Did you know that Superman had a board game in the 50s? If Ebay didn’t exist, we wouldn’t have either! Keith Lehtinen joins Case and Jmike for some commentary and game highlights on this relic from a simpler time.

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Meeting summary:

●      In the latest podcast episode titled "129 - Calling Superman," hosts Case, J Mike, and Keith delve into a nostalgic review of the 1954 board game 'Calling Superman.' The group discusses gameplay mechanics, where players take on the role of reporters seeking news assignments while navigating obstacles on the board, with Superman available to assist through a spinner mechanism. The hosts analyze strategies for gameplay, noting how the potential for chaos increases with up to eight players, and they consider the implications of proposed house rules. Additionally, they appreciate the game's vibrant art, reminiscent of classic comic book styles from artists like Wayne Boring and Kurt Swan, and reflect on potential updates for a modern edition while highlighting its impressive preservation over 70 years. Action items include Case adding an image of the board game to the show notes and all participants agreeing to play another round post-recording for further insights.

Notes:

●      🎲 Playing the Superman Board Game (00:00 - 08:11)

●      Case, J Mike, and Keith played 'Calling Superman' board game from 1954

●      Game involves reporters trying to get news assignments and calling Superman for help

●      Players move around the board, facing obstacles and using transportation options

●      Superman can be called to bypass impediments on the board

●      Game ends when a player completes their assignment and returns to the Daily Planet

●      🦸‍♂️ Game Mechanics and Strategy (08:11 - 18:25)

●      Board has multiple paths and choices for each assignment

●      Players can get stuck in loops or face setbacks from detours and red lights

●      Superman's availability is determined by a spinner

●      Game allows for up to 8 players, which could make it more chaotic and competitive

●      Players discussed potential house rules and strategic decisions

●      🎨 Game Design and Art (18:26 - 27:39)

●      Board art features Superman solving various disasters

●      Game cards have headlines and assignments related to Superman's actions

●      Art style resembles comic book artists like Wayne Boring or Kurt Swan

●      Game is well-preserved considering its age (70 years old)

●      Participants discussed potential updates and improvements for a modern version

 Transcription

00:00
Keith
Okay, so you spin the call Superman wheel.

00:02
Case
Didn't feel like a spin per se.

00:04
Keith
But let's press it down a little bit.

00:07
Case
Okay. What is that one?

00:09
Jmike
Superman not available.

00:10
Keith
Proceed alone on your next turn.

00:13
Jmike
Okay.

00:14
Keith
He's like, no, I'm good.

00:33
Case
Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the Men of Steel podcast. I'm case Aiken. And in the room with me for the first time in literal years, I've got my co host, J. Mike Falsen.

00:44
Jmike
I mean, you make it sound like it's been so long. It's only been, like five years.

00:48
Case
Oh, I know. So, listeners, this is a monumental moment for us because we actually haven't recorded live since the pandemic, and as a result, we actually haven't seen each other since the pandemic started.

00:58
Keith
So long.

01:00
Case
Yeah, I know. It's kind of wild, but, yeah. So we're here live. We also have Keith from. We have issues.

01:06
Keith
Hello.

01:08
Case
And we are sitting around the Superman board game that we just played.

01:13
Keith
Yes.

01:14
Case
Yeah. So I figured there had to be a retro board game for Superman. And I was goddamn right. So we just played calling Superman, which is a news game, but Superman helps you. We had Keith visiting, and J and I came over, and were able to actually, like, play this live. I lost.

01:29
Jmike
Yeah.

01:31
Keith
Spoilers. Spoilers. Depending on how this editing. Spoilers.

01:35
Case
Yeah. So we're kind of curious how this is gonna go. We recorded the audio of us playing, but, you know, it's just a lot of us cursing at each other, cursing at Superman.

01:43
Keith
Hey, I get to call Superman. Superman's not available for me, either. Superman a hater. Call Superman. I'm like, pick up, dude.

01:54
Case
So now you're up. I need to call Superman.

