More nostalgic snapshots from Seacon’79 courtesy of capedwonder.com from the closing ceremony of the Hugo Awards (held this night, August 25th 35 years ago) and the aftermath where Christopher Reeve signs copies of the UK Superman: The Movie colour programme amongst others.
Such was the coup of the UK hosting this event that BBC2 devoted an entire half-hour episode from their series Time Out Of Mind to film proceedings (see it here) with hilariously stilted results. The organiser’s commendable determination to secure the show and enthusiasm for literature is dampened by the po-faced portrayal of attendees debating the merits of fanzines Intercut with authors appearing weary with mild contempt for fandom.
In the midst of this, articulate as ever, is Chris Reeve (briefly appearing at 8:17), clearly bewildered by the whole experience but gracious enough to acknowledge the passion of fans by stating they could probably ‘draw him a map to Krypton’.
While the current whereabouts of the Hugo statuette is unknown, one suspects it went very nicely on the mantelpiece next to the BAFTA won for ‘Most Promising Newcomer’ the same year…
Clutching a curiously phallic trophy presented by none-other than Star Wars Producer Gary Kurtz, a fresh-faced Christopher Reeve graciously accepts the award for ‘Best Dramatic Presentation of 1978’ for Superman: The Movie at Seacon, UK.
You read it right – Christopher Reeve himself attended a Sci-Fi convention in sunny Brighton, England on this day (August 23rd) 35 years ago.
The 37th Worldcon was held at the Brighton Metropole Hotel where the coveted Hugo award was to be added to the growing list of accolades earned by Richard Donner’s ground-breaking film and its star was invited to attend.
The four day event pertained to be a serious affair for Science Fiction enthusiasts and was well attended as such, with notable guests from the literary world (among them 2001 scribe Arthur C. Clarke) with Q&A panels and even a masquerade contest (long before its evolution into Cosplay). Even advance preview clips from The Empire Strikes Back were shown to eager fans.
Sound familiar? It should – the modern day Comic-Con evolved from these modest events. It would be another 15 years, however, before Christopher Reeve would appear in a similar fashion Stateside for Dixie Trek, the second and final convention he attended in his lifetime.
Go here For more details and pictures of this fascinating little sidebar in Superman history – SUPERMANIA extends its thanks to capedwonder.com for both rediscovering it and providing the amazing rare photos shown above of the ceremony…
SUPERMANIA is again proud to host another outstanding fan contribution, this time from arguably the most prolific archivist of The Man Of Steel across all genres.
Famed for making his Superman obsession a lifestyle, Cleveland-based Jamie Reigle has dedicated his life (and a considerable fortune) to the upkeep of some 40,000 items of memorabilia (read more here) and makes the pilgrimage to Metropolis, Ill. every year to showcase and sell items at the Annual Superman Celebration.
Kindly loaning the original unpublished pics above to be scanned exclusively for SUPERMANIA, Jamie’s visit to Downtown Disney’s Planet Hollywood restaurant in Orlando is a further chronicle of the screen-used Christopher Reeve Superman costume (Presented by by Reeve himself according to the sign, third pic). first documented in this post as a free hanging display before being relocated to the lobby in an acrylic case .
As we know, the costume was used in the screentests for the SuperBoy TV Series and used again in a subsequent episode before being incorporated into PH’s considerable prop collection in the early ’90’s. These pics are the earliest examples of the display as the suit, fading onset aside, looks to be in pristine condition. As discussed in earlier posts, the current whereabouts of this costume is unknown so any record of its existence is a welcome addition to the site…
For a multitude of Super-treasures old and new please visit Jamie’s website supercollectibles.com..!
A DC Comics milestone suitably celebrated with a 96 page spectacular, 2011’s Action Comics #900 would court considerable controversy, but not in the tradition fans may have expected.
Unusually for the comic-book universe, one of the many anthology stories in this issue would cross over into international news headlines due to Superman’s renouncement of one of his defining attributes – upholding ‘Truth Justice, and the American way.’
Ironically in a collection also featuring Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner as a guest writer, this publication slams the book firmly closed on the ‘classic’ Superman interpretation and in retrospective, clearly paves the way for what would evolve into the ‘Man Of Steel’.
David Goyer (yes, that one) in a short story entitled ‘The Incident’ manages to plunge Superman into real-world controversy (something the late screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz always insisted the character should always avoid) by attending a peaceful protest in Iraq. When questioned about his actions by US Officials, Superman at once declares that the world is now a smaller place and ‘Truth and Justice isn’t enough anymore’ (third pic), effectively ending his status as a representative of the US. While the story is well-crafted, the notion of Superman becoming politicised and being anything other than ‘A Friend’ seems somewhat irresponsible writing given the ramifications.
Continuing SUPERMANIA’s series of posts for recommended comic reading for fans of the classic Superman series is a challenge in this instance, not least by the contribution of two of its greatest contributors (Donner and artist Gary Frank) but for what a wasted opportunity this was to unite them. Indeed, Frank’s wonderful art (still shamelessly channelling Reeve) is relegated to a few pages (second pic) in a large chunk of otherwise poorly illustrated Saturday morning cartoon silliness that is the first story ‘Reign Of Doomsday’ (the finale of the ‘Black Ring’).
The worse news is that Donner’s mini-screenplay (written with Derek Hoffman) somehow manages to not engage, a poor soulless attempt to merge Superman with the movie ‘Hancock’ (even acknowledging Superman’s nemesis as ‘like Will Smith’) and similarly failing to engage at every turn. Presented as storyboards (feebly rendered by Matt Camp) with accompanying dialogue and story notes (bottom pic) its astonishing to think that Donner may have had anything to do with it, it has to be read to be believed.
There is little more to be enjoyed beneath the moody cover (by David Finch) but the absolute highlight of the whole issue is a somewhat abstract story entitled ‘Life Support’ with mature, sharp dialogue (by Damon Lindelof), lavish art (by Ryan Sook) and an indisputably epic, cinematic tone. Amazing how something as simple as Jor-El’s recruitment of an aide to build a part for will become Kal-El’s StarShip can be told so elegantly and effectively.
Only this and the tiny vignette ‘Friday Night In the 21st Century’ by the always-dependable Geoff Johns (coupled with Gary Frank’s art) emerge worthy of the ‘spectacular’ status as declared. A landmark issue to be sure, proving, if little else, June 1938 was a long time ago…
SUPERMANIA is proud to host these fascinating long-forgotten yellowed pages from deep within various Silver Age DC Comics. Collated and contributed by Superfan Ethan Clark from (the top), Worlds Finest #251 & #252, House Of Mystery #257 and Batman Family #18 & #19 respectively, they form a valuable documentation of the buildup to release of Superman: The Movie.
With the advent of what would become the ‘Event’ movies of the late ’70’s early ’80’s and the most revered fictional character of the all making his cinematic debut, what better forum to generate advance word than within the comic-book readership?
In what would be so much rapidly-circulated internet noise today, these well written and researched reports profile everything from the Producers, (third pic), actors, (second and fifth) and even the Special Effects (where we learn for the first time Reeve’s cape flapping device was the creation of John Richardson).
However its the advance screening writeup by Mike Gold (top) that really fires the imagination. Though as we all know the picture didn’t meet its planned release date of Summer 1978 I envy the excitement of any child old enough to read and comprehend that article and the anticipation it creates, and for once, having the finished product more than exceed the initial promise…
