Roughly translated from the cover as ‘gift of the first comic of Superman’ this magnificent vintage feature from the pages of ultra-rare Italian TV guide is 34 years old this month and SUPERMANIA’s Christmas treat for 2014.
With (flipped, notice the redone ‘S’ shield) cover art utilizing the fantastic painting used for the International release of Richard Lester’s Superman II the nine-page pictorial combines stills from the new movie with reproductions of the pages of Action Comics #1, highlighting ‘Il giorno In cui Superman arrivo sulla terra – Superman’s arrival on Earth.
SUPERMANIA wishes all its loyal followers the most Super-Christmas and all the best for the new year. The Adventure Continues in 2015..!!!
What better time than the holiday season to revisit one of the most fun Superman-related broadcasts of yesteryear. Appearing in episode 18 of Season 4 of The Muppet Show, special guest Christopher Reeve shows off his considerable comic talent in a series of amusing sketches with Kermit & Co. in 1980.
Though an unmissable childhood favourite, SUPERMANIA was surprised to learn that Jim Henson’s long-running beloved creation was actually made in the UK for Lew Grade’s ITV. This accounts for the use of Mego’s European version of the 12″ Superman figure among the hordes of British promotional material (including an early still of Reeve, bottom pic) for Superman: The Movie in Miss Piggy’s dressing room.
Also on show in the first clip (top) is a copy of Action Comics #506 (second pic) flicked through by Reeve before changing (in a phone booth) to perform a hilarious rendition of ‘East of the Sun and West of the Moon’ with Miss Piggy…
Courtesy of Superman In Advertising And Media come these exclusive vintage photographs of the artefacts featured in The Smithsonian Institution’s ‘Superman, Many Lives, Many Worlds’ exhibition circa 1988.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of a true American icon, SUPERMANIA continues its retrospective from the star-attended opening (click here) to the significant collection on display and even some memorabilia from the event itself.
While the George Reeves TV show The Adventures Of Superman features prominently behind the Plexiglas, the recent release of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace had clearly yielded some treasures under the banner of ‘A New Superman In Hollywood’ where both Christopher Reeve’s Superman Costume featured at one end (top pic) and Mark Pillow’s Nuclearman costume at the other. Quite why the expensive outfits were mounted on such cheap wooden cutouts is a mystery but faring better is Margot Kidder’s silk dress (second pic) accompanied by no less than Reeve’s Clark Kent glasses and Marc McClure’s bow-tie worn as Jimmy Olsen.
Other great items from the movies on show are an original Daily Planet newspaper cover and below it, one of the script drafts for Superman IV by Konner and Rosenthal. As if the opportunity of seeing these relics first-hand was not enough, there was also an opportunity to purchase exclusive collectibles on the day, such as the advertising postcard (third pic) with superb art from Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and two buttons below from the SUPERMANIA collection pictured with a promotional ad…
Join SUPERMANIA in celebration of what would have been Christopher Reeve’s 62nd birthday with a look-back at this pulpy vintage one-shot tribute magazine dedicated to the star.
Responsible for similarly cheaply-printed fare as Star Blaster and Movie Monsters (littered with reprinted articles from both their crude pages) SJ Publications rushed this 100% unofficial edition to newsstands in the wake of Superman: The Movie’s success and the upcoming premiere of Superman II.
Leafing through the badly reproduced photographs and lowbrow contents (the article on Superman II’s storyline almost hilariously inaccurate) one cannot help a wave of nostalgia especially coming across a splash page (bottom) where the message seems particularly poignant.
…That is the question. One could be forgiven for thinking that this latest addition to the SUPERMANIA archive would be an evident/obligatory part of the collection but due to its deceptively bootleg appearance and difficulty to obtain complete, had been somewhat overlooked until now.
However, despite the highly questionable artwork on the portfolio cover above (top pic) housing the (indeed official) press kit for Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, it would seem such snobbery was misplaced – as far from being a poor attempt to copy Daniel Goozee’s superior final poster art – SUPERMANIA is now of the belief this may have been an early draft by the same artist.
While the finished painting references a portrait of Christopher Reeve taken at the time of Superman: The Movie (amended to exclude the kiss-curl) the rough, at second glance, is actually a good likeness and although its not signed, appears to be Goozee’s work. As for why this was used for promotion at all, who knows? Was the final painting yet to be finished? It may be raw but even in draft form, nothing could ever be as woeful as the final art used for the German release.
Refreshingly, the kit itself is a fabulous package, more often than not today found split and sold as individual stills, (commanding respectable sums on auction websites due to their exclusive nature) however this was the first example I’d ever seen that came with its own WB envelope, (second pic), indicating that with the portfolio notes and set of 14 photographs (third pic) that this handout may be 100% complete and therefore rare…
This post is dedicated to the late Menachem Golan, head of Cannon Films and Producer of Superman IVwho died today aged 85. For better or worse, forever part of the Superman universe…
