superman

Children's cancer wing transformed into superhero ward

Kids dealing with cancer at the A.C. Camargo Cancer Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil, are getting a slightly different kind of cancer-fighting treatment. The medicine is the same, but the delivery method carries a superheroic message. The IV fluid is now covered with superhero logos created by advertising agency JWT Brazil.

Warner Brothers (owner of DC Comics) is also a client of JWT and gave its blessing and a helping hand to the project that features Green Lantern, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The kids are given custom comic books and animations that show the popular superheroes undergoing similar treatments. The superheroes recover thanks to the "superformula" and continue in their crime-fighting ways.… Read more

Superman trailer re-created Minecraft-style

Superman is getting a fresh reboot in the upcoming film "Man of Steel." The third teaser trailer for the film is a shot-by-shot remake of the official trailer, done in the style of the Minecraft video game -- complete with square planets and a blocky Russell Crowe with a pixelated mustache.

Superman's chunky cape makes for some particularly amusing moments as it blows awkwardly around in the wind. Plus, we get Clark Kent as a Minecraft super-baby.… Read more

Grant Morrison: Google Glass is 'half-fish, half-man' (Q&A)

Superman has been able to leap a tall building in a single bound since he was created in 1938, but author Grant Morrison's ideas seem to know no limits.

DC Entertainment held a press event recently to celebrate the conclusion of Morrison's seven-year run writing Batman, in which he posited that all of Batman's adventures, from his dark crime-busting origins, to the crazy science-fiction romps of the 1950s, to what he calls the "hairy chested love-god" tales from the 1970s, to today's Dark Knight, have all happened to the character.

Morrison's authorial interests … Read more

All Batmans morph into one super Bruce Wayne

Take equal parts Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, and Christian Bale. Import head shots into Photoshop. Add a dash of Sqirlz Morph morphing software. Mix well. Enjoy your new Bruce Wayne!

Redditor morphinapg is on a tear, combining multiple actors into single images. So far, the intrepid graphic artist has tackled Batman, Superman, James Bond, and Doctor Who.

I have to say, this new Bruce Wayne looks pretty good. He could be a real person, and I could even see him getting cast in some Batman reboot down the line.… Read more

Neil deGrasse Tyson locates Superman's home planet

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman's home star system! Thanks to astrophysicist and geek all-star Neil deGrasse Tyson, Krypton has been located within the known universe.

Tyson teamed with DC Comics to track down a Krypton-like system that matches hints from the comics. He found a fitting red dwarf in the constellation Corvus (the crow) in the southern sky, a mere 27.1 light years from Earth. … Read more

Campaign aims to turn Kansas town into real Smallville

Turns out Smallville may be real after all. Superman's fictional home on our planet has some suspicious similarities to the town of Hutchinson, Kan. There's now an active Facebook campaign to rename Hutchinson as Smallville.

The campaign has culled facts from various Superman sources, including graphic novels, comic books, and the "Smallville" TV series, to find ways Hutchinson statistically matches up.

Here are some of the overlaps. Smallville is on the Arkansas River. So is Hutchinson. Smallville has a population of 45,000 people. Hutchinson has 42,080. They are both located in agricultural areas. The nearest big city for each is about three hours away (Metropolis for Smallville and Kansas City for Hutchinson). … Read more

Personalized superhero action figures: You are Iron Man!

Advances in 3D printing hold great promise for the creation of drugs, medical implants, prosthetics, and now superhero action figure versions of ourselves.

The $125 Personalized Superhero Action Figure available from Firebox is several big steps up from doodling a superhero version of yourself on the inside of your Trapper pocket folder.

It's pretty simple to turn yourself into a mini-me full of rippling muscles and superhuman strength. Take two pictures of yourself, one from the front and one from the side. Send them in to Firebox. Wait for the 3D-printed version of your head and your choice of action figure to arrive.… Read more

No free lunch? Who cares when there are free comic books!

How can you not love a world where once a year, comic book retailers across North America and the world open their doors and offer comics gratis to anyone who drops in?

That's exactly what's happening tomorrow -- on Free Comic Book Day. According to the official Web site, "Free Comic Book Day is a single day -- the first Saturday in May each year -- when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores."

To be sure, there are … Read more

Not so super, man

The latest incarnation of an officially licensed Superman video game turns out to be as mediocre as its many predecessors--passably fun, but somehow also capturing the tedium of life as an all-powerful, invulnerable superhero.

This 2D arcade-action game has some things going for it: The graphics are sharp (especially when you download the optional HD assets), and flying around as Superman--especially when you fly up into the darkness of space above Metropolis--looks and feels great. The cheesy comic back story (involving Lex Luthor and a weather-control satellite, naturally) can feel tacked on, alternating between superfluous single panels and long stretches … Read more

MIT lab invents X-ray vision, sort of

I am always of two minds about knowing what my neighbors are doing behind their closed doors. I know it must be something weird.

Why, one of my neighbors sits in his car--which is running and parked outside my house--for hours on end watching videos. Of course, he's married.

So I (or at least a part of me) is grateful that I might soon have the opportunity to see straight through their walls and spy on what kinds of videos they watch at home. You see, extremely clever people at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory have come up with a … Read more