Last month was the 30th anniversary of when I started reading comic books. I still remember the very first comics I read: DC Comics Presents #6, Detective Comics #482, Justice League of America #163, World's Finest Comics #255, The Brave and the Bold #147, and Super Friends #17.

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the release of Superman: The Movie. I watched it again tonight to mark the occasion. I first saw it when I was eight years old. Along with Star Wars, it was one of the formative experiences in my development as a geek. It was never a perfect film by any means, but Christopher Reeve remains the definitive Superman/Clark Kent. The idea that a business suit and glasses would work as a disguise seemed silly until Reeve made it seem plausible. John Williams' theme still makes me want to tie a red towel around my neck and jump off of furniture whilst pretending to fly.

According to a recent report, Smallville may be canceled after the current season, its eighth. Although ratings have improved and the network would likely renew it for at least another season, star Tom Welling’s contract is up and he may be ready to move on. The big question of whether the show will end with Clark Kent becoming Superman and putting on a certain red-and-blue costume for the first time is up in the air because DC Comics is concerned it would somehow hurt any future Superman films, which is absurd. I'll be disappointed if it ends without at least one shot of Welling in costume.

I watched the first few episodes of Wolverine and the X-Men. It’s surprisingly good for a Marvel animated show. Not quite up to the standard set by the DC Animated Universe, but still good. The show was developed by former X-Men: Evolution writers Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson (Kyle has also written New X-Men and Young X-Men comics with writing partner Christopher Yost, who’ll also be writing episodes of the show).

Batman: The Brave and the Bold is also entertaining and has a Silver Age feel to it. In contrast to the darker portrayals of Batman, even in animation, here he has a good sense of humor, and it's nice to see characters like Blue Beetle and Plastic Man in animated form.

The first season of Merlin ended last Saturday. I stand by my initial description of it as the "Smallville of the Arthurian mythos. That's not a dig, either. It's a lightweight but entertaining show with a photogenic cast, and some strong acting each week from Anthony Stewart Head as Uther Pendragon. It succeeds on the level intended. While it will never win any awards for being great drama, I looked forward to its escapism each week. It's been renewed for a second season. Meanwhile, the first season will debut in the US on the NBC network in early 2009.

There are only two episodes left of Stargate Atlantis. It's ironic that its landmark 100th episode will also be its final episode. It was canceled so a new show set in the same fictional universe could be produced, namely Stargate Universe. I wasn't too keen on the idea of the new show until actor Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, The World is Not Enough) was cast in it.

The Genesis of Doctor Who Collection - a must see for fans of the good Doctor, as the BBC has created a web archive of key documents detailing the development of the show just in time for the 45th anniversary of the first episode's broadcast on November 23rd.

Star Trek trailer - the official release, not a blurry bootleg. I saw it on the big screen yesterday before Quantum of Solace, and it looked even more awesome. Some of the potential violations of canon in the trailer annoy me a little, but I'll withhold judgment until I see the actual film.

The First Avenger: Captain America has a director attached: Joe Johnston. His directing credits include Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Jumanji, Jurassic Park III, the upcoming Wolf Man remake, and, last but not least, the underrated 1991 retro superhero film The Rocketeer. It's that last film that makes me think he's a good choice to direct The First Avenger: Captain America. The screenplay is being written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, co-writers of the first two Chronicles of Narnia films.

Josh Schwartz (creator of The O.C., Chuck, and Gossip Girl) has been hired to write the screenplay for the next X-Men film, which will focus on a younger team of mutants and will be called X-Men: First Class.

Has anyone reading this ever seen the French/Japanese anime-influenced animated series, Ōban Star-Racers? I've caught a half dozen or so episodes out of sequence on cable and I really like it. I need to get the DVDs and watch the entire series in order.

Production has been temporarily halted on Joss Whedon's new television show, Dollhouse, because he felt the scripts for some episodes weren't good enough. He's going to oversee re-writes before production begins again. This won't cause a delay for the show, because it isn't going to debut until January. Earlier, he shot a new first episode, deciding to use the previously filmed pilot as the second episode.

Iron Man director Jon Favreau revealed details of Iron Man 2 at a news conference today. The second film will introduce the Mandarin as the villain, and will also see the character of Rhodey become War Machine. Favreau is considering shooting it in IMAX and/or 3-D. Actor turned screenwriter Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder) is writing the first draft of the screenplay. Iron Man 2 is scheduled for release on April 30, 2010.

After a successful animated spoof of Star Wars last year, Family Guy is at it again with a planned spoof of The Empire Strikes Back, again with the approval of George Lucas.

According to a recent report, Spider-Man 4 is a go with director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire both returning, and a screenplay by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac). Vanderbilt should help the franchise get back on track after Raimi and his brother Ivan (Darkman, Army of Darkness) wrote the script for Spider-Man 3 with mixed results. The studio may also shoot Spider-Man 4 and a planned Spider-Man 5 back-to-back. Look for Spider-Man 4 in May 2011.

