Once DC comics sold the rights to adapt Superman for the Silver Screen to European producer Alexander Salkind, among the mess of litigation that took almost thirty years to unravel was the ownership of the story.
Mario Puzo was credited as the writer of both Superman: The Movie and Superman II yet little of his work beyond concept and structure made the final cut. This is one theory as to why there was never a comic-book adaptation of the first two Superman Movies, The other is nobody at DC had thought of it yet.
Over the next decade the situation was rectified and adaptations of Superman’s III and IV took their rightful place on newsstands along with every major DC property to follow. Fans have longed for the set to be complete for decades along with Puzo’s original colossal volume. During the wait some visionary DC Writers and artists have taken it upon themselves to envision an origin story using the theme and tone of the movies as a major influence. The best of these is John Byrne’s Man Of Steel mini-series from 1986 and the bang-up-to-date Superman: Secret Origin series by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank.
From the top; French Superman No: 136 (Circa 1979 – Although the perfect cover for an adaptation sadly houses nothing more than a reprint of two silver-age adventures) Superman III Movie Special, Superman III 7Up Promotion Cover variant and Superman IV; The Quest For Peace Movie Special…
i hope they do an adaptation for I and II someday…they did eventually do one for Star Trek II only just recently and i never thought that would happen so who knows…
could either be adaptations of the actual movies or rejigged into how Donner wouldve done it all (like the II Donner cut but with a different end)…maybe could go even further and give us what Donner had in mind for a third movie (like the Geoff Jones/Donner Last Son comics which im sure was originally mooted as Donners 'III' but was more an alternate version of Superman II)
On the same note id also like to see an official Superman 'V' comic done with the Reeve cast likeness (so Reeve, Kidder, Cooper, Hackman, McClure with cameos from Lana, Zod and the villians, Gus Gorman etc) – set in about 1990 or so…i know SR was sorta meant to be Superman V but it wasnt really (it was more an alternate Superman III or a quasi-reboot) itd be cool for something like that to take away the nasty taste left by Superman IV – like Rocky Balboa did after Rocky V (as i said thats what i thought the recent Donner comics would kinda be like but it ended up nothing like that)
i can see Singer and maybe his two SR writers being approached to do a sequel to SR with the likeness of the SR cast – (like they did the 4 prequel issues which were alittle bit like an adaptation of Superman I). SR does have a few loose ends that could do with being resolved (New Krypton, the kid, Lex on the island etc)
there was also no novels for I and II but they released The Last Son of Krypton and another book (miracle monday) with I and II covers
back in 1980 'The Super Heroes Monthly' (UK comic) did one of their issues with a special painted Superman II cover and i thought it was the comic of the movie but it turned out it was just other DC superman stories with 8 pages of photos from the film
what was the point of the 7UP S III comic? was it given away free?
Hi there –
Thanks for your comments.
I have no idea about the 7UP promotion – I imagine it was limited to the US – the contents of the issue were exactly the same.
There is so much latitude for adapting the movie series to the comic page. Just look at the opening to the extras on the 2001 DVD for the comic pages to get an idea just how well the images translate.
I'm sure that even as there must have been some settlements regarding image rights etc. We may never see true adaptations of I & II. I prefer to look to the future, however, think a graphic novel of Reeve's Superman V would be phenomenal. Even a retread of IV as scripted with Nuclear Man envisioned as a true monster clone has merit.
We have Geoff johns and Gary Frank to thank for keeping Reeve in the current comic fandom consiousness. Thanks to them the movies are being discussed more than ever as it can no longer be denied they are seminal.
Check out their Braniac trade paperback to see Reeve in action again – its a great ride…!
regarding a Superman 'V' comic – they could use (or use elements of) whatever was going to be the proposed script for V in 1989 or 1990 or whenever it was…could even use stuff that theyd have never been able to do (i.e. Brando as Jor El)..they could even work in a Batman (Keaton) cameo…
Itd be great if they were able to secure the rights or whatever it is and did the adaptations for I and II, Superman 'V' and also a SR sequel (from ideas given by Singer and Co)
i know G Jones and Co is keeping the Reeve style Superman in current comics (Lat Son, Secret Origins etc) but itd be great if they did a special offcial 'Movie line' with the crystal font on the covers