The penultimate part set for the oversize vintage Superman poster from BRAVO magazine –
The final two parts to complete the collage will feature in a future post along with some BRAVO magazine covers – Look out for it to finish your set!
Further selections from the Superman novel back-catalogue include possibly the finest of them all – from top – ‘The Making Of Superman: The Movie’ by David Michael Petrou is a disarmingly honest account of the largest and most expensive production of its day. Aside from the thorough coverage of everything from casting to Special Effects, Petrou manages also to convey the sheer excitement and magic of bringing the Man of Steel to life.
Despite its fun tagline ‘Once upon a time-warp’ the novelization of Supergirl by Norma Fox Mazer is standard Movie Tie-In fare built almost word for word around the screenplay by David Odell (made even less appealing by its lack of picture gallery in the centre!)
Before its shoe-in as the novelization of Superman: The Movie (offered among the glut of other glossy offerings from Warner Books) Elliot S! Maggin’s origin story ‘Last Son of Krypton’ was first published by Arrow in 1978. As the events depicted within (although well-executed) bear little resemblance to the final film the comic-book style cover was far more appropriate.
Lastly, the ‘Man of Steel’ by Andrew Helfer was released in 1983 under the banner of the popular ‘Super Powers’ toy line by Kenner. This ‘which way’ book (where the reader has the option to choose the story’s outcome as he reads) was popular in the ’80’s and is written in the style of pure comic-book fodder…
Seven years ago today we lost the actor who made us believe a Man Could Fly. In a celebration of the man and his achievements I present four of the best volumes chronicling his rise to stardom through to his tragic accident and finally to leaving a legacy –
The first of these is a vintage paperback Christopher Reeve charting the actor’s meteoric rise to fame by Margery Steinberg. While this is composed mainly of gossip-magazine style trash it still has some nice pictures in the centre and is fairly rare today.
Sadly the larger biographies would come as a result of renewed interest in Reeve due to his paralysis, the first, ‘Man Of Steel’ competently written by Adrian Havill nonetheless portrays Reeve as an ambitious but charismatic individual, concentrating on his acting career. The third volume, ‘Superhero’ by music journalist Chris Nickson is a more straightforward but well-researched bio spliced with decent b&w photos.
Reeve himself set the record straight in 1998 with his powerful autobiography Still Me, a touching reflection of his new life in a wheelchair with long flashbacks of a glittering career. Reeve pulls no punches with his views of both politics and his work to portray a humble family man refusing to accept his fate lightly while providing hope for others well beyond his years.
Rest In Peace, Toph…
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…
