Superman III

by William Kotzwinkle

Clark Kent to Superman - it's the most famous quick change act in the galaxy. But now something's changing Superman. Suddenly the Force for Good is acting strangely - taking the tilt out of the Tower of Pisa, blowing out the Olympic torch, sky-writing off-color graffiti. Is this behavior modification the symptom of bigger trouble? You bet it is! Superman is up against a sophisticated enemy smarter than man - a computer evilly programmed to put one man in charge of the world...

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Superman, Media Tie In, Dc Comics

221 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

William Kotzwinkle is a two-time recipient of the National Magazine Award for Fiction, a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Prix Litteraire des Bouquinistes des Quais de Paris, the PETA Award for Children's Books, and a Book Critics Circle award nominee. His work has been translated into dozens of languages.

Reviews

[Craig "NEEDS MORE DAMN TIME TO READ !!!!" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, it was alright. Superman 3 wasn't one of the better movies anyway and the book reads pretty much like it with some variations here and there, most amusing, for example the end where Superman sets the leaning Tower of Pisa straight again, the book reads -

"In Pisa, a humble souvenir salesmen had recently borrowed money from the Mafia in order to lay in a new supply of remodelled plastic Towers of Pisa"...."knocked all his perfectly straight Towers over, jumped up and down on them, and punched himself in the head". Haha :)

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the very first BIG novels I ever reads (way way back in third grade). Even then I remember how much more epic in scope and feel it was, compared to the actual film. Flipping through an old copy recently, I found that it brought back very warm & happy memories...AND that it remained a pretty damn good film adaptation.

[B. Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointing to read this after Kotzwinkle's brilliant adaptation of E.T. He tries hard to flesh out Richard Pryor's character and almost succeeds in making Gus Gorman humorous and interesting, if still not believable, and also brings some depth to the theme of Superman's identify crisis, but ultimately the source material is awful and so is this 'novel'.

[Ekenedilichukwu Ikegwuani · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a lot of ways this added to the movie, by providing some additional details that made some characters make more sense, some events make more sense, and some additional scenes that really flesh things out. But it also does some really weird things that weren't necessary at all, and also fails to truly add to certain characters that i felt were unfinished in the movie.

[Paxton Holley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing. Not written very well. I realize the movie is not great either, but the book seems to be worse.

2024 Reread: Man, this novelization is *not* good. As an adaptation of the movie it’s fine, it’s just that the movie is not good. And, aside from it adapting a bad movie, the author also decides to amp up the cynicism in the tone. It feels like no one likes each other. Lois is constantly bagging on Clark, leading him on then calling him a loser or a boob. Superman is so pissed at having to pretend he’s Clark, it actually splits him into two people. Yes, in the book, Clark is constantly pissed he has to pretend to be Clark instead of being the awesome Man of Steel. I really did not enjoy reading this book and I hope to never have to do it again.

Really probably more a 1.5, but just barely.

[Susan]

I got this from Scholastic Book Club in 7th grade or so, even though I hadn't seen the movie, because it was written by William Kotzwinkle who did such a wonderful novelization of E. T. The Extra Terrestrial. I remember almost nothing about it except that it wasn't that good.

[John Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first "novel" I ever read.

[Russell Horton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rereading a novelisation like this one can give one a greater understanding of the film its based on.

[Michael P.]

Another book I tried to read on an airplane. I would not have gotten all the way to p. 50 if I were not stuck on the plane.