The Krypton Companion
The Man of Steel is now most visible on film (Superman Returns) and television (Smallville), and this compendium about his comic-book incarnation welcomely reminds us of his roots.Supermandebuted in 1938, but the book begins in 1958, when Mort Weisinger took over with an editorial policy of introducing new elements every few months "to keep . . . our audience involved." Responsible for such fondly remembered gimmicks as kryptonite, Superman's imperfect duplicate Bizarro, and "imaginary stories" that took place outside the "official" continuity and allowed Superman to marry Lois Lane and Lex Luthor to be a good guy, Weisinger's influence persisted until 1986 (the tail end of the book's coverage), when a new regime revamped the character. The volume encompasses interviews with, or profiles of, nearly every writer and artist who worked onSuperman, and artwork on every page, much of it previously unpublished. It's all rather scrappy; a straightforward account would be more historically valuable. But now-grown boomer and Gen-Xer fans of 1958-86 will delight in revisiting their childhood hero.Gordon FlaggCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved