce Willis ... Mr. Church

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Dolph Lundgren ... Gunnar Jensen

Eric Roberts ... Monroe

Steve Austin ... Dan Paine

Mickey Rourke

Van Damme was even offered a part but turned it down. Sorry, but that was a lame move. I like Van Damme, but it's not like he had any better parts coming up this year. This could have been his chance at restarting his career.

Iron Man May 7, 2010
This is it the big one! This is the one we are all waiting for buds! Iron Man is back starring Robert Downey Jr whose last movie Sherlock Holmes was also a huge success!


June 11th, 2010 A-team

It ain't sci-fi but heck it's the A-team. If you grew up in the 80's you know you got to watch this one! Only wish Mr. T was on it. It's been reported the original Face Man and Murdock will make cameos at least. I love it when a good movie comes together!


The Last Airbender July 2, 2010

And that's some of the cool stuff to look forward to this year.

Christmas Time Superhero Art

Well it's Christmas time again. I've been partied out, had my money stripped from my hands in the name of Christmas giving, and watched as many Christmas specials and Christmas TV Episodes as humanly possible. I thought in the spirit of the holidays I would share some of the great holiday superhero art from my superhero site superherouniverse.com.

Here's a relatively new addition Sabre Claus done by Randy. This one features Wolverine's arch nemesis Sabretooth climbing down the chimney like Santa Claus.



Who knows what has become of the real Santa here. Has Sabretooth destroyed Santa and thereby ruined Christmas for millions of youngsters? Is it still possible for Wolverine to save the day? Or will Santa himself rise to the occasion and put some magical whoop you know what on Sabretooth? Who knows but wouldn't it be a great Christmas special. Come by and post your comments on this work of art.

Now here's a nice photoshop wallpaper done by Gus featuring Superman and a Christmas tree. Click here for the full sized version. Gus is a huge fan of Superman and a huge contributor to superherouniverse.com.



I really dig this piece of art to the left featuring the Batman's. It was a running gag for a while by Eddy that pitted the Dark Knight version of Batman vs the light hearted Adam West version. Here we see the Joker giving Adam West possibly a very deadly gift leaving the Dark version of Batman to exclaim, " Oh crap!". I can only guess what kind of deadly trap awaited Adam West. Could it have been a toy with lead paint? Were all these toys made in China?

Click here for the larger version. More of the West Batman series.



For the entire Superherouniverse Christmas Gallery

Best New SCI-FI

Some good stuff is out there and coming around the bend. V the new series has got my interest up with the first episode so far. It's classic sci-fi in that's it's not just a bunch of aliens running around killing things like a cheap sci-fi channel Saturday night movie. It does what good sci-fi has always done in the past. It uses themes of science fiction to represent current political climates and events.

The original V dealt with aggressors that used tactics similar to Nazis and Communists. These new Visitors seem to be running for President or Congress. So far they've refused any negative media coverage, promised universal healthcare, got the young people's attention right off the bat, and expected complete devotion while keeping their true agenda hidden. There are a lot of similarities between the old and new V, but this new bunch of Visitors are really pushing the health care bit.

I only hope they've learned from the mistakes of the first V series. Pretty much after the "Final Battle" the second mini series, it was over for V. Both of the first two mini series had very high ratings, but when the series came along it lacked everything the first two had. After the Final Battle it was supposed to have been the final battle. Pushing the series onward just didn't work because the original premise had been destroyed already.

Discuss V the series

Of course Lost is coming back later next year for it's final season. It's been heck of a ride so far with time travel to the 70's, Locke's dad turning out to be that guy from Emergency, a nuclear explosion, etc. Just what will the world be like with the timeline completely destroyed? Remember if you will last season how Juliet detonated that bomb which besides killing everybody in 1977 meant that our castaways would never have crashed onto the island.

I can't wait to see this!


