Customer Reviews

Superman: Bottle City of Kandor

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Superman: The Bottle City of Kandor trade paperback; don't pass this one by. While some of the stories dwell directly on the bottled Kryptonian city of Kandor; many others deal with it in only in a passing nature.

The bottled city of Kandor was one of those small innovations that had a big impact on the DC Universe. When Brainiac came and shrunk several earth cities (Super-Duel in Space, Action Comics #242 1958); Superman comes to the rescue and by the end of the story almost nonchalantly puts the bottled city of Kandor (containing a living remnant of his once mighty civilization onto a shelf in his Fortress of Solitude as casually as we would a vacation souvenir away.

But like a genie once the bottle is opened.....

The stories that follow (mostly form the late 1950's and 1960's) deal with: Kryptonian identical twins of Superman and his supporting cast; Superman and Jimmy Olsen in super drag as Nightwing and Flamebird (the bottled city's own dynamic duo); Lois and Lana falling in love with someone from the bottled city; Jimmy Olsen not only being trapped in the bottled city but also being snubbed once again by the ever fickle Lucy Lane. (and her duplicate to boot).

To say this is a mere slice of silver age magic (drawn largely by master artist Curt Swan) is an understatement.

Well worth the $14.99 cover price.

The Kandor stories may be some of the best Silver Age Superman and this is a great collection of what are probably the best Kandor stories of the Silver Age. These stories are classic. I greatly enjoyed this collection.

This book was a great idea. Not only do you get the original Kandor stories from the late 50's (which you might be too young to remember) but you also get the last stories from the 70's (which you might be too old to remember.) In between you get the classic, silver age (with Supergirl, Batman and Robin, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lori Lamar, Van-Zee, Jax-Ur, The Superman Revenge Squad, The Superman Emergency Squad, The old Fortress, Bat Hound and Night Hound, etc.) I was amazed at the number of frames and details that I remembered from first reading them. Most of it is drawn by the great Curt Swan. I remember contemplating as a child who I would rather be- the main Superman artist (Curt Swan) or the President- I chose Curt Swan.

These aren't all the Kandor related stories, but they are a nice, representative cross section from the first story to the 40th anniversary restoration. Nor are these, of course, all the Krypton related stories- that would take many volumes. However, you do have a satisfying series of tales from the post-Brainiac period.

The art and colors look better than the originals. My only complaint is a frame where the Scarlet Jungle is shown- it is green. It is called the SCARLET Jungle for a reason...

I haven't finished it yet. But it is a very good book. It is alot of the earlier years of Super-man. I plan to finish it when I have more time. If you enjoy Smallville this is going to be a great way to see how the whole story goes.