Superman Reborn

Three reviews of All-Star Superman #1. Very funny.

(For what it’s worth, I thought All-Star Superman #1 was fine entertainment, at least as much because of Frank Quitely’s art as Grant Morrison’s script. But then, I’m not much of a Superman fan: I’m reading this because it’s a Morrison-Quitely collaboration, not because it’s about the Man of Steel.)

While I’m on the subject of Superman, there’s a lengthy account of the ups and downs of the project to bring Superman back to the big screen here. Amazing stuff, though perhaps we shouldn’t really be so surprised at the number of drafts and the range of variations on the basic theme that the story went through. I suspect that pretty much all big-budget adaptations of material from other media go through this sort of thing, as the producers and writers and directors thrash around and try to figure out what’s the essence of the story they’re trying to adapt. The difference is that sometimes the producer or director is a fan of the original - as with, say, Guillermo del Toro and Hellboy or Tom DeSanto on the first two X-Men films, or Peter Jackson and the Lord of the Rings trilogy - and has enough clout to resist idiotic ideas from studio executives. (In fairness, sometimes the work in question could do with some fresh thinking if it’s going to work on the big screen, so the producer is entirely right to force the writers to pare down the concept to the very core and ignore the howls of the fanboys. Look at, say, Blade Runner, for an example of a successful rethink of an SF novel for the big screen. Trouble is, past form suggests that’s not the way to bet…)

[ASS #1 review via Crocodile Caucus, Superman V script via MetaFilter]