It's Superman!

It's Superman!

[[]] Cover of paperback
Author	Tom De Haven
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Chronicle Books & Ballantine Books
Publication date	September 15th, 2005 (hardcover) August 29th, 2006 (paperback)
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	384 (hardcover) 432 (paperback) pp

It's Superman! was a novel written by Tom De Haven based on the comic book superhero Superman. It was released on September 15th, 2005 in hardcover and August 29th, 2006 in paperback.

It's premise is that it tells the story of Clark Kent becoming Superman in the thirties, the decade of the character's creation. It has been noted that this is the first book of the first version of Superman by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster since George Lowther's Superman (novel) back in 1942.

Book Description

A coming of age story in rural 1930s America; it’s 1935 in the Great Depression of America. In the plains of Kansas, Clark Kent, a farm boy living in the town of Smallville, is not so much worried about the world's problems as he has problems of his own. Including a few facts about himself that he doesn't want other people to know. In New York City, Lois Lane's boyfriend Willi Berg is framed for murder by Lex Luthor. No one will believe his story, so Lois sends him to hide out in the Midwest. There, Willi meets Clark and soon they set out to see America. Clark finds a job as a stunt man in California where he gets to keep a blue costume with a red "S". But still, it is only a matter of time before Clark moves to New York City with Willi, meets Lois and begins his dual career as reporter and do-gooder.

Plot

Smallville, Kansas. June 1935. Clark Kent is talking with local sheriffs about a shooting at a local cinema, which he had gone to. The shooter was a wanted criminal that Clark had recognized and in an argument between them, the criminal fired his pistol twice, with the second shot killing him. The sheriffs let Clark go home and as he arrives to his family farm, he sits outside, troubled. His father, Jonathan Kent, asks him what’s wrong and Clark tells him about the shooting and that the shooter died because the bullets bounced off his head. In New York City, Lois Lane gets into an argument with her boyfriend, Willi Berg, when he asks her for money to get his camera back. She doesn’t want to give it to him, and Willi leaves. At the pawnshop, Willi breaks in and gets his camera but sees the owner dead along with five more dead men. He hides when more men arrive along with Lex Luthor, who killed them. Willi runs after taking pictures of them but he gets shot and left for dead. Afterwards, Lois gets a call from friend Betty Simon who tells her Willi was shot.

Lois arrives in the hospital but no one is able to answer her questions about Willi. She sees a cop talking to reporters about Willi and the murders inside the pawnshop and joins them, pretending to be a reporter. As Willi opens his eyes, he has been arrested for murder. Even though he tries to tell them the truth, it falls on deaf ears.

Clark and his father go to his mother, Martha Kent’s, funeral. Dick Sandglass, a cop who has known Willi for years, doesn't believe his story of the murders. That night, an explosion occurs downtown that forces cops to check it out. Nurse Rose Tibbell enters Willi's room and is about to inject something to kill him. But patient Sidney Marsden, who in reality an undercover cop, stops her and tells Willi to get dressed and they leave the hospital.

A month later, Lex Luthor's new look as a bald man is a shocker to many. In Washington D.C., Lois helps Willi with his own new look and he tells her about the men who got him out of the hospital: Meyer Lansky, Joe Adonis, and Benny Siegel. They knew Luthor was the real murderer and wanted to get Willi out, in hopes of sending Luthor to jail. Lois dyes Willi's hair red. Lois meets with Professor Gurney and gets his help to hide Willi. Clark saves a kid who was about to fall with a new power: super speed, to which he didn't know he had. Luthor goes to his mother's grave where three men come to kill him. Luthor manages to kill them all.

Willi arrives in Kansas under a new name; Willi Boring, as a fieldworker for the WPA. He needs gas for his car and reaches Smallville. Stopping for lemonade, he meets Clark whom he offers for a ride, but the car runs out of gas. Clark goes to push the car which picks up speed up to 25 mph and reaches the station. Willi can’t believe what happened. A gang lead by Curly Ike kidnaps the son of a rich banker. Willi gets arrested by mistake and Clark sees him again as he is covering the kidnapping for the paper. Then, an agent sees Willi Berg's wanted poster and tells the Sheriff. But the poster is gone. Clark saw it and stuck it in his pocket.

Willi is let out and he goes to The Herald-Progess to see Clark, whom he knows took down his wanted poster. Thanks to hearing his heartbeat, Clark is relieved to find Willi is telling the truth when he said he didn't kill anyone. Clark figures out where the kidnappers are. Curly goes out and comes back to see the cops with the kid they kidnapped, who is dead. He tries to drive away but goes through the windshield thanks to Clark. Clark watches him die with satisfaction. Clark wonders what to do in his life and Willi meets him at his home to spend the night. They talk about the murders and Lex Luthor, then Willi asks Clark if he would like to come with him. They leave Smallville and head to California.