01:57
Keith
Superman has not heard your call.

01:59
Jmike
Aren't you Jimmy Olsen? You have the signal.

02:02
Keith
Watch. You have to watch Brian, bro.

02:03
Jmike
He's left you on a rage just.

02:04
Keith
Hanging out with Perry. Him and Perry are getting, like, street meat. Okay. No, Superman's not available for me. Come on, Clark. Yes, my boy. Let's go.

02:18
Case
Keith has possession of Superman.

02:20
Keith
Let's go, bro. He's too busy carrying me over a train. He's like, y'all are needy. Thank you. Cool.

02:32
Jmike
Yes.

02:33
Keith
He's standing next to you.

02:36
Case
Sorry. There's a lot of interference. It's like when you're on the phone and the person's in the same room, so you're getting the echo going. It's like. I can't make out what you're saying.

02:44
Jmike
Superman. Yeah. Hey, yo. Come on, dude.

02:50
Keith
Yes. Cool. Call Supermande. Is he gonna answer your phone?

02:55
Case
No, I'm not a praying man.

02:58
Keith
He's in there waiting for me to call. Superman has stopped the bankrupt.

03:00
Case
Okay. And does he have an urgent call somewhere?

03:03
Keith
No, no, it's busy.

03:05
Jmike
Do it.

03:06
Keith
Thank God.

03:07
Case
Superman not available.

03:08
Keith
Oh, man. You gotta be kidding me.

03:11
Case
Who you gonna call?

03:12
Keith
Superman.

03:16
Case
So in the game, you're just playing like generic cub reporters? We decided to claim that were respective members of the Daily Planet staff. So you were claiming to be Lana Lange in this scenario?

03:27
Keith
You got damn right.

03:29
Case
I was calling myself Jimmy Olsen and J Mike was calling himself Perry White.

03:32
Jmike
Yay. He still lost it.

03:34
Case
Which we should note that Lois Lane is actually one of the challenges on the board. So it makes sense that none of us were Lois.

03:40
Keith
Yeah, I think that's one of the missed opportunities here for me. And again, this might be a time of the age. They have this really cool Superman stand up that I really like. And I'm like, they could have made a Jimmy Olsen and a couple others to be the things. And so we got some pretty generic looking. Sorry. Little figures.

03:56
Jmike
Yeah.

03:57
Keith
But, yeah.

03:58
Case
Yeah. So the basic deal is you're a reporter. You start at the Daily Planet and then you draw a card that tells you what your news assignment is. And you have to navigate the board to get to that assignment. And I think the deal is once you get to the assignment, you have to call Superman to save the day.

04:13
Jmike
Yeah, yeah.

04:14
Case
And then you have to make it back to the Daily Planet to hand in your story. And then you go and do another one. And so you could theoretically make this, like, a massive game where everyone has a ton of assignments.

04:23
Keith
Yeah, I was thinking, like, a play until you're out of assignments. See who gets meant in the most. Yeah, it's interesting that all the assignments are, like, essentially natural disaster ish and nothing to do with any villain.

04:36
Jmike
Oh, you got the bank robbers thing.

04:37
Keith
Yeah, but, like, I was looking for, like, a yemenite, you know, Eder gang. Yeah. Brainiac has taken over, blah, blah or something. Toy man.

04:46
Case
So this came out in 1954.

04:47
Keith
Yeah, it's true.

04:48
Case
So in terms of, like, the pantheon of Superman villains, there's not that many at this point. Like, metallo would be in here. Mister Mix's spitlet could be in here. Obviously, Lex Luthor could be in.

04:56
Keith
They weren't brands either, right at that point. Like. Like they are now. Yeah. But, yeah, it's fun. Again, I like the complexity of it. It's surprisingly complex for the time.

05:05
Case
Yeah. So there's all kinds of pieces that are impediments or potential aids. And those are the kind of fun ones. And then there's the phone. They missed a golden opportunity for it to be a phone booth.

05:15
Keith
Yes. Thank you. I was thinking exact thing.

