From the Comic Reader to the Comics Journal, SUPERMANIA continues its retrospective on vintage reviews of Superman: The Movie through the eyes of comic-book purists.
And Dwight R. Decker’s essay (Part one of which presented above) is arguably a definitive review, or at least the most exhaustive. Found beneath a splendid cover by Joe Staton (showing Superman through various incarnations through the ages) Decker’s words are nicely arranged alongside stills from he movie and random art from the likes of Fred Hembeck.
Surmising early on that the movie is “An erratic collection of disparate scenes that individually range from the utterly splendid to despicably camp” its enjoyable to share the early anticipation/dread of the prospect of a rehash of the Batman TV legacy (or indeed the Broadway show ‘Its a bird, its a plane, Its Superman..!’).
Indeed, one finds themselves empathising with many of the points Decker raises about the Krypton scenes in regard to production design. For all its frigid glory as represented onscreen its easy to forget what made the demise of Krypton so tragic was its flourishing and youthful culture as depicted in comics by the art of Wayne Boring et,al.
To be concluded in Part 2 coming soon..!
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