Stargate Universe is a pretty good show so far. Not the best in the universe so far, but I have this really good feeling that it's going to get better and better as it goes along. It's got a great cast including Lou Diamond Philips so far anyway. The basic premise is a bunch of people are stuck on a spaceship going nowhere in the middle of space. They want to get off. It's like a serious Gilligan's Island in space, or maybe more like Star Trek Voyager.

Violence In Movies and TV

Has violence gone overboard in movies and television, or even comic books for that matter? Uh, yeah I think so.

Even John Wayne who wasn't a stranger to violence in movies said about a popular movie of the day, "To me, The Wild Bunch (1969) was distasteful. It would have been a good picture without the gore. Pictures go too far when they use that kind of realism, when they have shots of blood spurting out and teeth flying, and when they throw liver out to make it look like people`s insides. "The Wild Bunch" was one of the first to go that far in realism, and the curious went to see it. That may make the bankers and stock promoters think that it is a necessary ingredient for successful motion pictures. They seem to forget the one basic principle of our business - illusion. We`re in the business of magic. I don`t think it hurts a child to see anything that has the illusion of violence in it. All our fairy tales have some kind of violence - the good knight riding to kill the dragon, etc. Why do we have to show the knight spreading the serpent`s guts all over the candy mountain? "

To me the Duke really summed it up pretty well. There is a huge difference between cartoon violence, or just an illusion of violence where a villain gets shot falls down and that's all we see of him, and some horror movie where internal organs are displayed for some sort of psychopathic fantasy. Seeing people torn and dismembered in graphic details can only lead to a person becoming hardened to real life suffering of other human beings. Seeing a cartoon coyote fall down a cliff, and get up again is about as harmful as looking a Christmas tree, but there has been more complaints about cartoon violence over the years than the violence depicted on horror movies like Saw. For that matter they've been more complaints about Christmas trees than movies like Saw where humans are tortured and mutilated for entertainment purposes.

Even the Simpsons cartoon violence goes too far these days. I watched a recent Halloween episode that featured several instances of characters literally bleeding to death on screen. Cartoon characters don't bleed! That's why cartoon characters are normally funny. They fall. They explode. They get back up. We laugh just the way we sometimes laugh when someone falls and gets back up with no injury in real life.

What's the really big difference in my mind to old action movie and cartoon violence to modern day horror pictures? Getting entertained by an action scene is one thing. The mind is being entertained by the adventure of a scene not the human suffering, but to be entertained by the torture of another human being is like training the mind to be a Nazi. People should be skittish to pain, blood, and suffering of others unless they are planning on a career in the medical field, and if so I hope they don't get their training from Saw movies.

Halloween doesn't have to be gorey to be fun. I much rather see an old Frankenstein movie, or maybe Van Helsing, or even better an old monsters meet Abbott and Costello type film for the Halloween season.

Another aspect of horror movies that bugs me is that it's not about being scared anymore. It's about being shocked out of your mind. There's no suspense to knowing everybody is going to die. After a while they've shocked their audience to not even care if the characters in the movie die anyway. You want to scare an audience then make them care about the characters, and relate to them before putting the character up against some unseen danger the audience can only imagine. Now hidden terror is much more scarier than in your face nonsense.

So here's a thought Hollywood. Get some writers that you know can actually write stories to go along with your movies.

I know it's easy money to make slasher films. These slasher horror movies are the cheapest thing they can make for the bucks they bring in, but you'd hope that little thing called a conscience would bother somebody out there in Hollywood at some point.

And comic book violence is getting a little too much to be, you know, comic books. It's nothing to see somebody get an arm ripped off in superhero fight anymore. Don't they know superheroes don't lose arms in fights. They are supposed to be superheroes.

Have a heart people for your fellow man people, and I don't mean that in the literal sense.

Comic Books Have Changed!

Maybe you don't need a history lesson to realize how much comics have changed in the last couple of decades. I still remember those first few comic books I found in my grandma's garbage can. If she hadn't decided to throw them away, I would have never found out just how much I'd love to read and collect them. That was back in the early 70's, and those comics were a collection of Superman, Batman, and various Walt Disney Comics.

