Superman Returns (Mass Market Paperback)

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Key Phrases: father crystal, heat vision, editorial floor, Daily Planet, Lex Luthor, Miss Lane (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

* 'Like JD Salinger or Hemingway before her, Jeannette Walls has the talent of knowing exactly how to let a story tell itself, crafted without self-pity or analysis or judgement' Independent on Sunday * 'A terrific story, grippingly told' Sunday Times * 'Funny and brilliantly written' Evening Herald * 'There isn't a shred of self-pity in this deeply compassionate book' Marie Claire

Product Description

Following a mysterious absence of several years, the Man of Steel comes back to Earth in a soaring, highly anticipated new film set for release by Warner Bros. on June 30, 2006. photos. Original.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1st THUS edition (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446606529
• ISBN-13: 978-0446606523
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #780,512 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Small problems derail an otherwise strong adaptation, July 1, 2006

By	Blake Petit "Novelist, Comixtreme.com columni... (Ama, Louisiana United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Although I got this book about a month ago, I held off on reading it until after I saw the movie it was based upon. (When it's a movie based on a book, I do it the other way around.) Superman is my favorite comic book hero of all time, and I dearly loved the movie. Although I was disappointed with Wolfman's previous novel, an adaptation of his own Crisis on Infinite Earths, I wanted to give him another shot. I'm glad to say this is a far better effort than the Crisis novel. Perhaps because the scope of this story is smaller, with a smaller cast of characters and none of the time travel hullaballoo to deal with, Wolfman manages to give us an adaptation that does just what you want a novelization to do: gives you the basic story of the film while filling in gaps, explaining more of the characters' motivation and history and throwing out occasional "Easter Eggs" for fans of the comics or earlier adaptations of the character.

Like you see with novelizations sometimes, though, there are a few discreprencies between the film and the book, including a fairly major plot point towards the end which is done away with in the novel. When this happens, particularly in the case of such an important element, it's usually the case of the filmmakers adding something in too late for the novelist to include the change. You can't really fault Wolfman for it, but at the same time, it still makes the book a little less satisfying to read as an adaptation. Still, it's a fun book based on a fantastic movie, and I'm glad I gave Wolfman another chance.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Superman Novel Fails to Soar, June 6, 2006

By	Wantz Upon A Time Reviews "www.wantzuponatime... (Chicago) - See all my reviews

The Man of Steel, Clark Kent/Superman, has disappeared from sight as this novelization of the new movie Superman Returns opens. When NASA astronomers discover Krypton still exists and believe the planet may still support life, Superman makes the 2 ½ year journey to discover if his parents and his home planet still live. Sadly, Superman discovers Krypton is a wasteland and makes the long journey home only to discover that Lois Lane has a child and fiancé, and the people of Metropolis have learned to survive without him.

Clark wrestles with whether or not he should leave his Superman identity behind, but when Lois and a plane of reporters are poised for disaster, he puts on the suit. He makes his triumphant return in time to battle Lex Luthor and fight to save the planet.

Although lacking in action and weak in the scientific explanation of Lex Luthor's evil plot, Superman fans will find in this novel welcome details about Superman's parents and his home planet that movies and the comic book did not provide. We also are treated to an in-depth look into the minds of Superman and the Daily Planet staff. And while many questions raised in the book are not clearly answered by the last page, readers will probably be willing to forgive the plot holes and look toward the next installment of the Man of Steel for resolution.

Reviewed by Joelle Charbonneau-Blanco
6/5/2006

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bonus scenes & differing plot points from the film make for compelling reading, August 29, 2006

By	Joseph P. Menta, Jr. (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Marv Wolfman writes fast-paced, involving comic-book stories, so I expected his paperback adaptation of the new Superman film to be solid and enjoyable. And it generally turned out to be so. Here are a few notable aspects of this fast, entertaining read:

The sequence depicting Superman exploring the remains of Krypton, excised from the film, is here in all its glory, and it's a nicely realized bit. With luck, we'll eventually get to see it in a future extended cut of the film.

A little awkward are the flashback scenes fleshing out Superman's parents' life on Krypton in the days before they rocketed their son to Earth. We see Lara negotiating her salary to work as an assistant to Jorel (before she fell in love with him), and, later, her painting and decorating baby Kal-El's bedroom. Those scenes were a little too mundane and Earthlike to me, not like a strange alien culture at all. And how in the world do you paint a bedroom made of crystal, anyway? While most of Mr. Wolfman's added background scenes were fine, these and a few others were a little off.

The novel adds a very interesting plot point showing clearly that it was Lex Luthor who tricked Superman into going on that five-year jaunt to explore the remains of Krypton. As described in the novelization, it was Earth's scientists who discovered the remains of Krypton, but it was Luthor who planted false information in the press that there was a chance that some life still existed on the planet's burned out remains. It was Luthor's false information that made Superman have to see for himself what was out there across the galaxy. That makes the tragedy of Superman losing Lois to Richard even more, well... tragic, as Superman leaving Earth for all that time was essentially needless. I don't know whether this plot point was originally slated for inclusion in the movie or whether it was a Wolfman addition to the novel, but I thought it was terrific and effective.

As pointed out by others, the movie's big revelation about Lois' son Jason is not in the novel, making me think it was a last-minute addition to the movie story and there wasn't time to add it to the novelization. Otherwise, it's kind of cheesy that the information was held back from book buyers. This plot difference makes the novel even more tragic than the movie, as the novel's story depicts a Lex Luthor who tricks Superman into leaving Lois Lane, who eventually goes off and has a child with someone else. In the movie, Superman will, at the very least, always share the "Jason" connection with Lois.

The rest of the novelization follows the movie pretty closely, with some odd exceptions (I'm thinking here of Jimmy Olsen's heavy drinking and public drunkenness in the book-- I'm not kidding!). In the end, though, those who enjoy reading the occasional movie novelization either before or after seeing the film in question will likely find favor with this pleasantly engaging book.