The Adventures of Superman (Lowther, 1942)

The Adventures of Superman (1942; 2005 reprint/facsimile edition)
George Lowther
([LibraryThing] [Amazon])

Originally published in 1942 (first reprinted in an unauthorized paperback edition in 1979 and again--this time, authorized--in a 1995 hardcover facsimile edition. As detailed in the new introduction written by Roger Stern (who had just recently written the novelization of the Death of Superman storyline), by 1942 Superman had already moved the comic books (introduced in Action Comics #1, June 1938 cover date) to the newspaper comic strips (daily strip starting on January 16, 1939), a radio program (premiering February 12, 1940), and animated theatrical cartoons (September 1941). So when this novel clearly aimed at younger readers (although a special "Armed Services Edition" was also sent overseas to military personnel), Superman was clearly still riding a rather large wave of popularity. This novel is well known to die-hard Superman afficionados/historians as being the source of several key elements of what eventually became the standard Superman mythos, amongst them being Superman's Kryptonian parents' names being given as "Jor-el" and "Lara" for the first time--building upon the earlier names of "Kal-L" and "Lora" given in the Superman newspaper strips; "Jor-el" would eventually come to be written as "Jor-El". (He also gave us the names "Sarah" and "Eben Kent" for Clark's adoptive parents. As Stern describes, the names for these characters changed several times over the years before settling upon "Jonathan" and "Martha Kent".)

The novel itself follows the a pretty standard pattern. It begins with Jor-el warning his fellow members of the "Council of One Hundred" at "Krypton's magnificent Temple of Wisdom" of the planet's impending destruction. They, of course, do not believe him. Jor-el and Lara barely are able to get their infant son, Kal-el, into the model rocket ship Jor-el had been building (prior to building a much larger one) and send him on to the planet Earth. There, he is found by a poor farmer and his wife. (The material up to this point is probably the least interesting as it's been done over and over again; the 1948 Superman movie serial and first episode of the George Reeves The Adventures of Superman television series both use many of the same names as Lowther does, here.) We then skip ahead a bit to Clark's thirteenth year, when he begins to discover his unique abilities (first spotting an award ribbon stuck at the back of the teacher's desk drawer with his x-ray vision; his teacher's name is "Miss Lang"(!), no relation to Lana Lang, I presume). We then get a rather detailed scene in which Eben enters an anvil lifting contest at the state fair (the family is greatly in debt and the award for the winner is $500). Long story short, Eben puts up a good effort but can't beat the much younger man known as "The Bull". Clark gets upset when his father is laughed at and walks right up and easily lifts the anvil high over his head. Later, however, it turns out that Eben had strained his heart past the point of recovery and later dies.

Soon after this (skipping ahead a bit), Clark leaves and attempts to get a job as a newspaper reporter at The Daily Planet in Metropolis. He had briefly met Perry White at the state fair (White was a reporter looking for a story). By this point, White is the editor of the Planet. He can't guarantee Clark a job as Clark has no newspaper experience, but he sends Clark up to Maine to look into reported sightings of a phantom clipper ship with a skeleton crew. From this point forward, the novel very much takes on the feeling of the classic Superman radio shows, which is natural as George Lowther wrote many of those. The writing style is simple yet engaging. Joe Shuster, the original Superman comic book and comic strip artist and co-creator of the character (along with writer Jerry Siegel), along with the artists in his studio, provides ten full page illustrations (four in color), plus many more sketches of Superman as heading off each chapter. While hardly "great writing", this first ever novel based on a comic book superhero is still an enjoyable read (and a "must read" for diehard Superman afficionados interested in the early development of the character). (Finished reading 8/18/09)