05:18
Case
So there's the phone that you can call Superman on. It's not a signal watch also, which is the other thing. But you can call Superman, and he allows you to bypass any of the impediments that are on the board. The impediments, the big two are the detour signs, which stop you in your tracks, or I cause you to go back three squares if you end on the detour, and the red lights stop you in your tracks or causes you to lose your next turn, which sounds like the red light's worse. But honestly, considering how many ones that were rolling, I would honestly say the detour might actually be worse.

05:51
Keith
I hit a red light and had to skip a turn. I think I'm the only person who had to skip a turn. I did, too. Oh, yeah.

05:55
Case
Yeah.

05:55
Keith
And it didn't slow me down significantly.

05:58
Case
Yeah. You ended up winning right after that.

06:00
Jmike
Yeah.

06:02
Case
And then there's the travel options, which honestly are as dangerous as they are good, which is there's a taxi, a plane, and a train that will move you a certain number of spaces. Trains move you forward one space. Planes, two spaces, and taxis, you reroll. But they only go in the direction that they're facing, which means that if you are one away from any of these and you roll a one, it is likely you're going in the direction you don't want to be going.

06:26
Keith
Yeah, they were definitely more impeding than helpful in our game, specifically.

06:33
Case
Yeah, I'm sure there's a meta. Like, so the board is a meta. Well, no, I'm sure there's a meta in terms of figuring out what are the optimal routes for all these different challenges, because there's a lot of branching paths. It's really cool. In the show notes, I'll have a picture of the board game just because I don't know how I'm going to do the episode art without taking a picture of the board game.

06:54
Keith
I personally, just talking strategy, was trying to. If there's something that's going to push me back, I was trying to aim for something that'll push me back into a phone. Right.

07:03
Jmike
Superman, please help.

07:04
Keith
Yeah, exactly.

07:05
Case
Yeah. Cause then they have spinners that you use instead of dice or anything for your movement number and then also for calling Superman.

07:13
Jmike
Well, I mean, the cool thing is there's no one way to go about getting to the assignment. There's multiple places to go for each.

07:19
Keith
Thing, but it's definitely choice.

07:20
Jmike
Yeah, there's some choices and, you know, sometimes, like case you get caught in.

07:23
Keith
A loop.

07:26
Jmike
It'S just a continual thing.

07:27
Keith
Same taxi driver keeps taking you back to the same place.

07:30
Jmike
Did you just see you like three minutes ago?

07:33
Keith
I think it's cool that it's up to eight players. Like, that's a lot.

07:37
Case
That is a lot of players. This could be a very big board game if you wanted it to. Like, you could just play through all the cards, have a lot of people playing it. It could be pretty chaotic.

07:46
Jmike
Everyone trying to get Superman at the same time.

07:48
Keith
Yeah. Eight people trying to get Superman.

07:51
Case
Yeah.

07:52
Keith
There was a couple little rules. Hiccups. Again, as someone who plays a lot of board games that jumped out at me. We were confused as to once you got to your location, what do you do? Because it says you have to call Superman. So you decided that you had to call him and get him to come to you to solve the problem.

08:07
Case
Yeah.

08:07
Keith
Doesn't explicitly say that in the rules, but I think that's a fair, it's.

08:11
Case
A fair rule to make it last longer, especially when it was three of us. So it was moving pretty fast with three players. With a full eight, this could get really big because you could have people stealing Superman each time. Like lots of pieces are going to move back and forth. And as a rule, so two players can sit one square, but you can't have more than two players. So if we had eight players, we would constantly be losing our turns because if you land on a square that two players are occupying, then you have to go back to your starting point.

08:38
Keith
Another thing it doesn't explicitly state, but I actually felt a little like, oh, I should say this, but I'm not gonna. Me and J Mike had the same last assignment and were both there when I called Superman. And I'm like, the story is Superman saved the bridge and we both witnessed it. Technically, in my head, he should have been able to report on what I was reporting on and got other too. Not have to call him to save the bridge again. But I was also like, but I also want to win the game. So.

