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by Tom De Haven
In a word (or two or three): that's a super-cool drawing on the cover--in
fact, it's what got me to read this thing.
From the Mr.
Hipster:
I honestly never asked myself about Superman's
high school years, nor how he came to be a reporter at The Daily
Planet. I never really thought about how he and Lois hooked up,
or how Lex Luther became an evil tycoon. Never having watched the
television series Smallville,
it didn't even register a blip on my radar. And then this book with
its awesome original illustration arrives, and touts the story of
the early years of Superman in a period setting. Yes, it's Superman
in the era in which it was actually written, smack-dab in the middle
of the fun (and always character-building) depression. Gone are the
awful mirrored '80s buildings of Superman
III (and the embarrassing comic relief of Richard Pryor making
a payday), the goofy tongue-in-cheek Clark Kent in his giant square
specs and Gene Hackman screaming at Ned Beatty and that damn Miss
Teschmacher! While this thing is hardly high fiction, the author gives
the story a more realistic, less comic book-ish spin. Clark is a moody
teenager with insecurities and treats his burgeoning powers with all
the wonder and confusion of a pre-teen going through puberty. Lois
Lane is a modern woman with all the foibles that come with that--meaning
boyfriends and cigarettes and perhaps too much gin. There are murders
and corruption and more murders and sex and even more murders. Of
course there are robots that shoot fire and stuff, but they're classy
robots whose intention is to be used to commit corporate and political
espionage. I wish I had gotten this book earlier in the summer, as
it would have made the perfect beach read. If only this text had been
around when they were putting together the Superman movies in the
late '70s, we could have had the Scorsese, period piece that we deserved.
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