Nerd Alert! Supergirl TV trailer released; Harry Shearer to leave The Simpsons

CBS HAS RELEASED a "first look" trailer for its new Supergirl series, starring Melissa Benoist as the title character, with Calista Flockhart as her boss, Cat Grant, and Mehcad Brooks as Superman's pal, Jimmy Olsen. If nothing else, it at least attempts to answer the obvious question: "If Kal-El gets to be called Superman, how come his cousin can't be called Superwoman?" I don't know about this show. It looks pretty hokey to me, but your mileage may vary. Judge for yourself when the series debuts in November.

IN OTHER DC COMICS trailer news, the CW just released this one for DC's Legends of Tomorrow, which is a pretty presumptuous title, when you think about it. The series, set to debut in January 2016, is a spin-off from Arrow and The Flash, and it sure looks like it. Stars include Victor Garber (Firestorm), Brandon Routh (the Atom), Caity Lotz (White Canary), and Arthur Darvill (Rip Hunter). What's it about? Superheroes, duh! They band together to make inspiring speeches and snappy wisecracks. Or to save the world from Vandal Savage or something. Check it out:

AFTER AN ASTOUNDING 26-season run, Harry Shearer is leaving The Simpsons. Fox has renewed the show for another two seasons, but Shearer—the voice of both Montgomery Burns and Waylon Smithers (which has allowed him to repeatedly achieve the impressive feat of kissing his own ass)—will not be a part of it. The actor was reportedly unhappy with the contract offered to him. Showrunner Al Jean confirmed Shearer's departure, telling Hitflix.com today, "Harry Shearer was offered the same deal the rest of the cast accepted and passed. We wish him well but the show will go on. Maggie took it hard." Jean further said that Shearer's characters, who also include Ned Flanders, Principal Seymour Skinner, and Otto the bus driver, will be voiced by new actors.

THE MAIN PROBLEM with the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon series from the '80s was that it was thoroughly terrible. The animation was shoddy (par for the course with Filmation productions), it required far too much suspension of disbelief (we were expected to believe that Prince Adam was kind of a wuss, even though he had He-Man's perma-flexed musculature), and it was a blatant toy commercial masquerading as entertainment. Before that atrocity ever aired, however, Mattel commissioned a series of minicomics to establish its new toy line's back story. And this version sounds considerably more badass than the one depicted in the TV cartoon. In the earliest of these minicomics, He-Man is the champion of a barbarian tribe that lives in a desolate, possibly postapocalyptic, wasteland. Later issues were more in line with the TV version of things, but if that initial Conan-meets-Mad-Max vibe sounds intriguing, note that Dark Horse Comics (which previously published The Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe) has collected all of the MOTU minicomics for a hardcover anthology. The 1,000-page book will be released in October,  

ON A LOCAL NOTE, I would remiss not to mention that the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival takes place the weekend of May 23-24. The event features 260+ exhibiting artists and publishers, plus a variety of talks and tutorials. Featured guests include Ken Steacy (Astro Boy, Spider-Man), Tyler Cook (Petrograd), and Vancouver's own Pia Guerra (Y: The Last Man) and Ian Boothby (Simpsons Comics, Futurama).