09:07
Case
Yeah, yeah. We also house ruled it that if you had Superman with you when you landed on the square, technically you got it and bypassed. That whole mechanic. Like the game is interesting and has some complexity to it, but there's definitely house rules just to make it work from the instructions.

09:24
Jmike
My kind of head can is that when you're both racing to the assignment, it's kind of like how Lois and Clark are, like, always dicking around with each other, like, stealing each other's passports or moving someone's invitation somewhere else so they can't find it, and then they're kind of stuck there.

09:38
Case
Yeah, it definitely felt like after just doing the Fleischer episode that, like, it.

09:43
Jmike
Was the volcano one.

09:44
Case
Yeah, exactly. That kind of, like, backstabbing from Lois is really appropriate for Lois.

09:49
Keith
I'm just imagining when you were stuck in the loop with the taxi guy. Like, I go past in my car and he gives me a thumbs up.

09:55
Jmike
I'm like, yeah, it's my byline this weekend.

10:00
Case
So I had no idea what this game was going to be when I first looked it up or even when we actually started playing it because I didn't look at the instructions until they came over. It's certainly interesting, and it's definitely attacked. Like I've talked about, the Superman narrative sometimes works better if Superman isn't your point of view character, that it really helps to have him be the friend of someone who is being in danger. So that way the stakes work because the issue isn't about Superman surviving. It's about succeeding for whomever our actual point of view is. So I think that this game kind of approaches that pretty well. I like that. I like the news narrative. I think that's a cool idea for how you would tackle a Superman board game.

10:39
Keith
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I'm a big supporter of journalism in general, and that's. It was really cool to be like, oh, I'm a reporter on the job. And rushed into the. Yeah, I like, the whole point is to get there. I like the implication that you're the one that makes sure Superman gets there to save the day.

10:54
Case
Yeah.

10:54
Keith
You know what I mean? You have a purpose for being there besides reporting. So very cool.

10:59
Case
Yeah. Another thing that's cool about this. So in theory, you're traveling around Metropolis. I could see this being an updated game with, like, a more detailed map that has kind of, like a city layout to it.

11:08
Jmike
With dice.

11:09
Keith
Yeah, with dice.

11:12
Case
Or really, I'm thinking in, like, tabletop simulator.

11:14
Keith
Yeah.

11:15
Case
Which could use the spinner still and have it work that way. But then, like, maybe have, like, animated thing that happens for some stuff, like Superman flying in.

11:24
Keith
You could add other, like, Metropolis locations too, like, you know, like the baseball stadium or, like, bebos barn. Yeah, that'd be kind of fun. Yeah.

11:33
Case
Yeah.

11:33
Keith
And again, I want little Jimmy Olsen. That'd be cool. And then, of course, then at that point, we can incorporate the villains.

11:40
Case
Yeah, well, you could put villains, and you can also put the more robust daily Planet staff, like Ron shrub, for example.

11:47
Keith
Yeah, yeah.

11:47
Case
You could definitely have more reporters be represented there because the pieces are really just generic, like, sorry, pieces.

11:53
Keith
Yeah.

11:54
Case
What are they?

11:56
Keith
I was kind of looking at.

11:57
Case
They kind of look like a bell. Like a jing kind of bell handle. Yeah. I don't know what I would say this is or what would even make sense, you know? Like, I could see a typewriter as your player piece. Yeah. A camera would be good. A notebook with a.

12:11
Keith
For going, like, the monopoly direction.

12:13
Case
Yeah, well, kind of.

12:14
Jmike
Yeah.

12:14
Keith
Yeah.

12:15
Case
On that note, the art of this is not really laid out. There's no listed artists on any of the material that we have. It looks very much like Wayne boring, early Wayne boring, especially with, like, the small details. But it's hard to really say. Like I said, there's no, like, signed art anywhere on here. And it could just be like, I forget the timeline for when Siegel and Schuster were ousted. So Schuster had, like, a team of artists that were doing things for him. And it could just be, like, one of those guys.

