“Scholastic Action® features celebrity profiles, and read-aloud plays and high-interest content to help low-level readers build the skills they need to succeed….”
Still publishing to this day with a focus on introducing young people to reading by way of popular culture, Scholastic Inc. were one of the first childrens periodicals to feature the fresh-faced star of the upcoming Superman movie and also provide a handy double-page timeline of his origins.
For middle-schoolers, Christopher Reeve would also appear on the cover of Scholastic Scope In January 1979 and their definitive volume – The Great Superman Movie Book – would first be published in 1981, and again in 1983 to incorporate the newly-released Superman III
While there may have been no reprint to incorporate Superman IV in 1987, Scholastic nonetheless released both a tie-in Novel and a childrens storybook (by Nancy E. Krulik and B.B Hilller respectively) to commmerate the character’s 50th anniversary.
As quick Google search provides no result for the issue above, one must presume its a rarity so SUPERMANIA is proud to archive the feature here – meantime the GSMB continues to be a staple of ANY Superman Movie collection – just make sure the poster is present before adding it to yours…!
Figurine Panini!
The name alone prompts a wave of nostalgia and immediately recalls frenzied sessions of ‘swapping’ stickers with school-friends in the playground. The excitement of finding that special ‘need’ nestled among all the ‘gots’ is something later generations would sadly never be part of, or indeed, understand.
And such variety! There was a collection for everybody. For the girls, Barbie, Sarah Kay and Fame, for the boys there were the annual Football albums but for those with alternative tastes there were Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, E.T. and Superman the Movie…
Don’t remember it? Well, unlike the comic adaptation and photo novel which never actually made print – this album was published in 1978, exclusively for the Italian market. There were also albums published in France, Portugal and the Netherlands by different companies – one can’t help but feel deprived of an essential piece of childhood collecting were it not for the iconic Topps Trading cards.
To make matters worse, flicking through the pages of this complete example, the album is every bit as nicely presented as any one of Panini’s best, utilizing many of the familiar publicity shots while telling the story of the film over a total of 204 stickers.
While this item does occasionally appear on auction sites its rarely complete and individual stickers, after 40 years, are as hard to come by as it sounds – a true jewel in the SUPERMANIA collection…
What started out as a field trip to research an upcoming piece on Superman Costumes has ended with a series of unbelievable revelations here at SUPERMANIA. And while I could digress further here, the discovery of the incredible lots in Propstore’s upcoming Entertainment Memorabila Live Auction is probably best shared courtesy of Jim Bowers & Jay Towers in my debut on the Capedwonder Superman Podcast –
Where the experience of viewing so many genuine rare artefacts from the Superman Movie series all at once can be expressed firsthand!
Once more I’d like to thank Propstore CEO Stephen Lane and GM Tim Lawes for their hospitality and wish them every success for the coming auction. For any Superfans wanting to add any of the featured items to their collection the gavel is raised on Sept. 30th. As for the costume article, prepare for even more revelations and the definitive word on the subject coming soon…
