It's Superman!: A Novel [Hardcover]

I want to heartily urge everyone to read ITS SUPERMAN by Tom DeHaven, but also want to "warn" you that its a very different type of Superman story...in some ways.

Its basically Superman's "origin" but set more in the "real world" than ever before. You will find much, much more Clark Kent here than the Big Blue Boy Scout. There's real people populating this novel, real emotions, real actions, real personalities, and really wonderful, quirky characters and situations. DeHaven veers off from the comic book Superman mythos at various points but these diversions are worthwhile and fascinating.

One of the most interesting characters in the book is Lex Luthor. DeHaven paints him as the train wreck you can't look away from, evil and calculating, but intriguing and deep. He's a combination of the out-and-out villainous Luthor of legend and the more-recent crooked-businessman from the modern comics.

The dialogue is crisp and multi-faceted and the scenes are poignant and...humorous.

Yes, there's humor here, but this is definitely not a "comedy" novel. DeHaven's fans will know what to expect. The situations are sometimes so outrageous that you may laugh and smile at the same time you cringe and feel the horror.

Its not a pristine world this Superman lives in. Its a sweaty, often soiled world and all is not clean and bright. But is is captivating and literary.

Bravo, Mr. DeHaven. A truly unique novel.

Jim!

I was in my local comic book shop(yes I am a comic book geek and proud of it)when this book caught my eye. All I can say is it's not quite what I expected but far,far more.

The author touches all the main points of Superman's origin without being a slave to continuity. I particularly enjoy his grounding of the story in real Depression era America. He takes his time developing the characters instead of throwing Superman at the reader on page 1.

I'm about two-thirds of the way through at this point and have yet to even see Superman and you know something? I don't even miss him! I highly recommend this book to any comic book/superhero fan.

Tom DeHaven's novel "It's Superman!" is a slightly revisionist, somewhat satirical and all around entertaining retelling of the early days of the Man of Steel. Set in 1935, DeHaven's version has many of the characters that comics fans have known for decades, but he places them in a more realistic setting. Eighteen-year-old Clark Kent is a seemingly ordinary high school student coming of age in Smallville, Kansas. He longs to get away, but he doesn't want to abandon his ailing parents, who we are told adopted him under mysterious circumstances. Meanwhile, in the sprawling metropolis of New York City, plucky young reporter Lois Lane is trying to save her sometimes boyfriend Willi Berg from the clutches of corrupt city Alderman Lex Luthor, who has plans that can only be called megalomaniacal. Willi, on the lam, ends up in Smallville, where he befriends Clark. After living as hobos for a while, they briefly settle in Hollywood. Clark, who has long noticed that he has powers far beyond those of mortal men, becomes a movie stuntman, where he acquires a costume meant for some B-movie "scientifiction" serial. Before long, New York, and destiny, beckons.

DeHaven's main contribution to the Superman mythos, aside from the character of Willi Berg (a New York Jew who basically "conceptualizes" Clark's alter ego--something like Supe's real-life inventors, jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster), is to fill in the blanks from the original comic book stories. He puts in a lot of detail about the time period, in particular the politics and pop culture. This can sometimes be grating, as when he simply lists personages of the day, as if to say "look, I've done my research! Aren't you impressed?" Still, it's interesting to see how he weaves the problems of racism and the depression into what's usually viewed as escapist fantasy. The book also adds in satirical elements, sometimes playing with the characters (Superman has a hard time keeping his costumes intact!), but usually their circumstances (Clark's misadventures in Hollywood and Luthor's political machinations). Although the overall tone is light-hearted, DeHaven tries to make some point out of it. He clearly loves the comics; this novel is an attempt to try to appreciate them anew from a more adult perspectiive (while it's definitely meant for grown-ups, with its bursts of bloody violence and hints of sex and booze, it's not entirely inappropriate for kids--they'd probably be bored, though, since it's pretty light on superheroic action).

It's interesting to compare this novel with the latest film version of Our Hero's exploits, Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns." While I'd love to see the novel realized as a film, it's unlikely to happen for a variety of reasons, mainly the book's lack of huge action set-pieces, which Singer's film provides in spades. Of course, the Superman presented in the movie is not only larger-than-life, he's downright messianic--even Christlike. DeHaven's Superman is a guy unsure of his powers and disturbed by his responsibilities. He just wants to fit in. This is a Superman so down to earth he's even an agnostic! If you found the movie to be a little (a lot?) overblown, this book is the perfect antidote.

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