12:46
Keith
Yeah, I was looking. And it's not only is there not an artist listed, there's not even a designer of the game listed.

12:52
Case
Yeah, actually, now that I say that, like, looking at the muscles on this one kind of looks Kurt Swanish.

13:00
Keith
Okay.

13:00
Case
But it's a weird kind of detail there. But the front cover really looks like Wayne boring. That's where I took that assessment. So there's only one five on the turn.

13:10
Keith
So my next turn. I skip my next turn. Okay. Stuck in traffic. This j Mike blows past. I'm just honking my horn, like, come on, reporter here. Don't you guys know there's a bridge collapsing? It's probably why there's traffic. They even put the reporters on the.

13:29
Case
COVID Yeah, they put the reporters on the COVID So you would think. And it's got Lois Lane, Clark Kent, Perry Wade, and Jimmy Olsen. So I was wondering, like, what's Clark Kent gonna do?

13:38
Keith
Yeah.

13:39
Jmike
Oh, no. I have to go to the bathroom. Be right back.

13:43
Keith
I have to call Superman for help. Hopefully answers my call.

13:46
Case
I mean, mechanically, that actually works just fine. You know, he has to jump into the phone booth for a different reason than anyone else, but it doesn't seem effective. Yeah, yeah. There's no, like, signed artist on the front cover that I can see. And it's possible it's different artists.

13:58
Keith
It could be they just took different pieces of art they already used and just recycled them.

14:01
Case
Yeah, it's nice. The inner art here is the same as this art, but missing the superman. Yeah, that's a different superman.

14:07
Keith
Yeah.

14:08
Case
So what were your expectations going?

14:12
Jmike
I was expecting this to be a complicated. When you first see the instructions, you're like, what is going on? You're like, oh, this isn't that complicated after all. Yeah, it was kind of easy. And then I lost.

14:22
Keith
I didn't have an expectation. My expectation was that it would be like a candyland, like a very simple get to the end, because that's what a lot of board games at the time were. So having the different, like, setbacks, the different ways it worked was actually kind of cool. Having two spinners. Not very common in board games.

14:40
Case
Yeah.

14:41
Keith
To have two different spinners, once we kind of got into it, I was like, okay, this might be fun. And I can always tell of a board game, if I enjoy a board game, is if I get competitive while playing it. And I got very competitive not to be like, hey, watch it. You skipped his turn, case.

14:58
Case
So, yeah, I don't know why that happened twice. You would think that a circle would not be that hard to break, but it was just fucking with me.

15:05
Keith
I just looked up transagram, the publisher, for it, and they are known for IP tie in board games.

15:11
Case
Okay.

15:12
Keith
They did adamant, Flintstones, Gomer Pyle, Perry Mason, Tom and Jerry, Perry Masonde. And they are also known for producing tiddlywinks. So. Hey, that's cool.

15:21
Case
Yeah, I would check out an Adam ant board game, right?

15:25
Jmike
Yeah, Perry Mason clue.

15:28
Keith
Oh, man.

15:30
Case
So there's, I guess, like, a little bit of like a shoots and ladders also kind of going on with the forward backwards, but it's not quite the same configuration of a game. Yeah, I should also note that, like, I haven't played shoots and ladders in, like, 25 years, so.

15:43
Keith
Yeah, there's definitely paths instead of a set grid. Like, yeah. But it is definitely interesting, I think, as far as, like, design of the grid as in balance and channeling and making you make tough decisions, it's actually pretty well made. Yeah, there's definitely spots where you're like, I don't know, man. I don't know if I should go that way. The only one that ran into me was this path. And you guys can't see it, obviously, as a podcast, but there's no impediments on this path except that backwards taxi.

16:10
Case
Right.

16:11
Keith
And that's the only thing I noticed because there's a light over here and stuff.

