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A review by phileasfogg
Superman: Last Son Of Krypton by Elliot S! Maggin
4.0
I loved this book when I was a child, in c1980. I know memory cheats, but I look forward to reading it again. I expect I'll enjoy it more than the 1978 Superman movie, which I loved when I saw it in the cinema, at six years old, but found a bit lacking when I rewatched it a few months ago. (I still liked it, but not as much.)
What's striking about this book is that it looks like it's meant to be a novelisation of the movie, but has very little in common with it. I imagine the author was commissioned to write a novelisation, but wisely realised that the 1978 movie's strengths would not translate to novel format, and that it's weaknesses would only be enhanced. And he knew enough about the publishing industry to know that if he delivered a manuscript that was entirely dissimilar to the movie but still publishable, the publisher would publish it because there was no way they could commission another writer to produce a novelisation in the required time.
My recollections of it are rather vague. Its invocation of a galactic community to whom Superman speaks on our behalf without us knowing anything about it reminded me of Douglas Adams' Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. I (think I) remember a fascinating account of how the CIA employs people to read everything that's published anywhere, and report the good and useful bits. And Lex Luthor had access to those CIA files and from them devised a way to maintain breathable air in a long space voyage, by filling the spacecraft with pot plants.
What's striking about this book is that it looks like it's meant to be a novelisation of the movie, but has very little in common with it. I imagine the author was commissioned to write a novelisation, but wisely realised that the 1978 movie's strengths would not translate to novel format, and that it's weaknesses would only be enhanced. And he knew enough about the publishing industry to know that if he delivered a manuscript that was entirely dissimilar to the movie but still publishable, the publisher would publish it because there was no way they could commission another writer to produce a novelisation in the required time.
My recollections of it are rather vague. Its invocation of a galactic community to whom Superman speaks on our behalf without us knowing anything about it reminded me of Douglas Adams' Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. I (think I) remember a fascinating account of how the CIA employs people to read everything that's published anywhere, and report the good and useful bits. And Lex Luthor had access to those CIA files and from them devised a way to maintain breathable air in a long space voyage, by filling the spacecraft with pot plants.