SUPERMAN IN BACK.
Except, of course, he was never really gone. He’s been there every week, in comic books and on animated TV shows. The “comeback” is aimed at a pop medium with greater cachet than DC Comics or Kids’ WB television: It’s the silver screen to which “Superman Returns” Wednesday. Chalk the sudden increase in red-caped ubiquity to the many millions spent marketing a summer-movie blockbuster, not to mention the endless tie-ins.
How did one humble character in a basic red cape become popular enough to drive his own industry? Simple. He did it first. As the original superpowered comic book protagonist, the Super Boy Scout sewed up “icon” status from his start in 1938. In retrospect, it seems obvious.
“It’s a cliche, but he stands for truth, justice and the American way. He stands for what we expect a hero to be, specifically an American hero,” says animator Bruce Timm, who revitalized Kal-El (Superman’s Planet Krypton name) for today’s kids with “Superman: The Animated Series” and the more recent “Justice League.”
If you listen to the buzz in the next couple of weeks, you’re likely to hear plenty about the Messiah imagery in the new film. Superman as Christ? Sure, why not? Just keep in mind, he was the brainchild of two geeky Jewish Clevelanders, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. They weren’t thinking about Jesus; their imaginations swirled from pulp and early sci-fi, from Zorro and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars yarns. And, perhaps, from one other hero template: The story of Superman’s infancy, Timm notes, “is kind of like Moses in outer space. It’s the best origin story of any superhero.”
Siegel and Shuster certainly added their own smart touches. To begin with, they gave Clark Kent amazing powers. Moreover, says “Men of Tomorrow” author and comic book historian Gerard Jones, “The most clever thing they did was break him down into primary colors and then give him that simple name: Superman. It’s so simple, it’s almost silly.” Every generation from the 1940s through today has had at least one version to fall in love with. At the start were the radio show and the stunning Fleischer Studios cartoon shorts. George Reeves bounded into the ’50s; Christopher Reeve made us believe a man could fly in the ’70s. Director Bryan Singer’s new film restores the Reeve mantle.
One key question remains, at least in the minds of studio executives hoping their $300 million gamble pays off. With blockbuster action, splashy special effects and brightly colored spandex heroes commonplace for today’s filmgoers, will Superman still fly high?
BROADWAY MUSICAL BOMB: “It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman,” produced by Harold Prince, which ran for 129 performances in 1966.
‘L’ initials for most of his supporting cast:
Lois Lane
Lana Lang
Lex Luthor
The alliteration doesn’t stop there — the long list includes Lara Lor-Van (birth mother)
Lucy Lane (Lois’ sister)
Lena Luthor (Lex’s young daughter)
Lori Lemaris (mermaid)and, in a hilarious cartoony tale by writer-artist Kyle Baker,
Letitia Lerner (infant Clark’s overworked baby-sitter).
$3 million
The then-staggering salary awarded (along with top billing) to Marlon Brando for about 10 minutes’ worth of screen time in 1978’s “Superman.”
4 superpets
Krypto, the canine classic (now the star of his own animated series)
Streaky, the supercat
Comet, the superhorse
Beppo, the supermonkey
5 different “Superman” incarnations graced by Noel Neill
Neill originated Lois Lane in the 1940s movie serials; reprised the intrepid reporter role for the ’50s TV show (right); cameoed as young Lois’ mother in the 1978 film (far right); appeared in a 1991 episode of the syndicated “Superboy”; and now the 85-year-old will have another cameo in the new film (right, as will her famous Jimmy Olsen co-star, Jack Larson, far right).
13 forms (and counting) of kryptonite
There’s the standard, fatal-to-Kryptonians green, of course, first introduced in the 1940s radio show.
Most common other varieties: red (which causes unpredictable, non-fatal effects to Kryptonians);
Blue (which only affects Bizarro Superman);
Black (which produces evil doubles).
Most other versions were one-offs, typically imagined during the heyday of superhero hilarity (the late-1950s through the ’60s): gold, white, pink, jewel, slow, hybrid, magno-, anti- and X-.
8 actors over seven decades who’ve portrayed the last son of Krypton in TV or film series:
Kirk Alyn, “Superman” two movies, 1948 and ’50.
George Reeves, “Adventures of Superman” TV show, 1952-
Christopher Reeve, four “Superman” films, 1978, ’80,
John Haymes Newton, “Superboy” TV show, 1988
Gerard Christopher, “Superboy” TV show, 1989-92
Dean Cain, “Lois and Clark” TV show, 1993-97
Tom Welling, “Smallville” TV show, 2001 to present
Brandon Routh, “Superman Returns,” 2006
History 101
“Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman” (Warner Video). This DVD documentary, recently broadcast (in edited form) on A&E, does a pretty thorough job of covering the character’s almost seven-decade-long history. A nice range of talking heads opine about the Man of Steel (including Marvel Comics forefather Stan Lee and actors Annette O’Toole and Margot Kidder), but there’s one significant piece of the history this documentary avoids …
History 201
Decades of bad blood and legal wrangling separated Superman’s dads from the publishing company they helped enrich. Gerard Jones’ thorough and compelling “Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book” (Basic Books) records it all. An award-winning biography of an art form that includes insights into Superman’s prominent successors (Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America), the book focuses on the young Cleveland creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who jump-started a new art form but suffered decades of creative and financial estrangement from their multimillion dollar man. Never fret: In the late ’70s, DC Comics did the right thing — so, as with all “Superman” stories, this one has a happy ending.
“The Superman Handbook”
For all the kids who’ll be tempted by the new film to fly out a window with a red blanket around their necks, “The Superman Handbook” (Quirk Books), a prose/comics hybrid, translates superphysics to our everyday Earth. Insights include how to tackle a crook, survive a flood or perform CPR.
Finally, in that elite class of “literary” graphic novels, writer Steven T. Seagle’s semiautobiographical “It’s a Bird …” (Vertigo/DC Comics, 2004) muses about the meaning of a comic book hero in a real world filled with personal grief and tragedy. It’s a fine example of comics as an art form for adults.
OTHER REQUIRED READING
DC is publishing some of the best Superman comics in years. Writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely effortlessly spin the most entertaining yarns in “All-Star Superman,” which reclaims all the fun and wonder of his outlandish past mythos with affection, not cynicism.