16:14
Case
So, yeah, it's interesting. So because you're trying to chase assignments, you're not just trying to get to a set part of the board for everyone. It's what assignment you have specifically. And so there are different optimal paths for each of them, which is interesting. I'm wondering if we really counted out the squares. Like, if it's the same distance for all possible paths, but, like, there was a point where you went a different direction just to avoid one of the impediments to avoid a light. I think it was when.

16:40
Keith
Yeah, I would have lost a turn. Yeah.

16:42
Case
Yeah. And that was a cool thing. Like, I almost did that at a spot, too, where the choice was like, well, I could either go the wrong direction here and not lose my turn and then, like, pray I get, like, a five or something to, like, make up for it, or I go the right direction and, like, lose a turn from the traffic light.

16:58
Keith
It was a move of only two. That's why I remember thinking, like, it's not that big.

17:02
Case
What is painful about this game is that one and two are your most frequent options for your movement. And that just does not seem to be taking you very far. Especially when so many one steps are gonna fuck you.

17:12
Keith
Yeah, I think part of that is our spinner. It feels a bit worn in spots and wants to stop.

17:17
Case
It's clearly bent and there's, like, scraping on the spinner.

17:20
Keith
And it's not even center either. Like, neither of them are actually centered.

17:23
Jmike
Yeah, the car is even way off.

17:24
Keith
But there are three ones, twos and threes. So they should be theoretically as common as each other. There's two fours and a five.

17:32
Case
Right.

17:32
Keith
But, yeah, we definitely ran into a lot of ones and twos. I had a roll of threes for a while there. Yeah, well, it was not great at the beginning.

17:40
Case
Illusions, like, I think the concept of trying to get through a city to a story or to a location is pretty cool. And getting back, I'm not sure how many board games are like that, but it seems to be a logical kind of approach to it all. I do really enjoy the news story kind of component. The cards that we draw are really cool. They're daily planet cards. Oh, they're really great with, like, a headline and the assignment. And then, like, a picture of, like, something going on. City crippled by storm. Superman clears snowbound City. New assignment. Force threatened by fire.

18:11
Keith
Assignment three, you get ice and fire. That's a bit much.

18:15
Case
Where I'm a reporter of ice and fire.

18:21
Keith
Flood threatened city no longer. It's because of all that melting ice.

18:26
Case
I'm just going to note that some of these kind of feel like related concepts. So, like, Superman puts out forest fire and then flood threatens city. It's like he's pouring the water either one way the water is coming from Superman or he's taking the water from the flood and putting out a fire with it.

18:39
Keith
I like that. The snowbound city he cleared is immediately next to the dam bursting.

18:43
Jmike
Yeah.

18:46
Keith
With that, I think it would be great is if this part, the Daily Planet headline was what you saw when you completed it, not when you were assigned it, because that's your story. That's what you wrote.

18:55
Case
Well, so it is a little reverse because the location on the board show Superman solving the thing. And then the card you pull is like. So, for example, I'm holding the one that says forest threatened by fire. And then on the board it's Superman puts out forest fire and it should honestly be reversed.

19:10
Keith
Yeah. It would be great if the front of the card said, assignment three is all I said. And then when you finish, you flip it over and there's the story you wrote.

19:17
Case
That'd be cool.

19:17
Keith
But, I mean, that's a minor nitpick.

19:19
Jmike
The board art is actually pretty cool, too. Yeah, get Superman clearing out the snow.

19:25
Keith
The giant shovel. It's so good.

19:26
Case
Yeah, the printing's really good. Like, there's a lot of color in here that is higher. I don't want to say resolution because, like, I'm not sure if that's the right word, but, like, there's definitely a wider, like, color gamut than you would have seen in a comic book at this time. There's more of a gradient to some of these buildings. There's, like, a lot more work going on with that.

19:44
Keith
It's also built to last. I mean, this is 70 years old and looks pretty good.

19:49
Case
Yeah.

19:49
Keith
You know, like it. Like. Yeah. And yeah. The color choices were really good. My only question the color choices was the square you start off on. It's the only green in the entire map, basically. And I was wondering if that could be a different color, maybe like white or something like that. Are they cards? Yeah.

