Happy New Year, Planet! 2025 was a monumental year for us. We grew larger, filed paperwork to become an LLC with the state of Minnesota, and expanded our coverage like never before. It’s become a sort of tradition for me to begin the new year with goal setting for our publication, so I wanted to continue to be transparent with our readers and share what we have planned for 2026.
The Daily Planet has flourished since establishing our permanent roots in the great city of Minneapolis. We’ve commissioned a Board of Creators to remain better organized, networked with locals, and even secured a prominent window display at the Super Museum in Metropolis, Illinois. These are all monumental stages that I hadn’t dreamed possible. Little Zack would be beaming with pride.
Updates to our editorial process
There’s no doubt that we’re bigger than ever before now. The Daily Planet is no longer a fan site that I run out of my childhood basement bedroom. With the amount of submitted works we continue to receive for publication, we can no longer cut corners to make things move efficiently. My goal for 2026 is to have a well-oiled editorial machine that produces quality news, reviews, and more for our ever-growing audience.
Truth and transparency will be of the utmost importance to us. With the rise of artificial intelligence and the rapid shift in trust regarding the media, this is a logical decision to make. We will have a team of dedicated editors, whom I met in person and have deemed trustworthy to handle the task, overseeing all submitted works going forward.
The editorial process will now be as follows:
- Writers will submit work to the Daily Planet drive
- Writers will alert editors using our one main channel of communication
- Writers will work with editors on grammar, fact checking, style and correct any errors along the way
- Once edited, writers will drop their work on the website and format it with visuals
- The Editor-in-Chief will have a final walkthrough, running final edits and then publishing
We are also updating our contributor policy. We will now require all contributing writers to agree to our terms and conditions for working with the Daily Planet by filling out a Contributor Application. The terms are available for the public to read on our website at dailyplanetdc.com/contribute. We’ve also updated our Code of Ethics to better reflect our rapidly changing media landscape. You can read it at dailyplanetdc.com/Code-of-Ethics-2026.pdf.
Community
The Daily Planet hosted its first community event in 2025 with a viewing of James Gunn’s Superman. It was the very first public event we had ever planned, and I think it was a great success. We got to know some of our readers, and they got to learn more about us, all while bonding over our shared love for the Man of Steel.
I plan to broaden our community outreach tenfold in 2026, beginning with our new feature “Metropolitan of the Month.” Our Metropolitan of the Month column will continue highlighting impactful global citizens and the positive impact they make in their communities. We hope to highlight a more diverse set of people in 2026, once a month, sharing stories that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Soup-erman Party
Beyond that, we hope to be curating an event that I call the “Soup-erman Party.” 2025 was a hard year for many who faced food insecurity, and it beckoned me back to my roots at the old family farm. My grandparents struggled in their post-retirement years after they took custody of my two older sisters and me.
We relied on food stamps and government programs to get by, especially in the winter when we weren’t growing our own food. However, 2025 showed me that assistance isn’t always reliable, and giving back to local food drives and pantries is better for those who can afford to do so. So, in 2026, I’m starting the first-ever Daily Planet Soup-erman Party, where all in attendance are required to bring two or more cans of soup (or other nonperishable food items) that can be later donated to a local food shelf.
The party itself will also be a soup-off, where those who want to can bring a batch of their homemade soup to compete for the title of super soup. It’s an effort to give back, but I honestly hope this idea grows to other Superman fans who will participate in their very own “Soup-erman Party” in their local area.
Book club and more
We’re also hoping to broaden our Daily Planet circle as well. A newspaper is only great if it’s connected to the community, and that’s becoming increasingly more difficult as people shift to busier lives and an online presence over in-person interactions. It’s a sad truth, but it’s a truth nonetheless, unless we adapt and change to fit the evolutionary point we’re facing.
For so long, I’ve wanted the Daily Planet to host its very own book club, and now, thanks to Board of Creators Member and Columnist Abbie Wells, it will. Abbie has established our first-ever community group over on the application Fable, a social network for avid bookworms from across the globe.
Each month, we’ll be reading books of various genres as a collective, conversing over their various chapters and debating their delivery. It’s going to be a real page-turner, if you don’t mind my pun. My hope is that our diverse community will grow and, maybe later down the road, we can start a Daily Planet Comic Book Club, TV Club, Movie Club, and more!
Establishing the business
2025 was a big step for me. A life-altering, world-shaking, monumental step. I submitted documentation to the state of Minnesota to establish the Daily Planet as a Limited Liability Company (LLC).
This was a surreal experience for me because it made all my efforts from the past decade come to fruition. Due to the fear of failure, I hesitated with this milestone. I’m still slow to establish the business side of our publication, but it will be fully developed this year.
In fact, I have a business meeting planned with an experienced strategist and consultant for this Monday. They’re going to help me get the infrastructure in place to start earning income and grow the financial backing of the planet for future growth strategies, like print, income, advertising, and, most importantly, paying our writers and creators.
New Year’s is a time for reflection and anticipation, and 2026 will be the year for us. The Daily Planet will be making its mark on the real world this year, and I promise you that it will be impactful and positive, filled with truth and justice for all, because we all strive for a better tomorrow. But that can’t happen unless we make changes today.
I hope for a safe and successful year for all. Happy 2026, readers.
