The Bailey Planet Podcast

40 years ago this year John Byrne revamped Superman with a mini-series titled Man of Steel. This six issue mini-series is not only one of the most important events in the history of Superman, but was the foundation of what became "my era" of Superman and was, for the longest time, my favorite origin for the character.

Because of all of that I thought it would be fun to do a short, three episode series celebrating the anniversary of Man of Steel's release.

I'm calling it Man of Steel at 40...

This time out Andy and Mike talk about the main story from Detective Comics #359, which is the first appearance of the Barbara Gordon version of Batgirl. Now, some of you might be thinking that the Barbara Gordon Batgirl is quite popular, so how is her first appearance in comics in any way, form, or fashion "overlooked"? Mike actually makes the argument for why this version of her origin can be considered overlooked before the guys dig into "The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl!" Andy and Mike talk about the "New Look" era in general, Carmine Infantino's art...

The road to the end of It All Comes Back to Superman continues with a conversation about...fashion.

Back in 1983, the Powers That Be decided to revamp two of Superman's bad guys. They had creators pitch their ideas and finally landed on Marv Wolfman's new take on Brainiac (with a new robotic look by Ed Hannigan) and Cary Bates' ideas on how to take Lex Luthor to the next level, which involved a new suit of George Perez designed armor.

And it's the Lex part of this revamp that...

The road to the end of It All Comes Back to Superman starts here!

The show is wrapping up with episode 50, but there is so much fun to have until then and this episode is a lot of fun. Andrew Leyland (of Hey Kids Comics and The Amazing Spider-Man from the Beginning) joins me to finish out our talks about the various times Superman and Spider-Man team-up to discuss the two recent specials that Marvel and DC published.

It was originally going to be two episodes, but given our commentary it was better to get...

This time out I sit down with writer William Bernhardt, author of The Daniel Pike Series, The Splitsville Legal Thriller Series, and the Ben Kincaid novels, to talk about his newest book The Superman Wars: A Battle for Truth, Justice, and an American Icon. The official description of the book is...

Up in the sky! Look! It's Superman! Almost everyone knows about the man from Krypton who, disguised as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent working with the fearless Lois Lane, fights for the vulnerable and the oppressed. But few know the truth about this...

This time out Andrew Leyland joins me once again to talk about a team-up between Superman and Spider-Man. Marvel Treasury Edition #28 came out in April of 1981 and not only heralded the return of the Marvel/DC team-ups but once again had Superman and Spider-Man teaming up as well. This time they join forces against Doctor Doom in a plot that could be described as the title of an album from the English rock band Slade.

(In case you're curious, that album was called Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply. To be fair...

Another year, another Superman Day, another Superman Day Special!

This year I decided to finally pull the trigger on an idea I've had for some time now and even planned to do last year but since I tend to be a work sky fop I never got around to it.

It happens. A lot. I'm working on it.

Anyway, Superman has had a number of series over the years. Because of that he has had a lot of number one issues. I thought it would...

Moving Kryptonian Images reaches its penultimate chapter...finally.

Yes. I know. It's been a minute. I feel a bit bad about that, but life got weird towards the end of last year.

Anyway, I finally get to the film that inspired this series in the first place. Superman, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, came out last July and, by just about every metric, was a success. In terms of meeting box...

This time out I finish my look at Superman: Birthright by having a conversation with the man who wrote it!

That's right, I got the chance to sit down (so to speak) with Mark to talk about Birthright. We talked about other things as well, but most of the conversation was about that series. We go over why DC wanted a new origin in 2003, why Mark kept the Kents alive despite his personal feelings on their deaths in previous versions of the origin, why Clark and Lex were friends during their time in...

Many Lives, Many Origins, the series exploring the various versions of Superman's origin that I'll be doing off and on throughout 2026, continues with the second part of my look at Superman: Birthright.

Which, as I said during the last episode, is my favorite version of Superman's origin.

Full stop.

After a bit of housecleaning where I talk about the promo poster that was released to promote this series (which I really should have done last time but didn't) I get into issues six through twelve...

This time out I'm starting a new series that will run irregularly through 2026 called Many Lives, Many Origins. Superman has one of the best origins in comics. It's up there with Batman and Spider-Man as having a backstory that is timeless and just about perfect. Rocketed as a baby when his home world exploded, found by a kindly couple and raised as their son, Superman discovered that he possessed powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men and decided to use those powers to help mankind. Those basic elements have been part of Superman's backstory since his first...

