Superman Homepage - Book Reviews

Noteworthy Superman dates to remember...

September 1: Traditionally recognized as the birthday of Jonathan Kent, Clark Kent's adoptive father.

September 5: George Lazenby, Jor-El in the Superboy TV series, born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia in 1939.

September 6: Justin Whalin, Jimmy Olsen in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, born in 1974.

September 8: The Super Friends cartoon show makes its debut on ABC-TV in 1973.

September 10: Filmation's The New Adventures of Superman animated series premieres on CBS in 1966.

September 12: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman makes its debut on ABC-TV in 1993.

September 13: Artist Mike Grell (Superboy and the Legion of Super Heroes) born in 1947.

September 15: Jackie Cooper, Perry White in the Superman films, born in 1922.

September 16: Tommy Bond, Jimmy Olsen in two serials, Superman and Atom Man vs Superman, born in Dallas, Texas in 1926.

September 16: Writer Kurt Busiek (Superman & Action Comics) born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1960.

September 16: Steve Younis, owner of the Superman Homepage, born in 1971. :)

September 17: Bryan Singer, director of Superman Returns, born in New York, NY, USA in 1965.

September 17: Writer Roger Stern (Action Comics) born in 1950.

September 18: James Marsden (Richard White in Superman Returns), born in Stillwater, Oklahoma in 1973.

September 22: Traditionally recognized as the birthday of Kara Zor-El, AKA Supergirl.

September 23: Writer Peter David (Supergirl) born in 1956.

September 24: 'Smallville' Season 10, Episode 1 'Lazarus' airs on The CW at 8.00pm.

September 24: Tommy Bond, Jimmy Olsen in two serials, Superman and Atom Man vs Superman, dies in 2005, aged 79.

September 25: Christopher Reeve, star of the Superman films, born in New York, NY in 1952.

September 26: Writer Louise Simonson (Superman: The Man of Steel) born in 1946.

September 28: Traditionally recognized as the birthday of Lex Luthor.

Book Reviews - Reference Books

The Original Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes - Volume 3: Superman

Published by: DC Comics (September 2007)
Note: Originally published in 1978 as "The Great Superman Book"

Click to enlarge

Then look no further, for this gigantic, alphabetical Superman compendium has at last been released (again). For those of you wondering why this is volume 3 and where 1 and 2 went, the first covered Batman and the second focused on Wonder Woman.

I want to start by admitting that I did not read the entire 512, 2-column, small print pages for this review. I did however search for little-known characters throughout Superman's comic book history and found nine out of ten of them (Couldn't find "Zod," even under "General Zod").

The information covered in this compendium pertains only to the comics, so don't expect information from the television shows, cartoons or the radio series. The only drawback is that this is exactly the same printing first released in 1978 and it has not been updated, except for a new introduction by the author. If your only interests in Superman occur after that, this is not a wise buy for you. [Writer's note: DC people, I volunteer to update it. Call me.]

My only complaint is how hard it can be to navigate the immense compendium for specific information because unlike normal encyclopedias, it does not place a standard letter or base entry in the upper corners in order to easily navigate where you are alphabetically in the book. Some entries for major characters reach 10 pages or more (18 pages just for Lois Lane), so you may need to flip around a little bit to find what you're looking for.

Still, for US$19.99, this is a must have for fans. I would gladly have dropped and extra $5 or $10 for a hardcover. This will remain on my shelf and never see the inside of a longbox. Get it while you can.