Fan revives Superman — on Web

Saturday-afternoon cartoon serials are alive and well, sort of.They're on the Internet in 2005 -- and they're free!

In the 1930s and '40s, a short cartoon or live-action seriescommonly played before a Saturday-afternoon movie in theaters.Besides Superman, there was Batman, Tarzan, the Phantom, Flash Gordonand others. Each installment -- until the finale -- ended in acliffhanger.

Today, Superman/Batman fan Jerry Newingham, 53, of Earle, Ark.,has revived the Saturday-afternoon serial with two new homemade butprofessional-looking comic book stories about the Man of Steel.

Using the Superman home page Web site at www.supermanhomepage.com,Newingham has created two Superman/Batman series, a 17-chapter"World's Finest" in 2003, and, straddling 2004 and 2005, "Destiny'sChoice," a 33-part series that is winding down.

Artwork for the second series is far better than the first, andNewingham has successfully captured the spirit and flavor of theSaturday-afternoon serials through this project.

Go to the Superman home page site, select Newingham's link and betreated, at no cost, to original and imaginative stories. Oncestarted, each chapter runs at its own pace, beginning with a shortwritten summary of what happened in the previous chapter, and eachone ends with a cliffhanger.

Newingham said the first serial was not intended for others tosee. "It was my therapy" for life's downturns, he said during atelephone interview.

The second was different. "It is a memorial and tribute to my sonwho was murdered three years ago," he said.

Indeed, the concluding 33rd chapter of the series will include adrawing of his late son.

Newingham suffers from diabetes and autoimmune hepatitis and hasbeen diagnosed as being clinically depressed. He's also on a fixedincome.

Some days it was hard physically to work on the series, he said.He used a computer mouse for the drawing and was plagued by computercrashes. He isn't sure how long it took to create each chapter."Sometimes the story wrote itself," he said. His favorite is the 32ndchapter.

"Fan mail is nothing but positive," Newingham said. Most readersare in their 30s and 40s. Few are teens or younger.

"I don't plan on doing a third (serial). . . . I want to end on ahigh note."

What does DC Comics, the owner of Superman/Batman, think of hiswork? Newingham used a disclaimer, listed at the end of each chapter,to avoid legal trouble with DC but admits it could legally get hisserials taken off the Web anytime. He hasn't heard anything from DC,and he receives no payment for these two serials. They are truly alabor of love and personal satisfaction.

His storylines are good enough that DC Comics should take noticeof his writing talents. At least the serials clamor for a return tomore of the basics of Superman's Boy Scout character -- "truth,justice and the American way."

"Superman's character should be respected," Newingham said, andthat's the foundation for both his stories. The first serial waslightweight, he said, while the second gets deeper and deeper as itgoes into some pretty heavy emotion. Still, he believes Superman andcomics should be an escape from life, leaving readers with a goodfeeling. He believes most comics today don't do that enough.

"This second serial is a back-to-Krypton story," Newingham stateson the Web site. "However, for you nit-pickers and fans of the modern-day Superman, don't look for any resemblance to him or my adherenceto DC's current continuity. My story takes place in a latter 1940sthat never took place in Superman mythology. I also mix the SilverAge elements with Golden Age elements, and even brief cameos of theold George Reeves' TV series characters of Perry White, Lois Lane andInspector Henderson."

Still, he remains true to the Superman mythology. "Batman, mysecond favorite, is also in this story, ergo the 'World's Finest'title," he wrote.

Newingham said he's always been a Superman fan. "I always had achildhood dream of penciling a Superman comic book."

His first serial dealt with the Joker and with an alien creaturewho threatened Earth. The second, without spoiling the fun, centerson Lex Luthor, Krypton as it once was and a new vulnerability forSuperman.

For the direct link to Newingham's latest creation, go to:www.supermanhomepage.com/inter-action/inter-action.php?

E-mail: lynn@desnews.com