Fifty years ago Marvel and DC teamed up to bring their, at the time, flagship characters together. Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man was a tabloid sized comic that saw Superman and Spider-Man not only fighting each other, but also taking on the titanic team-up of Lex Luthor and Doctor Octopus. To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of this book and to, down the road, ride the coat tails of the new version of Superman and Spider-Man teaming up I did a team-up of my own. Joining me to talk about this book is my good friend and co-host of The...

It's a new year, so I'm going to start things like I did last year...by looking back at the previous year. 

It's worked pretty well for the past few years and I actually put out a bunch of shows in 2025 and a certain film came out, so there's actually stuff to talk about, which, as you can imagine, makes putting out this episode a lot easier.

Anyway, in this off the cuff, unscripted, and increasing congested episode I talk about watching the final few episodes of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, w...

Forty years ago DC Comics published Crisis on Infinite Earths. That twelve issue series (plus a handful of crossover issues) was part celebration of DC's fiftieth birthday and part house cleaning. Worlds lived, worlds died and the DC Universe was never the same.

To celebrate what was, at one point, a holy text to my generation of comic book fans I thought it would be fun to look at what the Superman family was up to during the story.  Joining me on this journey is three time Eisner award winning journalist (for Women Writing About Comics) Cori Mc...

Welcome to a "starting a new universe is what the cool kids are doing" installment of the podcasting maxiseries called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I am joined by award winning author Keith R.A. DeCandido to talk about Superman: The Man of Tomorrow from 2020. This film launched a...

Welcome to a "down with the bourgeoisie, up with the proletariat" installment of the podcasting maxiseries called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

Greetings, comrade, and welcome to a podcast for the common man. This time out Henry Bernstein (he of Songs of Experience: A Bob Dylan Podcast, Superman and Lois and P...

Welcome to an "it's reigning men" filled installment of the podcasting maxiseries called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I am talking about the 2020 film Reign of the Supermen, which is the adaptation of the Superman story...Reign of the Supermen. 

I mean...if the name works, why...

Welcome to a very special, off the cuff, and completely spoiler filled installment of the podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I am solo to discuss my first (and second) impressions of the new Superman film. I cannot express how spoiler filled this episode is. I t...

Another week, another tangent from Moving Kryptonian Images.

This should be the last one. Promise. 

Anyway, in a weird way this episode could be considered an addendum to the conversation I had with Russ Burlingame about All-Star Superman. In the time between that episode and this one, another adaptation of that story has been released. On June 24, 2025 Penguin Random House put out an audiobook version of All-Star Superman with a cast that includes Marc Thompson, Kristen Sieh, Christopher Smith, Matthew Amendt, Scott Brick, Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes, Robert Fass, January LaVoy, Saskia Maarleveld, Brandon McInnis, and Ray Porter...

For various reasons, the next installment of Moving Kryptonian Images has been delayed. But...that doesn't mean that I don't have a new episode of the show to release.

Because I care.

Recently I sat down with Andrew Leyland (you know, my co-host on The Overlooked Dark Knight and the co-host of Hey Kids Comics and the host of The Amazing Spider-Man From The Beginning) and we talked about three times where Superman, either directly or indirectly, crossed paths with The Fantastic Four. Why? Because the FF are getting a new movie a few weeks...

Welcome to a very special installment of the podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

In 2018, the most famous (or, as some would say, infamous) Superman story of all time got a second chance at an animated film. Despite looking more like a New 52 story, The Death of Superman was a...

Welcome to another, equally controversial installment of the podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

Jon Wilson (he of of Ninjas and Bots, Babylon 5: Thirty Years Later, and The Spider Diaries) returns to talk about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It is both fair and accurate to say that from...

Welcome to a controversial installment of the podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

I think it is both fair and accurate to say that Man of Steel is a contentious Superman film, at least as far as the Superman fan community is concerned. It was a movie that brought i...

Welcome to a boundless installment of the podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out Tyler Patrick of The Krypton Report joins me to talk about Superman Unbound. This animated film is based on the Brainiac storyline from Action Comics issues 866-870, which was written by Geoff Johns w...

Welcome to second in my Summer Special series, which I'm doing because there's a big time Superman film coming out and extra content seemed like a fun idea. Also, I'm in the middle of big-time mega-series on the main show, and that series is pretty rigid in its format, so specials were the only way I was going to be able to talk about the things I am going to be talking about.

This time out I am joined by Rob O'Connor and Alan Burke of the All-Star Superfan Podcast to discuss a story that many Superman...