Grandma would not only throw away comics they have today. She'd burn them. Heck, some of them I'm not willing to pay any money for. Back in the 70's and 80's most comic book heroes faced modern day problems to be sure. Iron Man faced alcoholism for example, but these days in a drive to make stories more for adults, a kid can't read the main lines of comics anymore. Not unless you don't care what your kid reads or thinks. Today's heroes sometimes face issues over sexual identity as much as their secret identity. I'm old fashioned I admit, but superheroes ought to be worrying more about saving the world from being destroyed by a power mad super villain than soap opera antics best left to daytime talk shows.

Personally, my favorite comic stories were those that relied on a science fiction elements like all the Earth 2 stories that featured the JLA's alternate universe counterpart the JSA. I loved to read the old stories of Superman drawn by Curt Swan. Those days Superman had to use his wits as well as his super strength to defeat his enemies. It was always so fascinating to find out what he was going to do next. Books like the Hulk were just plain fun to read. Who could go wrong with, "Hulk smash"? These days that's not sophisticated enough though. Unless they've changed it in the last few issues that I've missed the Hulk these days tends to speak like you or I. Boring if you ask me. What kind of super gamma radiated monster talks just like everybody else? Why take what's unique about a character and make it just like all the other characters?

And don't get me started on Superman Returns the movie taking out the phrase, "The American way". What was that about? What's next Captain America changing his name to Captain UN?

Other huge changes in comics these days is the paper. I'm of a mixed view of this. I like the glossy stuff, but I'm not sure it's worth it if it's causing the price to be as high as comics are these days. I remember when 50 cents was starting to push it for me. Now you see books that are all the way up to 5 bucks, and you can only get them at comic book shops. Come on give me a break would you. I'll take the old days, cheap paper, and easy access at the local drug store, thank you very much, to having to drive to the city and not being to afford the extra gas money and the books. And back to my kid suitability point. The next generation of readers isn't going to be large enough to support printing comics. At this point it's all about the movie and TV deals anyway. The current comic buyer is getting older and older. I'd say a lot of the big collectors, the ones that buy and read comics year to year are over 30 years old at least. They got started by reading those old comics at the drug store back when they were still affordable. Sure maybe a lot of those guys are unlike me. Maybe they dig having exclusive comic shops, and heck, I love to go to comic shops don't get me wrong, but I still miss having quick and affordable access to comics I loved to read as a child.

And Marvel why you want to destroy Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane? In the comics Peter makes a deal with the devil to save Aunt May and lose his marriage to Mary Jane as if it never happened at all. Does anybody else see a problem here? A hero making a deal with the devil to end his marriage. First of all a heroes word is his bond. He made a vow till death do us part. Second, heroes have to learn that unfortunately death is a part of life that even Superman can't stop. Heck, they might as well write that Spider-man would release Hitler from hell if it would mean adding a few more years to Aunt May's life.

And let's talk politics. Never before has comic companies went out of their way to endorse a President more than this past year. I'm not against a current President appearing in a title. I thought it was cool back in the 80's when Reagan walked with Superman during the Legends mini series, but talk about going over board these days. Obama hadn't been in office more than a week and all of a sudden he's on the cover of Spider-man.

Gee whiz, let's be a little considerate of those that might have dared vote for the other guy would you.

Personally, I would have liked to read another What If Captain America had became President book instead. Now that was a classic issue. See a writer can get away with expressing their view points rather easily in a story, but a really good story teller should be subtle enough that the average reader isn't turned off if he happens to disagree with said writer. In fact I've read some stories in the past that were written in a way that I agreed with the writer until I found out what they actually believed. Come on guys why don't you just say vote for my guy if you like Spider-man on the cover, or vote for my guy if you're not a super villain.

Oh well make mine Marvel and DC till comics cost 50 cents, the Hulk smashes the Fortress of Solitude, and Superman realizes he's wearing his underwear on the outside all on the same day.