The ‘Movie Tie-In’ novel was a familiar and obligatory item of merchandise issued to coincide with most of the Blockbusters of the 70’s and 80’s. Usually written economically and with little flair they were often more prized for the photo galleries adorning the centre pages.
Despite appearances, the novels shown in the top two pics are not literary transitions of Superman: The Movie nor Superman II due to the mess of litigation regarding story ownership (also impeding a comic-book adaptation) and are instead alternative takes on the origin story and other adventures by comic-writer Eliot S! Maggin.
A change of writers for the sequels permitted more standard releases and in the case of Superman III Author William Kotzwinkle (E.T.) an injection of a more adult tone into the screenplay by peppering the dialogue with such gems as ‘Holy ‘O Shitcakes’ and suchlike. By stark contrast, B.B. Hiller’s Novelisation of Superman IV is virtually a ‘Young readers version’ akin to the Star Wars novels. Decades later the nostalgic quaintness of these publications is surpassed by the desire to see Mario Puzo’s script for Superman’s I&II collected as an epic Godfather-esque novel. Stranger things have happened…