It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... Pandamen?!

Oh wow. I don't know whether I am excited about this bit of news or mortified beyond belief.

Pop star-turned director Jay Chou thinks Chinese people lack a superhero who can rival Spiderman and Batman, so he is determined to create two, not one, Panda-men. Chou on Monday held a press conference in Beijing to introduce the concept for his small-screen directorial debut, "Pandamen". "We have seen such Western superheroes as Spiderman and Batman," said Chou, "but Chinese people need their own heroes, and that will be the pandamen." "Pandamen" depicts two future superheroes in the year 2030 who fight to protect the city they live in. A rendering of the superpanda unveiled at the press conference shows a human-like panda wearing tight, leather suit and a red scarf resembling the cape of Superman. Chou, who is also an actor, will appear in the drama but not as the pandamen, the star says. The two protagonists will be portrayed by Devon Song and Zhan Yuhao from the Taiwan music group Nan Quan Mama.

That is one of the cute but deadly fellers there to the left. The allusion to Japanese tokusatsu is apparent. I would love to see how Chou plays this: straight or goofy. Given that he wants a hero to rival the likes of Batman and Spider-man though it will likely be straight as an arrow. This is also Chou's small-screen directorial debut and when the final product is on the television screen we'll see if he has the chops to handle any future projects. And don't get me started on casting pop stars as your leads. Yes, it is a time honored tradition in Asian entertainment culture to pluck your hottest male or female vocalist and stand them up proper in front of a camera. This also could serve as an indication as to what level we can expect our brows to remain aloft.