It's Superman!: A Novel Posted by Paul on 4:29 PM

It's Superman!: A Novel by Tom De Haven


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a retelling, or re-imagining, of the Superman story. The novel has the thematic elements of the Superman legend, only set in the '30s of the "real world." Smallville remains a town in Kansas, but Clark ends up in New York City, rather than Metropolis. There are several references to Metropolis, however.

The story was written in the style of the books I remember swiping from my father's book collection in the attic as a child; chapter plot points at the start of each chapter, lots of side story detail that would be missing from current stories.

Even Lex Luthor has a new origin of sorts, and is a believable and worthy foe, even though his first comeuppance is less about a rivalry , and more about a complex chain of events that lead to Superman facing Luthor only after the house of cards have come crashing down. Luthor escapes, of course, using Superman to do so. This sets up their feud which must continue after the period covered by the book.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book.

View all my reviews >>