It’s Superman, by Tom De Haven

This book isn’t a few things.

This isn’t a comic book. It’s a book book. No pictures. No speech bubbles. No problem! 

This isn’t a non-fiction history of the hero. It’s a novel — a genuine, wordy-word book about make-believe people.

And most important, this isn’t bad.

The book is a more realistic, depression-era version of the iconic hero. The story follows Clark Kent as he moves out of Smallville, gets a job at the Daily Planet, meets Lois Lane and fights Lex Luthor. Sound familiar? 

The book doesn’t stray far from the source, but when it’s told in novel-form, it feels fresh and new. This book doesn’t read like a big blockbuster movie, but feels more like a low-key Coen Brothers film that also includes some action. 

I read this a long time ago, when the thought of a new Superman movie was met with eyerolls and shrugs. But I loved the recent James Gunn movie, which added much needed fun and wackiness to the story. Superman’s back, baby! This book doesn’t include much wackiness, but it’s also not stuck in a dark “I wish I was Batman” mopey tone. It’s its own thing, and I appreciate that. 

Would this approach work for other superheroes? Sure! In fact, this would work best for the wilder, sillier heroes – characters like Plastic Man or Speedball that are goofy on the comic book page, and would be tough to pull off in a feature film, but would benefit from a novel treatment and the theater of the mind. I wouldn’t want to see the film, but I would read a 500-page novel about Matter Eater Lad.

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