Summer of 1937. Lex Luthor has been angry with the New York Mayor but is happy over the success of the LR-1 robot. Lex goes to Stick Stickowski's house, who is dying. Lex kills Stick with his pillow. He then offers Stick's wife, Ceil, a job. Skinny (Lois' friend from the hospital) is in California and her husband believes she is cheating on him. He plants a bomb where he thought she would be for the day but she isn't there. She is with Willi. They are celebrating that Willi's pictures got printed for a catalog. When asked about being on the run, Willi replies he has a "secret weapon." They talk about Lois, who got a job at the Daily Planet and now has a boyfriend, which Willi assumed since it's been a year since they talked. Cops find and arrest Willi and the bomb explodes at the same time. Washed-up actress turned costume-designer Diana Dewey sees the explosion and sees Clark wander out of the bombed-out building.

Skinny finds out her husband planted the bomb and confronts him. The confrontation leaves her husband scared. The movie Diana was on is scrapped. Going home, Clark comments on her glasses and tries out the costume; which is a blue outfit with a red cape and a red "S" on the chest. The next day, he starts leaping and figures out that he can fly. He decides to break Willi out of jail, with the costume on. Just before Dick Sandglass goes to the mayor to reveal that a ghost gang is operating in New York, he is murdered. It was seen by his son, Spider, who was getting an envelope he forgot about. Lois is on her fourth date with a cop named Ben Jaeger, who then leaves when hearing the news of the murder. Talking to Ben, Spider does not reveal the envelope. Spider calls Luthor but gets his assistant, Mrs. O'Shea, instead. They argue when Spider threatens to reveal what’s in the envelope and hangs up. Mrs. O'Shea kills Spider in Luthor's room. She threatens Luthor into making her a full partner.

Fall 1937. Lois broke up with Ben Jaeger because of his change from a good man to a bad one. Lois knows Willi is back and meets with Clark Kent on his behalf, who is now wearing the glasses. Meeting Willi again for a long time, the talk goes into Sandglass' death and Luthor. Lois wants to know how he got out of prison and Willi says it was because of Superman. The envelope Sandglass had was a case against Luthor, which has been destroyed.

Clark asks Lois if she can help him get a job at The Daily Planet, but she can't. She suggests getting a story for the front page as a way to get hired. She hears about Luthor's press conference at City Hall and leaves. At the press conference, he declares his innocence. But a fired and drunken Ben Jeager shows up and yells at Lex, calling him a liar. After Lois stops him, Clark appears and he and Luthor stare at each other and then Luthor continues stating he is resigning. Clark gives Lois back her notepad but not the pencil, because he wants to keep it as a reminder of "when they met."

Halloween night. Ceil Stickowski meets with Luthor and sees a twenty-seven inch tall robot and then is shocked by a pair of six-foot-tall gliding robots. Luthor wants to give these robots to the world and asks her what she will name them. She decides to call them the Lexbots. Soda Wauters, who dated Dick Sandglass, finds an envelope and sees that it was the case against Luthor. A lot of companies agree to invest in the Lexbots. Ceil calls up Lois, saying she needs to talk to her.

Walking, Willi tells Clark that he wants his life back and wants to threaten Luthor. Mrs. O'Shea learns about Ceil's call to Lois and tells Paulie, one of Luthor's men, to get her. Clark and Willi reach the pawnshop where the murders occurred. Clark goes in quick to grab Willi's camera and leaves $20 behind to pay for it. Ceaser Colluzo, who created the Lexbots, plans to leave but Luthor pushes Ceaser down an elevator shaft.

Ben wakes up when Lois prepares to go and meet Ceil and he goes with her. Clark and Willi hear them outside and decide to follow them, too. Ceil thinks Lois has arrived but it is Mrs. O'Shea, who tries to kill her. After the two women struggle for several minutes, Paulie enters the home and Mrs. O'Shea orders him to kill Ceil. Since Paulie has had enough, he kills Mrs. O'Shea. He leaves just as Ben and Lois arrive and shoots Ben twice in the chest. He starts to drive off but doesn't get far as Clark rips the car apart. Paulie activates the Lexbot and it pushes Clark so hard that he goes through First Avenue into the East River.

Clark fights the robot. After it is destroyed, Clark escapes as cops arrive. Willi introduces Clark as Superman to Lois, who lowers his voice so Lois won't realize that he is Clark. Looking inside the robot, the writing behind one of the plates reveal that it belongs to Lex Luthor. Clark takes part of the robot and makes a metal ball, to which he throws it to Luthor's mansion. Lois calls up editor Perry White about what happened the other night but is told by Perry that the story has already been covered thanks to Clark Kent. Lois is stunned and mad, saying Clark wasn't even there and demands he should not be credited for her story. Perry shows her what Clark brought in: Willi's pictures of the robot and Superman. The night edition of the Daily Planet is planned with a war-size headline: IT'S SUPERMAN!