20:05
Case
Oh, yeah. We should note this. So for some, I don't actually understand why there's two decks, but there's two decks. One is blue and yellow, the other one is blue and green. And it's probably worse now because it's a 70 year old game, but the shade of yellow and the shade of green have, like, kind of merged together. Into very much the same looking thing. J Mike, I think you had to be the worst. Like, that they're two different decks because I honestly did not realize that they were, and I'm not entirely sure why they are. Because it's just assignments.

20:33
Keith
Because, say, the same reporter doesn't get the same assignment twice. There's eight cards in each deck. One each assignment.

20:38
Case
Oh, I see.

20:39
Jmike
Like, some of these repeat, though not.

20:41
Keith
In the same deck, though, I don't think.

20:43
Case
Yeah, but, like, look like this one was in the green deck, but I can't actually tell for sure that this green.

20:48
Keith
Oh, I don't know. I don't know, J Mike.

20:51
Case
So I'm not, like, I'm not entirely clear about that part. That seems to be just there for the sake of having two different decks.

20:58
Keith
That could have been one deck.

20:59
Jmike
Yeah.

20:59
Keith
It would be weird to, you know, report on Superman saving the ship, get back to the planet. They're like, that ship's in trouble again.

21:05
Jmike
Wait, what? We just came from there. Yeah.

21:07
Case
I mean, like, the head cannon would be. It's just two different ships.

21:09
Keith
Yeah. Really? All right.

21:13
Case
Yeah. But otherwise, this is a pretty cute board game. I'm honestly shocked at how enjoyable it was just to play a game. I feel like this could be drawn out into a more modern game without a ton of changes to it. Like, you would have a more complex board, you'd have better figures, and you'd have clearer rules for how Superman works.

21:31
Keith
Yeah, definitely.

21:32
Case
But aside from that, I think it's actually really cool. Like, once you guys both were finished with your assignment and trying to race back, that was really cool. That was neck and neck right there.

21:41
Keith
Yeah. The fact that I just got out of there quicker is the only reason I won, basically. Like, yeah, and I had you, Lois Lane, Dem. Yeah. But no, I dig it. I definitely thought it was a lot of fun. I like the different disasters too. Yeah, it's very cool. I like the art of him solving them. Like J Mike mentioned, the big snow shovel is very funny. I like this one where he's throwing the bank robber down. He's fully upside down when he's doing it. That's very funny to me too.

22:09
Jmike
I mean, it's all, like, different things you'd probably see in the comics back in the 50 suit.

22:13
Keith
Yeah.

22:13
Jmike
The goofy ways he'd solve problems.

22:15
Keith
Yeah, exactly.

22:17
Case
Yeah. Frankly, this one's pretty close to the action comics number one cover.

22:20
Keith
That's why I was kind of looking at it. I'm looking at it upside down, so it's a little difficult.

22:23
Case
I'm like looking at it. When you say upside down, though, I'm like looking at it and trying to figure out the axis for it because that's just a tree. So I think Superman is standing, is upright like the axis is this, and the car is being tossed into a tree.

22:35
Keith
Yeah, it's confusing.

22:36
Case
Yeah. But they're pretty cute. Like the Superman catches disabled plane with a giant net. Is very cute as is Superman clears snowbound city with a giant snow shovel.

22:44
Keith
Yeah, the net is amazing.

22:45
Case
Puts out a forest fire with a big bucket of water. Prevents collapse of bridge. He doesn't seem to be doing anything. He's just racing towards the bridge. Likewise, Superman rescues Lois Lane. It almost looks like he's trapping Lois Lane.

22:57
Jmike
It is the fifties and Superman was kind of a dick for a while.

23:00
Case
Yeah. And save ship in distress. He's just sort of flying towards it as well.

23:04
Keith
Another minor thing that I really like is the name calling Superman. Not just Superman, the board game, which would have been a very generic way to label it, but calling Superman, it does actually pretty much emphasize what the game's about. So that's really cool. And it makes it kind of stand out as a product.

