Superheroically named Infinite Tucker of Texas A&M University won the 400-meter hurdles at the 2019 SEC Track & Field Championships. He clearly wanted the win. Badly.
"...I saw my ma at the finish, and I jumped to give her a hug,” Tucker told ESPN. “That’s all it is.” Read the rest
You may not have noticed, what with there being a cellphone in pocket of almost all Americans, but according to CNN, there's still 100,000 payphone in the United States. This is great news for Maroon 5, superheroes looking for a place to change and 1930s detectives calling into to their office to talk to a sassy secretary.
For those of you too young to remember, before cellphones and smartphones were ubiquitous, staying in touch when you were out and about meant having to ask your bartender to use her phone or finding a payphone. Opting for the latter meant walking, maybe, a few blocks to find a bank of payphones or a phone booth. According to CNN, there were still two million payphones as late as 1999. Just under two decades later, that number has shrunk down to 100,000. As payphone became less profitable, the appeal for large telecoms to spend money on their upkeep lost its luster. Nowadays, when you see a payphone in the wild, it's likely owned by a smaller company with lower expectations of what an acceptable margin of profitability looks like.
That anyone is interested in maintaining a network of payphone in operation is a lifeline to those who can't afford to own a mobile phone, who's smartphone ran out of juice at the worst possible time and during disasters. In the wake of an major earthquake or other major regional event, cellphone networks can often lock up from too many people attempting to access the system at the same time. Read the rest
The perils of modern online life even affect the Man of Steel. Jimmy Olsen's snap run through Facebook's evil autotagging is more observant than Lois. Lots more brilliant stuff by Brakken here. Read the rest
Artist, designer, and model Kay Pike transformed herself into Superman using body paint. Read the rest
Parisian photographer Jackie Tadeoni Sacha Goldberger created this wonderful series of superheroes (and Snow White!) as subjects of Baroque Flemish portraits. Read the rest
The most valuable comic book in the world, a fine copy of Action Comics #1 (June 1938) with the debut of Superman, is up for auction on eBay in a benefit for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. Here's the story of its provenance:
Superman artist Joe Shuster would have turned 100 today. Artist Drew Friedman celebrates the occasion by unveiling a new portrait of Siegel and his partner Jerry Shuster.
Read the restMy new portrait of artist Joe Shuster and writer Jerry Siegel, circa 1939 in Cleveland, shortly after they signed away all the rights to their new character Superman to National/DC comics for the total sum of $130. The check they endorsed was actually for over $400, padded out with other payments due them, no doubt to make the signing more enticing.
The original art from Action Comics number 15 sold for the price of a house at auction this week.It's interesting that the earlier covers of Action Comics either do not exist, or are stashed away somewhere and forgotten.
The earliest Superman cover art known to exist – Fred Guardineer’s action-packed tableau from 1939 of the Man of Steel from Action Comics #15 – brought $286,800 at Heritage Auctions on Feb. 22 in New York.
“Guardineer’s cover is the earliest Superman cover art in existence,” said Ed Jaster, Senior Vice President at Heritage, “and an absolute treasure of comics history. A price like this shows just how much collectors covet a rarity like this.”
The Action #15 cover depicts Superman in full hero mode, saving a distressed U.S. Submarine just a few feet from a presumably bad end in the depths of the ocean, without seemingly an ounce of strain.
It was purchased by Richard Evans, of Houston, TX, who owns Bedrock City Comics Company. He has said that he plans to display the cover in his shop.
“I’m just a big fan,” he said.
Fred Guardineer Action Comics #15 Superman Cover Original Art Read the rest
Herbert Chaves, 35, continues his surgical transformation into Superman:
“I feel like a Superhero whenever I pull on the costume, but my mission is not to save the world but to help in my own small way and bring a smile to the faces of local children… I don’t have any regrets at all. People come up to me in the street all the time and want their picture taken with me… They are all really excited to see a real-life Superman in the Philippines.”
"Superman Fan Had 19 Surgeries To Look Like Clark Kent" (The Inquisitr)
Man undergoes extensive plastic surgery to look like Superman ... Read the restHis constant presence in pop culture is so pervasive that it's easy to forget he reached a milestone anniversary this year. One look around San Diego Comic-Con this month, and you'd have spotted the star of the show, continuing to fight for truth, justice and the American way even after 75 years. Superman is here to stay. Read the rest
My favorite photo from Comic-con. Appears to be this excellent guy. Read the rest
Geek cook Chris-Rachael Oseland of kitchenoverlord.com has come up with another awesome nerd-themed recipe: bread that displays the Superman "S" symbol, just like Clark Kent would eat for his hero sandwich. The end result looks super fun and cute, but the process of making the multi-layered, colored bread is really interesting, too. I can imagine making other special-occasion breads in the same way.
Previously on Boing Boing: "Sci-fi bread recipes: Sandworm loaf from Dune, and Alien xenomorph pretzel eggs."
A 13-minute publicity featurette about the making of Man Of Steel. Read the rest
