Rating:  -
The first comic I ever read was the beginning of the Death of Superman story line. I was young, and at the time all I really knew about Superman was from the classic Donner movies. I guess I was a little lost at some of the concepts (Lex Luthor has red hair? Supergirl can shape shift??) but I stuck it out, and it's still one of my favorite comic story lines. Then came this book, and although it adapts the Death and Return story line brilliantly, it does something even greater. It intersperses adaptations of other key story lines throughout, most importantly John Byrne's Man of Steel. These separate story lines are all interwoven in a way that presents fully developed three dimensional characters, and completely explains all concepts that anyone might have difficulty with not being familiar with the comics, or Superman in general. It touches on his origin, his relationship with Lois, the characters of Luthor and Supergirl, and pulls it all off with style. This book is perfect for the long time fan, but written to be completely accessible to someone who had never heard of Superman, let alone read a comic! For my money, this is the quintessential Superman novel. Highly recomended!
Rating:  -
Stern produced quite a good novel out of all the hoo-hah surrounding this DC comics publicity stunt.
He takes the whole saga from the comics, and retells the story of Doomsday arriving and plowing through first the Justice League, then Superman.
Then you see how the world reacts to the death of their premier hero, and what happens when multiple other 'supermen' try and replace him.
Rating: -
For those of you who don't know the plot, here's a basic summary:
Kal-El was the Last Son of Krypton, an unknown planet that exploded sending bits and pieces crashing down to Earth. Along with rocks, Jor-El and Lara (from Krypton) sent down their newborn son in a spaceship, so he would be saved. The rocks and the spaceship landed in the country town of Smallville. Jonathan and Martha Kent had been driving home that day where the meteors hit, and they found the young boy that was in the spaceship. The Kents took him as their own, naming him Clark. Soon, Jon and Martha figured out Clark's strange abilities. Clark showed amazing strength even as a child. Overtime, his powers evolved.
Even with these powers, Clark grew up as a normal kid. He attended school (Smallville High) and even fell in love (with Lana Lang). After schooling, Clark became a reporter- and even developed super strength, speed, hearing, heat vision, x-ray vision, and the ability to fly. Then it happened. Clark took on the double life of Superman. Too bad that his double life did not last long. Superman died on November 18th, 1992 from severe injuries after defeating the horrible monster Doomsday, saving the world. Without Superman, what will happen to Earth? There's only one way to find out...
It was an excellent book for people of all ages! I read it when I was twelve, and it was a great read then, so I recommend it to everyone!
Rating:  -
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's my copy of "The Death and Life of Superman" flying out the window!
Holy jumpin' jeez! Sum of youz guys might be wonderin', "Hey! What's wit da one-starred review ya got goin' dere, pal?! Aintcha got no respect for Sooperman?!" Please! I love Superman! Quite possibly the greatest comic book superhero ever created! However, Roger Stern's "The Death and Life of Superman" is 528-pages of mind-numbingly, amateurish dreck! It took me roughly four months of forcing myself not to quit on this book because 1) It's Superman, 2) I don't give up on books, no matter how bad they are, and 3) How can so many five-starred reviews for this book be wrong?! The answer to number 3: I don't know, but geez Louise, are they ever! Now, don't get me wrong, love! Superman, himself, was actually a rather enjoyable character! Every other character, however, was laughable! Horseapples, you say?! I really wanted to enjoy the book, but I couldn't force myself to, onaaccount of da fact dat it stank!