Clark realizes Lois hates him, but Lois comes behind him and says she's sorry for how she treated him and that she wants to interview Superman. He leaves the elevator and sees Soda Wauters arguing with the security. Clark helps her and she gives him the envelope. He takes it to Perry. Clark gets a job at the Daily Planet. A warrant goes out for Luthor's arrest and Clark, as Superman, decides to meet with him before the police get there. As the police enter the home and demand Luthor to exit, Lex tells his assistant to jump out the window. He does so, and Superman catches him. But when he returns, it is revealed that the assistant’s heart has stopped from the shock and that Superman has been fooled by Luthor, who has escaped, and the cops see Superman, believing he had killed the man. They go to arrest him, but he escapes. As he leaves the city, Luthor thinks about other plans, all involving Superman. For him, his new life as a wanted criminal is all good.

February 1938. Our cast of characters are watching the play Our Town. Skinny Simon is watching Ben Jaeger, who has a small role in the play. Lois Lane and Professor John Gurney are on a date. Willi Berg now works for Life magazine and Clark Kent is with friend Soda Wauters. After thinking about his adventures since Luthor’s escape, Clark feels so sad about what he saw in the play and wonders if he himself would ever die. He knows he's alone, and except for Luthor, no one else understands that. The upcoming War in Europe has got him thinking that maybe he will be called into combat. Finally, he remembers what his father told him before he died. He should “do his best and that if he stopped, it wouldn't be fair to the people.”

Lois goes to up to Clark, after trying to get his attention by calling his name. Once there, she sees Clark is starting to cry but tries to smile, so Lois hugs him. Clark decides that he will do the best he can like everyone else. Because, he is like everyone else.

Response

The response on the novel has been positive. On [Amazon.com], the total amount of reviews has given the book four out of five stars. Readers enjoyed how much Tom De Haven had detailed the 1930s in the book from the movie Clark watches to the beginning, to the actual brand of cigarettes that was around that time Lois smokes in the book. Readers also liked the character development for Clark Kent and Lex Luthor, with one reviewer saying it was better than the character development of the two in Smallville (TV series).

Many top newspapers have also praised the book. Book Review from The New York Times said it was Delightful…with energy and imagination. Entertainment Weekly has also said its textured with authentic faces, places, and attitudes. Of course, there are readers who didn't like the book, with the problems they are saying the same ones that many readers liked and praised. Either they were expected so much, or other reasons.

Trivia

• Tom De Haven was chosen by DC Comics after his novel sequel to his 1984 novel Funny Papers called Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies, which dealt with 1930s. That led to a meeting where it was discussed how long it has been since Superman was written in his original period of 1938.

• DC Comics sent De Haven archives on old issues of Action Comics and Superman (comic book) set during, or around, the late 1930s. While it was in their minds to influence and help in the writing, De Haven said that they must've sent them to him to remind him on the book while he was working on the third Funny Papers novel. In the end, De Haven used the archives for the novel.

• A sort of director's cut exists on this book. When De Haven finished his first draft of the novel, it came out 1,000 pages in length. The things that were cut from the first draft into the final book were: other characters that were going to be introduced in the story, more about Lex Luthor (his family life, his rise to power, his manias), an interwoven storyline about a Russian spy trying to get her hands on Lex’s robot blueprints, more on Clark’s girlfriend in Hollywood; Diana Dewey, more on Alger Lee and Jonathan Kent, and finally parallels between Lex Luthor and Clark Kent. Ultimately, the director's cut and the final version are somewhat different to each other overall. De Haven prefers the final version than the original as he says is a fast read.

• Originally, in his pitch, De Haven had Willi go on the alias of Jimmy Olsen, the name of the well known photographer to Clark Kent and Lois Lane of the Daily Planet, when he was on the run. It was rejected by DC Comics.

• Willi Berg is a character created for the novel, maybe to move the story along. For example; Willi is Lois Lane's boyfriend in the beginning, and the connection to Lex Luthor after witnessing a murder done by him. During this time, Lois gets in playing a reporter that she will become as the novel progresses. As he is on the run, Willi meets Clark, who he befriends, and they set off to Hollywood where Clark would get the idea for wearing the glasses and the costume that would make him become Superman in his first debut. Back in New York, Willi introduces Clark to Lois, to him falling in love, and the situation with Lex Luthor to where the two end up as enemies and Clark as a superhero.

• Elements in the novel were from the classic Fleischer Superman cartoons. The costume Clark is given that becomes the Superman costume is the same one from the cartoons, and Luthor's robots came from The Mechanical Monsters short.

• In the final chapter, early Superman stories like the main Superman story in Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman, are referenced. Originally, the book was going to end in June 1938, the cover date to Action Comics #1.

• Ironically, since this novel is on the level of an origin story, normally origin stories end with the main character becoming who and what they ultimately become. However, in this novel, Clark is publicly Superman, but he is not fully Superman in himself. Luthor is still on the loose, and there is no romantic scene(s) between Superman and Lois Lane.

• Tom De Haven has said that if he did a sequel, he would want it to be set when Clark Kent was somewhere of 30 years of age.

Referenes

http://thethunderchild.com/Interviews/Books/TomDe http://media.libsyn.com/media/comicgeekspeak/cgs-episode086.mp3

External Links

• It's Superman! from Chronicle Books

• Comic Geek Speak interview with Tom De Haven on It's Superman! Right click to download

• Haven.html The Thunder Child interview with Tom De Haven