Do me a favor, and don't search how many times I use "some time back" on this blog; it's just a side-effect of doing it so long! But,
some time back, we saw the comic book adaptation of
Superman III brought to us by Carls Jr. and 7-Up. Apparently, I had to get this one my damn self: from 1987,
Superman IV: the Quest for Peace, written by Bob Rozakus, pencils by Curt Swan and Don Heck, inks by Frank McLaughlin, Al Vey, John Beatty, and Dick Giordano. The GCD doesn't give the "adapted by" credits, but you can check the
IMDB for that.
I have been trying to recall if I've ever actually seen this one: it's reputation was pretty bad, even when it came out, and I don't think it has come to be appreciated in the years since. That IMDB page notes the budget was way lower than previous movies, among other problems. Also, like a lot of 80's kids, I had that vague background worry about nuclear armageddon, exasperated by
the Day After and a bazillion post-apocalyptic
Road Warrior knockoffs, so maybe a movie where Superman very specifically doesn't take away nukes wasn't going to cut it. (Well, he does, then relents.) I did just have to look if the movie used more footage of Marlon Brando as Jor-El--since Jor-El makes a brief appearance in the comic, and that Brando footage cost the producers a chunk of change so I could see them shoehorning it in; but apparently not.
Mariel Hemingway appears as the daughter of an investor who takes over the
Daily Planet and is more interested in sales than journalistic integrity: I think I've hit a couple books from the late 80's that
warned us about what was going to happen to the press; and it's pretty obvious now that we didn't listen. She's also a potential love interest for Clark, or at least a complication: there's a double-date type thing with her, Lois, Clark, and Superman that's as the kids today say, just cringe. The whole thing may be best remembered for
Jon Cryer as Lenny Luthor, slapstick sidekick for Gene Hackman's Lex: Cryer would years later appear as Lex Luthor on the
CW's Supergirl, where he's been a solid villain.
Also, while I love the John Williams Superman theme, you have to admit it's about five minutes too long. Don't @ me. The best way to watch this, might be as a double feature with
Batman: these were only two years apart, but might as well have been a hundred.
1 comment:
Yeah the movie was ok, not great, but ok. I definitely liked the villain, Nuclear Man, they used. Good look, so it was shame he never showed up in regular comics' continuity until what, Bendis brought him in only to kill him off just as quickly.
Stupid Bendis!
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