Customer Reviews

The Krypton Companion

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The is described as "The Superman Reader for Superman readers". It is intended for people who are serious Superman fans, such as myself. It features interviews with artists and writers who worked on Superman comic books. It is interesting if you are a Superman fan, especially if you're a fan of old time Superman comics. If you aren't a hardcore Superman fan, who probably won't find it interesting at all.

The Krypton Companion has been released at just the right time with renewed interest in Superman due to the new Superman film, as well as the release of Superman II: The Donner cut. The Krypton Companion focuses on Superman's career from 1958 to 1986. This was the period that saw the introduction of a rainbow of Kryptonite colors, a bevy of super pets, and many other interesting and outrageous changes to the Man of Steel. The book is broken down into four chapters: 1958 - 1964, 1965 - 1970, 1971 - 1979, and 1980 - 1986.

The first chapter introduces fans to Mort Weisinger, the abrasive editor of Superman in the 50's and 60's and the man largely responsible for developing the Superman mythology, as we know it today. Will Murray pens a marvelous biographical article about Mort, who began his writing career in the pulps of the 1930's on magazines like Thrilling Wonder Stories and Phantom Detective. Weisinger had a very deserved reputation for being hard to work with, especially for those writers and artists under him. Weisinger seemed somewhat embarrassed about his work in comics as he was known to brag often about articles he wrote for more mainstream publications like Reader's Digest and Parade Magazine. Ironic, then, that he will ever be remembered most for his work on Superman. Due in large part to Weisinger, Superman's mythology was heavily influenced by Sci-Fi pulps. A side-by-side comparison even shows where he liberally borrowed covers from the pulps and had artists recreate them as covers for Superman and Action Comics.

Chapter two features a lengthy article written by the late Curt Swan about his 30 plus years of drawing Superman's adventures. Roy Thomas reflects on the tumultuous two weeks he spent in the mid-sixties as Weisinger's assistant before fleeing to Marvel and being accused of being a spy for Stan Lee by an outraged Mort.

Chapter three is filled with fantastic interviews with the likes of writers Cary Bates, Denny O' Neil, Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Marty Pasko, and artists Rich Buckler, Murphy Anderson, and Neal Adams. The interview with Adams is particularly moving as Neal relates how he took up the fight to get Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster both money and due creator credit from DC and parent company Warner Bros. At the time the two were nearly destitute and without any legal claim to the character they created. Adams led a PR charge of creators, which eventually forced DC and Warner Bros. to do the right thing.

The final chapter is highlighted by a nearly 30 page roundtable discussion featuring 16 Superman artists, writers, and editors that includes Dan Jurgens, Roy Thomas, MarkWaid, Jerry Ordway, Alex Ross, John Byrne, and Walt Simonson. It's like being in a room with the who's who of comics and just listening to them talk about the world's greatest superhero. What a thrill!

The Krypton Companion is also filled with both classic and unpublished Superman artwork, timelines of events and storylines, unpublished story plots, listings of all of the various Superman 80 Page Giants and 100 Page Sepctaculars, and so much more. It's the kind of book you can sink your teeth into and savor for a long time. Another fantastic book from TwoMorrows Publishing!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

If you're a Superman comics fan you probably have a wealth of comics and books about him; so what else could THE KRYPTON COMPANION offer that isn't already elsewhere? Plenty: it explores Superman's editors, offers up new interviews with key illustrators who've achieved fame drawing Superman over the decades, reveals media appearances outside the comic world, and offers up some rare, previously unpublished art work in the process. All this makes THE KRYPTON COMPANION a top pick, offering black and white reproductions complimenting the articles throughout.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I am a big fan of the pre John Byrne Superman and this book covers both the Silver 58-69 and Bronze 70-86 ages of the character. Overall I love this product. The interviews are all interesting and I feel honest. Not everyone is proud of their work and it seems longtime editor Mort Weisinger was not a pleasent man in spite of how much joy he brought to many readers. The book is an amazing checklist, reference guide, and just plain fun. It's obvious Eury loves the original Superman as much as I do and I really feel as a long time fan of 25 years I learned a lot.

The downside of this tome is mostly subjective as I disagree with some of the authors views. I like Lana Lang as an adult in the comics and some of my favorite stories are from the 83-86 era when she dated Clark. An era he calls weak. I also find some of the praise heaped on Crisis,the Alan Moore closer Whatever Happened To the Man Of Tomorrow, and the issue of DC Comics Presents that ended the bronze age wrong headed. These ushered in the dark agnst filled Superman that seems to have now been finally somewhat rectified. Still 48 years of stories were thrown out and a Superman who I love to follow from that classic era was gone never to return. Obviously I strongly think the reboot should have never happened.

For all that I still find this book wonderful. I miss some of the color from the artwork, and the pages are on a thin stock, but it's an essential purchase.

This magazine about Superman bought back a lot of childhood memories. I can still remember when my mother would take me to the Busy B Bookstore and a nice old lady would show me tons of old comics.
This magazine had all kinds of interesting articles about Superman and his impact on popular culture. I highly recommend this magazine and look forward to many more about certain comic characters. There are already several other magazines in the Companion series published by Tomorrow (a terrrific publishing company!). Justice Society and Justice League of America, Teen Titans, Legion of Super-Heroes and a couple of others. Buy them! They are worth reading for the average comic book fan!!

TwoMorrows and Michael Eury did it again! Back Issue Magazine editor Michael Eury first wrote 'Captain Action, the First Action Hero', then he did the 'JLA Companion', NOW he writes the 'Krypton Companion', a comprehensive overview of the Silver-Age Superman. He's gonna make me go broke.

The book features a ton of art, behind the scenes interviews with the creators, and the stories behind your favorite stories (oh, lots of embarassing photos of people with 70s hair, well worth the price).

If you like Superman or Back Issue Magazine, you'll like this book!

'The Krypton Companon" begins by looking into the years of the Superman comics in which Editor Mort Weisinger and the writers and artists under him began looking into and developing more and more the background legend of the planet Krypton where Suyperman came from. (The book also continues on to explore the 1970's and 1980's).

Superman was still a popular comic book series, but the stories done during this time became known as being the best Superman stories done even up to tody.

Krypton proved to be a source of many a great Superman story.

This book relives and retells of the days when Superman was once the moret popular character at DC Comics and in comics. I believe that Walt disney's Micke Mouse comics were the only comics tht were more popular than Superman at the time.

So relive the days of when Superman was at the height of his popularity and see why.