Welcome to a...dare I write it...SUPER sized installment of the podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I am shaking up the format. Slightly. This time I am joined by old friend Charlie Niemeyer (host of Charlie's Geekcast and Ranger Chronicles) to talk about Superman v...

The first full trailer for James Gunn's Superman film dropped on May 14th and because there is a little-known federal law that was passed with full bipartisan support several years ago that states if you are a Superman content creator and a new Superman trailer (teaser or otherwise) drops, you have to do a reaction video/episode within 10 business days or face substantial fines and possibly jail time. Given how well I would do in prison (or rather how well I wouldn't do in prison) and the fact that I couldn't pay any kind of fine, substantial or otherwise...

Welcome to another cells exploding installment of a podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I am joined by Russ Burlingame (journalist and author of The Gold Exchange: The Unofficial Booster Gold Companion and Best Movie Ever: An Oral History of Kaplan and Elfront's Josie and the P...

Welcome to another apocalyptic installment of a podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I welcome Doctor Anj (of the Supergirl: Comic Box Commentary blog) to talk about Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, which adapts the Superman/Batman: Supergirl storyline. Not that you could tell from the title of t...

Hey there and welcome to the first in a series of Summer Specials here on It All Comes Back to Superman. I don't know if you've heard but there's a new Superman movie coming out this summer and both DC Comics and DC Studios have declared this to be the Summer of Superman! I don't know if this is a legally binding type of thing, but I felt obligated to celebrate this with a series of specials because I can't do it in the main show because I'm in the midst of a huge mega-series called Moving Kryptonian Images...

Things continue to be animated this time out on the seemingly never ending podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out Donovan Morgan Grant of Questions: We Don't Have Answers Podcast and writer for the DC Comics website joins me to talk about Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, the a...

Welcome to It All Comes Back to Superman Series 2's second and final entry into the mammoth and totally awesome JSApril podcasting crossover! Because the JSA is turning 85 this year and a bunch of us wanted to celebrate that!

This time out I am joined by Derek Russel (he of Super House of El and The Siegel and Shuster Society Podcast) to talk about the first time the Justice Society was ever done in live action and it just so happens that it is Superman related. Back in 2010 the Smallville television series had an epic, two hour e...

Welcome to It All Comes Back to Superman Series 2's entry into the mammoth and totally awesome JSApril podcasting crossover!

What is JSApril? It's a celebration of the 85th anniversary of the Justice Society of America! It was spearheaded by my friend Shag from The Fire and Water Podcast Network and there are dozens of blogs and podcasts that are all doing entries and episodes focusing on some aspect of the JSA's history.

In this, the first of two specials that you'll be getting, I talk about the Justice Society of America storyline Thy Kingdom...

Welcome to another city smashing installment of a podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I am joined by Anthony Desiato of Digging For Kryptonite: A Superman Fan Journey and Another Exciting Episode in the Adventures of Superman to talk about the first in a series of a...

Welcome...or should I say thank you for returning to the seemingly never ending podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out Andrew Leyland of Hey Kids Comics, The Amazing Spider-Man From The Beginning, and The Overlooked Dark Knight fame joins me to talk about 2006's Superman Returns. In...

It's Superman Day!

Yes, once again April 18th has rolled around and another Superman Day has come to pass and this year I was in a position to actually do something about it and that "thing" is something I've been planning for literally years and now I am finally getting it done.

Presenting...my Top 10 Bestest Superman Stories Ever!

Not the "best" Superman stories. Not my "favorite" Superman story. An amalgam of the two ideas mashed together to make for something that truly reflects what I love about Superman and his stories. After...

Welcome to another exciting and can't miss installment of a podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I am joined by Luke Bugg, the Geek of Steel, host of The Podcast of Steel and co-host of The Siegel and Shuster Society Podcast, to talk about the 2006 direct-to-home me...

Welcome to an installment of the podcasting maxi-series  Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman that was not planned at all and came together quickly! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

In the previous episode Adam Mallinger and I talked about three scripts that were ultimately unproduced on the long, nineteen year road to what would become Superman Returns. One...

Welcome to an off-beat installment of the podcasting maxi-series  Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out I am not covering a movie, either live action or animated. I am covering three scripts to Superman films that were never made. Joining me is Adam Mallinger, who not only worked as a sc...

Welcome to the another bat-tastic installment of the podcasting maxi-series called Moving Kryptonian Images: The Live Action and Animated Adventures of Superman! The purpose of this series is to celebrate the release of the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor!

This time out J David Weter (but you can call him Dave) of The Bat-Pod Podcast and Justice League Legacies joins me to talk about The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest. This is another example o...