BOOK Review: It’s Superman! (2005) by Tom DeHaven

Note: This is an expanded version of the review I wrote for the book_it_2006 project which, if you haven’t checked it out, is a heck of a lot of fun.

I'm not just just the biggest comic geek you're likely to meet, I'm specifically a huge fan of Superman, and so I was thrilled when my girlfriend, Erin, gave me this new novel by Tom DeHaven for Christmas. It's Superman is the latest retelling of the origin of the Man of Steel, and this latest retelling takes the character back to where he began -- the 1930s and the Great Depression.

Superman (quick crash course) was created in the 1930s by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and, after a few years of shopping the property around, made his debut as a comic book character in Action Comics #1 in 1938. While the comics that are published these days are set firmly in the modern-day, with Superman perpetually at an ambiguous age in his 30s, the character’s roots are in the Great Depression, and that’s where DeHaven returns for this novel.

Opening up with Clark Kent as a teenager in 1935, the story show him as his mother dies, he gets mixed up with a photographer from New York who has been framed for a murder he didn't commit and slowly begins to decide to use his mysterious powers for the benefit of others. Other members of the usual cast show up as well, such as Lois Lane as a child prodigy with an early college graduation and the same ambitious streak that has characterized nearly every version of the character. Lex Luthor, of course, is our villain – in this version of the story he’s a New York City Alderman with ties to organized crime and dreams of conquest. He’s the one who framed Lois’s boyfriend, photographer Willi Berg, for the murder of a pawnshop owner, forcing Willi to go on the lamb until he meets young Clark in Smallville, Kansas. Although our three main characters are separate for much of the novel, the actions of each impact upon the other until Clark finally comes to New York (rather than a phantom Metropolis) for the final third of the book, where all plot threads finally come together.

DeHaven does a really strong job of recreating the character in his original Golden Age context, although the book is filled with more modern sensebilities -- commentary on race relations, for example, which fit the character very well. At times he fills young Clark with a bit more angst and self-doubt than longtime fans (myself included) may be comfortable with, but you can imagine this boy growing into the Superman we all know. Lois Lane and Lex Luthor are both spot on, the former refusing to take a back seat in a time when women often had to settle for less, the latter being the same ruthless manipulator that makes him one of the greatest villains in comics.

Overall, It’s Superman! is a really strong read and a really original contribution to the Superman legend. Definitely recommended. I'll be looking for DeHaven's Dugan novels after this.