Ed Cunard
11-12-2005, 08:20 PM
My friend Graeme recently recommended Tom DeHaven's It's Superman!: A Novel (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0811844358/ref=wl_it_dp/103-9521426-8930208?%5Fencoding=UTF8&coliid=IY0S27S1MODB7&v=glance&colid=17TT2T2B3OJI7) in his column. I was wondering if anyone else has read it, if it interests them, what they think about it, etc. I almost bought it tonight when I was shopping for my wife's birthday, but I figured I'd better check to make sure she wasn't going to buy it for me for Christmas.
From Graeme's column (http://www.comicworldnews.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?column=grimtidings&page=19):
I feel like I’m just continuing a proud tradition right now). The Superman novel perhaps makes most sense, in this context. For those who haven’t heard about it, it’s a novel retelling a version of the Superman story – and the novel itself makes it clear that it’s only a version, both starting and finishing by putting into a context as “our story”, as opposed to “the story” – set in 1930s Depression-hit America. The book doesn’t focus on the spectacular or the traditionally superheroic; by the 200th page of the book, where I currently am, Clark Kent is nowhere near becoming Superman or even considering where his underwear should be worn. Instead, it’s a sprawling mass of emotion and detail and moments that speak to you in amazing clarity even though you’ve never experienced anything like it yourself… Something more akin to, if you will, a “serious novel”.
(Which isn’t to say that it’s not an enjoyable novel, because it is. For those of you who share my love for books like Carter Beats The Devil or The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier And Clay, then it’s so up your alley that it should be renamed The Book That’s Very Up Your Alley, Starring Superman. There’s a humanity to the storytelling, and what it chooses to emphasize about all of the characters, that makes it a joy to read.)
From Graeme's column (http://www.comicworldnews.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?column=grimtidings&page=19):
I feel like I’m just continuing a proud tradition right now). The Superman novel perhaps makes most sense, in this context. For those who haven’t heard about it, it’s a novel retelling a version of the Superman story – and the novel itself makes it clear that it’s only a version, both starting and finishing by putting into a context as “our story”, as opposed to “the story” – set in 1930s Depression-hit America. The book doesn’t focus on the spectacular or the traditionally superheroic; by the 200th page of the book, where I currently am, Clark Kent is nowhere near becoming Superman or even considering where his underwear should be worn. Instead, it’s a sprawling mass of emotion and detail and moments that speak to you in amazing clarity even though you’ve never experienced anything like it yourself… Something more akin to, if you will, a “serious novel”.
(Which isn’t to say that it’s not an enjoyable novel, because it is. For those of you who share my love for books like Carter Beats The Devil or The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier And Clay, then it’s so up your alley that it should be renamed The Book That’s Very Up Your Alley, Starring Superman. There’s a humanity to the storytelling, and what it chooses to emphasize about all of the characters, that makes it a joy to read.)