The first thing wrong with this book: dialogue. Bad, bad, bad. It is so woefully insipid, juvenile, and groan-inducing. Here's an example: the common phrase is "like throwing gas onto the fire." Roger Stern, in an attempt to be different, perhaps witty, writes: "...like dumping white phosphorus into pure oxygen; like throwing elemental cesium onto troubled waters." I applaud him for not using the common phrase, but, come on. Was he looking at a periodic table while he was writing? On top of that, he doesn't give one example: he throws us two. Thanks, Roger. I wasn't sure just how bad the situation was, but comparing it to throwing elemental cesium onto troubled waters...yep, that's bad alright. *groan*
More eye-rolling moments include any bit of dialogue that indicates accents, such as a New York accent or Australian accent. The use of contractions and the replacement of "z" for "s" got annoying real quick. Ma and Pa Kent are stuck in the `50s, as evidenced by their speech. Lots of "Dagnabits" and "Heaven's sakes." Yes, I know. They're older, salt-o-the-earth folk, but still, that doesn't explain the younger Newsboy Legion or the so-called petty criminals' chit-chat. "Shucks, that'll be easy, fellers" "Oh, man, he's Jack Webbin' us" "Soicumstances" "Holy jeez" and "Holy smokes" abound. I especially love how the "gangsters" have names that fit a physical attribute, article of clothing, or hobby. A guy with a crewcut hairstyle is called "Crew," a guy who wears sunglasses is named "Specs," and a guy who uses a camcorder is cleverly referred to as "Frames." This was written in the early `90s, right? I kept thinking the Sharks and the Jets were about to show up and start some big song-and-dance number. Oh, wait! A gang named the Sharks do show up, with their trusty Toastmasters! Toastmasters. God-awful name for a gun. I felt like they should've packed Parkay and Smuckers, not live rounds. I can only assume that Roger Stern is as old as Ma and Pa Kent and, unfortunately for this 30-something, the dialogue suffers from its considerably dated delivery.
Superboy ("Don't call me SuperBOY!") has some pretty bad dialogue, in Stern's attempt to make him hip, modern, and cool. "Hey, don't worry about me, man. I am primed!" "...they're gonna make sure I'm always lookin' fine!" He's hip, modern, and cool, alright...for 1955. But, if the "stylin'" leather jacket fits, right? Superboy also gets the lame lines. "Gotta fly!" "Need a lift?" *wince*
The most painful dialogue exchanges are between Lex Luthor II (Lex's son, but it's really the original Lex, who got kryptonite poisoning, staged his own death in a plane crash over the Andes by using a clone, and was provided with a new, younger, stronger body--with a full head of hair--with the help of genetic engineering...uh, what?!) and Supergirl. Um, is Supergirl as ditzy and "blonde" in the comics as she is here? I regretted any paragraph that began with "Lex," "Luthor," "Supergirl," or "The Girl of Steel" because I knew I was in for Lex using the pet-name "Love" every other sentence or Supergirl acting like a coquettish little schoolgirl dating the most dreamy boy at Metropolis High. *ugh*
But, the single most annoying aspect of Stern's writing style is his excessive overuse of exclamation marks. I realize perfectly well that comics use exclamation marks at the end of nearly every sentence, but at least comic books have a reasonable explanation (comic book fans should know why). I know this is a comic book adaptation, but the exclamation marks were irritating, especially when the scene was supposed to be a quiet, tender moment. Exclamation marks indicate raised voices. Doesn't work when Jimmy consoles Lois: "It'll be ok, Ms. Lane...er, Lois!" "I sure hope so, Jim!" I envisioned them talking over the sound of a landing helicopter, not quietly to themselves. The exclamation points made me visualize too many similar shouting-match scenarios, where none were warranted. It's not good to distract the reader with something as trivial as punctuation.
Well, what about the story, you ask. Nothing special. Other reviews laud the great action scenes. Nothing special. They remark on the fast-pace. They must've skipped through the yawn-inducing second act (funeral and reaction). The story also left me with far too many questions.
As I mentioned earlier, the character of Superman was ok. Lois wasn't too bad, wallowing in her grief. But, man, everyone else was indeed truly laughable. I connected with no one. Also, not a good thing for the reader to feel.
Ultimately, "The Death and Life of Superman" is a great big chunk of kryptonite on my bookshelf, one that I will avoid in the future at all costs, something I recommend others to do, as well. I'm not judging this book on its subject matter. The story was there and I'm sure it was supposed to be exciting, emotional, and enjoyable. Unfortunately, the dialogue is powerful bad and distracts. If you thought the very first paragraph of this review was poorly written or distracting, you have a pretty good idea how this book reads. If that's right up your alley, enjoy. Otherwise, move on. Sorry, Bibbo...this book definitely ain't my "fav'rit!"
Philip Colander
[...]
Rating: -
This is the first comic book novel I have read, and I was not disappointed. Roger Stern does a great job of bringing certain aspects of the epic story to life. His descriptions of the epic battle between Superman and Doomsday are even more vivid than the comics themselves.
On the downside, there are times when the dialog comes across as awkward and stilted, to the point that it becomes a distraction. His portrayal of Luthor and his girlfriend Supergirl is almost painful; thankfully it a minor part of the overall story. That part reads more like a daytime soap.
All in all, this is a fun read that is highly recommended to any fan of Superman!
|