23:19
Case
It's a pretty cool little board game. I'm glad that we had a chance to play this.

23:22
Keith
Yeah, totally.

23:23
Case
I think after we're done with this episode, I'm going to say we should do another round.

23:27
Keith
But I'm undefeated, case.

23:31
Jmike
Even better.

23:33
Case
So, Keith, thank you for coming on this episode.

23:36
Keith
Of course, you're always welcome to make me. Come on here.

23:42
Jmike
Do it for the cliff.

23:43
Keith
That was.

23:43
Case
I kind of twisted your arm when you were.

23:45
Keith
No, no. I love coming on your guys show. It's great.

23:48
Case
Yeah. So where can people find you and follow you?

23:50
Keith
Okay, so you can find me on Twitter hipodcastkeith. You can find my primary show. We have issues. Hipodcast. That's my comic book show where I review seemingly every comic book issue that comes out that week. It takes quite a bit of time, but it's a lot of fun. So once again, whipodcast. You'll get an alert whenever a new episode comes up. I put timestamps for each publisher and a list of all the issues that I reviewed. Also, you can find my other show, jukeboxvergokebox. Vertigo, on Twitter. That's our musical show. We're on a tiny bit of a hike. It's due to a couple of little illnesses in the jukebox family, but we should be back very soon with an episode all about your guilty pleasure songs, which is highly anticipated for us.

24:30
Case
So the jukebox and the jukebox. J Mike, how about you? Where can people find you and follow you?

24:36
Jmike
I am still on Twitter, unfortunately. There's, like, so much chaos going on right now. So much chaos. I'm like, I can't look away, but it's on fire. But I can't look away from the fire, right? Yeah, I'm still there at J Mike 101. Come find me. Shout out, I'm there.

24:52
Case
As for me, you can find me on all the platforms that have acen, except for Instagram, where I am at Coattle five because I'm holding onto my aim screen name from high school for dear life. That was pretentious then, too. So otherwise, you can find the show@certainpov.com or wherever you get your podcast, as well as a ton of other great shows such as Jukebox, Vertigo, which is evergreen because it's a music show and fantastic. I've been on a couple of times. It's a really fun show to discuss music and building playlists. Meanwhile, you can also find a link to our Discord server, either in the show notes or at our website. We've got links all over the place for it. Come chat with us there. It is a great time.

25:35
Case
The Min of Steel Channel has gotten actually pretty active recently, which has been really exciting. A lot of cool energy on the discord without it being, like, overwhelming the way some discords can be where, you know, we've had red and blue from overly sarcastic productions on. And, like, when we go to their discord, like, you post something and then, like, it refreshes and it's just gone. You'll never find because there's just so much activity there, which is great for.

25:57
Keith
Them, but, like, exhausting.

25:58
Case
Yeah, it's hard to participate in a conversation there. Just as an example. So the CPO v discord is great. Like, please come hang out because we've got cool people there. Otherwise, yeah, we'll be back soon with a new episode. And until then, stay Super man.

26:24
Jmike
Of Steel is a certain pov production. Our hosts are J. Mike Folson and case Aiken. The show is scored and edited by Jeff Moonen, and our logo and episode art is by Case Aiken.

26:46
Fun and Games
Video games are a unique medium. They can tell stories, immerse us in strange, fantastic worlds, blur the very boundaries of our reality. But at the end of the day, video games are fun, whatever fun is to you. I'm Jeff Moonan. And I am Matt aka Stormageddon. And on fun and games, we talk about the history, trends and community of video games. It's a celebration of all the games we play and all the fun we find within them. And there's so many more games out there. So we hope you'll share in that conversation with us. Podcast with Matt and Jeff. Find us on certainpov.com or wherever you get your podcasts and happy gaming.

27:25
Keith
I think this thing is stuck because we got that exact same thing every time. We'll try next time.

27:31
Jmike
Screw you soon, man.

27:32
Keith
Okay, Casey, you are up.

27:35
Case
Cpov certainpov.com.