20th Century Fox is expanding their list of X-Men spinoff films. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is set for release on May 1, 2009, and a film about a young Magneto is still being developed. Now the slate includes development of a Deadpool film (he'll be played by Ryan Reynolds in X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and a film about a team of younger X-Men (New Mutants, perhaps?). The studio might also make a Daredevil sequel.

Campy early 1980s television show The Greatest American Hero is being developed for a big screen remake to be directed by Stephen Herek (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure). I remember watching that way back when.

Review: Astonishing X-Men #25

It's a smooth transition from the old creative team of writer Joss Whedon and artist John Cassaday to the new one of writer Warren Ellis and artist Simone Bianchi, especially going from one master of clever dialog in Whedon to another in Ellis. Bianchi's painted art is very different from Cassaday's more traditional style, but both tend toward a certain kind of realism that eschews cartoonish or unrealistically proportioned characters.

Ellis quickly establishes a new status quo and a new lineup for the team as they're called in by the San Francisco Police Department to consult on a homicide case that may involve a mutant. It's a more down to earth story so far than Whedon's epic storylines, but in inimitable Ellis fashion, it all points to something weird and technological. Ellis' dialog makes it a treat to read.

Happy 45th Anniversary, X-Men!

45 years ago today, X-Men #1 was published with a cover date of September 1963 (comic book cover dates have traditionally been postdated 2-3 months).

In that very first issue, creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby set the stage for decades of stories by introducing the characters of Professor Xavier and his original team of mutant superheroes--Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and Marvel Girl--and their arch-nemesis Magneto. The story was plotted by Lee and Kirby, scripted by Lee, and penciled by Kirby (with inking by Paul Reinman and lettering by Sam Rosen).

Their concept of superheroes feared and hated for being different elevated the X-Men from simple crimefighters to a powerful metaphor that later writers used to address racism, homophobia, and intolerance in our own world. This trait immediately set the X-Men apart from other superhero teams.

Lee and Kirby's creation has become one of the most popular and enduring teams of superheroes in comics, spinning off into many other comic book titles, animated television shows, and three highly successful Hollywood films that raised the profile of the characters even higher. Individual team members such as Wolverine have become arguably even more popular than the team itself.

Although Lee and Kirby only lasted three years on the series, they paved the way for creators like Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, Len Wein, Dave Cockrum, Chris Claremont, and John Byrne to carry it into the 1970s and the 1980s, despite the first half of the 1970s seeing it publishing only reprints of earlier material, and those creators paved the way for the continued success of the book and its spinoffs right up to the present, where creators like superstar writers Joss Whedon and Warren Ellis have put their own stamps on the characters.

The Claremont/Byrne creative team had a legendary run from 1978 to 1981 that produced one of the most famous and influential storylines in comics, "The Dark Phoenix Saga." A recent poll by Comics Should Be Good! ranked the Claremont/Byrne run as the second best in the history of comics behind only Neil Gaiman's run on Sandman. Five other X-Men runs by different creators were ranked in the Top 100. The legacy of the X-Men in comics history is assured.

I was first introduced to the X-Men in January 1980 when X-Men #135 went on sale. This was right in the middle of "The Dark Phoenix Saga," and immediately established for me what good comics storytelling was all about. I'd been reading comics for a little over a year, but X-Men #135 was when my love affair with the medium began.

Reviews: Lost and various comics

Review: Lost, Episodes 4.12/4.13/4.14, "There's No Place Like Home, Parts 1-3"

I have to admit that I was beginning to lose some interest this season, but the three-part season finale written by showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof has me hooked all over again. To describe some of the events as mindblowing would be an understatement. Now I can't wait for the fifth season to begin in January 2009.

Review: Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1

No spoilers, but wow, what a way for writer Joss Whedon and artist John Cassaday to end their four year run on Astonishing X-Men. Though I only kept up with it the past year through online issue summaries, the ending is still a kick in the gut. What a typically Joss way to end his run on something. Bravo!

Review: Final Crisis #1

This was the release that I most anticipated and made me want to read comics again, so I was a little underwhelmed by it's actual content. As the supposedly final chapter in a loose trilogy of Crisis events (including 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths and 2005's Infinite Crisis, or alternatively Infinite Crisis and 2004's Identity Crisis), there's nothing that really grabs you right from the start. It seems muddled so far and I don't have a good feel for where it's going. Writer Grant Morrison can be brilliant, but he's at his weakest when writing mainstream superhero comics. We'll see which way this miniseries eventually goes.

Review: Angel: Revelations #1

Writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa serves up an interesting take on the life of Warren Worthington III before he grows a pair of wings, but it's nearly undone by the hideously ugly art of Adam Pollina. Oh, my bleeding eyes.