Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel Explores The Life of Superman
Written: Jun 20 '06 (Updated Jul 27 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Shares a lot of information about Superman.
Cons: No information on some things and very little about others. Organization could have been better.
The Bottom Line: Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel was an interesting book that fans of the characters should enjoy.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: Scott Beatty - Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the... |
I have been enjoying movies and cartoons about superheroes since I was a child. I have only gotten a few comic books over the years, so my knowledge of the characters isn't as complete as some people’s. I have picked up some books, like Ultimate X-Men and Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight to help me learn more about the characters. Since Superman Returns was going to be released soon, I decided it would be a good time to pick up Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel by Scott Beatty, the same man who wrote Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight.
Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel didn't have an actual plot or story that was being told. The book shared bits of information about Superman form when he first appeared in Action Comics in 1938 up to December 2005. The information covered how Superman came to be on Earth, his adoptive parents, his secret identity of Clark Kent, his allies and enemies along with briefly discussing some important story lines from the comics. Each subject was covered over a two-page spread that included a few paragraphs of text along with comic book style illustrations that took up most of the two pages. Some of the illustrations looked like they had been pulled directly from a comic book. The illustrations would be related in some way to the current subject and they went with the text well. When some of the characters were discussed, a small circle could be found on one of the pages that shared a little bit of information about the character like their real name and when they first appeared in a comic book. There really wasn’t a lot of information shared about any of the characters other than Superman.
Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel had five sections instead of chapters. Before the first section, there was a short foreword by Jeph Loeb, a writer for one of the newer Superman comics. The sections began with a two-page spread that had a few paragraphs on one page and an illustration on the second page. Each section shared information that was connected to the subject of the section in some way. There was a little bit of overlap with some of the information in different sections. A few story lines were also briefly mentioned in most of the sections. There wasn’t enough information about any of those things and I was left with questions. It did seem like most of the information was tied to things that had happened more recently in Superman’s history, like how Metropolis was changed in 2000. The book was first published in 2002 and a new updated version was released in 2006. Certain things were mentioned, like how Superman became known to the world after rescuing the people on a space plane, as part of the origin of the character. Then very late in the book, I discovered that those things had happened after DC comics had started a new comic in 1986 to update the characters for more modern times. After the fifth section of the book, there was a time line that featured important events from Superman’s history including the launch of new comics featuring characters that were first introduced in one of the Superman comics. The time line included events up to December of 2005.
The first section, Birth of a Superman, covered the origins of Superman. There was a decent amount of information shared about his home planet of Krypton. Really all I knew about Krypton before reading this book was that the planet exploded for some reason just after a small spaceship carrying a Kryptonian baby left the planet. I thought the information on Krypton was interesting and I learned a lot that I hadn’t known before. There was a drawing of the planet that identified different cities and areas as well as a few other diagrams of buildings. The Kents, the couple that found the baby when his spaceship landed on Earth, was discussed. A little bit of history of the Kent family was shared in a short paragraph. Smallville, the town near the Kent farm was also briefly talked about. There was a small map of the town that pointed out a few important buildings. Superman’s powers and weaknesses were discussed and the evolution of his suit was also shared.
At first it seemed like second section, City of Tomorrow, was going to be just about Metropolis and things connected to the city. The first two pages showed a map of the city that identified some important buildings, like The Daily Planet building. There was only one very short paragraph about the city itself, saying that Brainiac 13 did something that upgraded the city in 2000. The pages for The Daily Planet talked about the newspaper and mentioned a few of the people that worked there with Clark and Lois. The section also discussed Clark Kent, Lois Lane, their relationship and a storyline that greatly impacted their relationship. The section also talked about characters that helped Superman like Supergirl and Superboy. I was a bit surprised that Perry White, the editor of The Daily Planet didn’t receive more attention.
Secrets of the Man of Steel focused on things that Superman tried to keep hidden from the rest of the world, like his fortress of solitude. One whole page was an illustration of the fortress that pointed out twenty-five different things within it. Kandor, a tiny city inside a bottle, that Superman kept in the fortress was talked about along with a storyline that took place there. I had never heard of Kandor before and thought that was interesting. Different special equipment, like the oxygen mask he used when traveling through deep space, were talked about as well as a few characters.
The next section, Supervillany, talked about the different villains that Superman has battled. Really the only one I knew much about before was Lex Luthor. With him being such a major character throughout the history of Superman, I would have thought that there would have been more information about him. His company, Lex Corp, was also briefly mentioned along with the fact that Talia, the daughter of Batman enemy Ra’s al Ghul, was running the company after Lex became the president. Some of the villains were part of groups like Intergang, so the individual members received very little attention. A few of the villains, like Doomsday, were mentioned earlier in the book when certain story lines were discussed.
