Superman Returns

novelization of the film by Marv Wolfman

Warner Books; 332 pp.

As always, if you like a film, a novelization is a big help. It usually fills in the gaps, giving you the characters thinking processes, helping flesh them out and expanding the story seen on the screen a bit.

This book is no different. And Wolfman does a fine job of writing, carrying the tale along and making it an easy read.

The beginning of the book though does deal with a recap of the beginning of the 1980 Superman film with Christopher Reeve. We get a lot of the background story on Krypton and how baby Kal-El got sent to Earth.

And better yet, as the book moves along, we get a view of what Superman saw when he spent those five years away from Earth. He was getting back to his roots by exploring the ruined planet of Krypton. I enjoyed this. It gave us a compelling idea why Superman would take a five year hiatus from Earth (and Lois Lane).

When Superman returns to Earth, the novelization pretty much sticks to the film, which means there were few changes from the time Wolfman got the script to the release of the finished film.

Save one little detail at the end. Well, to be honest one BIG detail at the end, which is in the film and NOT in the novelization. Since it is a spoiler, I won’t mention it here.

But I was just a bit disappointed because I was hoping the author would delve into the background and the characters thoughts on the film’s interesting twist in the tale of Lois and Superman.

Maybe that will be in another Superman film! - Sue Martin