Superman can do everything. This is obvious in this wonderful pp up book, printed in 1979 by Random House. At this time, Random House was publishing a long list of pop-up books that reflected movies and juvenile heroes of the time.
This book does not expand on Superman or his powers, it does not break any new ground. But, it does tell the story of Superman. Starting from his landing on Earth in a special tube-looking craft from the planet Krypton. The story quickly moves through the youth of Clark Kent and takes us well into Superman’s life as a world-saver and bad guy stopper.
The great thing about this book and the many others Random House published in the same time frame is the variety of pop up techniques employed in the book. You have typical die cut pop ups mixed in with moveable wheels, sliders and pulls. All these elements in the book make it an interesting pop up book.
Random House certainly knew their audience when they published these books for a mass audience. This is a fun and interesting book that contains Superman saving Lois Lane, saving Metropolis from a catastrophic fire, a falling statue and a train chugging toward a blown-up bridge.
The villains in the book are Lex Luther and the Prankster. Lex is up to his old game of harassing Lois. Superman sees the danger through the wall of her office with his x-ray vision, breaks through the wall and saves her. He then steps in front of Lex’s machine gun and takes multiple bullets for Lois. The Prankster is about the business of pulling the classic prank of dropping a bundle of dynamite from the top of a building. Superman flies to the rescue, making the bundle explode on his chest.
While the book is a little choppy, the amazing feats Superman performs on each page do not disappoint. For fans of the Man of Steel, this book is a big piece of Superman candy.
The date of the book, 1979, falls between the first two Superman movies starring the late Christopher Reeve, Superman and Superman II. The book artfully bridges the gap between the Superman that was popularly known prior to those movies with the character that was introduced through Reeve.
Now that a new Superman franchise is on the horizon, this book will be ever more important in helping to understand how the story of Superman changes as he is introduced to new generations.
A thoroughly entertaining book that is worthy of attention for many reasons.