Superman’s Career covered different things that have happened to Superman in the comics since his first appearance in 1938. Things that happened during what are now considered The Golden Age and The Silver Age were discussed. Images from the comics from those times were included. When Superman first appeared, he was mostly fighting spies before villains like Lex were first introduced. The section then went on to briefly mention the Justice League of America that Superman was involved in. Two pages called Birthright talked again about the origins of Superman and how Clark made suit with help from Martha. These pages also included a short paragraph about Lex explaining how he lost his hair in an accident. The section ended by talking about different imaginary stories that have been done. The time line followed right after that part. There were small graphics from different comic books throughout the time line. It mentioned three other ages for the comics, The Bronze Age, The Modern Age, and the Steel Age, that weren’t discussed in the last section for whatever reason.
I did feel like Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel could have been organized a bit better. The first section was all right with talking about Krypton and then moving on to the Kents, Smallville, and Superman’s powers. The organization of the second section seemed a little off to me. It went from talking about Metropolis and The Daily Planet to Lois and Clark. After Lois was discussed, the book went into a story line - or it could have been two story lines since I’m not sure if it was all considered the same thing or not even though the two things were connected. After that, there was a little bit about Lois and Clark and then the book went on to talk about Jimmy Olsen, a laboratory that helped Superman, and other characters that were involved with helping him in some way. I think it would have made more sense to put the information about the relationship of Lois and Clark right after the pages on Lois. I also think it would have been better to cover the characters and then do the story lines that were mentioned. The section on the villains was arranged fine since it just focused on the villains. Superman’s Career didn’t seem to have the best organization either. After mentioning the JLA, it went on to talk about things from the origins of Superman again like how Martha helped him make his suit. Other small bits of information were shared there that just didn’t seem to fit in there right.
I really enjoyed reading Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel. The book contained a lot of information that I hadn’t known before. I thought the information that was shared was very interesting. I had no idea that Superman had fought so many different villains. None of the characters or events were explored with that much depth. The Daily Planet has been very important to both Clark and Lois, but there really wasn’t much information shared about it or the employees. The Kents took in Clark when he was a baby and raised him as their own son, instilling values in him that greatly influenced him as an adult and there was very little information about them in the book. There really wasn’t that much in the book about Lois and the complicated relationship she had with Clark/Superman. That was disappointing. The JLA has also played a big part in Superman’s life and it received almost no attention in the book. I know there have been some different crossover comics that had Superman and Batman both involved in things. Other than mentioning two or three times that Bruce Wayne owned the building that Lois and Clark lived in, Batman really wasn’t mentioned in the book. Three ages for the Superman comics weren’t discussed at all. Those three ages covered a large chunk of Superman’s history. I was left feeling like there were holes in the information the book contained.
After becoming a popular character in the comic books, there was a Superman television show that aired from 1952 to 1958. In 1978, Superman made the jump to the big screen with his first movie. The movie launched the career of Christopher Reeve and was very successful. Three sequels were made over the next nine years. On June 28, 2006, a new movie, Superman Returns, will be released. In 1993, the television show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman started. In 2001 another show, Smallville, started that focused on Clark’s teenage years when he was getting his powers. I believe that show is still on. Superman has also been a character on different cartoons over the years. I remember him being in Superfriends, a cartoon that I watched as a child. Superman: The Ultimate Guide to The Man of Steel didn’t talk about the television show, cartoons, or movies at all. The movies and shows are a very important part of Superman’s history and it was disappointing that they weren’t discussed in the book. Smallville was mentioned in a sentence or two in the time line section of the book. I think the only reason it was mentioned at all was because there was a comic/magazine connected to the show published. I wasn’t looking for in depth coverage of the movies or shows, but I think there at least should have been a section of the book that discussed them. Ultimate X-Men did mention the cartoons and the first movie, so the same thing could have been done for this book. Having information about the movies and different shows would have made the book more complete. Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight was also missing information on the various movies and shows. Batman and Superman are both characters from DC Comics. I have wondered if they had some say in the movies and shows being left out or if the author just made that decision.
I really enjoyed Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel. The book had a lot of interesting information about Superman and the different characters he’s encountered over the years. I did learn new things about him, Krypton, and the different villains he’s faced. I think all the main characters were covered, so fans of the character will probably enjoy the book. I would have liked it if the book had contained more information, but it is still worth reading.
Superman Reviews
Lois & Clark: The Complete First Season ~ Lois & Clark: The Complete Second Season ~ Lois & Clark: The Complete Third Season ~ Lois & Clark: The Complete Fourth Season ~ Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman ~ Superman: The Movie ~ Superman II ~ Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut ~ Superman III ~ Superman IV: The Quest for Peace ~ Superman Returns ~ Superman Doomsday ~ Superman and the Mole Men ~
Superhero Reviews
Batman ~ Batman Returns ~ Batman Forever ~ Batman Begins ~ Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight ~ Elektra ~ Fantastic Four ~ The Incredibles ~ Sky High ~ Spider-Man ~ Spider-Man 2 ~ X-Men ~ X2: X-Men United ~ X-Men: The Last Stand ~ X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine ~ Ultimate X-Men ~
Recommended:
Yes
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